Book Review: Happy Medium | Sarah Adler

Sarah Adler’s Happy Medium is one of the more unique romance books you’ll read this year! In Hapy Medium, a clever con woman must convince a skeptical, sexy farmer of his property’s resident real-life ghost if she’s to save them all from a fate worse than death.

What is Happy Medium about?

Hot men! Farms! Con artists! Fake mediums! Ghosts! That is a combination of themes I bet you didn’t see coming together in one book, but this entertaining romance manages to get it all into a cohesive story. The book centers around Gretchen Acorn, a self-proclaimed fake medium and honestly a complete fraud. It’s not entirely her fault, she is the daughter of a conman, after all.

Gretchen and her father aren’t speaking since she confronted him about their relationship and he threw a few distasteful comments her way. Gretchen may have followed in her father’s footsteps when it comes to conning people, but she has a code of ethics. No hurting clients who are already grieving their loss. Gretchen doesn’t see her work as conning them, she sees it as helping them to find peace so they can move on with their lives. Gretchen may not be able to hear spirits, but she can make a go at faking the words if it means helping a (paying) client.

Gretchen is profiting off of the pain of others, but she isn’t exactly flush with cash. When her wealthiest client offers a large sum of money if she can help with an exorcism on a farm in Gilded Creek, she feels like she has struck gold. Her client tells her that her friend is in his seventies, but hasn’t been able to sell his farm because, well…it’s haunted. All Gretchen needs to do is head to the farm, pretend to “exorcise” the ghost, and collect her fee.

Of course, this is a romance book so we can all guess what Gretchen definitely did not guess (but does anyone know they are in a romance book when it starts?)—the owner of the property sent his hot and charming grandson to meet her. Charlie Waybill clocks Gretchen from a mile away. He doesn’t respect anything about her, and threatens to call the cops when she says she’s going to perform an exorcism.

The tricky thing is, there actually is a ghost on the farm who has been trapped there for nearly 100 years—Everett Waybill. And what’s more, Gretchen can see him. Everett has no intention of letting Charlie sell the farm—he says it will put the same curse on him that it did to Everett, and ultimately kill him. The curse has plagued their family for generations. Everett needs Gretchen’s help convincing Charlie not to sell the farm.

What did I think?

It was clear that Gretchen is going to have a tough time convincing Charlie of anything, other than that he doesn’t like her and thinks she’s a fraud. But Gretchen actually feels compelled to help him be saved from this curse, if only she can figure out a way. Let’s not forget that this book takes place on a farm, so Charlie happily puts her to work while Gretchen tries to formulate a strategy. And of course… she is crazy attracted to him.

This book has a lot of levity and jokes to it. I actually heard someone in my book club say it reminded them of the humor in the tv series Ghosts, and actually I think that is a spot-on description. I found this to be entertaining and a fun story. Romance can get old, but the ghost element of this was something new. And in a refreshing spin, Everett is the best character in the story. He’s funny, as is his relationship with Gretchen.

The love story is a mash up of forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and opposites attract. Charlie and Gretchen are quite different, but they do have chemistry. I’m a wimp with steam so I thought this was a bit much for me, but I don’t think it will be a problem for other more-regular romance readers. The story was a fun premise but I did think that there was a certain something lacking to keep me fully engaged. There may have been a few too many things going on in the subplots to keep the main plot moving along.

Overall a fun and cute read with a great ghostly character and a strong central couple!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.

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About the Book

Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best ( wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she’d like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if “cleansing” the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who’s she to say no?

Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn’t the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that’s had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s.

Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen’s strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she’s beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her being fully, genuinely herself.