The Secrets of Peaches

Peaches #2

by Jodi Lynn Anderson

A delicious sequel to the national bestseller Peaches

After a magical summer living on a peach orchard, Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie confront a series of breakups, make-ups, and take-offs. They may have to leave one another, along with the orchard that brought them together. But despite their heartbreak, this year's bitter endings could lead to the sweetest of new beginnings.

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

I write strange and mythical stories about young people.

Reviews

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this went from okay to super heartbreaking? I'm still not here for Leeda's antics and there were times when I wanted to shake all of them, but Murphy/Rex crushed my heart a little and Murphy/Birdie still have the strongest of friendships.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book, showed a different side the the girls, than the first. The first brought them together and created a strong friendship-but the second shows how much this friendship can take and gets tested throughout the book overall showing how much the girls really care for eachother. There was a lot of drama, break-ups and make-up and ups and downs but I really liked it. I feel like I get very attached to each character, so when something sad happened (or the drama going on) it hurt me...but it was needed. I hope the third book it good, and hope to read it soon. This book was great and is worth reading.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secrets of Peaches is so much better than its predecessor I can't even handle it. The storyline in Peaches was terribly boring, the characters horribly cliche, and in the end, wasn't very satisfying at all. In the Secrets of Peaches, all the characters suddenly turn into real people! Everyone has real problems and real emotions that are easily felt by the reader. The three girls become much more relatable. Murphy is no longer this haughty sexpot with a stone cold heart, but rather an attractive girl with real insecurities who has a reputation to uphold, and therefore cannot let down her guard. Leeda isn't the perfect, skinny, everyone-wants-to-be-slash-date-her princess, but a lost girl who is treated very unfairly by her family. And Birdie is wonderfully shy and thoughtful and only wants the best for everyone. There was only one part where Birdie randomly went completely out of character for one night, which I didn't like, but other than that, this book was absolutely delicious.

[Abby Mineweaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book a 3.8⭐️ It was way too sad for me to endure. However, the drama was still crazy which i loved. It still holds a special place in my heart and love all the characters still. Cute AHH SERIES. Onto 3!!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the girls last year of school, and they have some choices to make. Murphy is going to NYU after making the tough desision of leaving the love of her life Rex behind. Birdie went down to Mexico to spend some time with Enrico after having a little fun in the cider house. She also has to start running things around the orchard since she's going to inherit it. And Leeda is this years pecan queen and is fed up with her mother, she's going to Columbia in New York and has promised her that she is not coming back.I like this book because you never know what chapter is going to be about what girl, and who will be in it. Like in some chapters the girls are all together, or there's two of them.It's a good book about friends, lovers, and choices. I don't recomend this book to guys considering that it's kind of a chick flick.

[Lucita Ocaña Dessen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy shit, this got better.

All the things that made the first book solid made this book phenomenal!!!

This book was FULL of personal growth. That really seems to be the theme of these books, which I both love and respect.

But it’s not just that people are growing. The book itself is so poetically beautiful and there are a lot of full circle moments- which is what makes it a good novel, not just a good story.

Anyways, I recommend this book A LOT. I’ll be reading (and subsequently reviewing ofc) the third book when I get my hands on it, which will be… at some point lol.

Happy Reading! ✌🏼

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the first book, with the friendship and real life. The 2nd book in this series was good except for Leeda. She got on my last nerve and had no real plotline aside from being nasty. I am working on the 3rd book next so hopefully it turns out ok. This book was also really sad.

[Joy| joyluck.bookclub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this made my heart hurt, but also my heart to happy to reread something I used to love so so much (and still do).

[mau · Rating 5 out of 5]

AGAIN, jodi lynn anderson u did it again !!!!!!! if the first volume felt like summer and found family (what more can a girl ask for ?) this one was muddy winter and the grief of growing up while things change against your will . they had to say goodbye to so many little aspects that made them them ? how hard they tried to fight change and how it just came back tenfolds too . of all of them i think leeda stuck with me the most in this one, her character development was so good, v painful but also beautiful to witness in a way. birdie and her big kind heart <33333 and silly thoughts she made me laugh the most. murphy :((((( the methuselah parallel was so beautifully done !!!! THE EPILOGUE AAAAAAA BAWLING KNEES FALLING ON PAVEMENT PERMANENT NERVE DAMAGE TO MY KNEE NERVES…. i yuck at how bad i am when it comes to explaining books and why i like them but yes again reemerging in the peaches universe truly is an amazing experience to me EVERYTIME

