4.5 -“How do you not see what I can’t help but show you? How do you not see the way my heart is absolutely breaking with how much it needs to keep you safe?”

I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical of the paranormal element in this book, but the more I read, the more I fell in love with these characters. Gretchen has a complicated past, posing as a medium to make ends meet, and Charlie immediately thinks she’s a fraud when she’s sent to help him. Everett the ghost was such a pleasant surprise; I adored him so much and he added this incredible element to the overall story. He's so funny, obsessed with television, and provides Gretchen with this beautiful friendship that they both seem to need.

Gretchen and Charlie have a tension from the beginning, though it’s hard to tell if it’s sexual or genuine annoyance. But the more time they spend together, it’s clear that they both harbor real feelings for the other. Charlie doesn't really like Gretchen at first. He accuses her of being a fraud and taking money from vulnerable people. But she has The Rule which gives her a lot of humanity, instead of just portraying her as a fake medium with no moral compass. Seeing Gretchen embrace farm life and enjoy it is so satisfying. She has to work hard to help save the farm, but also to convince Charlie that Everett is real.

“Loving people…can hurt. I understand that. Maybe better than anyone.”

This book is so beautiful and sweet, Gretchen and Charlie's relationship develops so organically, and the addition of Everett is just perfect. I can’t recommend this one enough. I absolutely adored it.

Fake medium Gretchen lives by her own moral code. She may take people's money for pretending to talk to their dead loved ones, but she always tries to leave them better off than before they came to see her. But there's no way she can help Charlie, the skeptical goat farmer who refuses her assistance in exorcising a supposed ghost so he can sell the farm. Until she walks right into (through) the ghost himself. Everett has been haunting the farm for almost a century, and is determined not to let his relative Charlie fall prey to the same curse. Now Gretchen has to convince Charlie that she's for real and so is Everett. Even if it means staying on the farm and helping with the goats.

This was cute. Everett and his obsession with television of every era was my favorite part. I was a little annoyed that Gretchen did the classic big city girl going to a farm thing and wore completely inappropriate shoes for her visit. Why do women in romcoms not seem to know about boots? Even sneakers?

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

It was fine. Everett was hilarious, but never really cared for any of the other characters. I keep waiting for some other twist to develop and it really didn't. Adler's first book was absolutely charming and I was hoping this would be more of the same, instead this one is very Hallmark movie-esque. Everything was too convenient and twee. Could have trimmed about 150 pages and gotten the same story. Very mild spice didn't happen until the last quarter of the book.

A conwoman, ghosts, rural farms, and baby ghosts - what more could you need. This book was nothing that I expected, but everything I loved. Main characters who are grifters/conmen & women are one of my absolute favorites, so this book was right up my alley. It was funny and at times completely over the top, but the growth and depth that we see with Gretchen keeps the book from every becoming too hokey or cloyingly sweet. I never would have guessed all the emotions this book would take me through, but it did and it was perfect.

A great rom-com that the author puts it best as: Ghost, but what if Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore were the ones to fall in love.

(PS for the record the title is great, but knowing it could have been "Ain't Afraid of No Goats"? Heartbreaking).

After loving Sarah Adler’s debut novel, I was pleased (but not surprised) to adore Happy Medium just as much, if not more! This book has everything you could want: goats, ghosts, a (fake) spirit medium, a family curse, and an enemies(ish)-to-lovers story that will make your heart sing.

Gretchen is a self-described BS artist and (fake) psychic who uses her con woman powers for good (i.e., “channeling” dead relatives to help grieving family members heal). Charlie is the (surprisingly hot) owner of a struggling goat farm and bridge partner to Gretchen’s wealthiest client. When said client hires Gretchen to figure out why Charlie’s goat farm won’t sell, it turns out that the client was right: the farm is haunted by a real life (well, dead) ghost.

After falling prey to a family curse, Everett has been haunting Gilded Creek Goat Farm since the 1920s. After watching a lot of sitcoms and mostly hanging out, Gretchen’s arrival presents Everett with an opportunity: not only does he now have someone to talk to, but he also has someone to help him prevent the sale of the farm and save Charlie from the same curse! They just have one minor problem: Charlie really, really doesn’t believe in ghosts and definitely doesn’t trust Gretchen (even though they’re definitely attracted to each other).

