Author: Sarah Adler

Cute, cozy, hints of the supernatural, and a habitual schemer, Happy Medium had a genius premise and all the elements of an amazing romantic dramedy. I had previously read Mrs. Nash’s Ashes so I had an idea of what I was getting into, and I had hoped that Sarah Adler’s sophomore novel would be able to improve on Nash’s disappointing and contrived climax/conclusion. Despite being paced more evenly and feeling more refined page to page, overall I found Happy Medium to suffer from similar issues of dumb character logic (2nd half only), melodrama that doesn’t have sufficient build-up (again 2nd half only), and a concluding plot twist that ruins most of its intriguing plot potential. On the plus side, I quite enjoyed FMC Gretchen’s spiky personality and devious wit. Constantly trying to plan out her moves, both to convince Charlie that his farm is haunted and to safeguard her investment with her spirit medium client, I thought the first half of the book worked quite well; albeit feeling a bit slow for my taste. Although her sparring and enemies to friends to lovers arc with Charlie was good, her enemies to friends banter with the ghost Everett was the real…

Part rom-com part dramedy, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes has a stellar premise on paper that convinced me to pick it up blindly despite this type of romance genre being hit or miss for me. With an opposites attract setup, a long-lost LGBT love from the 1940’s, and a road trip featuring classic rock tunes, Sarah Adler’s Mrs. Nash’s Ashes has a winning combo that grabbed my attention from the get-go. The comedic elements and dialogue are stellar and the back and forth between the emotional and romantic Millie vs the detached and logical Hollis are easily the strongest bits of the novel. Unfortunately, I found the this book was full of missed opportunities to do more with its narrative and the conclusion veering off in an unexpected and disappointing direction. The Miss. Sunshine and Mr. Overcast Grouch is a classic trope for a reason and Mrs. Nash’s Ashes is no exception. I found the witty banter and comedic timing to be spot-on with the best moments involving Millie doing something random or poorly thought out and Hollis reacting in stony disbelief. I liked the chemistry between the two leads, and I enjoyed the story the most when it was just the…