also s/o rex for being Peak

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about three girls leeda, murphy, and birdie stats with Leeda mom wanting her to do a pagaent for her since it has been the family tradition to do and wth her mom saying she has a disease and will end up dying so she ends us facing and embarrassing moment during the parade due to her mom not being there being mad goes home and realises her moms disease was all fake just for her to do the pagaent she leaves home due to all the problems because of her mom and ends up living with birdie,birdie is the one who owns the peach farm missing her boyfriend Enrico who is in Mexico she ends up going mexico to her dad letting her go for her birthday and ends up realising that not something she wants back home she realises poopie her mom like figure is acting strange thinking she might go back home but she soon realizes that poopie was acting strange due to poopie having a relation ship with her father being faced with the problem with her boyfriends he soon has to return to the farm for work with him being there they patch things up and end up dating again. murphy soon leaving to collage wants her boyfriends to come with her he decides to stay in their town with his life all being there with her being upset about it breaks up and her problem with leeda rise with Murphy's boyfriend being leedas ex-boyfriend she starts to argue with murphy more and soon both distance each other soon murphy meets her boyfriends and they decide to be part was more hurtful and get together again with murphy going to collage ends up seeing Leeda there happy she came with her patch things up. my thought on the book was mixed it was interesting I wished if murphy and Leeds had just communicated and what was making her upset they could have not faced issue and rex Murphys boyfriend I think he got a girlfriend after they broke up so that was just confusing because it was so soon so did he truly love murphy or was the other girl just backup thing I don't really know and with birdie with her boyfriend i don't think the break up was necessary because they just go back together with not really talking. in my opinion, this book would be targeted towards teens since it facing problems they might face with boyfriends, collage, and friendship so I think teens would like this book a lot.

[Rümeysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Şeftali Serisinin (bu serinin adı cidden bu mu bilmiyorum sadece bir sınıf arkadaşım yıl boyunca Şeftali Serisi dedi durdu ondan geçmiş olmalı bana da) ikinci kitabı olan Şeftali Kokan Sırlar'ı da uzun bir okuma süresinin ardından bitirmiş bulunmaktayım.
İlk kitabı gerçekten çok sevdikten sonra ikinci bir kitaba hiç gerek olmadığını tek kitap olarak daha iyi olacağını ve yazarın seriye devam ederek batıracağını düşündüm. Beklentim yerlerdeydi ve doğrusu kitabı okumaya bile korkar durumdaydım.
Evet gayet önyargılı bir insanım.
Ancak durum beklediğim gibi olmadı. Evet bana kalırsa ilk kitabın yanında sönüktü ve sevmediğim çok fazla durum vardı yine de kötü bir kitap değildi. Hatta beklediğimin çok çok üstünde bir kitaptı.
Bu kitapta ilk kitabın aksine kızların ilişkisi çok çalkantılıydı ve sürekli bir tartışma hali vardı. Bir yerden sonra bu durum rahatsızlık verici oldu. İlk kitapta kızların arkadaş olma çabalarını okurken bu kitapta arkadaşlıklarını ayakta tutma çabalarıyla baş başaydık. Evet, bu kadar gereksiz ve boş yere tartışmaları rahatsızlık verici olsa da yine de bir yerde hala arkadaşıklarını korumaya çalışıyorlardı ki bu çok güzeldi. Bana kalırsa bu seriyi bu kadar önemsememin en büyük sebebi içi saçma sapan ilişkilerle dolu gençlik kitaplarının aksine dostluğun üstünde bu kadar duruyor olması.
Bu kitapta geçen kitabın aksine Murphy gerçekten çok ilerleme kaydetmişti. Büyük bir hayranlıkla okudum onu. Sanırım bunun en büyük sebebi onunla aynı hayale sahip olmamızdı. Ancak geçen kitap çok sevdiğim Birdie'den nefret ettim. Özellikle Enrico ile yaşadıkları şeyleri okumak bile sinirimi bozdu. Geçen kitap çok severek okuduğum bir ikililerken bu kitap Birdie'nin gereksiz tripleri yüzünden resmen bütün sevgim söndü. Yine aynı şekilde Leeda'nın kendini uzun süre insanlardan soyutlaması da hoşuma gitmedi. Bu iki detay bana çok zorlama geldi. Leeda ve annesinin ilişkisi üzerine çok daha kaliteli şeyler yazılabilirdi.
Kitaptaki favori sahnem ise Birdie, Enrico ve tavuk arasında geçen sahneydi.
Kitabı sevmiş olsam da aile ilişkileri üzerine daha çok gidilebilir ve kızlarının ilişkilerinin daha iyi yansıtılabilirdi.

