This was a silly, fun rom-com that I liked but unfortunately didn't love. Major props to Adler for the very original concept, but sadly the execution lacked some finesse, the writing was a bit more telling than showing, and the story subsequently ended up feeling a little cliche despite the unique premise. Overall it was cute but not my favourite.

A good read and very charming. I couldn't quite connect with the writing style. I still recommend as it was lots of fun.

This is a five-star read that will fill you with wonder. This was a difficult one to rate, as I really enjoyed most of the story, but there were sections that dragged a little. I really liked the characters in this story, they really made it for me, Gretchen, Charlie and Everett all had amazing stories to tell, and the way the author brought them to life, really added something to this story, even little sleepy-jean made me smile every time she popped up. As I was reading this one, it made me stop to check out cute goat videos as I really felt the need, they are just so beautifully written, that I was desperate for Gilded Creek to be real, I was so desperate for a break with the goats that I could taste it. If the story was as strong all the way through this has the bones to be one of those stories that stays with you, it certainly made me smile, and made me want to check this author out to see what they have next.

Ahhhh I loves this romcom! The banter, chemistry, side character. It has everything I want from a perfect romcom. If you enjoyed enemies to lovers romance, don’t hesitate to get this book.

Absoutely loved both MCs, Charlie and Gretchen! The dynamic they had in the beginning to the one they develop towards the ending is so fun and so sweet. The way they resist yet cannot help opening themselves up to one another slowly and gradually warmed my heart and I was just obsessed with them!

And we have Everett, the ghost that haunts Charlie’s farm, plays a vital role to drive their romance but also just make the whole book so much more fun! He’s charming, witty, impossible to hate. I loved friendship Everett and Gretchen formed. Another reason why I love this book!

So if you like

-enemies to lovers
-small town romance
-a charming ghost in romcom

I highly recommend this!!

4.5 🌟

Honestly I was a bit skeptical going into this book, but by chapter 3 Sarah had me hooked, it had pretty much everything you want from a romantic comedy from a hilarious meddling ghost to sweet romantic moments.

Gretchen’s character development throughout the book was heart warming to read, as well as the way that her and Charlie’s love blossomed, I’m a sucker for an enemies to lovers and I really enjoyed this one!

However Everett stole the show, he was funny and cheeky and just as meddling as you’d expect from a ghost haunting a goat farm, and as much as he had me laughing I definitely shed a tear when it was time for him to go!

Overall I really enjoyed this book, from the laughs to the tears!

Unfortunately I could not finish this.

This book is ridiculous - Gretchen is insufferable, Charlie treats her terribly and the sex scene where she was wearing the jumper he made for his grandad? No thank you. The lack of chemistry between the two characters and the multiple different storylines that are half heartedly crammed into this just do not work for me.

The only thing that kept me interested was the baby goats and even they can’t save this book.

I loved the premise of this book with the con medium Gretchen that can actually see and talk to a ghost. I had a really hard time getting into it and it didn't feel like the story truly picked up until the last 30% of the book. I did thoroughly enjoy those last percents but all in all the book kind of fell flat. There was a lot going on in the plot that I didn't even feel got a real conclusion, like the whole ordeal with Gretchens father. Overall I rate this books 3 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this arc.

I had been hearing A LOT about this book, and it did not disappoint. A perfect match of characters, with witty banter, and a reason to stay apart that was as genuine as it was enticing. Loved both characters' arcs, and they way they circled each other until they couldn't stay apart any longer. Funny, endearing, and absolutely delightful!

I absolutely loved Sarah Adlers first book and was extremely excited to read her second one ahead of its publishing date.
Sarah Adler writes incredible romantic novels where she writes real characters. Hardly any cringey moments but a story that could be a friend telling their real life happenings.
Of course a story with a ghost popping up is not quite the real life story one would have in mind and to be honest for a long time I was reading and thinking let’s hope Gretchen doesn’t have a brain tumour and that’s the explanation for seeing a ghost all of a sudden.
While I was not able to put down Sarah Adlers first book, this one took me a bit longer to read. Some story parts went on a little bit too long and others I wished would have gotten more words. The ending after all was a bit too rounded. Everett being a baddie and the hero all at once but I’m also glad he got to go UP. And who knows maybe we get a second part, maybe Everett’s evil aunt gets send to Gilded Creek Farm as a ghost to make up for putting a curse on Everett 100 years ago? Maybe we get to hear more about Gretchen’s dad? See Sleepy Jane again? Who know?!
I will however read anything Sarah Adler is going to write from now on.

happy medium - sarah adler 🔮

happy medium is a contemporary romance that follows gretchen, a con-artist who pretends to be a medium. she gets a gig where she has to convince charlie not to sell his goat farm. when she gets discovers the place is actually haunted by a ghost named everett, who only she can see.

