Arc provided by St. Martin's Press through Netgalley
Release Date : January 20 th, 2015
It may not seem like it, but Sarah Addison Allen's writing is amongst my favourites.
I fell in love with it while reading "Garden Spells", and it just grew with "The Peach Keeper"...
Since too many years have gone by since I last read the first one ( August 2008), I decided to re-read it...which may have caused a little anxiety on my part:
Garden Spells(GS) is one of the untouchables , my all time favourite books..what if, while second time re-reading it, I were to find myself disliking it?
The potential for catastrophe was gigantic.
Fortunately all went smooth _ I devoured t in less than one day_, and I still found myself loving the characters and the plot.
First part accomplished. Time to start with "First Frost"....
The thing with sequels, _when you're not expecting one _ is that they can have the potential to ruin a whole tale.
That doesn't happen here, but, I was not left with the feeling that what happens in this tale, is amazing or vital to the story. Maybe if it had taken place twenty years regarding the end of GS it would be better...
As it is, _and unlike what happens in GS, despite the trigger warnings for abuse _ this story for most of its duration left me somewhat depressed.
The thing is, I really didn't want to know that the Waverley sisters were getting lost in their problems!
Claire starts doubting her gift, and Sydney is allowing one situation to rule over her mind... I am not going to say anything about it, in order to not spoil it, but honestly I disliked the introduction of that theme...and the predictability of what was going to happen in the end..
Also, after all that happened in the previous book, to end up seeing the younger of the Waverley Sisters still unease about her gifts, well more her daughter's than anything else, felt a little hypocritical. Especially when Bay is so at ease with them.
I guess my main problem with this book, is that most of the time I felt as if I was reading a contemporary/ chick lit book. The magic wasn't there.
Yes, I am aware that the timeline in which the story takes place is a very specific one: the magical Apple tree is waiting for the First Frost to arrive, in order to wake up...so everything sounds more problematic than ever.
The thing is: I wasn't particularly interested in that.
I didn't care about their dramas. And once again the guys _ Tyler and Henry _ don't have a very active role on the plot.
On the positives, I can't get enough of Evanelle! ;)
Here hoping that she makes it until one hundred and ten. At least!
I would love to share some quotes with you guys, to show you the extent of her amazing(ness), but this is an arc...o_O
Evanelle is amazing. Her relation with Fred is still strong, and honestly I don't know what will become of the other two _and of the story! _without her.
Then there's Bay...
Bay is a great character. I was a little scared that a fifteen year old could have already found her "one true love" due to her gift _ the whole knowing where she belongs thing? _ but fortunately the plot seems to have space to develop itself in another direction, and I honestly hope it does so!
The introduction of the mysterious character felt a little flat...I don't know, I guess I was expecting that he would bring a little more magic with him, and a lot less mundane issues.
The writing however is still great as ever, and this is a good book!
Just not as great, and enchanting as Garden Spells was/is...for me at least. I wanted more out of the magical realism department.
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