Gretchen and Charlie are both such interesting characters, and their story is so sweet and full of growth. The forced proximity causes Gretchen and Charlie to both question themselves and become more honest about who they are, and Everett is simultaneously hilarious and maudlin (as is appropriate). Happy Medium balances a fun love story with themes of loneliness and loss, all in one adorable story.

Other things I liked about this book:
✨ baby goat tattoo
✨ Charlie loves his grandfather
✨ banter (and more banter) (and EVEN MORE BANTER)
✨ so many sitcom references from Everett
✨ daddy issues
✨ magical realism
✨ hustling a consulting bro at pool
& SO MUCH MORE

5 stars, spice: 2, number of times I cried: 2, number of times I kicked my feet and giggled: probably at least 20. Loved, loved, loved this book.

Thank you so much to Berkley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I’ve been looking forward to reading this for months and the opportunity to read it early was AMAZING.

Happy Medium is a charming romance with a touch of the paranormal fun. Gretchen Acorn is a spirit medium and although she can't really speak to ghosts, she is determined to help her clients heal. Her mantra is to never harm a client and to leave them better than she met them. When her best client sends her on a mission to help Charlie Waybill and his farm which seems to be haunted, she is met with a grumpy guy who calls her on her con. But then the unexpected happens. Not only does she see and talk to her first ghost, but this ghost needs her to save Charlie's life. Everett Waybill has been stuck haunting the family farm for nearly a century and his interactions with Gretchen are delightfully fun. Gretchen and Charlie romance is slow burn as the two have a lot of distance to cover due to their differences. The ending adds a nice twist which keeps the story fresh and unique.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for early access to Happy Medium. Featuring goats, grifters, and sarcastic ghosts, this slightly spooky rom-com will be a great addition to TBR lists for readers who enjoyed The Dead Romantics, The Seven Year Switch, and, of course, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes. While I felt like there were a couple of loose ends left untied, I stayed up late reading this book for its lovable characters.

The perfect mix of playful and heartfelt.
Thank you, Berkley Publishing, for the gifted copy of Happy Medium {partner}

Genre: Romance
Trope: Forced Proximity
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 4.30
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆.5

“You pretend you’re so honorable. That you’re a stand-up guy. But, deep down, you’re as flawed as the rest of us. You’re just better at hiding it.”

Last year, I missed out on Mrs. Nash’s Ashes (I still need to read it, by the way), so when I saw she had a new title coming out in April about a fake medium turned real Medium, I jumped at the chance to read it. Have you ever been to see a Medium? What were your thoughts afterward?

Happy Medium was charming. I couldn’t get enough of our MC, Gretchen; the tattoos goat farmer, Charlie; and, of course, the adorable (albeit cantankerous) ghost, Everett. Plus, the goats and the other farm animals? It was just too perfect for me. All the human (and ghost) characters had just the right amount of flaws that made it fun to reach as they grew and changed throughout the book.

There were only a few small issues that I had (which kept it from a 5-star rating)—there was a subplot involving Gretchen’s dad that was interesting but didn’t feel necessary to the story. I also felt like Gretchen’s plan to save Charlie at the last minute would’ve been nice had it been introduced earlier. Then, there’s a secret revealed towards the end that felt a bit too convenient.

☝🏼 One POV
🫶🏼 Everett
🥰 Playful + Heartfelt
🏘️ Small town

Overall, I enjoyed reading Happy Medium and think it’ll be a hit with many readers this spring!

Thank you Berkley for the advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Sorry to say but I could not finish this novel. I found it to be very weird and hard to follow.. I found the heroine very annoying. .

Thank you for the free book @berkleyromance!! #penguinrandomhousepartner #berkleyIG #BerkleyBookstagram

Happy Medium
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️
comes out April 30!

Omg!!! I went blind into this book and I was sooo happy when I found out that this is a book about a con artist (pretending to be a medium), a goat farm in a small town, breaking a 100 year old family curse, and of course- a Golden Girls- loving ghost!

If the ghost element scares you, please don’t! The ghost in this book is so fun and entertaining! Think Casper than a ghost from a horror book hehe.

So basically, Gretchen works as a medium. She pretends that she has the ability to talk to ghosts of the rich people’s departed loved ones. Keyword being rich 😅 Then one day, one of her most faithful clients asked her to perform an exorcism at a goat farm to help her friend out. Gretchen gets there and was utterly surprised when for the first time ever in her whole career as a medium- she was actually able to see a ghost!

