04 November 2013

Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen 

Genres: Romance, magical realism, chick lit, fantasy, mystery, contemporary

Summary: It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather and once the finest home in Walls of Water, North Carolina—has stood for years as a monument to misfortune and scandal. Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite Paxton Osgood—has restored the house to its former glory, with plans to turn it into a top-flight inn. But when a skeleton is found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, long-kept secrets come to light, accompanied by a spate of strange occurrences throughout the town. Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the passions and betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover the truths that have transcended time to touch the hearts of the living.
The Peach Keeper is a book which I had randomly picked out of the shelf at National Bookstore. I thought the cover was nice (I judge books by their covers, so judge me), so I purchased it and put it aside. It had been with me for a few months before I finally started to read it. It's the first book I've read from Sarah Addision Allen, and from what I've read from other reviewers, it's not her best work.

I thought the premise was interesting. It mixed mystery, magic, romance, and friendship. What I didn't like, however, was that it was fast-paced and anti-climactic at the same time. The characters appear to just breeze through their problems, fall in love, make friends, and then the book ends. The whole mystery is summed up in a single chapter (towards the end), and at that point, the only thing I could think of was... who cares? The whole mystery was unnecessarily dragged out that there's no surprise once it's finally 'solved'. The book tried too hard to be deep that it became difficult to relate to the characters.

The book had a certain enchantment to it though, and while the characters were not really that worthwhile, you're still pulled in by the magic and the mystery.


My rating: 3/5

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