so last year i read sarah adler’s other romance novel “mrs nash’ ashes”. in that book i loved the side plot line way more than the actual romance. the same goes for this book. while i liked charlie and gretchens relationship, the main hook for me was the friendship between gretchen and everett.

the first 50% of the book it felt like there was too much going on. you have gretchens job, her relationship with het father, her relationship with yolanda, her relationship with the lady she is scamming, her and everett, her and charlie and then also all the medium stuff, the con stuff, the goat farm stuff (this is only gretchens stuff, we still have all of charlies stuff as well). it just felt like, since there was so much, there was so much introduction as well.

the romance picked up in the last 30% and i would say if you are thinking about picking this up, don’t do it for the romance. the humor was a bit too cheesy for me, but i can def see how it would appeal to others.

overall a fine read (3 stars for me). ⭐️

I screamed so much because of the chemistry between Gretchen and Charlie!!!

Gretchen was different from what I expected. I thought she would be like a villainess who would turn good when she fell in love. How wrong I was! Gretchen is not a villainess. Yes, she knows how to scam people as that is what her father taught her, but she still has morals and won't take everything away from someone. She wants to bring happiness through her services, and being a medium allows her to do that. Too bad that Charlie doesn't agree. Gretchen has to go to Charlie's farm as she was hired by her most wealthy client to help him sell the family farm. There is gossip that the farm is haunted, and being a (fake) medium should be enough to fake an exorcism. However, what Gretchen doesn't expect is to find a real ghost who has ulterior motives on why the farm cannot be sold. If now she could only convince Charlie of the truth...
But he's too skeptical, and thinks Gretchen is a scam artist.

It was painful reading how Charlie, even unintentionally, hurt Gretchen with his words. She's softer than she tends to let on and only wants someone to see the real Gretchen. Hopefully Charlie can be that person, be he has some baggage as well. Overall I liked their interaction and how the characters were able to grow and open up with each other.

This was cute! I’ve not read anything from Sarah Adler before but I am definitely going to be picking up more of her work! Warm, cute, and full of moments which made my heart melt (Charlie Waybill has the makings of a viral instagram book boyfriend, I’m calling it now). I was expecting this to be a closed door romance but nope! It’s a slow burn but it definitely heats up!

Full of pop culture references, slapstick humour, and moments of genuine warmth - Happy Medium is the perfect book if you’re looking for a romcom with a little extra spirit. Gilded Creek Farm’s resident ghost, Everett, steals the show in this forced proximity romance. Stepping into the role of best friend, comic relief, and reason the two main characters are forced together for a month (100 year old curse, what can you do?), he really is the ghost with the most. It’s worth reading just for his attempts at haunting the house when prospective buyers come by.

All in all, what an excellent romcom. Many years since I’ve read such an exemplary example of the genre.

Gretchen Achorn descends from a long line of bullshit artists. But, unlike her ancestors, one of her rules is to leave her clients better than she found them. A request from a rich client to perform an exorcism on a friend's goat farm finds Gretchen discovering not only she can see ghosts, but maybe she might become victim of a con herself: falling in love.

Happy Medium is a funny, poignant and heartwarming story about loneliness and learning to open up your heart to friendship and love. Sarah Adler creates a real gem of a book with not just two compelling characters, but three - Gretchen, Charlie and Everett. I adored the very slow burn romance from distrust and attraction to love and trust between Gretchen and Charlie. One of the other joys was also Gretchen and Everett learn how open their hearts up to make and be friends (that epilogue ahhhhh!).

If I had any quibbles though it would be the minor sideplot with Gretchen's con artist father. I think it needed to be a bit bigger to make the emotional impact land more, otherwise removed entirely. Overall Happy Medium is the perfect blend of wit, charm, heartwarming characters and slightly bittersweet and poignant moments that left me sated with a book hangover.

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for the ARC.

3.75 stars

I had a fun time with this book - with the goat farm, a resident ghost to befriend, and a grumpy farmer with a terrible knitting skill what's not to love? This book feels very much like it could be a cosy rom com movie which I liked.

I will say that some plot points feel a bit unsatisfactorily unfinished but didn't take away too much from my overall enjoyment, I would have maybe liked to see more of Charlie and his grandfather, and a more firm conclusion with Gretchen and her father. There were also a few scenes (the confession lol) and Everett sometimes said stuff that was a bit strange but I did like his friendship with Gretchen and how they were there for each other as two lonely people.

It was my first time reading one of Sarah's books but I definitely would pick up another! Thanks to Netgalley for the arc!

Fun, touching, heartwarming and funny! I’d love to see this made into a movie.
Everett truly has my heart.

If you enjoy paranormal romance, then this is for you.

