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18th out of 199 books
—
477 voters
The Ghosts of Ashbury High (Ashbury/Brookfield #4)
Bestselling author Jaclyn Moriarty returns to Ashbury High for a story of romance, mysterious new classmates, and the terrors of making it through your final year of high school.
This is the story of Amelia and Riley, bad kids from bad Brookfield High who have transferred to Ashbury High for their final year. They've been in love since they were fourteen, they go out dancin...more
This is the story of Amelia and Riley, bad kids from bad Brookfield High who have transferred to Ashbury High for their final year. They've been in love since they were fourteen, they go out dancin...more
Hardcover, 480 pages
Published
June 1st 2010
by Arthur A. Levine Books
(first published June 1st 2009)
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Another winner from Moriarty!
Seriously, I love the Ashbury series. It has these quirky – but not too quirky – characters and just the right mix of humour, family issues, friendship, romance and suspense. While I would say that I liked Feeling Sorry For Celia and Finding Cassie Crazy a tiny bit better, Dreaming of Amelia brought back some of my favourite characters (Lydia and Seb!), but also introduced new ones I grew to love.
It is a big book (over 500 pages) and slightly different in style from...more
Seriously, I love the Ashbury series. It has these quirky – but not too quirky – characters and just the right mix of humour, family issues, friendship, romance and suspense. While I would say that I liked Feeling Sorry For Celia and Finding Cassie Crazy a tiny bit better, Dreaming of Amelia brought back some of my favourite characters (Lydia and Seb!), but also introduced new ones I grew to love.
It is a big book (over 500 pages) and slightly different in style from...more
Jun 24, 2010
Tatiana
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Jaclyn Moriarty
I have a strange relationship with Jaclyn Moriarty. I like her books, but I think they are full of a special (maybe Australian?) weirdness. The Ghosts of Ashbury High is no exception.
This book is the 4th about Ashbury High (the other 3 are in chronological order: Feeling Sorry for Celia: A Novel, The Year Of Secret Assignments and The Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie), but it's not a series, each book can be read independently, even though the cast of characters is pretty much the same.
At the center of...more
This book is the 4th about Ashbury High (the other 3 are in chronological order: Feeling Sorry for Celia: A Novel, The Year Of Secret Assignments and The Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie), but it's not a series, each book can be read independently, even though the cast of characters is pretty much the same.
At the center of...more
Jun 12, 2010
Nomes
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010,
aussie-ya,
i-own,
absolute-favourite-favourites,
you-make-me-smile,
crushing-on-the-writing,
you-make-me-laugh-so,
my-kind-of-awesome,
mutli-pov,
alternating-m-f-pov,
epistolary,
my-most-most-fave-boys,
rainy-day-comfort-reads,
shining-with-genius-like-brilliance,
my-most-most-fave-girls,
swoon-worthy-crushes,
want-to-hang-out-with-the-gang
Every time I've read Jaclyn Moriarty's books, I think: Oooh, this book is just so delicious that I can't imagine she's ever going to think up such awesomely wonderful sentences again. But I keep getting proven wrong. Dreaming of Amelia took me longer to read because I kept pausing to re-read sentences, they just feel so good in my brain :) However, I am determined to maintain my fan-girl tendencies and try to bring you a dignified review. Some info about the book:
The story's told in a series of...more
The story's told in a series of...more
All three books by Jaclyn Moriarty that I have read until now were a good mixture of a lot of fun and humor (often kindled by the changing perspectives), good, good writing (Mrs. Moriarty really makes me believe different persons must have composed the different points of view instead of just her), close observation and some tragedy. In Amelia the tragedy ingredient came in larger portions into the mix. I would label the book as "sad but not hopeless". Also a lot of mystery was stirred in, since...more
I cannot praise this book enough. Jaclyn Moriarty has once again proven herself to be clever, AMAZING, awesome, a wonderful writer, and extremely creative. I mean, COME ON, who else could write a book like this and pull it off too?
Because it was pulled off brilliantly. I mean, at first, I was getting sort of bored (mainly of Tom Kincaid) and the randomness of it all. Plus, I kept on wondering how someone could write so much on their HSC Exam. Seriously.
But once I got over that, and the book got...more
Because it was pulled off brilliantly. I mean, at first, I was getting sort of bored (mainly of Tom Kincaid) and the randomness of it all. Plus, I kept on wondering how someone could write so much on their HSC Exam. Seriously.
But once I got over that, and the book got...more
I wanted this book so badly that I made my boyfriend order it for me from Australia.
Screw you, United States! I ain't waitin' six more months!
Anyway, so the edition I read was called "Dreaming of Amelia" (although you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be getting this "Ghost of Ashbury High" edition as soon as it comes out), so let's take it from there.
