I enjoyed this book a lot! I thought the plot was super engaging and I liked that Gretchen is a con woman. However, I wasn’t totally convinced of her and Charlie’s relationship. He spent nearly the entire book not trusting her and for good reason. As much as I like Gretchen, she isn’t an honest woman and I think the way their relationship started will set them up for heartbreak post the events of the book.

Other than this, I had fun with this book. I really enjoyed Everett and looked forward to seeing him on the page.

My rating: 3/5

wait this was so cute (◡‿◡✿) honestly, it has no direct autumnal references but this felt like an excellent book of the season. i suspended my disbelief to let the author make it not-too-weird that there's a ghostly third-wheel a lot of the time. big +1 to the start of my 2024 september tbh

many thanks to berkley publishing group and netgalley for the advance reader copy.

LOVE Sarah Adler. This one was so cute and so charming. Love the grumpy/sunshine angle and the ghost character.

In this engaging story, we follow Gretchen, a con artist posing as a medium, who is hired by a farmer named Charlie to perform an exorcism on his land. When Charlie dismisses Gretchen as a fraud, something unexpected happens—Gretchen encounters her first ghost. Everett, a distant relative of Charlie, warns her that if Charlie sells the farm, he will die and become trapped in the afterlife. Now, Gretchen must find a way to save the farmer who distrusts her and believes she’s a sham.

I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic between Everett the ghost and Gretchen, as well as the romance with Charlie, which balanced just the right amount of angst with sweetness. While the romance with Charlie was strong, the friendship between Gretchen and Everett was, for me, the highlight of the book. The characters all received meaningful development, which is often lacking in romance novels. Additionally, Mara Wilson’s narration brought the story and its characters vividly to life, enhancing the overall reading experience.

I DNF'd this book at about 50%. I just was not getting into the story and had trouble connecting with the characters. I had a very hard time liking the female main character.

I was into this book until about the last 1/8 of the story. The ending felt quite rushed and written almost in a different style. I feel that it could've been better fleshed out had the author had more time to complete it.

Gretchen Acorn makes her living as a fake medium and she can't say no when one of her clients offers her an obscene amount of money to exorcise a ghost from a friend's farm. But Charlie wants absolutely nothing to do with Gretchen and her scam. Content to take the money and run, Gretchen is left with little choice when she learns the property is actually haunted, she can talk to the ghost there and Charlie's life is on the line.

"Happy Medium" is a quirky rom-com. It's peak grumpy-sunshine trope with really great chemistry between Gretchen and Charlie. The premise is fun, but it's a bit lackluster overall. The pacing is off and everything goes on much longer than needed. The romance between Gretchen and Charlie didn't feel as strong as it should have given the amount of buildup.

Everett the Ghost is my favorite. However, it felt like I was seeing more of him with Gretchen rather than Charlie and Gretchen.

Many thanks to the author, NetGalley and Berkley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I truly loved Mrs Nash’s Ashes and I had high hopes for this book. Maybe it was the medium aspect, but I think it was mostly that Gretchen was a scam artist trying to con people. I didn’t think she had any charisma and Charlie is right not to trust her.

Everett was the best part of this book, especially when he was complaining about the television.

Thank you Berkley publishing and Libro.fm for my ALC.

I loved Mrs. Nashes Ashes and was excited to read this one. The main character, Gretchen, has, in my opinion, a morally gray job as a medium which came out of her morally gray upbringing by a con artist dad. She justifies it by always trying to leave clients better than they were.

A client convinced her to help a friend get rid of a ghost on a farm. Everett, the ghost, turns out to be real and might be my favorite character of the book. He's definitely a charmer and he and Gretchen team up to convince Charlie that he shouldn't sell the farm. The romance between Charlie and Gretchen is intertwined with Gretchen's self-reflections about her job choices and her own value. I enjoyed their connection, her growth, and Everett. I really appreciated the author's note at the end of the book. I'm looking forward to the authors next book.

Audio Review: he narrator did a nice job capturing the main character's thoughts and emotional tone as well as the other characters' voices. It was easy to switch between print and audio and stay engaged in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
This was a wonderful book and I'll be purchasing it for the library!

Sarah Adler has such a unique take on romcoms. I love her writing style and this one felt like it had it all! It was funny, it had lessons, magical realism and it had heart. Plus, as always, I enjoyed the romance. Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing Group for my ARC!