[Kelli Belli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been so long since I read Peaches that I didn't know how much I've missed these three girls. This book was much more heart breaking than I anticipated. I thought it was going to be I cute summer read. I never expected it to have me tearing up through most of it and crying at the end of it. Can't wait to read Love and Peaches and see how everything turns out for Murphy, Birdie and Leeda as well as all the other characters I have come to know and love in this series.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ou 3,5/5 je ne sais pas encore.

1) Je n'étais pas du tout dans le mood pour lire ça et du coup ça m'a soulée 2) les filles m'ont vraiment agacée par moments 3) quelques répétitions.

Je lirai cela dit le tome 3 parce que je veux savoir comment l'histoire finit ! Mais j'attendrai une ou deux lectures, peut-être parce que je dois rendre le livre à la médiathèque...

[Roxanna Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secret of Peaches is a book full of discoveries, the coming of age blooming once more. Jodi Lynn Anderson’s voice and characters captivated the essence of the seasons and turmoil that went along with the fading tendrils of things that could have been or could possibly be… Very touching a thumbs good read.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, the drama that I said was missing from the first Peaches book? It's here, in the second. This book was really melancholy and while the first made me feel good, this one made me feel a little bummed out.

[Kricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel to 'Peaches' so all the characters were familiar, but didn't do what I expected them to do. This is the kind of chick-lit I actually feel comfortable recommending- it's not all clean and nice, it's got a little scandal, but isn't all trashy ala gossip girls.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, blir så irriterad på både Leeda och Murphy för hur de agerar ibland. Men det är en okej bok och jag kommer definitivt att ta mig an sista delen i serien direkt.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books so much. Easy reading definitely, but awesome.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to pick this book up after I bought it, but I love how the author crafts this book by slowly revealing the characters and keeping you hanging. The ending was perfect.

[Kylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secrets of Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson was a pretty good read. In the book, three girls (Leeda, Birdie, and Murphy) live on a peach orchard during the summer before their senior year. Like most people, high school isn't the best time for the girls but they all have their own unique problems. I do wish I read the first book before this because I feel as if that would make everything easier to understand and a more enjoyable book.
Throughout the book Leeda's mother favorites her sister and basically neglects Leeda. Growing apart from her mother impacts Leeda immensely as she loses touch with her friends and the rest of the world. One the other hand, Murphy is struggling with her relationship with her boyfriend. She wants to move to New York City and have him come with her, however all he wants is for her to tell him she loves him. Lastly, Birdie is torn because her boyfriend is moving to Mexico and also her family housekeeper may move back to his home town. It is very interesting to learn about the conflicts the girls face and how they endure them.
The author uses characterization to help tell the story. For example, Anderson describes Leeda's appearance as "straight out of Martha's Vineyard-all perfect cheekbones and alabaster skin with a smattering of sun-induced freckles"(page 5). This helps the reader imagine the character and what she looks like. Knowing the main points of someone's appearance can definitely help the reader understand upcoming conflicts or even advantages that the character encounters. Another way the author helps develop a character is by describing their qualities or actions. This is exhibited when Enrico (Birdie's boyfriend) breaks the new of him wanting to move. Anderson tells the reader what Birdie is thinking. She says that she admires him for always going forward and she also thinks about her future and how it will be different. By doing this, we can see that Birdie is perseverant yet very happy when things stay the same.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked how there were three main characters so a lot was going on. One of my favorite shows is Gossip Girl and this book was sort of similar in that way. However unlike the show, everything that happens in the book is very believable and not so dramatic.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked the first book in the trilogy, this one won’t disappoint, though the friendships are more fractured here and the girls are dealing with some heavier choices and losses.

This one mostly takes place in autumn and winter as the girls are in their last year of high school figuring out what’s next (though most scenes still happen at the orchard). Each girl is struggling and for the most part, rather than reach out to one another, they pull away and don’t necessarily deal well on their own.

Murphy, who’s always longed to escape the confines of her small town, is torn between an opportunity in New York and her love for Rex, a small town quiet life kind of guy.

Birdie’s torn, too, between her desire to broaden her horizons and life in her beloved orchard, fueling her angst is the forward motion of her relationship with Enrico and the niggling fear that her pseudo second mother, Poopie may want to go home to Mexico.

