Gretchen Acorn, a fake spiritual medium (a hustler with a heart of gold), gets paid 10k by a wealthy client to “cleanse” a goat farm of a pesky (and pervy) ghost. The goat farm belongs to the client’s bridge partner, so Gretchen is expecting an older gentleman that she can hustle into thinking she’s solved him of his ghost. She’s not expecting the tattooed, gorgeous grump of man who sees right through her smoke and mirrors. But in a surprising twist, Gretchen can see and talk to the goat farm’s resident ghost, Everett Waybill. (No one is really more surprised than her at this turn of events.) Now she has to convince the owner, Charlie Waybill, that not only is the ghost real, but the ghost is tied to a curse that puts Charlie’s life at risk.
Sarah Adler’s Happy Medium (Berkley Romance) is quirky and cute – a fluffy read that is fun for being what it is, but a read I wanted to be more. There was so much potential for more conflict in the novel, and I kept waiting for it. I honestly thought the lead up was going to be that Gretchen’s father was either the one who scammed Charlie’s grandfather or was scamming Mrs. Van Alst (the wealthy client and Charlie’s bridge partner). Nope. I thought maybe we’d get more about her mom, and the single memory she clings to. Nope. I thought perhaps Lucretia Thorne, the witch who cursed Everett and the Waybills, might show up. Nope. There’s no real conflict beyond the curse and the resolution to that is just absurd. Convenient, but absurd.
The novel is good for what is, and it does not pretend that it’s going to be something else. I just wanted to go a little deeper beneath the surfaces Adler was scratching. But it’s mindless & fluffy – a true candy read. And the cover is cute.
A Girl Named Tommi 