Peaches

Peaches #1

by Jodi Lynn Anderson

In a Ya-Ya Sisterhood for teens, Peaches combines three unforgettable heroines who have nothing in common but the troubles that have gotten them sentenced to a summer of peach picking at a Georgia orchard.

Leeda is a debutante dating wrong-side-of-the-tracks Rex.

Murphy, the wildest girl in Bridgewater, likes whichever side Rex is on.

Birdie is a dreamer whose passion for Girl Scout cookies is matched only by her love for a boy named Enrico.

When their worlds collide, The Breakfast Club meets The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in an entirely original and provocative story with a lush, captivating setting.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Chick Lit, Realistic Fiction, Teen

311 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

I write strange and mythical stories about young people.

Reviews

[Anika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored these books when I was younger. I don't think too critically about books, I more read them as an escape. So I didn't recognize the "slut and fat shaming" that people are talking about. I just loved the friendships and the romance!

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. It didn't find it captivating. It's a book about friendships, with a little romance. I do like how each of the three girls, Murphy, Leeda and Birdie are so different in personality and financial status yet they became best friends. These girls bonded as they spent time in birdie's orchard farm picking peaches. Girls may be able to relate to Murphy who is smart, sarcastic, and badass, Leeda who is gorgeous, popular and rich, and Birdie who is homeschooled,shy and innocent. However, i think what made me not enjoy this book that much was because these characters weren't really complex or three-dimensional. There were some parts that were not really believable. They were so worried about the frost and storm coming. however when it did hit, they found that the whole orchard farm was saved. Occasionally I may believe in miracles but I like reading books that are more realistic.

[Ms.Goldstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peaches is a wonderful break from the catty, evil girl books that so often show up in the young adult genre. None of the girls starring in this book is perfect, but their flaws make them believable and likeable. Their distinctly different personalities make the conflicts in Peaches more interesting; the issue becomes not just solving the problem on the surface, but finding a solution that all of the girls can agree upon.

[Gökçe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Edit: Kitabı okumamın üzerinden yaklaşık bir hafta geçti ve biraz önce kitabı tam kitaplığıma kaldırıcakken kokusu bana resmen 'flashback' yaşatıp kitapta olan birkaç sahneyi aklımda canlandırdı. Kokuyla birlikte okuduğum için tüm olaylar onunla özdeşleşmiş resmen. <3

http://flawlessight.blogspot.com.tr/2...

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little sad I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, because this was one of those childhood favourites I reread over and over again. The biggest shock was how much I disliked Leeda's character this time around. I started out sympathetic toward her and believe me, I get the occasional sibling rivalry, but after a while it just became constantly feeling sorry for herself and this whole "the whole world is out to get me" attitude and I couldn't deal. I guess it's an issue with self-confidence, and again, I get that, but the way of dealing with that is not by slut-shaming your friend and her mother and then freezing her out of your life because you're too proud to apologise. And she can go choke on that fauxpology she eventually came up with. I also didn't remember Murphy being as fabulous as she is, but she's a goddess. Birdie and Murphy is where it's at and it's also so obvious how much more solid their friendship is. They care for each other and know each other, and are just amazing together. I think they bring out the best in each other and they might not always agree, but at least they remember to be decent human beings, even when they're in a fight. The story is a bit slow and there's not a lot that actually happens, but Jodi Lynn Anderson is fantastic at character development. That's another thing. Leeda and Murphy both start out as occasional brats, but where Murphy grows, I feel like Leeda deteriorates.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peaches was a pretty good book but it was full of cliches. It's about three girls who would never be friends in real life.. but certain situations happen and they end up bringing them together. All three girls end up working at the same peach farm for the summer, which sounds interesting because I know zero people who have worked on a farm.

Now these girls were okay characters that I either liked or didn't like. Pretty simple for pretty simple girls. Murphy thinks she is all that and a cherry on top. Apparently everyone guys wants to be with her and she's tired of them all. Sounds high unrealistic but whatever helps her sleep at night.

Then there's Leeda, who is super skinny, pretty, popular, and is basically dating the hottest guy ever: Rex. Basically everyone loves her - well, not her mom.. but who needs her love anyways? She has the people of this town falling in love with her.

Birdie, the last of the three, is the chubby one. She's also shy, awkward, and a total virgin. No sex or kisses have come her way which apparently is frowned upon. She has her insecurities about where and who she is in the beginning - like most girls. However, at the end she is no longer her chubby old self and has a boyfriend.. or a friend with benefits.. I don't really remember what he was. Just know she has kissed a boy people!

Now the girls were very cliche and annoying at times. However, I did end up enjoying the book - probably because of wine but I don't want to point fingers at this point. I probably would've liked this book more if it wasn't filled with cliche moments or people. It wasn't a terrible book but I also didn't have a favorite character either. Each girl goes through their own journey to find who they really are.. but did I like any of them after the book? Nope.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME-MAZINGNESS! BIRDIE! LEEDA! MURPHY!!! AW YEAH!!!!!! You shouldn't be reading this review to find out what the book's about, you should GO READ IT! But generally, this wonderful novel by Jodi Lynn Anderson is about: Birdie, the cute, sweet farm girl; Leeda, the almost-perfect but unhappy daughter in a wealthy, hotel-chain-owning family; and Murphy, the troublemaker who just happens to be amazingly smart. Fate has brought these girls together for a summer at the Darlington peach orchard- Birdie Darlington lives there with her dad (her parents are divorced), Leeda Cawley-Smith is visiting her cousin Birdie, and Murphy McGowen is working there as punishment for getting caught trespassing on Darlington property and stealing some creme de menthe. At first, the girls stay away from each other, but they slowly learn to put aside their preconceived notions of each other and have fun together. If you read this series and loved it, join my group, 'Peaches lovers'!

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Taylor Rector for TeensReadToo.com

Birdie, Leeda, and Murphy are three girls that you need to get to know. Now.

Murphy is the troublemaker, Birdie is the shy girl whose dad owns the peach farm all the girls work at, and Leeda can seem like the snobby girl, but deep down is very sweet. These three girls, who don't know each other at all when they first come to work, soon become best friends. They have their boyfriend problems, petty fights, and family problems that they help each other overcome, and that's what pulls them together.

This book is definitely for THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS fans. All three of the girls are good and bad in their own ways and are loyal to each other. But not so much that it gets boring...

Even though it was a little difficult to get into, I ended up loving PEACHES by the time I was done. A great girly-girl book, or even for anyone interested in how friendships form, and how peach-picking can impact a friendship.

[Burcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kurgusu, yazarın dili, konusu... Kitabı herşeyiyle çok sevdim. Yazarın bu kadar ağır bir konuyu böyle kolay ve sıcak bir şekilde anlatması beni büyüledi. Sonu biraz yetersizdi benim için ama üç güzel insanın birbirlerini kabulleniş ve sevgiyi bulma hikayesi beni öyle büyüledi ki sonuna pek takılmadım. Düşünerek okunduğunda, hayatla ilgili büyük bir hazine barındıran küçük bir kitap!
Bu kitap Murphy, Birdie ve Leeda'nın kitabı. Ailelerinden ve çevrelerinden sevgi görmemiş, kendi güvenli alanlarına çekilmiş ve bu alandan hep beraber çıkmış üç güzel insanın kitabı

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super sweet story about friendship and finding ones independence.
The beautiful setting of a peach orchard just added to it.
I don't think I will continue on in the series since I think this ended perfectly.

[Lyn *GLITTER VIKING* · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

VOMIT. After you wade through the slut shaming and the fat shaming, you get 3 characters that are so stupid that you can hardly finish it.

NOT a fan.

Seriously - SO MUCH SLUT SHAMING.

