[Review] The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen 
Publisher: Books on Tape
Publishing Date: March 22, 2011
Format: audio, library
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Length: 7 hours 38 minutes
Goodreads rating: 3 stars

Synopsis 

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.

My Review

I'm not sure when I first saw this book or what draw me to it. I really love the cover so maybe that's it. Regardless, I got the audiobook from the library and wanted to start it right away. I don't think I really knew what the book was about before I started it, and didn't look at the synopsis until I was about halfway through. It's a pretty interesting book; there are a few big things going on, but overall anticlimactic. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. It's a book with a steady story and two women learn to live the lives they've always wanted and find out who they are meant to be. It's a book about friendship, love, family, and history. While a skeleton is found at the Blue Ridge Madam, it's not really a mystery; the man whose body is found is just another part of the story and just another part to Paxton's and Willa's lives. Maybe I would have felt differently about this if I had read the book, or listened to it over a shorter period of time; it took me a while to get through this one.