ARC Review--Eventide by Sarah Goodman

"Eventide is an evocative YA historical fantasy thriller by debut author Sarah Goodman, for fans of Jennifer Donnelly and Libba Bray.

MADNESS, SECRETS, AND LIES

Wheeler, Arkansas, 1907

When their father descends into madness after the death of their mother, Verity Pruitt and her little sister Lilah find themselves on an orphan train to rural Arkansas.

In Wheeler, eleven-year-old Lilah is quickly adopted, but seventeen-year-old Verity is not. Desperate to stay close to her sister, Verity indentures herself as a farmhand. But even charming farm boy Abel Atchley can’t completely distract her from the sense that something is not quite right in this little town. Strange local superstitions abound, especially about the eerie old well at the center of the forest. The woods play tricks, unleashing heavy fog and bone-chilling cold…and sometimes visions of things that aren’t there.

But for Verity, perhaps most unsettling of all is the revelation that her own parents have a scandalous history in this very town. And as she tries to unearth the past, sinister secrets come with it—secrets that someone will go to violent lengths to protect….

A haunting tale of long-buried secrets, small-town scandal, and single-minded vengeance by talented debut novelist Sarah Goodman."

 

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

 

Sarah Goodman's debut Eventide had the looks of creepy and sinister ghost story set in the past. While the tale was a bit eerie it wasn't as creepy as I had hoped, but it still made for an intriguing tale of magic and lore with a bit of weirdness on the side.

Verity and her younger sister, Lilah, start their journey on a train to Wheeler, Arkansas where they are to be taken up for adoption. Their father had just been admitted to the asylum, his mind hasn't been right since their mother died a few years ago. Verity is just months away from being legally able to look after her sister on her own, so she sees this as a temporary setback from her goals of going back to New York and studying medicine.

Except Lilah is taken by a young woman, Miss Maeve, who can only adopt one child. If Verity wants to stay in town to be close to her sister, she'll have to be picked up by another set of adults wanting a child. She ends up taking a job at a farm in order to stay in Wheeler. It's not until a little while later that she gets the warning to never enter the woods, always stay on the path that goes around it. There's a strange and eerie presence in the woods, Verity can sense it, but she writes it off in her most logical way.

Life continues to go on for Verity in a mundane fashion. The other farmhand, Abel, of course plays a love interest for Verity. Though they have a certain chemistry brewing between them, he's apparently spoken for by another young woman. It's a bit of a gossip mill in the small town!

Sometime later, Verity starts to get a suspicion that Miss Maeve might not be the best person to care for Lilah. Verity thinks there's something dark and almost, sinister about the schoolteacher and she's determine to do whatever it takes to get her sister back safe and sound.

From the way the cover looks, I was anticipating a creepy and ghostly story, but yet, that's not exactly what we got. There's definitely an eerie vibe going on in this story, but the answers are usually slower to come. Which is to be expected, I guess I was just hoping to see more ghostly apparitions or something. 

As far as the romance goes it's not all there all the time. We have that budding romance brewing between Abel and Verity, yet there's still great strides that stand between them and there will be unimaginable obstacles they will have to overcome without realizing what they are facing. Vague enough? Hopefully. Lol.

The end had quite the twist! Though I will admit, I was hoping that one part to it was going to be more fruitful, I guess you could say. It just seemed like there was too much "happy" to the ending, though it was borderline melancholy. I just wasn't happy with where all the players ended up, let's say that! But if you're looking for a nice eerie read that's light on the scary this Halloween you might just enjoy Eventide!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

Eventide releases October 6, 2020