I felt for Willa in her pursuit of becoming more than just her family name.

She creates characters who are layered-flawed but lovable. There are layers to the scenes she paints, transporting her readers through time and space to the sweltering heat of southern summers. What I love most about Allen’s writing is that she captures the essence of the south so beautifully.

Along the way, they unearth terrible secrets, find unlikely friendship, and stumble their way into their own equally unlikely romances. The Madam house proves to have one last scandal buried beneath its peach tree, sending the duo on a hunt for the truth. Unbeknownst to her, a former classmate, Paxton Osgood, from a well-to-do family in good standing, has turned her sights on the Madam, hoping to return it to its former glory. Willa’s family had something of a strange and brooding reputation that she desperately tried to step out of. Her well-to-do family fell into financial ruin generations ago after its greatest legacy, The Blue Ridge Madam, lost its luster after a series of scandalous and unfortunate events. Our story is set in Walls of Water, North Carolina, where we meet Willa Jackson. I allowed my TBR jar to decide which came next, and, to my delight, it landed on The Peach Keeper. As soon as I dove into The Sugar Queen (check out my review here), I knew I was a goner. These books had been sitting on my physical TBR shelf for far longer than I care to admit. I was gifted what I have started to affectionately call the “Sarah Addison Allen starter kit” a few months ago.

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen