Title:  Ghosted     
Author:  Amanda Quain   
Genre: YA    
Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Hattie Tilney isn’t a believer. Yes, she’s a senior at America’s most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she’s hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors and thermal cameras, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living–like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger’s formidable headmistress, buries herself in her work. If Hattie just works hard enough and keeps that overachiever mask on tight through graduation, maybe her mom will finally notice her.

But the mask starts slipping when Hattie’s assigned to be an ambassador to Kit Morland, a golden retriever of a boy who’s transferred to Northanger on—what else—a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two are partnered up for an investigative project on the school’s paranormal activity, and Hattie quickly strikes a deal: Kit will present whatever ghostly evidence he can find to prove that campus is haunted, and Hattie will prove that it’s not. But as they explore the abandoned tunnels and foggy graveyards of Northanger, Hattie starts to realize that Kit might be the kind of person that makes her want to believe in something—and someone—for the first time.

This was a fun read, but some of the characters felt a little flimsy to me. Like Hattie’s two best friends and her sister. The way Hattie changed instantly when she met Kit didn’t feel quite believable, either, although this is a YA read, so I can overlook that. I thought the ghost-hunting stuff was fun and the ghost-centric school was a unique angle, and I’d definitely read more with these characters, I just thought it needed a bit of fine-tuning on the details. Props for the title, though. That was a nice touch.

Amanda Quain lives in Pennsylvania. Ghosted is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)