As we know, small town romances just hit differently to me. Pair that with a goat farm and a family curse and I’m 💯 sold to the story!

I love the banter and the undeniable chemistry between the leads. I also loved reading about the formation of Everett’s (the ghost) and Gretchen’s friendship.

I haven’t read this author’s book from last year and I’m now adding it to my TBR because of how much Ive enjoyed this one!

For my spice loving friends, this definitely has some spicy scenes. Be ready to be charmed by a cute farmer with tattoos and sexy forearms! ;)

Definitely recommend for you to pick this up when it comes out!!

💭 If you were given a million dollars, will you stay at a haunted house for a month?
☕️ Hard no for me. 😂

I loved Mrs. Nash's Ashes, so I've been chomping at the bit to get to this one!! And this cover???? gah it's gorgeous!!!

There's something about Sarah Adler's writing that makes me feel so safe and invested within the first few pages of her books. She does such a great job at establishing her characters and the setting/vibe of the book. She masterfully weaves humorous moments with heartfelt ones, and does a really good job at getting the reader attached to the main character.

I loved the premise of this book: con artist medium actually sees a ghost (for real) and has to convince hot goat farmer to not only believe her, but to not sell his farm. Like PLEASE! this is the perfect romcom setting and it could have gone so ridiculously wrong BUT it's done so well with little details that seem consistent with what living on a goat farm entails (but what do I know lol).

I loved Gretchen!! Truly a con-artist with a heart of gold. Her growth throughout the book was so touching, and her inner monologue was often really amusing. Charlie is such a skeptic-grump, and his dynamic with Gretchen is so fun to read. The banter and animosity between these two was palpable and I really enjoyed it!! There are some steamy scenes, and I liked most of them-- but there was one that was a little cringey for me.

Everett was so annoying, but in a lovable way. I love how as I watched Gretchen's friendship with Everett bloom, he was also growing on me as a character. While I did appreciate Everett's part in the story, I feel like his presence often overshadowed Charlie. I know this is probably a hard thing to balance, but I personally wish we would've gotten less Everett and more Charlie.

The third act conflict felt a little flat to me, I actually wanted a little MORE conflict? Idk. Maybe I am damaged haha, but I felt a little unsatisfied by it.

Overall, I really liked this book and I will definitely continue to be excited for anything Sarah Hadler writes!

Thank you to Berkley for this ARC!

FMC Gretchen is an “ethical?” con woman. Groomed from birth by her dad, cons are what she knows, but she has too much of a conscience to screw people over blindly. She has a rule that she will only con someone if she knows she can leave them better than she found them. Which leads to her current business, acting as a spirit medium for DC’s elderly wealthy female population. When her golden goose client asks her to do an exorcism for a friend’s goat farm in rural Maryland, she can’t pass up the money and takes the job despite it being a stretch out of her wheelhouse. When she arrives at the Gilded Creek goat farm everything goes topsy-turvy. Charlie, the owner of the farm (who is not an octogenarian as she expected, but a hottie in flannel) hates her at first sight, calls her a fraud and orders her off his property. On her exit, wouldn’t you know it, she sees a ghost (so maybe she hasn’t been lying this whole time?). Everett, the farm’s ghost, is cursed to the land as are any of his relatives who try to leave the farm with the intention of never returning. Everett begs Gretchen to stay and convince Charlie he cannot sell the farm as planned or he will die and be Everett’s new ghost bff. That stupid conscience forces Gretchen to turn around and do just what Everett requests, with some struggles mixed in. Charlie agrees to give Gretchen a month at the farm to convince him she is not a fraud, as long as she works the farm and helps him through the kidding season at the same time. The more time they spend together the more both reconsider what they thought they knew and wanted for their life.

This was charming. I loved it! I adored Adler’s debut novel last year and it was one of my 5 Star reads of the year, so I was super pumped to get this novel as an ARC from Berkley (Thanks Berkley and Net Galley!) While the two novels are very different, I can see Adler’s voice and point of view coming through. It makes me want to use words like lovely, darling, and whimsical. Charming. Just Charming! The character development was complete and engaging. There are baby goats and ghost best friends. Plus a real softie of an outdoorsman MMC. All of it was odd and felt like maybe it shouldn’t work, but it very much did. I highly recommend the read! And if you love this one and haven’t read her first novel, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, definitely read it as well!!

