Monday, May 23, 2011

The Peach Keeper

Book:  The Peach Keeper
Author:  Sarah Addison Allen

Its the dubious distinction of 30-yr old Willa Jackson to hail from a well-to-do old Southern family that met with financial ruin generations ago.  The Blue Ridge Madam - built by Willa's great-great-grandfather & once the town's grandest home - has stood for years as a monument to misfortune & scandal.  But Will haslearned that an old classmate - socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood - has restored the Blue Ridge Manadam to its former glory.  Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest.  Instead a skeleton is found buried beneath the property's lone peach tree & long -kept secrets are beginning to come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurences.  Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa & Paxton must uncover truths that have transcended time & defied the grave to touch the hearts & souls of the living.

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First Line:  "The day Paxton Osgood took the box of heavy-stock, foil-lined envelopes to the post office, the one's she'd had a professional calliographer address, it began to rain so hard the air turned as white as bleached cotton"

Isnt that a great first line?  I love really descriptive lines in books.

I had never read anything from this author before & really enjoyed this story.  It's light hearted, easy to read, fun in areas & mysterious in others.  It holds a story of learned friendship... & friendships that have lasted through the span of time.  It holds the story of romance being found.  It holds the story of a secret that has been kept for years.  It also holds the story of women of the South... which I always love.

Its not a deep mystery, but its fun to learn what happened to the skeleton under the tree.

Its not a impacting story, but it is enjoyable enough to not want to stop reading.

I really fell in love with all the characters - especially Willa & Paxton, as well as Sebastian & Colin, Paxton's twin brother.  Watching Paxton learn to "grow up" & stand on her own, even in her prim & proper world, had me rooting for her.  Especially when her heart was so bare in front of her best friend Sebastian. 

You cant help but love all the characters.. even the girls grandmothers... & Rachel, the coffee wiz who can figure everyone's personalities by what they order.

It has moments where its just plain goofy & not you know things cant possibly happen, but you get wrapped up in just the story of it all... & isnt that what a good story is about?

My rating:  4 skeins
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Last Line: She smiled back & said, "Me too"

1 comment:

Ellen aka Ellie said...

I can't remember which of hers I read first, but I have now read them all and crave more. They're each so sweet and pretty, mystical and fun!

There's something about the way she knits the words...