Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sarah Adler to HJ!
Hi Sarah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Happy Medium!
Hello! So good to be back.
Please summarize the book for the readers here:
Happy Medium is the story of a fake spirit medium who accepts a job “cleansing” a purportedly haunted historic goat farm in the Maryland countryside. She arrives expecting to spend the weekend waving around some sage to placate a superstitious elderly man, but instead she finds that Gilded Creek is run by a hot young farmer who immediately clocks her as a fraud. Except, on her way off the property, she runs into (or rather, through) an actual ghost, who informs her of a family curse that threatens the hot young farmer’s life. She winds up semi-blackmailing her way into helping out around the farm for a month so she can convince him not to sell the property. Spoiler alert: the enemies become lovers!
Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:
“Attempted murderers don’t get to watch Bridgerton.”
Please share a few Fun facts about this book…
- The idea for this story started with a stupid pun: I AIN’T AFRAID OF NO GOATS. I started thinking what a book with that title would be about, and eventually landed on a plot involving a fake spirit medium, a hot skeptical farmer, and an actual real life ghost, set on a goat farm.
- I was also really inspired by springtime here in Maryland. Driving around the county, watching everything turn green and the flowers bloom and the leaves reappearing on the trees — it was all so beautiful! It’s also when kidding season is for many goat farmers, so it wound up being the perfect time of year to set the story.
What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?
Charlie is immediately physically attracted to Gretchen, but it’s complicated by his intense dislike of her as a person. Over time, he starts to see the real her beneath the artifice, that she’s really just trying to do some good in the world but going about it all wrong. And that’s something he can’t help but admire.
Gretchen is also immediately physically attracted to Charlie, and is both fascinated and horrified that he seems to see right through her. There’s a fear there that she might have stumbled upon someone who actually sees who she is instead of who she’s pretending to be. At the same time, she is extremely affected by the idea of someone finally knowing the real her and wanting her anyway.
Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?
The first time Gretchen and Charlie kiss is electric! I definitely blushed.
“You pretend you’re so honorable. That you’re such a standup guy,” Gretchen says quietly. The back of her head rests against the truck’s window as she looks up at Charlie, so very close, knowing it’s a matter of seconds before he caves and kisses her. “But deep down, you’re as flawed as the rest of us. You’re just better at hiding it.”
“Not always,” he whispers.
His lips crash against hers, forceful and hungry.
Readers should read this book….
If they think romantic comedies are great but wish they had more baby goats and TV-obsessed 1920s himbo ghosts.
What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?
I’m currently revising my third book, FINDERS KEEPERS. It’s an estranged childhood friends-to-lovers treasure hunt romcom, and I’m so excited for everyone to read it in spring 2025!
Thanks for blogging at HJ!
Giveaway: A print copy of HAPPY MEDIUM by Sarah Adler
To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?
Book Info:
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 beneficent one. 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.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
Meet the Author:
Sarah Adler writes romantic comedies about lovable weirdos finding their happily ever afters. Her debut novel, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, was featured on TODAY as a “Best Beach Read of All Time” and was also selected as one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2023. She grew up in south-central Pennsylvania, attended undergrad and grad school in DC, and now lives in Frederick, Maryland with her husband, daughter, and very mischievous cat.
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erahime
Not that I know of.
psu1493
No, I don’t believe I have ever had any ghostly encounters.
Mary Preston
No, but my mother has and this is nor a woman given to flights of fancy.
Kathy
no
Pam Conway
I’ve had some different experiences but not like that.
Amy Donahue
No
Diana Hardt
Years ago when I was a teenager, one day I was sitting on my bed reading when I suddenly felt like a hand stroking my head but of course there was no one else in my room. Later I told my mom and she said that my grandfather (her father) used to do that with me. He had passed away when I was 13.
debby236
I am not sure as it could have been my imagination.
Texas Book Lover
No!
SusieQ
No
janinecatmom
I don’t think so. but something weird did happen once and it made me think twice about it possibly being a ghostly encounter. I just don’t know for sure.
Nancy Jones
No I haven’t.
Jo-Anne Boyko
Yes, I have had a ghostly encounter. When I lived on a large property in the country, I was visited by Buddy, the previous owner who died before we bought it. He was quite a rascal. He would pat me on the butt – regularly. There were many times I had to say, “Not now Buddy. I’m busy.”
Glenda M
Ghostly? No. Strange things? Yes. I do have friends who were cynics about all things supernatural until a haunted hotel room had them checking out in the early morning hours.
Rita Wray
No
Linda Romer
I did! When I was young, I awoke to see a ghost at the foot of my bed. Thank you
Mary C
Yes
dholcomb1
possibly–never know if it was real or imagination
Daniel M
nope
hartfiction
Yes.
Sonia
No
Amy R
Have you ever had a ghostly encounter? No
Dianne Casey
No, I’ve never had a ghostly encounter.
Bonnie
No, I haven’t
bn100
no
Patricia Barraclough
Yes I have. We live in (share) a house with several entities. Our daughter and son have see a few of them, but I have only felt their presence.
rkcjmomma
Yes many times
Nancy P
No
Ellen C.
No
noraadrienne
You might say so, my wife’s grandmother passed on and would come to visit us to watch over our children. She’d make sure their blankets were tucked in nicely to keep them warm. She was about 99 when she died.