My first book from this author and it was simply delightful. Definitely won't be my last. Loved everything about this!

✨𝐑 𝐄 𝐕 𝐈 𝐄 𝐖✨

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐀𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫

Thanks so much to @berkleyromance for the free book #berkleypartner - this one is out on 4/30! This story was so fun & right up my alley! 😍

👍🏼: I’m a huge fan of romance mixed with some fun paranormal elements! This story centers around Gretchen, who is a fake medium, hired to help Charlie sell his farm that is apparently haunted. However, once arriving at the farm Gretchen finds herself surprised by everything & everyone she finds there & that’s all I’ll say 😂 I loved the enemies-to-lovers vibes, the banter, and the funny & ridiculous plot! The characters were so lovable, heartwarming and grew a lot. I loved how the story wrapped up too and am still thinking about these characters days later 🫶🏼

👎🏼: You definitely have to suspend reality to read this one, but I found it so fun! There were some missing pieces for me with Gretchen & her fathers storyline as well 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall, this was such a great read & I really enjoyed it! I haven’t read @sarahadlerwrites’s first novel, but I’m definitely going to check it out now 👏🏼📚

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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#happymedium #sarahadler #berkleypublishing #aprilbooks #paranormalromance

4.25⭐️ I laughed. I cried. I sweated & squealed. This is type of rom com that reminds me how much I love this genre. Did I mention I binged it in 24 hours?!

I’ll leave you read the official blurb for this one, because the plot is well, a lot (in the best way!). I went into this totally blind, though I knew it had elements of magical realism which is one of my absolute favorite romance sub genre/trope.

Gretchen is not very likable from the get go (she’s a con woman after all) and honestly I found it refreshing. I liked the rawness and authenticity of her opening up to others (the irony, right?) and how she grappled with her childhood and the choices she made as an adult. The majority of her new-found honesty was with a ghost named Everett who was hilariously lovable and possibly my favorite side character ever.

Charlie’s character in particular made me feel *all the feels* doing everything he could to help his grandfather and save the family farm. I went absolutely feral when he and Gretchen finally jumped the veryyyy thin line between hate and love. Though this was written in 3rd POV, we didn’t really get any of Charlie’s internal thoughts or perspective, which I think would have elevated the book overall.

Overall a super fun and quick read, I would definitely recommend it!

Tropes & Themes:
→ hate to lovers
→ grief & paranormal activity
→ con woman
→ goat farm setting
→ hilarious ghost banter
→ tv show references
→ everyone has daddy issues

If you are looking for reasons to dive right into this book I have included a few of my favorite (made up) themes:

👻 Hillarious Ghost
🐐 Unruly Goats
🧶 Sweater trope (think Chris Pine)
🤬 Family curses

Gretchen is a professional “bs” artist. In fact she comes from a long line of them. Her current con is as a psychic medium that communicates with the dead. She has a nice little business going in DC with a wealthy clientele. Although she doesn’t really communicate with the dead she has 1 rule that she follows, not to harm anyone and that the people she helps end up better off.

All is fine until her favorite client offers her an offer she can’t refuse to go to a goat farm and perform an exorcism to rid the farm of a pesky ghost. Knowing that there are no such things as ghosts, Gretchen figures there is nothing to lose.

That is until Gretchen shows up and gets the door slammed in her face by Charlie. Charlie the very much younger owner of the property seems to see right through Gretchen’s scheme and kicks her out without a second glance.

Unfortunately as she attempts to flee Gretchen comes face to uh, face? With Everett, the resident ghost.

Everett informs her of a generational curse preventing the sale of the land. If Charlie sells the land he will die and be forced to live on the land instead of passing on.

Now Gretchen has to do the impossible, convince Charlie she isn’t a fraud, (right now at least) make the farm profitable and convince him not to sell it. This might just be her hardest hustle yet..

Spice 🌶️🌶️
Humor 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Definitely a must read!

✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ Big City to Farm
✔️ And They're Roommates
✔️ Magical Realism

Just like with Mrs Nash's Ashes, there were some incredibly funny lines and situations in Happy Medium.