[Irmak]

DNF %bilmemkaç

[Abby Mineweaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovedddd this book. It definitely holds a special place in my heart. At first I was iffy about it because I was scared it was going to be boring with the orchard crap but it ended up cute and fine. The drama was crazy and amazing. So glad they got to keep the orchard! Sad that Poopie’s statue got stolen by the mail thief :(. Can’t wait to read book 2 and 3.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I didn't think I'd like this book very much, because the characters seemed really flat and stereotyped. Actually, they ended up STAYING kind of flat and stereotyped, but not as badly as I had first anticipated.
This was a fine story of teenage girls becoming friends over a summer of being thrown together on a peach farm. One of the biggest problems I had with it was that it was sometimes really confusing to know who was speaking--Anderson's dialogue tags were among the most vague I've ever seen. Also, once the girls became friends the story hung together nicely, but HOW such different people suddenly became compatible wasn't fully explained.
The book conveyed a strange feeling of covert prejudices to me. The migrant workers on the peach farm seemed a little too cheerful, almost slightly reminiscent of the way the slaves were portrayed in Gone with the Wind. Also, the three girls seemed to come from stereotyped places of Southern culture.
I found the story very engaging, though, despite these shortcomings. I think my 7th grade girls would enjoy this book, and many of them already liked it and recommended it to me. I liked Birdie's character the best because I think she was the most fully developed. I enjoyed watching her go from an annoying girl with very little self-esteem to a strong young woman capable of identifying and chasing what she wants. The other two girls provided an interesting contrast and showed how friends with different interests and personalities can bring out the best in each other.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really terrible but not really captivating. It's a book about three girls who, under normal circumstances, would never become friends, but due to various situations which land them all at the same peach farm for the summer, they do.

The problem with this book is that it's just cliche and unrealistic with characters that people can only vaguely relate to. Murphy is a super-hot troublemaker whose milkshake makes all the boys trip over their feet and fall onto their faces everytime she walks by but she is just so bored by it. Leeda is super-skinny and pretty and popular and has a hot boyfriend named Rex and everyone just loves her except for her mother, of course, which is really the only person she seeks acceptance from (yawn). Birdie is kind of chubby and really shy and awkward and actually hasn't had sex or even kissed anybody yet, but don't worry, because by the end of the book she's skinny and macking on Enrico and has forgotten all about her insecurites.

Oh, it's also one of those great books where everybody has a name that nobody has ever heard of before! Murphy, Leeda, Birdie, Danay, Rex, Lucretia, Brighton. The list goes on.

There are moments that are sweet and nice and lovely, and it's really not such a bad book if you're stuck at the cottage and it's raining outside so you can't go to the beach. But if you're not fifteen and you're not interested in having your time wasted, don't read this book.

[Beckie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peaches

Murphy McGowan is a wild girl who gets caught steeling some “crème de menthe” at a finically troubled peach farm in Bridgewater, Georgia. She ended up working there for the entire spring brake as punishment for her crime.
Leeda is a blonde aristocrat whose parents own a golf resort and she is sentenced by her snobby mother to spend spring break on the farm with her uncle Walter and her cousin Birdie. She would definitely rather be hanging out with her rebel boyfriend Rex to piss off her parents.
Birdie is the daughter of a single dad running a peach farm that is going in a finical spiral to the ground headed for a crash and burn. Her mother just left and she is falling in love with an immigrant worker on the farm Enrico. And to top it all off her cousin who totally dislikes her is coming along with a girl who stole jam from their house, to work for spring break.
Together these girls come together, fall in love, have some wild times and end up staying the entire summer at the peach farm and saving it from near death.
This is a great book for 10- 16 year olds who like romance and friendship and a great story line. It is a little slow in the beginning but once you fall in love with the characters you cant stop reading it!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book totally reminds me of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants , just with less drama, and swap out the pants for peaches. But where the Sisterhood had history, the Peaches have a beginning. And I like that, seeing how three nearly strangers become parts of each other's lives, and the summer they share. Definitely an enjoyable read, and recommended for anyone who likes girly books about friendship (with a dash of romance, naturally.)

[Tina Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my goodness. I hated this book so much. My entire class did. We were so, so bored with it. We actually had to force ourselves to read it. I have never had that happen before. Plus, the author contradicts herself A LOT. And it was just completely unrealistic. Things don't magically work out perfectly. Conflicts don't right themselves as easily as this book would have you believe. This book just wasn't even interesting to me. I honestly think it was just a waste of time.

[Jenee Rager · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute, easy to read book. For a YA the characters are more well developed than usual and in a few cases a little darker than you would expect. I think this is somewhere between the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants maturity wise. A fun read for the winter months.

