This review can also be found at BookShelfery.Conversion by Katherine Howe should be a love it or hate it kind of book. But I don't know, I just felt a little indifferent about it. 
 This unusual illness has taken over St. Joan's Academy, an elite school for girls in Massachusetts. Mostly the wealthy go there, but there are scholarship kids, too, and none of them is a slacker. Dreams of Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy Leagues plague their thoughts as they compete with one another for the most prestigious honors among their class, as well as placement within their chosen undergrads. When a mysterious illness begins felling all of her peers, Colleen starts to believe there are other forces at play, and struggles fruitlessly to get anyone to believe her. 
 Conversion could have been a stellar novel. It had all the ingredients for it, but I think it just tried to be too many things. One part mystery (what is the illness?), one part paranormal (unexplained activities and links to witchcraft) with a dash of romance and contemporary YA, too, it wasn't sure what it wanted to be. Conversion is told in two - no, three - parts: Modern day with Colleen as the narrator; 17th century "then" colonial life with Sarah as the narrator; and 17th century "now" colonial life as told by Sarah. Because this audiobook was narrated by Khristine Hvam, it was very easy to decipher Colleen from Sarah; but it was not easy to decipher Sarah "then" from Sarah "now". It only became evident much later in the story that she was re-capping what had happened to thrust Salem Village into the witch trials. 
 I did enjoy the mystery of the book, and I had my suspicions as to what was causing the illness. However a lot of the plot was a bit too drawn out for me and I wish it had been condensed. I can't say that I hated the colonial chapters, but I didn't love them either, because I sort of had a clue what the outcome would be and it meant there was little suspense. Of course that means there was no suspense in the book period, because St. Joan's was mimicking the past. 
 I did like that Conversion explored mass hysteria and some of the affects of that, and I also liked all the chapters with the actual witch trials in them. 
 Overall, some people will really love Conversion, and some people will hate it. I'm glad I listened to it, because it was entertaining, but I was not wowed.