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A review by illstoptheworldandreadwithyou
Happy Medium by Sarah Adler
4.0
Gretchen Acorn, a con woman acting as a medium helping loved ones work through their stages of grief, gets talked into visiting a goat farm to perform an exorcism. She expects there to (A) not really be a ghost on the property and (B) be met by a senior citizen when she arrives on-site.
Imagine her surprise when Charles Waybill turns out to be more of a Charlie—young, hot, and not interested in her services in the least—and the resident ghost turns out to be real.
When they come to an agreement to have Gretchen stay on the farm for a month, they both end up with more than they bargained for.
Highlights for me:
- I adored Everett, the resident ghost. He is the bomb dot com. #iykyk
- Everett’s array of TV references
- Baby goats!
- Charlie’s tattoos
- And his forearms
- And his strong thighs
- And his blushes (Oh goodness, I do so love an MMC that blushes.)
- And his sweaters
- Speaking of sweaters, I have to mention the Frankensweater here.
- Fluffy dogs
- Cheese
- Physical intimacy paired with emotional intimacy
- Themes of home / finding your identity / finding where you belong
- Gretchen’s character growth
- Charlie’s declaration of love
- The author’s note about how the book came to be
What didn’t work as well for me:
- The con artist aspect: I understand that Gretchen tries to help the clients she cons through her medium business (and I do see the humor in the setup), but I bristled whenever she uses any of those skills or instincts, especially when she uses them around Charlie.
- The pacing of the first third of the book: this is written as single POV, and we get a lot of repetitive thoughts in Gretchen’s inner monologue.
- Something that happens in the third act (censored for spoilers)
- I would have liked to have seen more of the beats of the love story between Gretchen and Charlie play out on the page.
Overall, this is a fun one. The emotions are balanced out by the humor in the story. Everett is the best. And Gretchen and Charlie have good chemistry.
I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.
Imagine her surprise when Charles Waybill turns out to be more of a Charlie—young, hot, and not interested in her services in the least—and the resident ghost turns out to be real.
When they come to an agreement to have Gretchen stay on the farm for a month, they both end up with more than they bargained for.
Highlights for me:
- I adored Everett, the resident ghost. He is the bomb dot com. #iykyk
- Everett’s array of TV references
- Baby goats!
- Charlie’s tattoos
- And his forearms
- And his strong thighs
- And his blushes (Oh goodness, I do so love an MMC that blushes.)
- And his sweaters
- Speaking of sweaters, I have to mention the Frankensweater here.
- Fluffy dogs
- Cheese
- Physical intimacy paired with emotional intimacy
- Themes of home / finding your identity / finding where you belong
- Gretchen’s character growth
- Charlie’s declaration of love
- The author’s note about how the book came to be
What didn’t work as well for me:
- The con artist aspect: I understand that Gretchen tries to help the clients she cons through her medium business (and I do see the humor in the setup), but I bristled whenever she uses any of those skills or instincts, especially when she uses them around Charlie.
- The pacing of the first third of the book: this is written as single POV, and we get a lot of repetitive thoughts in Gretchen’s inner monologue.
- Something that happens in the third act (censored for spoilers)
- I would have liked to have seen more of the beats of the love story between Gretchen and Charlie play out on the page.
Overall, this is a fun one. The emotions are balanced out by the humor in the story. Everett is the best. And Gretchen and Charlie have good chemistry.
I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.