[mau · Rating 5 out of 5]

i always feel that my fav star ratings are very biased bc they’re very much influenced by the emotions some books made me feel and this one ???? it was a lot it was everything to me. i read these books a very long time ago when i was a child so picking it up again scared me bc i was scared that my child brain made me remember it as sm better than what it actually was but no !!!!!! this book is the personification of girlhood and everything that encompasses growing up and the inevitable sadness and anger that becoming and woman and growing up brings, the loss of control of time going by, of your body and mind changing. it portrays so many aspects of what being a human is, not only through leeda, murphy and birdie but also the ppl around them. i have a love for the ability certain authors have of making their characters so so human so full of life and this series so far is that and sm more :) love the three girls sm but murphy will always have a special place in my heart, i already looked up to her sm as a child wanting to be like her and all and now i just wanna hold her in my arms forever. anyway theres too much to be said about the peaches universe but i can’t quite express the beautiful experience that rereading this series has been for me . definitely cant wait for alie, marmiton and emmos thoughts i hope they love it as much as i do

ALSO absolutely hate the resume for this book like no ???? u don’t get the girls at all if thats what u think this book is about ??? get a job ??? stay away from them ??? crazy

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا]

Three teenage girls from very different backgrounds, thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard, spend a summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends, and the perfect peach.

[T.Y. Mazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Başlarda aşırı karışıktı bence. Hikaye ancak finale doğru sardı beni.

[Majs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jag tyckte ändå att boken var mysig. Gick ganska snabbt att läsa, men var nog lite långtråkig ibland. Jag tyckte om Murphy men kände att Birdie var en fett tråkig karaktär. Shippade aldrig riktigt Rex och hon sista vad hon nu heter. Men jag gillade hela grejen med persikofarmen även om en del saker var ganska lame. Men skulle ändå rekommendera den, typ så mysig att läsa på sommaren.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peaches, a fiction by Jodi Lynn Anderson, has quickly become one of my favorite books. A friend gave it to me because her mom gave it to her and she didn’t want to read it. It looked interesting so I decided I would read it, and my friend missed out.
The novel starts with a short chapter that gives a little background to unlock the story. These chapters reoccur frequently through the novel and give those “Aha!” moments. Then it moves into the life of Murphy McGowen, a brown haired, green-eyed bombshell who is misunderstood, lost and has infinite trust issues. She breaks into the Darlington Orchard house and steels a bottle of liquor, only to be caught. For punishment, she is sent to work at the orchard picking peaches over Spring break. There she meets Birdie Darlington, a shy farm girl whose father owns the orchard, and Leeda Cawley-Smith, Birdie’s perfect, rich cousin. All three girls work together on the orchard and eventually break down Murphy’s trust wall, Leeda’s obsessive compulsive perfection problem, and Birdie’s insecurities. They help each other through bonding experiences like transforming Birdie into a beautiful woman, Leeda standing up to her mother, and Murphy finally letting her guard down. All three girls come back to work on the orchard over summer.
There were many dramatic situations in the novel, like when Murphy stole Leeda’s boyfriend: Rex. Red is and average, (not rich), guy who fixes cars and has the same sarcastic attitude as Murphy. The two girls work through it eventually.
Birdie falls in love with a Mexican farm worker, Enrico, over the summer. He and his friends and family work and live at the orchard over the Summer and then return to Mexico when the season is over/ At the end of the novel, Birdie goes on a road trip with Leeda and Murphy to tell Enrico how she really feels. But does he love her too? You’ll have to read and find out!
The central conflict in this novel is man vs. himself in that all three teenagers try to find themselves and are unsuccessful until they find each other. All three have a constant struggle being the person everyone else wants them to be and who they really are. Picking the perfect peach represents each girls’ search for happiness. They all came to the orchard ready for something better than what they had. Murphy with her looks, Birdie with her brains, and Leeda with her money. By the end of the summer all three girls can “pick the perfect peach,” and have become parts of each other.
Jodi Lynn Anderson has a compelling way of captivating the audience, and there is never a dull moment. The writing is easy to read, flows well, and the descriptions are never overdone. Everything is written to perfection. With each word, Anderson draws you in more. I would relate her style to Stephenie Meyer’s.
I found the main theme in the novel to be: be loved for who you really are, not who people want you to be. Each of the girls allowed society to mold them into something they weren’t until they found each other. Once they were friends, their shells came off and their real, beautiful colors showed.
I would recommend this book only to girls between to ages of 12 and 35 because the plotline is on that other people couldn’t relate to and wouldn’t enjoy. I loved this book, and only wish it was longer. Luckily for me, there is a sequel!