Altogether, I didn't like it as much as my beloved Murder of Bindy Mackenzie. But, I mean, come on. That's impossible to do. And I still devoured this...more
Screw you, United States! I ain't waitin' six more months!
Anyway, so the edition I read was called "Dreaming of Amelia" (although you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be getting this "Ghost of Ashbury High" edition as soon as it comes out), so let's take it from there.
Altogether, I didn't like it as much as my beloved Murder of Bindy Mackenzie. But, I mean, come on. That's impossible to do. And I still devoured this...more
DREAMING OF AMELIA - is set in the world of Ashbury High where our beloved Lyd, Cass & Em are facing their final year of high school. The girls want to make this their best year yet but things are thrown into discourse after their rival school, Brookfield High is asked to share the stage in their final school play.
The students are also utterly captivated by an inseparable pair of scholarship students, Amelia & Riley who seem to do everything in their power to appear mysterious and secret...more
The students are also utterly captivated by an inseparable pair of scholarship students, Amelia & Riley who seem to do everything in their power to appear mysterious and secret...more
Oh man, Moriarty has done it again.
I love mysteries, and her books always keep my guessing until the very end. I figured out the biggest one in the book a page before it was revealed, which is perfect as it shows how Moriarty created and maintained suspense throughout the novel, while still giving her readers clues.
Every question that came up (and there were many) was resolved by the end of the novel, and though of some of the answers really surprised me, they were all believable. I love a good...more
I love mysteries, and her books always keep my guessing until the very end. I figured out the biggest one in the book a page before it was revealed, which is perfect as it shows how Moriarty created and maintained suspense throughout the novel, while still giving her readers clues.
Every question that came up (and there were many) was resolved by the end of the novel, and though of some of the answers really surprised me, they were all believable. I love a good...more
It didn’t seem so at first, but this was a worthwhile read. (Of course it was going to be, Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my to-buy authors. I wasn’t too worried.)
The beginning was a bit disheartening. I didn’t feel drawn into the story until after the 100 page mark. The series once again takes a new route, this time one with ghosts. It’s the final year for the Ashbury students and their HSC English exams and assignments on gothic fiction make up almost the entirety of the book. Emily’s back with a...more
The beginning was a bit disheartening. I didn’t feel drawn into the story until after the 100 page mark. The series once again takes a new route, this time one with ghosts. It’s the final year for the Ashbury students and their HSC English exams and assignments on gothic fiction make up almost the entirety of the book. Emily’s back with a...more
Okay, I admit it. That at the beginning of the book when nothing seemed to be connecting, I was concerned that I wouldn't like this 480 pg book. When I love a book, I welcome 400 and 500 pages, but since it started slow for me, I started to dread the pages of Ashbury High.
I'm so glad I stuck to it! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to tell you how wonderful this story was. I've never read anything like it. It was so creative, I'm even subconsciously (partly) writing this review the way som...more
I'm so glad I stuck to it! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to tell you how wonderful this story was. I've never read anything like it. It was so creative, I'm even subconsciously (partly) writing this review the way som...more
Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com
When two new exchange students come to Ashbury High who seem to be stuck in their own world, everyone, including the teachers, starts dressing and acting differently to try and get them to take notice.
Amelia and Riley have been in love since they were fourteen. By night they dance and dance; by day they sleep through all of their classes. Mysterious things, however, start happening when they arrive at Ashbury High. Emily seems to be drawn towards her past b...more
When two new exchange students come to Ashbury High who seem to be stuck in their own world, everyone, including the teachers, starts dressing and acting differently to try and get them to take notice.
Amelia and Riley have been in love since they were fourteen. By night they dance and dance; by day they sleep through all of their classes. Mysterious things, however, start happening when they arrive at Ashbury High. Emily seems to be drawn towards her past b...more
After reading the blurb of Dreaming of Amelia I was like WOW. It sounded so good! So, now that I've finished reading it I wouldn't say it was fantastic but it was really good.
I must day that the style of writing and the way Moriarty has presented her book is fantastic. It is so very unique.
I loved how Riley and Amelia were almost sounded like celebrities. There were different accounts of how students at Ashbury High thought about them in the form of essays. Werid right? No, it was a clever was o...more
I must day that the style of writing and the way Moriarty has presented her book is fantastic. It is so very unique.
I loved how Riley and Amelia were almost sounded like celebrities. There were different accounts of how students at Ashbury High thought about them in the form of essays. Werid right? No, it was a clever was o...more
So the copy I have is called The Ghosts of Ashbury High, but from the description this is definitely the same book...I have an advance reader copy courtesy of Scholastic and it could just be a working title. Anyhow, how do I feel about this book? Well, right before I read this one, I read another Scholastic advance, from a different author. I found some very interesting parallels in the books...essentially, that it appears S hires very talented writers to write fluff. This, I cannot disagree, wa...more
I liked how the title of this novel sounded, so I checked it out from the library. I didn't realise that there were 3 other Ashbury books, and when I found out, I was estatic. This can be a stand-alone novel, but if you read them in order first Feeling Sorry for Celia then The Year of Secret Assignmentsand then The Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie, you will get the pleasure of watching these Austrailian high schoolers grow up.
