REVIEW: Wild Goose Chase by Sarah Adler
An antique dealer and his inconvenient(ly irresistible) new colleague must contend with an illicit stuffed goose and their sizzling attraction, from USA Today bestselling author Sarah Adler.
Antique store owner Callahan Leitner has an illegal taxidermy goose in his living room.
Why? It’s…complicated.
But it may end his career unless he finds a legitimate way to dispose of the bird ASAP. Except, there’s an unexpected wrench in his plans—the frustrating, effervescent Annie O’Neill.
Annie is happy to fill in for her uncle at his antique store; it’s the perfect opportunity to gain more experience before opening a shop of her own, plus she’ll finally meet his handsome young business partner. Unfortunately, Cal is nothing like the charming man she expected. She’s tempted to take his apparent dislike personally, until she stumbles upon the source of his moodiness: the contraband waterfowl hidden upstairs.
When the goose goes missing, both of their professional reputations are on the line. As Cal and Annie attempt to track down the bird before it can be traced back to the store, their tentative alliance turns into something much deeper. Will the hunt for their felonious fowl lead to true love, or end in ruin?
Author’s Note – This book is a romantic comedy with a happily-ever-after ending and lots of fun along the way, but it does center around a taxidermy bird and includes discussions of the historical scientific practice of specimen collection (i.e., killing living creatures to either study or display them for research / educational purposes), as well as a main character who is grieving the death of a mentor / father figure (in the past, off-page). If these are potentially sensitive topics for you, please read with care.
Dear Ms. Adler,
I adored “Mrs. Nash’s Ashes” but sadly didn’t care for “Happy Medium” as much. I’m happy to say that “Wild Goose Chase” is a winner for me.
A Baltimore antiques dealer and a temporary female work associate chase after a stuffed goose and its provenance while falling in love. Mixed in are short chapters about a female ornithologist circa 1908 which I just accepted until everything finally began to make sense.
I kind of had an idea about how strictly anything to do with migratory birds is now treated in the US but wow, I had no idea how much trouble someone could get into in handling or dealing with them. The answer is – a lot of trouble. This also could be described as a shit ton of trouble or enough trouble to wreck an antiques career. So it’s understandable that Cal can’t believe that “sure I’ll help you with that” along with “and I’ll take the evidence off your hands while I do this” comes out of his mouth when his long time former girlfriend (who is now happily married to someone else) calls him about a stuffed goose that she finds in the attic of her inherited house.
Soon Cal and his partner’s niece – who, to Cal’s horror “upscales” antiques – are trying to manage the normal business of the Baltimore antiques shop while also going on a literal wild goose chase across the city. It’s amazing how that goose gets around. Annie sees what she does as giving an antique with a rough past a new beginning, a fresh start. Cal, who has studied and got a master’s degree, has been trained to return a piece as closely to its past as possible. In a way, these are their viewpoints on relationships.
My heart thuds against my rib cage and I can’t tell if it’s from fear or the intense desire that stupid pun managed to infuse into my system. It feels as if I’m being seen by someone for the first time in ages, for better or for worse.
Annie has a past, one that she owns, in which she dated older men because men her age thought she was “too much.” She felt acceptance with them, even if she hid her real self and contorted herself to be the perfect trophy girlfriend. Cal dated one woman, with whom he shares most of his romance “firsts,” for fifteen years and thought this would be his forever before Nicole (aka the goose owner) ended things to find true love. Cal still isn’t truly over … not so much Nicole as much as his longing for the known, the tried and true.
I nudge his shoulder in faux outrage and he grins.
Annie has dreams and plans to open her own shop, which is partly why she agreed to step into her Uncle’s shoes and help out the Baltimore shop to get experience. Cal is still sort of stuck in a life rut in which he perfectly adequately goes through the motions but really isn’t going anywhere. Until the goose shows up in his and then their lives. A little blackmail later and Cal is letting Annie make some (change backable) changes in the store. And as they work together, they talk about their pasts and their problems.
“No, we could not.”
“Why? Don’t you like him?”
“I do. But I don’t live here, Bridge, remember? When I go back to Jersey . . .”
“Right. It’s not like technology and transportation exist to facilitate long-distance relationships.”
“I’m not ready!” I say, a bit too forcefully. “I’m just . . . I’m not ready. I still have a lot of work to do on myself.”
“You are indeed a piece of work,” Bridget says.
I roll my eyes. “Not what I said.”
Her voice goes softer. “I know putting yourself out there without any pretense isn’t easy for you. But like you said, you’ve been that person with Cal this whole time and he seems to be into that.” My sister cuts the sweetness of her words with a mumbled, “For some strange reason.”
These are two nice but flawed characters. Both are hesitant about any long term relationship for different reasons. Annie is still working on herself as a person who is worthy of being accepted as herself rather than what a man wants her to be. Cal did try dating after Nicole broke up with him and it was a spectacular failure. His apologies to his date – who also works at his favorite coffee place and marks his cups with “McFuckface” – haven’t gone well.
“The sooner we’re done with this weird little late-night photoshoot, the sooner we’ll get the contact info for Roland’s cousin. Get stripping, Callahan.” I make quick work of the buttons on my blouse and let the sheer sleeves rest on my arms as I reach back to unhook my bra.
Their chemistry is explosive, the sex is fabulous, their banter is delightful but hooray that Annie realizes and acts on the knowledge that she, at least, isn’t ready for Forever with anyone. When she calls things off, brokenhearted Cal also sees the truth that he still needs to examine his life and try dating more to be sure that the side-table he thinks is perfect for that space in his heart is, actually, the best one. Cal and Annie think in terms of antiques and knickknacks. The third, or is it fourth, act breakup is due to things already laid out in the groundwork of their pasts.
“Precisely. I think it’ll help you move on. Get you back in the game.”
There have been plenty of books where I’ve thought the romance is too fast and others where I thought things dragged out too much. Here, the “five months later” (think of hearing that in a faux Frenchman’s voice) is just right. Dreams are attained, lives are examined, and a goose is returned to where it should have been and a groundbreaking female scientist’s legacy is returned to prominence. And yay for showing the wonderful relationship that Cal had with his mentor Graham. That was lovely. When Cal and Annie face each other again, they’re ready. It’s the right time for both and I’m tickled pink with their earned HEA. I also want to see the Gloria Swanson rat and/or the Marilyn Monroe squirrel. A-
~Jayne
Okay, I’m going to stop quoting.
No, wait. One more.
I can’t help but chuckle at the bewildered expression on his face.
“To be clear, I mean that in the very best way possible,” he adds.
“I figured.”
I really mean it now. This is the last one.
There’s a moment of silence before Harold says, “I mean, I was just going to tell you you’re being a real dumbass and to cut it out. But all that sounds about right too.”
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I’m looking forward to reading this, although I read Mrs. Nash’s Ashes and I had Feelings.
I should make notes after finishing a book because I can’t recall what my feelings were. Perhaps it merely didn’t meet my expectations after reading many glowing reports.
@LML: Yeah, I’ve had that happen and I usually try to not read the glowing 5 star reviews for fear a book will never live up to them.
This sounds charming, Jayne! Off to see if my library owns it….
@Kareni: I hope it does.
It did not, so I put in a purchase suggestion. Wish me luck!
@Kareni: I hope they get it. I checked mine to see which of Adler’s books they have. No ebooks but they do carry her books in print.
Just borrowed it from my library. Thank you, Jayne.
@Darlynne: Yay, library for the win!