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peau de pêche était vraiment un souffle d'air frais. Si je pouvais décrire ce livre dans un mot, ça serait "sincérité" Parce que même si c'était une histoire de fiction, chaque geste, chaque dialogue semblait parvenir de la réalité; tout semblait pouvoir se transmettre dans quelque chose qui pourrais arriver en vrai vie.

Tout commence avec une crème de menthe. Plus spécifiquement, la crème de menthe que Murphy McGowen vole du verger de pêches des Darlingtons. Cet acte de cambriolage lui condamne à travailler au verger Darlington pendant les vacances de printemps. Là, elle rencontre Birdie, la fille timide du propriétaire du verger, et Leena, la cousine de Birdie qui vient d'une famille riche à craquer. Ces trois filles ont apparemment seulement deux choses en similaires:

1. Elles ont le même âge

2. Elles doivent travailler au même verger de pêches.

Après ces vacances de printemps, ces trois filles pensaient que c'était la fin de ce qui pouvait arriver entre eux, mais viens l'été, et Murphy, Leena, et bien sûre, Birdie, se retrouve tous encore au verger Darlington, sous des circonstances différentes. Mais elles n'ont aucune idée qu'est ce que cette été va offrir à chacune d'entre elle... va offrir à eux.

J'avais récemment lu un livre qui avait du bon potentiel, mais qu'est ce qui la abaissé en valeur était qu'il y avait trop de fils d'histoire qui avait rapport avec la protagoniste, et à la fin tout était une confusion totale. Peau de pêche avait trois protagonistes, mais ce livre n'avait jamais perdu son fil d'histoire. Murphy, Leeda et Birdie étaient tous très bien développer en terme de personnages, et leurs traits distinctifs ont vraiment bien colorer ce livre. Mais qu'est ce qu'était épatant était que leurs histoires et personnalités différentes ont pu pouvoir tisser ce lien, ce lien qui guidait toujours l'histoire à quelque part de merveilleux.

C’est drôle parce que tu penserais qu’un livre qui suit trois filles durant l’été aurait plein de dialogue moche et une histoire pas mal ringarde, mais Peau de pêche était exactement l’inverse. J’ai vraiment apprécié que l’auteure n’a pas écrit des situations parfaites, ceux qui sont vraiment prévisible et qui fini avec une conclusion parfaite. Non, chaque situations et dialogues avaient un point, et même si ça ne finissait pas toujours bien, ça apportait quelque chose de nouveau à l’histoire, quelque chose de valeur.

Peau de pêche était vraiment un livre amusant. Ça m’a fait rire, bouder, penser… Bref, c’est un livre qui te fait ressentir beaucoup d’émotions sincères. Je l’a recommande fortement, car c’est un livre qui t’amène sur un voyage vraiment, vraiment sensationnel!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Murphy peered around. "See, the perfect place to be during a hurrican. In a shoddily built shed full of sharp tools."
Leeda shot another look at Murphy. But she knew she was right. Only Murphy seemed amused. Maybe that was the only thing to be. About everything."


"'It just feels like the world's ending,' she said through a smile." - Birdie

"She'd never felt her body relax so completely, resting from the hard work and loosening up in the company of the two sitting next to her. She felt liked. Leeda was liked by a lot of people, but usually for things that didn't matter. She felt like she was liked by Birdie and Murphy for no reason at all, and that made the experience, for as long as it may last, more real.
Leeda knew friends never turned out to be what you expected. They came and went in waves, pulling away and coming back, leaving you feeling safe on minute and lost the next. In the movies they made it look permanent, and for a long time Leeda had expected to find friends like that. But there was always some gap that developed; there was always a glitch.
She didn't really knoew Murphy, or even her cousin, at all. But or that tiny space of time, savoring the taste of her peach, feeling the sleepy laziness of someone who's earned it, it felt like Birdie and Murphy might turn out to be friends like that. Even though they had nothing in common and there was fuzz stuck under her fingernails and the juice was drying in a sticky mass on her arms, Leeda was happy.
The moment slipped away, but because it wasn't perfect, it was the most perfect one she could remember having."

