The Peach Keeper [Paperback]

Having been the first book I have read by Sarah Addison Allen I was unsure what to expect from her book by looking at the cover it gave the impression of a very gentle and fresh read. Based on the cover it wouldn't be one of the books that would shout out to me from the shelves but I was about to learn the age old lesson again of not judging a book by its cover.

The author manages to create a charming if somewhat quirky town which made for a great setting for the book. The book centre's around two main characters, Paxton and Willa whose personalities are two worlds apart. I found I connected with Willa right from the start of the book but it took a while for some of Paxton's barriers to come down and to get to know her a little more before she became a likeable character. What I loved about the book is seeing relationships and friendships slowly developing, it was quite different to most romance books to not feel the rush of a relationship developing everything was set at a beautiful pace.

I loved the mystical feel to the book it is very carefully written without being over done which gave a real enchanting feel to the storyline. I did find the book was overly predictable but I did still enjoy the storyline I just think with a little bit of suspense it would have made the perfect book. I found it a very quick and easy read with it only being 273 pages long and each chapter short enough to be able to pick up and put down easily without losing the flow of the book. Any of you who were lucky enough to get a kindle for Christmas you will be happy to know this book will also be available as an e-book.

I would like to read the authors first book Garden Spells to see if the suspense element is in this book. This book is well worth a read if you are looking for a laidback easy read with a mystical feel for a fresh change.

Sarah Addison Allen's version of the South is a lovely place -- bright sunshine, fruit, flowers and the ghosts of the past (sometimes literally).

So you can guess what her fourth novel, "The Peach Keeper," is absolutely soaked with. It's a lush, summery little novel that spins together buried secrets, ghosts, magical realism, romance, and a decades-old mystery. But at heart, it's the story of two young women's struggle to find their place in the world.

The Blue Ridge Madam -- a mansion in the North Carolina town of Walls of Water -- once belonged to Willa Jackson's family, but they lost it when her grandmother was still a young girl. All her life, she has been haunted by this. Now the derelict mansion is being transformed into a high-class country inn by Willa's old classmate, Paxton. Paxton is slowly crumbling under the weight of tradition and family expectations -- as well as her love for her possibly-gay friend Sebastien.

Then Willa and Paxton's brother Colin find a skull buried near the house -- and it turns out to be Tucker Devlin, a devilishly charming salesman who had magical powers and claimed to have peach juice in his veins. Willa begins to unwind the past to find out what happened to Tucker, and discovers some shocking connections to her family past...

When you summarize it, "The Peach Keeper" sounds like a magical-realism murder mystery, or maybe a lightweight ghost story. However, it's not really either -- there ARE ghosts, and there IS a mystery of sorts. But Allen is much more interested in the closeted skeletons of Walls of Water, and in the troubled young woman who need to find their own place in the world.

Her prose is sweet, sunny and full of luscious sensual moments -- smells, delicious food, beautiful clothes, and a sort of misty Southern prettiness. Even in the more plotless moments, Allen's prose draws you into her little world. But she also weaves some tense moments into it, such as when Willa finds a drunk Paxton being harassed by a couple of jerks.

The only problem is that Allen doesn't explore the magical realism angle enough. The "magical, stormy nature" of Tucker and the things he could do -- as well as the ghosts -- are touched on but never a major part of the story.

But her characterizations are uniformly brilliant. Willa and Paxton are both young women who are lost -- one has always felt like an outcast from her own life, while the other desperately wants to escape the "perfect" life she has always led. Romance helps them find their places, with the elegant misfit Sebastien and the charming wanderer Colin.

"The Peach Keeper" is a lot like a peach itself -- velvety, sweet, soft and pleasing to the senses. A truly enchanting little novel.

The tiny town of Walls of Water, North Carolina, has been home to logging wealth for generations. But Willa Jackson, the only remaining member of one of the most prominent families, now makes a living for herself running a sporting goods store, and has no desire to be associated with her past. Meanwhile, Paxton Osgood, another scion of the famous families, buries herself in family and town lore, ignoring her personal problems to become an image of a perfect society daughter. Their grandmothers were - and in some ways are - best friends, but these two women couldn't be further apart. Enter the restoration of the Blue Ridge Madam, Willa's family's hereditary house, and Paxton's pet project. When a skeleton is dug up underneath the peach tree, the women can no longer avoid each other in their mutual quest for their family's histories.

I've made a point of reading all of Sarah Addison Allen's books since her first one, Garden Spells, captivated me many moons ago. Unfortunately, either I'm changing or her books are - I just wasn't really feeling the magic on this one. Her prose is still delicious and the touches of fantasy she adds to every day life as charming as always, but the characters in this particular book didn't strike a chord with me. While the story's plot is made to sound somewhat exciting, I actually found most of it rather predictable bar one small bit at the end, and the way the characters would end up from the start is obvious.

That isn't something that normally bothers me; you are hearing from a girl who regularly enjoys romance novels right now, after all. I'm perfectly fine with a generally predictable ending. I suppose what bugged me here is that the entire book is that way, from the plot to the friendships to the romances. And those romances, I had a hard time believing in; they happen too quickly, and one is especially absurd, at least from my perspective. I didn't find the heartwarming book I was seeking here.

It was a fast read, with a nice atmosphere, as I would expect from one of her books, and I had a fine time reading it, but I was ultimately disappointed in The Peach Keeper. I hope Allen's next book will be a bigger hit with me.