3.75
Happy medium it was a funny romcom about a con artist and a grumpy farmer. I feel like in the middle Wednesday begin to open up to each other it was maybe too instant and not really thought it through, but Everett (the ghost who turns up to be true) was always there to save today up until the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for sending me this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Medium is so wonderful and funny and tender and I just love it so much. It is pure escapist fiction that manages to deal with universal, sometimes painful, human themes without losing any of the joy.

The premise of Happy Medium is utterly and brilliantly absurd: Gretchen, a fake spirit medium, is hired to exorcise a ghost from Charlie’s farm (against his will), but discovers a real ghost only she can see who is warning of a curse putting Charlie’s life at risk.

Everett (the ghost) really grew on me. His character arc is masterfully written and such a perfect accompaniment to the romance story. Adler’s books are infused with love and humour despite rough circumstances, summed up perfectly in the rocky friendship between Gretchen and Everett.

It’s a cliché to say you couldn’t put a book down but Happy Medium was absolutely that. It left me sobbing and yet uncontrollably smiling at the same time. Just as I plan to read Mrs Nash’s Ashes every summer, Adler’s second book is definitely going into yearly rotation for me. This is what romantic comedy as a genre is all about.

When I heard about this book, it transported me to my teenage years when I was obsessed with The Mediator by Meg Cabot the main girl could talk to ghosts, so I had high expectations for this book. It took me a while to connect with the story, mainly because I didn’t like that she isn’t a “mediator” or in this case, a medium, but she is a con artist. This part is on the back of the book, but I tend not to read the synopsis right when I’m about to start a book. So, I was feeling a bit underwhelmed about a story in which the FMC lies about seeing dead people.
However, around 50 pages in, the story has a twist that picks my interest immediately (I’m not going to mention it so I don’t spoil anyone who will read this book). From then on, I was pleasantly surprised because I didn’t know where the story took me. Sarah Adler’s storytelling is very visual and compelling (this is her second book that I have read), she took me right into farming and I was very interested in farm life and all the business of a goat farm. I like the plot, and some parts took me to my favourite books, which was much appreciated. But the romance wasn’t the best part for me. I didn’t dislike it, I liked how it was very slow burn but sometimes I thought the MMC’s grumpiness was just mean to her, and once they got together, he went from “you are a liar and a con artist” to “you were just helping people”.

Overall, it was fun and great entertainment and I think the author’s writing and creativity are amazing.

Thanks to Netgalley UK and Quercus for sending me this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing! I love everything about this book! Romance with a hint of ‘supernatural’ is one of my favourite things!

This was a fun rom com, I really enjoyed the premise - con woman suddenly finding herself trapped on a goat farm by her own inconvenient conscience is just funny.

This book felt genuine in that the relationship truly took work to build, and wasn't easily undone when it was built! I love books where the trust takes a long time to build, they resulting relationships just feel like they have a stronger foundation. Gretchen's character development was great, too, I totally bought in to her epiphanies.

Everrett felt quite young to me at the beginning of the book, but he did grow on me. I do slightly wish we got a bit more from his character other than TV or his romantic escapades.

Overall, a fun, light-hearted, romantic read.

Gretchen is a spirit medium. Sure, it's a bit of scam, as she can't actually talk to ghosts, but a lot of people feel much better after they come and talk to her, and her one rule is to never leave anyone worse off than they came to her.

One day one of her loyal customers offers her a large sum of money to help a friend whose house won't sell as it appears to be haunted. When Gretchen arrives, to her great surprise, it would turn out she's not quite as unable to speak to ghosts as she thought she was when she encounters the local house ghost! She immediately clashes with the young, hot goat farmer who wants rid of this scam artist as soon as possible, but when she finds out that there is a curse on him that will kill him if he does sell the house, she decides to stay.

This is a pretty cute, cozy romance story, involving goats, idyllic farm life stories etc. It's an easy read and I had a fun with this.

I think there's probably a few rough edges that could be smoothed off her, Gretchen's conversations with herself are sometimes a bit disconnected and her romance with Charlie can come across a bit all over the place.

Overall I liked this and recommend it if you want a nice breezy read. The goats were good, too.

N.b. I received a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Aaaah, I loved this book! It was funny, but dealt with serious subjects at the same time. Everett was the funniest thing and I loved their friendship so much! And then Charlie!! He's the absolute cutest ever!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

When tired con artist Gretchen Acorn is offered £10,000 to excorcise a house for an old lady, she thinks it will be easy. Go in, waft some sage around, charm an old man, and come home with enough money to stay away from her father just a little longer. Except there is actually a ghost (charming but a bit weird), and the old man is actually a 30 year old farmer called Charlie. A 30 year old farmer called Charlie, who sees right through Gretchen within minutes of meeting her. But the ghost is meddlesome, there is a generations old family curse, and Gretchen just can not ignore the chemistry between herself and Charlie.

This book was absolutely what I needed after reading nonfiction for a good while. It was spooky, funny, and so full of angst that I had to put it down on several occasions. The beginning was a little confusing. However, the inciting incident was interesting, and the setup for the story was absolutely phenomenal. I enjoyed every minute I spent on this book, finishing it in only 2 sittings! The writing was clear, the story was well thought out, and the characters were absolutely perfect. Despite being an anti-hero, Gretchen was honestly the funniest and most real character. I love the 'villain with morals' trope, and Gretchen filled that perfectly. She conned people but always left them better than they were before. Her chemistry and banter with Charlie was honestly some of the best build up to a relationship that I have read this year (and I've read 40 romance books so far this year). I loved the connections she made along the way and the friendship she managed to build with the ghost, even though he was chatty, tiresome, and the oddest flirt known to man. Charlie himself was the definition of a grump, but he was soft on the inside, so full of heart and character. The scenes where he was looking after the baby goats were some of my favourites, and the way he spoke about his grandparents was even better. I loved him from the get-go.

