kellyjreads 's review for:

Happy Medium by Sarah Adler

2.0

slow-paced

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⭐️⭐️ I really liked the author’s other book, “Mrs. Nash’s Ashes,” so I’ve been looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it was quite a letdown. It took me a little bit of time to figure out why, but I think Gretchen was the problem. She spends a lot of the book telling us how good of a con artist she is, but she never pulls anything over on Charlie. I know that’s because we’re supposed to understand that he sees her for who she really is, cue the dramatic music, but it just makes her look like a bad con artist. I mean, spoiler ahead here, in the end she got conned by a ghost. And I do enjoy a good trope, and I know that’s what people like to read in the romance novels, but this was just over the top trope-y.

There were certainly parts of this book that were funny, but I really didn’t get the chemistry between Charlie and Gretchen either so all the romantic interactions were just weird. And I felt like both Gretchen‘s dad and Charlie’s dad were loose ends in the story. We never really get to find out what happened to them or if their relationships change with their children. 

Also, I just wanna say this once for the people in the back, there’s a difference between hay and straw.

I thought Sarah Adler was going to be an “automatic buy” author for me, but now I’m not so sure.