I loved seeing Gretchen's transformation to caring just about her own survival to caring about others around her (particularly Charlie and Everett). I loved watching Charlie slowly thaw as a result of Gretchen trying so hard.

I also loved how both characters start out as polar opposites but as you get to know them you see that both are lonely and had kind of given up on connection until each other. 🥹

Also, I know folks found sweaters sexy after Chris Evans in Knives Out but there is a sweater scene here that is 👨‍🍳💋.

Highly recommend!

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

“Loving you will always be worth it.”

If you hear a loud noise, that’s me screaming over how adorable this book is. I mean, come on, a con artist medium moving onto a goat farm with a grumpy goat farmer who has a BABY GOAT tattoo? And there’s ghosts? AND spice? Sign me up, respectfully.

Gretchen and Charlie are both well-developed characters who grow as the story progresses, and they really play off each other well. I do think Gretchen’s B-plot of her father and background was sort of overshadowed by the main plot, but I do think it helped flesh out her avoidance toward relationships of any kind.

The banter. Oh my goodness the banter:

“‘God knows the lengths you’ll go to fuck me over.’”
“‘I have no intention of fucking you over.’”

Also, Everett the ghost? So fun. It was a refreshing twist on the meddling best friend trope in romance books, and his quips genuinely made me laugh out loud. I do think he got a little annoying at times, however, and some of his banters with Gretchen didn’t add much but more humor to the plot.

The romance was a delightful slow burn, and I love how genuine we see Gretchen become with Charlie. I didn’t think a story about goats and ghosts would win me over, but I absolutely recommend Happy Medium to anyone wanting a romcom with a light supernatural twist. I just wouldn’t go into it expecting anything too deep.

Sarah Adler is officially one of my favorite new authors. I absolutely loved the humor and quirk of Mrs. Nash's Ashes but Happy Medium absolutely blew me away with beautifully descriptive writing and depth while never losing the quirk and humor that drew me to her writing in the first place. I cracked up at all the television references (tv addict here) and the banter between Gretchen and (ghost) Everett was off the charts fantastic. Last but not least, the chemistry between Charlie and Gretchen, even as Charlie put in a valiant fight to stop it, was sparkling. Sarah Adler is a true talent, and I cannot wait to read her next book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Con artist Gretchen is a fake spirit medium who lives by one rule as her moral compass: She only takes on a client if she can leave them better off than when she met them. When her best client offers her $10,000 to help her bridge partner cleanse his presumably haunted goat farm so he can sell it, she can't really say no. Gretchen is surprised on her arrival that Charles "Charlie" Waybill, the bridge partner, is actually an attractive man around her age how does not believe in the supernatural whatsoever. After he kicks her out, Gretchen is even more shocked to learn that there actually is a cursed ghost haunting the farm and only she can see him. Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie not to sell the farm, or else he will meet the same cursed fate.

I was so excited for this book. The plot sounded like fun and I loved the cover. I was even more excited when I learned that it was written by Sarah Adler, who wrote one of my favorite books from last year- "Mrs. Nash's Ashes." I was hoping that this book would be just as good and it didn't disappoint.

I usually don't love morally gray characters, at least not in my romances, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the character of Gretchen. She does bad things, but she tries to not actually hurt anyone. I found myself buying into her rule and appreciating that she grappled with what she was doing. It made her journey more interesting and you appreciate where she ends up in the end.

The author has said that this book was partly inspired by flipping the relationships in the movie Ghost and I definitely felt it while reading. Gretchen is Whoopi Goldberg's character, the fake psychic medium who suddenly can talk to a ghost and has to convince someone that they're not lying this time. Instead of reconnecting lovers, the medium in this one falls in love with the one who is still alive. It was a fun take on it and I think it worked really well. I also got hints of Meg Cabot's "The Mediator" series with the way that the medium interacted with the often annoying ghost.

I also enjoyed the goat farm aspects of the book. It's not a setting that I've read before and was a good vehicle for putting things into perspective for Gretchen.

I liked the male lead Charlie. He took a while to listen to Charlie but his skepticism felt very believable. Wouldn't most of us not believe a woman claiming to be a psychic? He was clear with his intentions and expectations and communicated pretty well. I'm a sucker for good guys in books and he definitely was one.

Sarah Adler is a wonderful writer. I love her use of imagery and her wide variety of references to other media. I trust any book that she writes in the future.