Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

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     Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson is a contemporary novel set in Georgia and focuses on three girls: Leeda, Birdie, and Murphy, who have a wonderful spring and summer break together. For this novel,
Peaches is a story of three different girls building a friendship on a peach farm. *WARNING*: There are spoilers. You have been warned and beware!

Summary from the book:
     "Three Georgia peaches are in for one juicy summer...
...but Birdie would rather eat Thin Mints and sulk in the A/C. Leeda would prefer to sneak off with her boyfriend, Rex. And, Murphy would much rather cause a little mischief. Together these three very different girls with discover the secret to finding the right boy, making the truest of friends, and picking the perfect Georgia peach." -Jodi Lynn Anderson, Author of Peaches

My Summary:
    Three girls: one goody two shoes, one rich, popular girl, and one troublemaker join together to form the perfect friendship in a story told from their three points of view. Peaches and friendship are some of the main things in this novel due to it taking place on a peach farm in Georgia with three unlikely girls forming a friendship lasting beyond the years that they have known each other for.
    In the beginning, Murphy is completing some community service hours at the local peach farm due to her bad behavior when she stole some alcohol and trespassed; Leeda is finding herself in her sister's shadow and trying to be the unique one in her family while still being a snobby, rich teenager; and, Birdie is having to deal with her parents' divorce and her family's peach orchard losing business. After these girls are forced to spend time together during spring break, they form an alliance and decide to meet for the summer. Birdie starts to lose weight and become more confident with herself after she starts to hang with Murphy and Leeda. She finally has the courage to tell her crush she likes him at the end of summer and soon they become a couple. Leeda and Murphy learn how their relations with Rex stand since Rex likes Murphy more than Leeda when it comes to being in a romantic relationship. For a brief time, Leeda and Murphy are furious with each other because of Rex. Leeda does not trust Murphy anymore since Rex kissed her until Birdie helps them understand that their friendship means more to them than they realize while on a road trip to Texas. Yee-ha! Rex becomes Murphy's first boyfriend in the end. Also, Birdie's peach farm is saved due to a terrible storm that causes more people to buy their peaches, and Leeda finally realizes that she stronger than she thought and that being unique is better than it might seem.

My Thoughts on the Book:
    First, this was an okay novel and I gave it 2/5 stars on Goodreads. It had a familiar plot that was not out of the ordinary when I finally picked it up and read it. It was like a million other young adult contemporary reads that I have picked up and read.
    The characters were very stereotypical, such as how the girls or anyone near their age acted like high school students that are seen in movies. As I have said before, Birdie is the good girl; Leeda is the rich, popular girl who has it all, but thinks she has a terrible life; Murphy is the intelligent troublemaker and bully who cannot stop herself from hurting people and their feelings. I found that the only one who needed help and support from some friends was Birdie since she was going through a tough time with her farm, her family, and her crush. Also, Rex destroyed the friendship after he kissed Murphy. He knew that she was loyal to Leeda but he just had to make a move on Murphy before he broke up with Leeda. He played the role of the bad boy and, for some reason, could not do the right thing before chasing after Murphy. Rex, for me, was the antagonist because he causes a great friendship to be destroyed but Murphy somehow ends up dating him in the end. Excuse me?
    I think my favorite character is Birdie because I relate to her in many ways and she is the best friend of them all. She is the nicest and most compassionate person in this book. She just wanted to be the best friend her friends had ever had while still being brutally honest and authoritative when needed.
   For now, I do not think I am going to complete this series because I think it will be a waste of my time. Maybe sometime in the future I will change my mind, but for now, I will just stick with my opinions on this book. Please tell me what you thought of this book or if you will read Peaches.

Sources:
Anderson, Jodi Lynn. Peaches. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. Print.
   
 
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