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, in this delightful new novel from the author of Mrs. Nash’s Ashes.

Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best (read: 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 beneficentone. 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 Everett: 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 life: being fully, genuinely herself.

Dear Ms. Adler, 

Last year I adored “Mrs. Nash’s Ashes.” I was hoping for a repeat experience with “Happy Medium.” Let me just rip the review Band-Aid off and say, I didn’t get one. 

Gretchen Acorn is a con artist. She was raised to be a good one by her con artist father who cut her loose when she wouldn’t finish a long con with him. After building a reputation as a spirit medium among the ultra wealthy women of DC, she’s doing alright. Her best client asks a favor which lands her on a goat farm in Maryland with a man who believes she’s a fraud. Then she sees an actual ghost. A ghost with a life or death message for the farm owner. Can she get Charlie to believe her?

Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks. For the most part, Everett the ghost is a pervy asshole. He does have some good moments when he pops up to give Gretchen some words of wisdom but they’re few and far between. Although if I were stuck in the same place for 100 years, unable to talk to anyone, maybe I’d begin to get my entertainment by watching people regardless of whether those people were in the bathroom or bedroom. I think he’s supposed to add most of the “quirk” to the book but I just wanted to punch him. Even Gretchen gets to the point where she tunes out his non-stop chatter. Then at the end, he tells Gretchen something – and proceeds to blow off her valid criticism – that made me want to kick him in his balls if he still had corporeal ones. 

Gretchen, who in order to justify her actions has changed her con-artistry to only work with clients who she feels she can leave better off than when they first came to her, is so hesitant while at the farm. Yeah, she doesn’t want to be there, has never farmed, is unsure of herself but SO many times Charlie would ask her to do something that needed to be done RIGHT NOW and Gretchen would dither for half a page or more trying to work herself up to it. I would mentally yell “Just do it! The baby goat needs you!” at her. She does, I will admit, have great ideas for ways for Charlie to increase the income the farm makes and does something really nice for Charlie’s grandfather. That was sweet. 

Grumpy hero Charlie is barely in the book for the first third. And when he is, he’s simmeringly angry at Gretchen. Like that’s pretty much his only emotion. He does eventually show his good side and after that, I agree with Everett (and it pains me to agree with that asshole about anything) that Charlie is a good egg with a runny yolk. Hmmm, that description sounds better in the book. 

Miscommunication is a big part of this story. We’re told that everyone around Gretchen and Charlie can see that they’re falling for each other (even if I didn’t see much chemistry for a long time) but these two won’t give in because Gretchen won’t allow anyone close to her in her life and Charlie thinks she’s a fraud. Then this progresses to martyrish tendencies from them both. Ugh. 

The worst thing though is the endless telling instead of showing. We never do get any POV from Charlie but do get endless rounds of everything going on in Gretchen’s head. Plus descriptions. Cut those down and the book could have easily lost 75 pages of nothing. There also wasn’t much tension. Honestly, I was more underwhelmed with it than anything else. I did expect one plot point to be expanded on but that never happened, which is a good thing because I was dreading it, so yay for that. Also the baby goats are cute. 

Looking at other reviews, I am definitely an outlier. This book seems to be pleasing a lot of people but most of it just rubbed me the wrong way. Sadly I’ll have to hope that the next book wins me back because this one didn’t do much for me. C-/D

~Jayne      

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Why is this night different from all other nights?

For starters, Jared Leiman is home for the holidays. Because though he and Caroline Weiss were high school sweethearts, their postcollege lives took them in different directions. Jared became a big-time entertainment lawyer in LA, while Caroline became a fitness instructor and stayed in town to care for her sick mother. And though her mother passed away three years ago, Caroline is finally free to go where she chooses. Meanwhile Jared, who inherited custody of his baby niece after a tragic accident, is suddenly a family man.

So now Caroline wants to leave her hometown in the dust, whereas Jared might just set up roots there. Because there is one thing that Browerville, New Jersey, offers the two of them that no other place does…each other!

CW – mention of death of family members due to a car accident and cancer. 

Dear Ms. Wilck, 

After loving “Home for the Challah Days” last year, I was really looking forward to the next installment of this series. Because yes, it’s not a Hanukkah book! 

Instead Jared and his orphaned niece Becca are coming home for Passover with his parents as he tries to work out what he wants in life. Meanwhile, his old highschool flame Caroline, yeah the woman Jared basically ghosted when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, has finally paid off the medical bills, carved out a life and a job, and plans to start doing all the things she’s longed to for years. Is the past the past or might they have a second chance to work out a future for themselves. 

Let me just be honest and admit that I’m sad to say this one didn’t work as well for me. Yay that Jared already knows he acted like a shit all those years ago and that he plans on apologizing to Caroline. But dang despite the fact that he has matured a lot over the years, he can still act like a shit at times. I was all on #teamCaroline. Even two year old Becca can act better than Jared.

It also doesn’t help that much of the relationship time between Jared and Caroline kept rehashing what we’d already seen. I also didn’t have warm fuzzies about how much Jared initially pushes Caroline to go out with him while he’s home in New Jersey with all parties aware that he plans to go back to L.A. Without their past history it might have been okay but with it — his insistence in the face of his eventual leaving felt tone deaf. Much of Caroline’s discussions with her besties about her relationship time with Jared was also rehashing. The plot felt as if its wheels were spinning in the mud and things dragged. And dragged. Then the romance part of the story swung into gear and raced along before Jared pissed me, Caroline, and his parents off. Trifecta! 

What did I like? I liked Caroline’s job and competency. She has worked hard to finish her education and after losing her mother, gotten a job at the JCC, and has plans and ambitions. When something spikes part of her plans, she doesn’t just sit back and say “Oh, well.” No, she starts to look into it, keeps her head on straight, moves cautiously, and sees this through to a conclusion. When her boss – who believes in her – hands her a “gotta get it done fast” project, Caro rises to the occasion and – I’ll give Jared credit that he comes through in assisting her – pulls something spectacular out that wows people. Go, Caroline!

The family relationship stuff is great, too. When Jared’s brother and sister-in-law died and left him as guardian of Becca, Jared was out of his depth. But he tries, he learns, and he adores his niece. It’s great that his loving parents are there for them both and unobtrusively ready with advice when he asks for it. Mrs. Leiman is fiercely protective of Caroline as well and warns her son not to mess with Caroline.

Passover preparation is something the Leimans take seriously and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of Harriet Leiman’s cleaning (which she ropes the whole family into), shopping, and cooking plans. Watching them carefully, thoughtfully (not too much horseradish for Becca so she won’t associate Passover with yucky tastes), and lovingly celebrating the Seder with their granddaughter was delightful.      

So this ended up being a bit of half and half for me. There was a lot that I really did like and enjoyed. But the romance just didn’t work as well as I would have liked to have seen. Overall, C for the romance and B for everything else.

~Jayne      

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