Gretchen is a fake medium from DC and one of her customers asks her for help with a friend’s haunted house.

Gretchen moves for the weekend to find out what is happening and ends up being left on the street by a grumpy farmer (Customer’s friend, Charlie), because he doesn’t believe a thing Gretchen is telling him and calls her a fraud.

When Gretchen is waiting for her getaway car, she meets Everett, a friendly ghost who’s been haunting the house, so Charlie doesn’t sell it.

Everett tells Gretchen why he is doing all this and that Charlie is a great danger if he leaves the house. He then persuades Gretchen to staying and helping Charlie. Well, if you can call it “persuading” 🤣 He is a cheeky ghost.

Charlie ends up accepting Gretchen’s help, but only if she does what she wants in return and she also has to stay for a month.

During all this it’s not only Gretchen and Everett who gets close, it’s also Charlie and Gretchen…

All the farming together and learning about each other makes them feel things and eventually things get quite steamy 🥵

I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, sad at occasions and it also made me scream out of excitement.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this copy before it’s being published!

Title: Happy Medium By Sarah Adler


Release date: April 30, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5 Stars

I received this book in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

This author's book was my first read, and oh dear, did I devour this!

A clever con woman, Gretchen Acorn, finds herself entangled in a peculiar situation when her wealthy client hires her to investigate unexplained phenomena on a struggling goat farm. Despite being a fake spirit medium, Gretchen sees an opportunity to help both her client and the farm owner, Charlie Waybill.

However, Charlie is skeptical of Gretchen's abilities and unconvinced of the farm's haunted status. To Gretchen's surprise, she encounters a very real and chatty ghost named Everett, who reveals a family curse that threatens Charlie's well-being.

With only a month to convince Charlie not to sell the property, Gretchen must navigate her feelings for him while trying to outsmart the ghost and save the farm. As trust and love grow between them, Gretchen must confront her own vulnerabilities to pull off the ultimate con and secure a future for all involved.

This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster—I laughed, squealed, and yes, even shed a tear by the end! Without giving anything away, I was completely gripped by the story and emotion moments. Everything flowed seamlessly, creating a perfect blend of storytelling. The pacing of the story felt just right, with a realistic level of detail in portraying the characters' emotional growth and decision-making processes.


It was an incredibly pleasant read, and I'm eagerly anticipating diving into more books by this author.

This is a fluffy love romance story which will have you hooked from the very start, the characters are loveable and the story is fast paced, it’s a well written book

First, I need to give props to both the title and the cover of this book for setting up the cutesie farmer x psychic ambience. Because that's exactly what this is, a fun, lighthearted (albeit, unexpectedly sad at some points) romance between a city slicker psychic and a goat farmer. Adler's charming writing style suits this novel perfectly- although the current formatting issues of the kindle ARC did make me lose my immersion a few times.

Ultimately, I rated Happy Medium 3/5 stars. It's cute, enchanting, and fun- I almost want to give Sleepy Jean a whole star on her own. But unfortunately, I saw a few downfalls with the stakes and the characterization. Charlie and Gretchen's tension is enjoyable, but the attraction-at-VERY-first-sight made evident from the get-go spoiled whatever deeper enjoyment of their tension I could gain. It felt as if they were never in any real danger of having their relationship fail, despite a lack of communication, and ultimately felt like plot armour. Everett's characterization also felt shallow and sometimes neglected in favour of Gretchen and Charlie's scenes, resulting in a highly juvenile 100-year-ghost that was admittedly, a bit jarring at times. My only other qualm with Adler's story was introducing storylines without furthering them. Gretchen's father was sidelined, with the letter introduced early in the story never properly resolved. The current resolution to this side story feels like a very casual dismissal of Gretchen quite literally being stalked by her father, and ultimately never contributed to the storyline in a more complex manner.

Regardless, Happy Medium is a perfect palette cleanser for anyone looking for a lighthearted novel with charming settings, and the adorable inclusion of goats in coats.

I had eagerly awaited this new Sarah Adler book as I adored Mrs Nash's Ashes. I enjoyed this book about a fake medium Gretchen who ends up communicating with a ghost Everett, and has to prove to the book's other protagonist, Charlie, that the ghost and his message/warning is real.

I loved the humour and the romance buildup, and Gretchen's dialogue with Everett. I don't mind that there was a spiritual/otherworldly figure in the book, and that it wasn't "realistic" per se, but I still didn't love the plot as much as I was hoping. I also would have liked to have seen some "closure" or fullstop with Gretchen's dad - had he changed being in prison? Why was he trying to get in touch with her? Did he want her back as his con partner, or did he want to say sorry. I feel there was a gap for me there.

I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to someone looking for something light, romantic and fun!


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6313235550