The Peach Keeper A Novel

3 Stars I read The Girl Who Chased the Moon earlier this year and enjoyed it. I was eager to try another Sarah Addison Allen book. The Peach Keeper had a lot in common with The Girl Who Chased the Moon but was nowhere near as enchanting or engaging. I couldn’t help but compare the two books. Both stories are set in small, fictional towns in North Carolina. Both deal with small town drama, the elitism of old, rich families, and the way people cling to their judgements are preconceived notions. It took me a couple of chapters to become absorbed in The Girl Who Chased the Moon earlier, but once I was, I loved the characters. Conversely, I never came to care much about the characters of The Peach Keeper. Where The Girl Who Chased the Moon had POVs for multiple generations, The Peach Keeper focused almost entirely on four thirty-year-olds. And although some of the major plot points spawned from the actions of previous generations, the narrative was primarily focused on that one generation. All four of those characters were dealing with the repercussions of the roles they were stereotyped into during highschool, and they are each trying to shed those expectations and find themselves. This was also a theme in The Girl Who Chased the Moon but in The Peach Keeper it felt so much more angst-ridden. Events and angst from high school were brought up so often that I got sick of it. I hate stories about high school. I am perfectly happy to leave those memories where they belong - buried deep in the dungeon of my subconscious. So I was simply unable to become emotionally engaged in the characters. If I was less than enthralled by the characters, I was even less enthusiastic about the romances in this book. They spent too much time trying to change each other. That isn’t romantic (although people try it all the time in real life). Far from being dreamy, I was off put by the manipulative agenda of the each of the lovebirds. In addition to the themes of self-acceptance and romance, the plot had a slight Mystery element, but that was underdeveloped. The morals about friendship were not strong enough to carry the story. If I had been more invested in the characters, it would have been better. But while it did keep me interested enough to finish the book, I was only mildly engaged with the story. The language in the The Peach Keeper was also not as lyrical. The Magical Realism elements felt random and disconnected. So rather than adding an enchanting air to the story, they felt patched on rather than organic to the story. Overall, it wasn’t a bad book, but it definitely had disappointing features. Considering that this was a more recent publication, it felt like a step backwards from The Girl Who Chased the Moon. There were enough similarities that I can’t help that most of this review has been a direct comparison of these two Sarah Addison Allen books. Those were the thoughts that were constantly going through my head while reading this book. The Peach Keeper is an ok book if you really love Magical Realism or are a huge Allen fan. But I think most people would be fine skipping The Peach Keeper and just reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon or other Magical Realism stories. RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 3 Stars Writing Style: 3 Stars Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars Level of Captivation: 3 Stars Originality: 2 Stars