Eventide is an evocative YA historical fantasy thriller by debut author Sarah Goodman, for fans of Jennifer Donnelly and Libba Bray. A BEA YA Buzz PickA SIBA Fall Okra Pick A Once Upon a Book Club Subscription Box Selection 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 … 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.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Verity Pruitt and her sister Lilah are sent off to find new homes because her father has been committed back east. When they get there they to Wheeler, they are separated. The family she is with tell her from the beginning to stay out of the woods, unnatural things happen in them… the story is full of spooky happenings and evil doings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written and the ending though unexpected was well done.
I liked this book and its eerie atmosphere and good characters. The characters were well-written and I liked them a lot. There was a bit of romance but it definitely wasn’t a main focus. The descriptions and the flow of the writing really made this book great. The description and the writing created this eerie atmosphere that sucked me in and was suspenseful at some points. There was mystery and a spooky paranormal vibe to it and was like a YA, historical, fantasy thriller. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait for more of this author!
3.5 stars rounded up.
I started reading the physical copy of this one, but immediately switched to the audio when I found out it was narrated by Lauren Fortgang. She is on my list of go-to narrators, and the wait was worth it.
Set in the early 1900s in the small town of Wheeler, Arkansas, what should be a sleepy town is actually home to a haunting forest that harbors one heck of a dark secret.
Verity Pruitt and her sister quickly realize things aren’t as they seem in this new town. To make matters worse, Lilah is immediately adopted but Verity must indenture herself as a farmhand to stay nearby.
This debut is an atmospheric novel that sinks its teeth in from the prologue. The “otherness” of the town is palpable. I loved that this small town slowly reveals its secrets the more Verity refuses to back down and be a silent and obedient young lady.
While the mystery, supernatural elements, and small town life will definitely whet a lot of palates, this is a slow-burn so keep that in mind. There were definitely some points in the middle where we were wrapped up in the daily life of the small town, which slowed the momentum of the plot a bit. I also think that I was just dying to get to the supernatural elements.
The characters in this one are well crafted and each one has their own place in the story. I absolutely loved Verity. She refused to conform to the expectations of girls and women in society (even though this is early 1900s). I do always struggle with stories set in historic time periods because of the suffocating patriarchy, so to have Verity refuse to hold her tongue made me proud.
Overall, if you’re looking for a spine tingling read for spooky season, I think this one is definitely worth a read.
Thank you to Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copies. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
Oh, I quite enjoyed this novel! It gave me slight Winterwood and The Wicked Deep vibes, so if you’ve enjoyed Shea Ernshaw’s novels, you might like this one.
It started off a little bit slow as Verity, our sole protagonist, establishes herself on the farm. But once she ventures into the woods and the creep factor heightens I couldn’t put it down and kept reading until I finished this book at almost 2am.
The pacing here (after our slow start) was excellent as the reader is given bits and pieces of the story in small chunks. The setting was interesting as well, and the side characters were fully fleshed out and added their own little aspects to the story. The author did a great job in making us love Verity and her sister and friends, and hate the antagonist. The addition of the townspeople added an extra level of believability to the novel.
Really great debut from Sarah Goodman. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t often find books set in my home state of Arkansas, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across this YA magical realism book set in the fictional town of Wheeler, Arkansas, in the early 1900s. Verity and Lilah are sisters who have been remanded to state custody after the death of their mother and the institutionalization of their father for insanity. Verity is just months from being 18, so she is not yet legally able to care for her younger sister. They are sent on an orphan train to Wheeler, where Lilah is adopted by the town’s schoolteacher, Maeve Donovan, and Verity is indentured to another family. Reeling with the unexpected separation and determined that they will soon be able to return home to New York, Verity tries to make the best of the situation. She is told by several people to not go into the woods that are near the farm where she now lives, but no explanation is given. One day soon after arriving at the farm, Verity is thrown from the horse she is riding and decides to take a shortcut through the woods. What she finds there soon makes her begin questioning her own sanity, wondering if she has inherited her father’s inability to tell what is real and what is not.
This was a quick, enjoyable, read and is a book I would recommend.
The synopsis of this was what grabbed me at first. But then there was more to the story than I imagined just from that. I liked how it used the history of the orphan trains as the background for the time this was set in. I keep meaning to read more about those times, but have yet to. But the book wasn’t just about that, it was also about small towns and the secrets they keep. As well as having a little bit of a magical element to the story, with ghosts and a witch or two. There were scenes in the story that were definitely eerie, and I could see this as a horror movie someday. Maybe Netflix could do that?
It wasn’t even just the historical parts or the magic and mystery, the characters were really a lot of what kept me reading. They all had such unique personalities that really added to the story, even the supporting characters made me want to keep reading to find out how they fit into the whole thing. Even as long as this one was, I was turning pages and sped through it with how it pulled me in wanting to know what would happen next and how things would turn out for everyone. The ending was bittersweet, but fitting and worked to wrap the story up quite well.