It's a really fun read, and all of the book is told through letters, emails,...more
It's a really fun read, and all of the book is told through letters, emails,...more
My first taste of Jaclyn Moriarty and I had to make a face right after I swallowed the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, because the writing was fantastic and maybe the story was, too; however, gothic fiction may just not be my... slice of cake. The mystery of the enchanted couple Riley and Amelia, who were the new kids in Ashbury High, was what kept me going, but I think the too-many point of view of narratives put me off. It was terrible to be going back to pages just to remember who said this...more
there are some books that just make you think they were written purely for you...as a book that came right when you needed it...as a book that you didnt know you needed untill you were so caught up in it that you just couldnt stop. for me thats what this book was. a mix of gothic and humour...characters that i love already form her other books and new ones that remind me why i love Jaclyn Moriarty for her ability to create such true and life like characters. it feels like theyre people i could g...more
I just don't "get" this book--it's a bit too weird for my taste, or maybe I just wasn't concentrating hard enough. Set at Ashbury High, Amelia and Riley are two scholarship students with a mysterious past. They're strangely talented at everything, but broody and tight-lipped, and only seem to talk to each other (oh, btw, they are in love with each other). Everyone at Ashbury High wants to get to know them, including our formidable trio, Lydia, Emily and Cassie.
The book is told in the form of not...more
The book is told in the form of not...more
A mystery unfolds for both the characters and the reader in this high school fiction set in Australia, at Ashbury High, which faithful readers will recognize from two of Moriarty’s other novels. The story is creatively (and confusingly!) told through student essays, blogs, e-mails, and scholarship committee papers. Readers must try to piece together the plot and the truth as the story and people’s assumptions about each other unfold.
Following the lives of students in their last year of high scho...more
Following the lives of students in their last year of high scho...more
Original Review HERE
It was a dark and stormy night (when I started reading The Ghosts of Ashbury High). The rain fell torrentially and the trees outside rattled against my window occasionally. The house was silent and I was all alone. The lights in the street were out and I was reading by candlelight (ok, not really, but just go with the flow…). Reader! Hear the truth of my words! I had a strong sense of foreboding and a feeling of impending DOOM right after the first few pages and I felt I coul...more
It was a dark and stormy night (when I started reading The Ghosts of Ashbury High). The rain fell torrentially and the trees outside rattled against my window occasionally. The house was silent and I was all alone. The lights in the street were out and I was reading by candlelight (ok, not really, but just go with the flow…). Reader! Hear the truth of my words! I had a strong sense of foreboding and a feeling of impending DOOM right after the first few pages and I felt I coul...more
Jaclyn Moriarty is a genius, and this culmination of her Ashbury/Brookfield books is eight kinds of brilliant. It's:
1. A ghost story.
2. A Gothic pastiche.
3. A culmination of the lives of all these characters and relationships readers have loved since at least THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS. (Seb and Lydia are broken up at the beginning of this book! If you've read YOSA, then undoubtedly you just slapped your hand to your chest and cried out "Oh no!" in horror at this news, as I did when I first...more
1. A ghost story.
2. A Gothic pastiche.
3. A culmination of the lives of all these characters and relationships readers have loved since at least THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS. (Seb and Lydia are broken up at the beginning of this book! If you've read YOSA, then undoubtedly you just slapped your hand to your chest and cried out "Oh no!" in horror at this news, as I did when I first...more
Another Moriarty blows my mind book. I'm not really sure how to describe it without giving too much away, but it's part genre satire, part character study, part ghost story. Moriarty's conceit of how she structures her books continue to amaze me, especially in how different forms of the epistle novel compare to each other.
TGoAH comes nowhere near the transcendent bliss of Feeling Sorry For Celia, but is a very nice companion to The Year of Secret Assignments that drives its characters' further...more
TGoAH comes nowhere near the transcendent bliss of Feeling Sorry For Celia, but is a very nice companion to The Year of Secret Assignments that drives its characters' further...more
Before you begin reading The Ghosts of Ashbury High, put all those expectations you may have about how a book is written on a shelf somewhere. You can pick them up later when you’re back to reading regular books.
