ARC Review: Eventide by Sarah Goodman

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Eventide by Sarah Goodman
Published by Tor Teen on October 6, 2020
Genres: YA Historical Fiction, YA Fantasy, YA Thriller
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

“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.”

My Review:

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.