There were a couple of weird parts to this book, such as an entire paragraph on whether Charlie's feet were attractive or not. That being said, this book had LGBTQIA+ characters, found family, forced proximity, and sex positivity, all wrapped into one bundle of joy that would be the perfect romantic comedy for halloween nights.

4 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this read from start to finish and it was exactly the vibe I was hoping it would be. It had the perfect mix of character development, plot twisting, enemies to lovers (my faaaave), escape to the country vibes and of course what’s not to love about baby goats in knitted jumpers?! 🐐 While I really liked Gretchen and Charlie, I absolutely adored Everett and felt they were just perfect mix together. I would definitely recommend this if you enjoy a bit of magical realism in your romance with a dose of comedy but also moments of heartbreaking reveals and emotional growth 💕 ✨ Thank you Sarah Adler and Quercus Books for sending me an eARC copy to read and review through NetGalley ✨

The protagonist of this fantastic story is Gretchen Arcon. Gretchen is a fake medium because, of course, she can’t talk to the dead, but she feels she is doing something good if it helps grieving people move on, even if, in exchange, they give her lots of money. When her best client offers her a large fee to help her bridge partner, Gretchen is happy to help. All she has to do is to investigate strange events that seem to prevent the sale of his farm. However, when she arrives at Gilded Creek, there are quite a few surprises waiting for her. First of all, Charlie Waybill is not the old farmer Gretchen was expecting, but a handsome young man who scowls a lot and who doesn’t believe she can’t talk to the dead. Then, there is really a ghost in the farm who scares away potential buyers. His name is Everett and he’s been cursed to never leave the farm since the 1920s. And, he reveals that if Charlie manages to sell and leave the farm, he will be destined to the same family curse. Gretchen needs to convince Charlie to not sell the farm, but he is stubborn and he doesn’t trust her. So, not only she has to earn his trust and convince him that the curse is real, but she also must face the past that still haunts her and makes her keep people at a distance.

I must admit that I had a bit of a slow start, but, as the story progressed, I really started to enjoy it and I didn’t want it to end. Happy Medium is fun, engaging, and witty. I loved the easy relationship between Gretchen and Everett, who was my favourite character. How not to love a chatty and honest ghost who watches too much television? The romance is also well-developed: an enemies-to-lovers, grumpy-vs-sunshine love story that kept me completely immersed.

Sarah Adler is definitely an author I will keep reading. She created an heart-warming and satisfying story of romance, family, and friendship that kept me entertained for hours!

This book was definitely something different to my normal reading but it was a pleasant surprise. The book follows Gretchen who a fake spirit medium. She is tasked by a client to preform a cleansing of a property. This property is owned by Charlie. This book is funny and quirky. It was super heartwarming read. I will definitely be reading more of Sarah Adler’s books. Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley romance for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the humour and quirkiness of this book making it stand out from other romcoms. great characters (I especially loved Everett) making it a perfect light summer read

This book quickly became a favorite read for me!
Stunning writing and incredibly complex characters made for a wonderful reading experience.
The romance felt so genuine and with such a cool and fascinating set up.
I cannot recommend it enough!

I got to 15% through and I really considering DNF’ing because I just wasn’t vibing but I am SO glad I persevered because this is easily a four star read for me.
The story is super cute, it is heartwarming and laugh out loud funny. I just loved Everett, I will definitely be checking out this authors other book!
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Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to review this book.

I DNFed this bok at 13%. I found I could not reconcile the premise enough to settle into the story. The main issue was an intense dislike for the FMC.

I've read plenty of books where the FMC does horrible things but they've always been justified enough to assuage any moral or ethical dilemma I felt about their actions. Gretchen, on the other hand, does horrible things but justifies them to herself by reasoning she's doing something good. She's not, and I could not agree with her logic that taking money - lots of money - from vulnerable, grieving people and pretending to commune with the spirit of their lost loved ones was something that it is ok to do, or earn a living from. The character gave me an almost visceral ick and I found I just didn't want to read about her conwoman antics at all, amusing romcom plot be damned.

When the talking ghost showed up, I was out.

Oooh I loved this. I loved the connection between Charlie and Gretchen while they search for a place that truly feels like home. I also adored the friendship between Gretchen and Everett which had me cackling on multiple occasions but was also really emotional in places as Everett comes to terms with the way he lived his life and how that impacted his afterlife. I loved seeing Gretchen open herself up to love, both romantic and platonic, and realising that living without it would be far worse than being alone forever. Just a joy to read.

This was an extremely sweet and cosy read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hadn’t read anything by the author before this one and I’m glad I took a chance on this one. I loved the humour of it and the representation of a Bi lead character.

This book had such a great premise, that I was a little worried it would fall short but it was really well executed and a total delight to read. The book is well-written, with vibrant, loveable characters and a quirky but ultimately moving story. I loved the ghost element, which provided a lot of humour but also somewhat surprising emotional depth. The goat farm setting adds a sweet layer to Gretchen and Charlie's relationship, and particularly Gretchen's character development. Overall, definitely recommend picking this one up for an enjoyable read.

This book was really cute and funny. Some of the subjects around the main plot could be heavy but they were executed well to keep it as a light rom com. I loved the MC she really made me laugh, as did the resident ghost. Charlie was the perfect grumpy character. The book was a delight 🩶

Gretchen is a fake medium discounters a real ghost when she is hired to help Charlie well his family property. A fun read!