Good. Now that that’s done, I can tell you about Jaclyn Moriarty and the Ashbury High books (Feeling Sorry for Celia, The Year of Secret Assignments, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie). These four books aren’t sequels, but they do revolve around the same high school and involve characters wh...more
Good. Now that that’s done, I can tell you about Jaclyn Moriarty and the Ashbury High books (Feeling Sorry for Celia, The Year of Secret Assignments, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie). These four books aren’t sequels, but they do revolve around the same high school and involve characters wh...more
Amelia and Riley have transferred to Ashbury for their final year of school, and everyone is completely obsessed with them. Glamorous, talented and totally devoted to one another, the two of them drift through school in their own world. But there’s more to the couple than meets the eye – they have secrets. And some of them are dangerous to share. As Riley starts to lose his grip on Amelia, the repercussions affect everyone around them.
A spellbinding story about ghosts, secrets, madness, passion,...more
A spellbinding story about ghosts, secrets, madness, passion,...more
Riley and Amelia have been a couple since they were fourteen years old. They are mysterious and beautiful and immediately cause a stir upon their arrival as Year 12 scholarship students at the exclusive private school in Castle Hill, Australia, Ashbury High. No one seems to know anything about these two, but everyone is noticing them and wants to be noticed by them. Even best friends Emily, Lydia, and Cassie. Emily, resident Drama Queen, quickly becomes obsessed with all things Riley and Amelia...more
Amelia and Riley are new students at Ashbury High, and their appearance there changes everything. Everyone is talking about them, but few know anything about them. They rarely show up for school but Amelia breaks all the school’s swimming records. They smile politely when others talk to them but rarely say a word back. They’re an enigma that everyone at Ashbury High wants to solve, including best friends Lydia, Cassie, and particularly Emily. Emily has become nothing short of obsessed with Ameli...more
The Good Stuff
The note at the beginning helps clarify what is going on in the story, I think I would have been really lost if I hadn't read that
Loved the gothic touches to the story
Outstanding dialogue that makes you laugh your butt off at times
The character of Tobias is so loveable and fun and introspective
The scene between the ghost and is brilliantly funny!
Descriptions makes the story and the people feel so real
The chapter on the history of Australia -- spectacularly funny and interest...more
The note at the beginning helps clarify what is going on in the story, I think I would have been really lost if I hadn't read that
Loved the gothic touches to the story
Outstanding dialogue that makes you laugh your butt off at times
The character of Tobias is so loveable and fun and introspective
The scene between the ghost and is brilliantly funny!
Descriptions makes the story and the people feel so real
The chapter on the history of Australia -- spectacularly funny and interest...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The final year of high school is a year full of changes, messing about, dreaming of the future, farewells, and of cause exams. But at Ashbury High, it is also a year full of ghosts. There are two new students attending Ashbury High this year, Amelia and Riley, and there is something very different about them, but no one can quite guess what...
Amelia and Riley are hiding a secret, actually they are hiding more then one secret, but the secret that brought them to Ashbury High for their final year...more
Amelia and Riley are hiding a secret, actually they are hiding more then one secret, but the secret that brought them to Ashbury High for their final year...more
I absolutely loved Jaclyn Moriarty's previous novels, and Dreaming of Amelia is no exception. I loved the format - told through memoirs written as part of the gothic fiction elective in the HSC English exam from multiple viewpoints of Year Twelve students at Ashbury High. I love that it's a companion novel to a few of Moriarty's previous titles including Finding Cassie Crazy - I love revisiting all the same characters.
Dreaming of Amelia is just the right balance of spooky and hilariously funny....more
Dreaming of Amelia is just the right balance of spooky and hilariously funny....more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
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Jaclyn Moriarty is an Australian writer of young adult literature.
She studied English at the University of Sydney, and law at Yale University and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a PhD.
She is the younger sister of Liane Moriarty. She was previously married to Canadian writer Colin McAdam, and has a son, Charlie. She currently lives in Sydney.
More about Jaclyn Moriarty...
She studied English at the University of Sydney, and law at Yale University and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a PhD.
She is the younger sister of Liane Moriarty. She was previously married to Canadian writer Colin McAdam, and has a son, Charlie. She currently lives in Sydney.
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“And she looks at me with her eyes open wide and a face that says: Oh my God, I'm muckin' around in my sexy Jesus-boots, in my crazy dreamworld, and I've opened the door and let you in on my crazy dreamworld and that's so embarrassing but, actually, who cares? because it's funny.”
—
15 people liked it
“and if we can change
things that have
already happened
if those planes can fly in
uneasy formation
if that splinter moon
can blow away the shadows
then anything,
anything at all.”
—
11 people liked it
More quotes…
things that have
already happened
if those planes can fly in
uneasy formation
if that splinter moon
can blow away the shadows
then anything,
anything at all.”
Seconded.
Apr 27, 2011 04:41am
Apr 27, 2011 10:42am