[Katrina Michelle]

DNF @ 23%

As soon as I read the first page, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Now I've slogged my way through 72 pages, and I am DONE.

Murphy sickens me. Her main goal in life seems to be getting every cute boy she encounters to check out her sizeable chest, while at the same time pretending that boys are boring. I mean... urrrgh. I can't handle it. She's mean and selfish and blames people for ruining her life when she's the one who BROKE INTO SOMEBODY'S HOUSE. *massive eye roll* Likeable qualities? None.

Also Leeda is boring; her predicament is incredibly cliché. And Birdie is waaaaaay too awkward. I mean, yes, I'm ALL FOR awkward girl characters in fiction, but not when there's nothing to that character BUT her awkwardness.

What I managed to get through was cliché and SUPER annoying, and I'm so disappointed because I was looking forward to a cute summer read and cute is absolutely NOT the word I would use to describe the first 72 pages of this book.

Since it's one of Anderson's older works, I'm just happy to see her writing has significantly improved. I highly recommend My Diary from the Edge of the World, The Vanishing Season, and Midnight at the Electric by this author. Those are really good books (especially My Diary!!!). But I'd suggest steering clear of this one. I flipped ahead a little, and it doesn't seem to get any better. SMH.

[Alis Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to give this book an amazing review, because it was likeable, but not entirely lovable.

Three girls are stuck in an orchard in Bridgewater, Georgia. Murphy because she has been sentenced there by a judge for all the mischief she has gotten into. Leeda was sent there at first just because her parents couldn't be bothered with her for spring break, then she returns in the summer because she can stand to spend the whole summer with her parents. Finally we have Birdie whose father owns the orchard. These girls couldn't be more different but come together to be friends.

This part of the story was good, and I did enjoy reading the book. Unfortunately it was not a book that I was unable to put down. The book seemed to lag in spots and the three girls didn't even get together until about page 90. I didn't really even get the feeling that they were the best of friends.

The biggest problem that I had with this story is the fact that we have 3 fifteen year-old girls having sex, and drinking. I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 18 for that reason. I may be a bit of a prude but no where in this story does it say that any of the parents are surprised or disappointed by their behavior.

So all in all I can't give this book as high of a rating as I would have liked.

[Siara M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peaches is about three teenage girls from Georgia named Birdie, Leeda (Birdie's cousin) and Murphy who's lives become intertwined when they stay at the same farm for the summer. They all have different reasons for being on the farm, those being because they live there, are on probation..etc. and they don't get along at all at first. Birdie's shyness takes over leaving Murphy and Leeda to become friends but they come back one summer and Birdie brings up the courage to befriend them and leaves her comfort in many drama filled instances. Leeda who has a problem being compared to her sister, finally drops this idea and decided to become her own person and love herself. Murphy comes to close with her mom's problems, gets a new boyfriend and drops her outer shell. Overall, they all change for the better. I selected this book because I felt that it would be an interesting read and I could relate to it. I liked the story overall and felt as though it was a fun read that as a teenager I could find myself in and relate to. But I didn't like how the book is not written in first person and felt myself getting lost in the beginning.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an endearing novel on the realities of being a teenager. It took me awhile to "get into" this book. The first 140 pages could have been condensed to 50 pages. I didn't really feel like the story really started until about 150 pages into the book.

However, when reaching this point I really enjoyed the book. I appreciated the author's ability to highlight the difficult points about being a teenager by really developing each character's relationships with the others. I loved how much tension the relationships had at times and how the author seemed to subconsciously emphasize that friendship is not always sunshine and rainbows, but that it can be really tough. It was neat to see the characters navigate through this developmental period of their lives and discover things about themselves that they hadn't noticed before.

Although I will probably not read the sequels to this book, I would recommend this book series to young adults who are looking to take a break from the "teenage-vampire mystery romances."