OverDrive would like to use cookies to store information on your computer to improve your user experience at our Website. One of the cookies we use is critical for certain aspects of the site to operate and has already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but this could affect certain features or services of the site. To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, click here to see our Privacy Policy.
"The perfect alchemy of romance, humor and quirky originality."—Sophie Cousens,New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year and The Good Part "A sincere and sincerely funny romance."—Alix E. Harrow,New York Times bestselling author of Starling House 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. “Sarah Adler nails the ultimate rom-com alchemy.”—Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and Meet Me at the Lake
"The perfect alchemy of romance, humor and quirky originality."—Sophie Cousens,New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year and The Good Part "A sincere and sincerely funny romance."—Alix E. Harrow,New York Times bestselling author of Starling House 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. “Sarah Adler nails the ultimate rom-com alchemy.”—Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and Meet Me at the Lake
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the cover
1
Gretchen Acorn is a bullshit artist.
The talent for it runs in her family-her daddy's a bullshit artist, as was his daddy before him, and his before him. And so on, all the way back to Fritz Eichorn, who scammed his way into first class on the ship that carried him to the US by posing as a recently heartbroken Austrian count. But while great-great-great-grandpa Fritz and most of his male descendants gravitated toward the hasty brushstrokes of shell games and selling landmarks to tourists, Gretchen has found her own, more sophisticated medium.
No pun intended.
"Ah." Gretchen presses two fingers to each of her temples. She winces as if her mental call to the spirit realm has conjured nothing except a headache. "I feel Ronald trying to be here with us, but the connection is fragile. Too fragile to make anything out, I'm afraid."
"It's my aura, isn't it?" The elderly woman across the table unclasps her hands and sits them atop the plum brocade tablecloth. She still wears her platinum and diamond wedding set, the swell of her arthritic knuckle the only thing keeping the too-large rings in place. "I've been told before that it's a problem, but no matter how many Reiki experts I've consulted-"
"No, no," Gretchen interrupts. "You have a beautiful aura, Mrs. Easterly. The most gorgeous"-Pick a color, any color-"vermillion I've ever seen. Don't let anyone do a thing to it."
The idea of some opportunistic asshole swindling a nice old lady like Janice Easterly makes Gretchen's jaw tense. Perhaps that seems hypocritical given that she herself relies upon dishonesty to make her living (and that she can't even remember if vermillion is a shade of green or red). But the difference is that Gretchen only takes people's money if she's certain she can leave them better off than she found them. That's the one Rule that governs everything she does. Her singular guiding principle. It transforms her work from a con into a business transaction, her morally gray impulses into something mutually beneficial. That's why she turns away potential clients if she knows she won't be able to provide what they need, and why she's building up to telling Mrs. Easterly that her telephone line to the spirit world is currently generating nothing but a busy signal.
Her code of ethics may not win her a Nobel Peace Prize, but it's been something of a compass since Gretchen struck out on her own almost seven years ago. She has the skills of her forefathers in her back pocket at all times-her father made sure she could lie, cheat, and steal with the best of them before she could even spell her own name-and it would be easy enough to fill the rest of Mrs. Easterly's half-hour session with the cheap tricks that make up the bread and butter of most supposed spirit mediums and psychics. No doubt Mrs. Easterly would confirm, tears cutting through her caked-on face powder like an icebreaker navigating the Baltic, that the two-story house with a chimney Gretchen describes (not too specifically, of course) must be her husband's childhood home. A woman with a name beginning with H? Well, her sister's name was Harriett, could that be it? And oh my word, she does indeed own a heart-shaped piece of jewelry! A long-ago gift from her late husband, in fact, from before he made his fortune buying and selling laws or whatever it is people in this town do to get so damned rich.
But Gretchen Acorn didn't become the most sought-after spirit medium among Northwest DC's high-society set by throwing generic guesses at the wall, assuming something would be bound to stick. It takes extra effort-extra artistry-to win over the rich old ladies who reside in this part of the city....
Reviews-
Starred review from February 12, 2024 Adler solidifies her status as a rising star of the rom-com genre with her wonderfully escapist sophomore romance (after Mrs. Nash’s Ashes). Gretchen Acorn comes from a long line of “bullshit artists.” In fact, Acorn isn’t even her real name. She makes a living as a fake spirit medium, justifying her deception by always trying to leave her marks’ lives better off than when she found them. When her highest-paying client calls her with concerns about a friend’s property, Gretchen heads to a country farm thinking she’ll spend a few days convincing an old man she’s exorcized his problem ghost. She’s not prepared to face Charlie Waybill, who is far too young, handsome, and skeptical for Gretchen’s comfort. Charlie sees right through her con and doesn’t plan on falling for it—or her, for that matter, no matter how attractive he finds her. Things get more complicated when Gretchen discovers she’s a better medium than she thought: there really is a ghost on Charlie’s property, and he urgently needs Gretchen’s help to break the curse that killed him and trapped him there—before it comes for Charlie. The witty one-liners, quirky characters, hint of magic, and idyllic setting make this a winner. Readers will be swept away. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary.
Title Information+
Publisher
Books on Tape
OverDrive Listen
Release date:
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
Release date:
Digital Rights Information+
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
Burn to CD:
Permitted
Transfer to device:
Permitted
Transfer to Apple® device:
Permitted
Public performance:
Not permitted
File-sharing:
Not permitted
Peer-to-peer usage:
Not permitted
All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.
Please update to the latest version of the OverDrive app to stream videos.
Device Compatibility Notice
The OverDrive app is required for this format on your current device.
Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
You've reached your library's checkout limit for digital titles.
To make room for more checkouts, you may be able to return titles from your Checkouts page.
Excessive Checkout Limit Reached.
There have been too many titles checked out and returned by your account within a short period of time.
Try again in several days. If you are still not able to check out titles after 7 days, please contact Support.
You have already checked out this title. To access it, return to your Checkouts page.
This title is not available for your card type. If you think this is an error contact support.
There are no copies of this issue left to borrow. Please try to borrow this title again when a new issue is released.
| Sign In
You will be prompted to sign into your library account on the next page.
If this is your first time selecting “Send to NOOK,” you will then be taken to a Barnes & Noble page to sign into (or create) your NOOK account. You should only have to sign into your NOOK account once to link it to your library account. After this one-time step, periodicals will be automatically sent to your NOOK account when you select "Send to NOOK."
The first time you select “Send to NOOK,” you will be taken to a Barnes & Noble page to sign into (or create) your NOOK account. You should only have to sign into your NOOK account once to link it to your library account. After this one-time step, periodicals will be automatically sent to your NOOK account when you select "Send to NOOK."
You can read periodicals on any NOOK tablet or in the free NOOK reading app for iOS, Android or Windows 8.
