Customer Reviews

Love and Peaches

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you enjoyed the first 2 you will definitely love this one!

This was a great end to the Peaches series. I have enjoyed all 3 of the Peaches books and hated to see them end, but was very satisfied with the way it ended. There was some surprises and some things that I saw coming...my favorite was how Leeda's story was wrapped up...her finding herself. Murphy's story wrapped up with a happy surprise and offered a new side of her. Birdie's, while probably the saddest of the 3, still ended well. And I loved the new characters that were introduced and also the back-story on Leeda's gradmom.

Super book...I would recommend!!

Love and Peaches is just like the rest of the series--extremely slow paced, but with some good storylines here and there. It's not amazing, but not bad either. I feel like the characters reached their emotional growth potentials a long time ago, and a lot of this was just reaching, trying to stretch them as far as she could. I honestly think Jodi Lynn Anderson would have had a great book if she'd smushed all three books into one, making for a fast-paced, exciting, and dramatic read. For once, it was Birdie's story that I found extremely boring. She was previously the one character whose story I liked. This time around, both Murphy and surprisingly, Leeda, were the interesting ones. Murphy's doing the same old Murphy thing, so her ending was pretty much the greatest thing ever. Leeda actually did grow as a character for once, or maybe it was in her all along, but it was great to see a mature Leeda who cared about something other than herself. I do thank Anderson for caring enough about her characters and readers to put in a sweet little epilogue.

Rating: 3.5/5

I'm sure the book is very good, however I was not aware it was part of a series when I ordered it, so I have not read it as I was very confused when I started.

Murphy and Leeda plan on traveling home for the summer, Murphy to escape city life and Leeda to listen to her grandmother's will.

Leeda expects to be gone within two weeks, back to the city and her boyfriend. The reading of the will changes her plans and potentially her life's direction.

Murphy's trying to run away from her feelings about a certain boy she left behind at the end of last summer. Will she see him again this year and, if she does, what is there left to say?

Birdie didn't plan on coming home this summer. Recently engaged, she decided to spend her time in Mexico. But on a whim, she rushes home, breaking things off with Enrico. Then she hears the news that her father plans on selling the orchard and its decrepit house to retire. Her heart breaks twice over the summer and she desperately needs something to help her heal.

Together the girls have one more summer on the orchard while they deal with their lives in separate ways. Friendship, love, and survival guide the girls together.

Jodi Lynn Anderson wraps up her amazing trilogy wonderfully, leaving readers fully satisfied.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

When I first started reading these books, I'll admit I thought of them as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants light. Now that I've reached the end, I've come to respect the trilogy for standing on its own two feet--or six feet, as the case may be.

The three girls brought together in Book One by a peach orchard are back: Murphy, a free spirit who can't admit to herself her own longings for stability; Birdie, whose love of the orchard first elevated her but now begins to get in her way; and wealthy, perfect Leeda, whose desire to please her high-pressure family has slowly begun to crack through her association with the other two girls.

In this book, each of the threesome continues to deal with love and yes, peaches. It sounds soap opera-ish to ask, Will Murphy go back to Rex? Who is her father? Will Birdie marry Enrico? Will Leeda keep pleasing her mother? But in Jodi Lynn Anderson's hands, these potentially hackneyed questions become something fresh and lovely. As a reader, it's easy to think you can predict the outcomes, but you will be wrong about a few, if not all, of them. It's nice to be surprised by a book.

Anderson also plays with some interesting ideas. Leeda sees her tendency to be uncertain as a failing: "Murphy says not having a niche is my niche," she explains apologetically. But the new, less-polished guy she meets while caring for her late grandmother's surprising bequest has this to say: "Maybe figuring it out is...I don't know, what it's all about. Constantly deciding. And you're true enough not to decide anything before you're ready, and you don't want to lock yourself into a box. Maybe it's the sure people who are missing out."

Murphy, for her part, gives a whole new meaning to fear of commitment. Truly--she makes you reenvision that fear as she thrashes about, trying to deal with what she does and does not know, feels and does not feel.

In fact, none of the girls are sure what they want in this book. I like how the author brings up the possibility that much of life may be about finding questions rather than answers.

Jodi Lynn Anderson's language is beautifully wrought, more so than that of most writers working in the field. She also weaves symbols gracefully through the book, from large images like the peach orchard to smaller images like kissing chickens.

Which reminds me: moments of humor mixed with tenderness further enrich the story. My favorite line is about Miss Piggy, though the white pants are a close second.

It's difficult for writers to convey life lessons without being offputting or didactic, but the characters in Love and Peaches are so real, yet unexpected, that you may just feel like you're growing right along with Birdie, Murphy, and Leeda. Ripening like a perfect peach.

The book came as described, though shipping was a little slow. All in all I was pleased and will be a return

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