An absolute DELIGHT! The perfect combination of laugh-out-loud humor, spice, and charm. Perfect for fans of the TV show "Ghosts"

I went into this really interested in the concept - a fake medium can finally see a real ghost! I also happen to love the show Ghosts on CBS, so this sounded like a great read to me. Sadly, it fell flat. While overall the premise is solid and the story isn't bad, it came off as a bit half baked - like maybe an early draft that hadn't been full developed. One of the core issues was that the motivations of characters / developments of characters was just underwhelming. The book also left some key questions unanswered - why can she finally see a ghost? Why was he the only ghost she ever saw? Overall, this had potential but just did not deliver the way I needed it to.

A delightfully quirky romance that blends dark emotions and family secrets with paranormal silliness seamlessly.

If you’re a fan of the movie Ghost, specifically the banter between Patrick Swayze’s & Whoopi Goldberg’s characters, you’ll enjoy this book. I’m glad the author referenced this movie at the end of the book, because I definitely kept thinking of it throughout. This isn’t a book with any real big surprises, but a fun, feel-good contemporary romance that will leave you wanting more. I loved the characters, the premise, and the setting. There were some plot points that could’ve been delved into further, but why stir up more drama? Just sit back and enjoy this one for what it is.

AMAZING. Loved this one so much. The storyline was so unique and it was so funny. Definitely want any and every version of this book. Such a breath of fresh air in overused tropes. A ghost? A con artist medium? A hot farmer man?? Say less. This was the best.

I expected this book to be one of my favorites - I love a magical realism romance - but unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me!

Something about the chemistry between our two MC's just felt off. Overall I enjoyed the read though, mostly because I loved Gretchen's self-discovery journey and her friendship with Everett (my favorite character!). If this had been more of a contemporary fiction book I would have been thrilled, because the romance is really the only thing that didn't work for me.

The setting and premise were A+ though, and I'll definitely be giving this author another read!

Thank you, the author, and Berkley Publishing for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Enemies to lovers, paranormal

I liked this, but it needed more. It just kept losing me. It was too long for what it was. Enemies to lovers is my favorite. That helped. It was very humorous in parts. The pacing really bothered me. I do recommend it.

REVIEW: Happy Medium

SUMMARY: Gretchen Acorn is a grifter with a heart of gold – she’s been acting as a fake medium (in the best possible way) for years when her best client hires her to assist a friend looking to sell his haunted farm 👻. What Gretchen doesn’t expect is a hot, young farmer 🚜 OR an actual ghost who is more than a little excited for someone to talk to.

I thought this was a fun, if silly (yes, even for a romcom), tale of a girl falling in love while trying to overcome a mildly criminal past 💞. The chemistry between Gretchen and Charlie was great, and I enjoyed reading their love story! Both came with some weird family baggage, which gave their stories depth and made their romance that much more believable ❤️‍🔥.

Then there was Everett: The farm’s resident ghost 👻. His goofy antics brought a different angle to what would otherwise be a straightforward romcom. Have you seen the show Ghosts? Or probably any comedy on CBS… they’re not exactly hilarious but still cute. Would watch on a Sunday afternoon 📺.

Check it out if you like:

🌞 Grumpy/sunshine
🥸 Morally gray hero(ine)
🏠 Roommates
🐄 Small town

⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

🌶️
This was an adorable listen. I loved that the MMC saw the FMC for exactly who she is. I loved that they both seemed to be genuinely trying to help people most times, albeit in different ways. And I’m always down for a sassy ghost, let’s be honest. This treaded the line of miscommunication just because of the lack of actual communication that happened. But let me tell you I whole heartedly approve of the reward system for telling the truth that was put into place 🥵🥵🥵 overall a fun listen.

❤️ Tropes ❤️
💋 enemies to lovers
💋 forced proximity
💋 city girl/country boy

Gretchen grew up learning how to con people, but now only uses her skills to help comfort people by pretending to contact their deceased loved ones. One of her clients contacts her for an exorcism. Not her usual set of skills, but considering she doesn’t believe in ghosts, should be easy enough. Only the owner had no idea she was coming, didn’t believe in ghosts, saw through her act, and told her to go back where she came from, all in a 5 minute porch conversation. Whatever. The only problem is, as she’s leaving she runs into a real ghost who tells her the owner will die if he sells the farm like he is trying to and leaves without intending to come back. Well, she can’t have that on her conscious. But how is she going to convince him about this?