Happy Medium by Sarah Adler
Reviewed by: Dawn Dickey, library volunteer
Genre: Fiction, paranormal romance
Suggested Age: Adults
What is the book about?: Gretchen Acorn makes her living as a medium, connecting her clients with departed (dead) loved ones. The only problem: Gretchen is a fake. Her best client, an elderly woman, enlists Gretchen’s help in the sale of her bridge partner’s goat farm when it seems the sale is hampered by some paranormal happenings. Despite Gretchen’s protests (she doesn’t perform exorcisms!), the hefty salary her client promises is too much to resist. Gretchen informs her other clients that she is taking a sabbatical and heads for the farm. At the farm, Gretchen finds, to her surprise, that the bridge partner/goat farmer is not geriatric, but Gretchen’s age. Farmer Charlie is young, handsome, and totally unwilling to admit that there’s a paranormal problem at the farm. He doesn’t believe in ghosts and tells Gretchen to get out. As Gretchen dejectedly leaves the farm, she encounters, for the first time in her life as a (fake) medium – an honest-to-goodness ghost. Everett, the ghost-in-residence, convinces Gretchen of a curse and the dire consequences for Charlie if he sells the farm that was his family’s heritage. Knowing that she can’t leave Charlie to this fate, Gretchen decides to stay – and the fun begins!
My Review: I loved this book! The characters are lovable, believable, and hilarious. Gretchen – although her living depends on trickery – has a code of ethics that demands leaving each client in a better spot after a session contacting their loved ones, and this code of ethics includes Charlie. Charlie demands complete honesty from Charlotte, and this creates tension between the two. The tension is laughingly worsened by Everett’s antics, since he is determined that Charlie cannot sell the farm. Just imagine what can happen when prospective buyers come to tour the farm! The tale is filled with quirky characters that interact in ways that make this book very fun to read.
Three Words That Describe This Book: spooky, funny, romantic
Give This a Try if You like… Other paranormal romances such as Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches or Therese Beharrie’s A Ghost in Shining Armor or Celestine Martin’s Witchful Thinking
Rating: 5/5
