The Peach Keeper
By Sarah Addison Allen
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 during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home – has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build the life beyond the brooding Jackson
But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate – socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood – of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.
For the bones – those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago – are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.
Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families – and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied that grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.
So this is the book that I was talking about on my Saturday blog post. I absolutely fell into this story head over heels and didn’t want to come out! What an amazing, intriguing story. There may have been some problems here and there but really I loved the premise of it – friendships. There was a little bit of magic, murder, and love. I have not read anything else by this author but I will try out her other books now.
While I loved all of her characters in this book I loved Paxton the most. She is not who you might think she is or would be based off of what you know about her family. I relate most to her. I am someone that most people think they know based off of what they hear from others etc. But I think I am much more and usually not even close to what I am perceived. I relate to her heartache and the need to not always have to over-achieve to prove herself to others. Even though Sebastian is a little strange I love him because he loves her unconditionally.
I love how they talked about high school and the people they really were inside compared to what everyone else thought they were. It was interesting to see how much Colin idolized Willa for the things she had done and how it inspired him to do what he did. However this didn’t always turn out for the good of Colin or Willa. It was great to see how Willa and Paxton were kind of forced together because of the skeleton found under the peach tree. It was interesting to learn of the friendship their grandmothers shared and what it had become over the years – not what it seemed.
I think I learned that no matter who we are and no matter who we think other people are that shouldn’t stop us from reaching out and being a friend. The friendships in this book make me a little sad for the ones I lost over the years but grateful for the ones I have found. While it is great to have friends from when we were little it doesn’t make the friendships we have started just last week any less valuable and important.
OK I think I am rambling now. This is a 4 star book for me. I loved the storyline and the premise despite any little discrepancies that are in there. They are small enough for me to ignore because everything else was fabulous.
Now go tell your friends how much you love and cherish them – especially since they aren’t perfect and do make mistakes!
1 comment:
I sent you an email let me know if you were thinking the same thing.
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