Leeda remains the least defined of the girls, though her identity crisis often makes her the most interesting in this sequel as her behavior is rarely predictable and she has some seriously dramatic moments with her mom, as well as a late night incident where she’s at achingly loose ends (though it wasn’t examined/addressed as thoroughly afterwards as I might have preferred, it still felt impactful in the moment).

There were times when the girls frustrated me, I didn’t like their decisions or behavior, but the author is really good at making you understand how these girls tick (even Leeda who doesn’t yet understand herself), so even when I don’t like their choices, they still make sense, it feels true to their personalities, and in the end, their flaws make for a much better story than whatever ideal way I had wanted that character to handle the situation.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this because it was donated and now I see why it was donated.

I didn't read the first book, so I can't speak to the characters changing, but the characters felt perpetually stuck between being 3-dimensional and being flat one-word adjectives (aka "wild Murphy", "shy Birdie", "perfect Leeda" which is so restraining).

From here on...spoilers....

Okay Murphy and to a lesser extent, Birdie, annoyed the crap out of me. The problem with "wild" girl characters in high school novels is that they're always indescribably sexy and crass without being able to confront the real truths. I find them incredibly frustrating to read. Here, Murphy is too stubborn and stupid to apply to more than her dream school, and she is always stuck in this same selfish cycle. I was just completely frustrated with how she left Leeda when Leeda needed help, or when she put her boy problems at the fore front when that was literally the boy that she stole from Leeda. And yeah, blame the boy, but the entire framing of how Murphy structures her problems is always "me, me, me, me, me" which is just the WORST to read. She wants her cake AND she eats it too and it's incredibly infuriating. Birdie insults Leeda for being rightfully annoyed at Murphy since Murphy always steals her clothes and never gives it back, and that's completely reasonable. I only enjoyed reading Leeda's parts. Then you have freaking Birdie who is said to be "sweet and shy" but her actions speak louder than that description. She treats Enrico poorly, without communicating why, and her relationship with Poopie becomes tiring to read in a similar way. The writing is not even that bad (just a bit boring at times), but overall it's just so frustrating to read this book with these annoying frustrating characters.

[Blake Hopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: “The Secrets Of Peaches” by Jodi Lynn Anderson tells a story about three girls that meet in a peach orchard. All three girls have their own struggles and how along the way they find a friendship within each other.

Characters: Leeda who came from a rich background, Murphy who was having relationship problems with her boyfriend, and Birdie who was the daughter of the orchard owner and was trying to help out her family.

Theme: The theme is friendship because the three girls that meet at the peach orchard become friends after comparing struggles and it also has development because each character grows from their struggles and fixes their problems.

Personal connection: In this book it relates to me because the struggle between the girls and how it brings them together makes me think about how my friends and I are brought together by our struggles and our backgrounds and how relationships can bring you down and change you but also it helps make you who you are today and how it helps you find good friends who relate to you.

Recommendation: While reading “The Secret Of Peaches” it starts off slow and rather boring but the more you read the more the book gets more detailed and interesting it makes the actions of the girls more dramatic and exciting.

Real- world connections: The story shows how you shouldn't change yourself to make friends, they come naturally and sometimes it's better that way because you find better friends that treat you as equals instead of belittling you and you can make friends in lots of ways not just acting cool and showing off.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but everything just felt so slow to me. Maybe that's why it took me longer than usual to read it. I like the fact that the story delves into deeper feelings of the changing lives of the three girls. However, at the same time, I thought the girls were being a little whiny. I don't understand how Enrico keeps coming back to Birdie. I feel like she kind of just strings him along. If my significant other went weeks without talking to me or didn't want me to touch them, I would have to give up at some point. But I do like how at the end of book Birdie is willing to leave the orchard to explore a life beyond it. I'm all for wanting to stay in a place you've been in your entire life but at least try something different to make sure you're making the right choice. As for Leeda, I understand how her relationship with her mom can be difficult but I felt like after she moved out from home, she didn't do anything to be better and happier. The beginning of her story was great and how we can see her mom really doesn't know how to interact with Leeda and manipulates her. Murphy's storyline was meh to me. It was too cliche but still really well written. I wouldn't re-read this again and wouldn't recommend.

[Ariana Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fictional book Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson is about three teenage girls.

In the book a girl named Murphy McGowen who had the “wildest girl in school reputacion” who always had a way of getting out of trouble finally got caught stealing from “Darlington Orchard” and ended up picking peaches to repay her debt. But she wasn't alone, there were two other girls working with her on the Orchard.

There was Birdie who was shy and home schooled also the daughter of the Orchard owner. Birdie feels alone since her parents recent divorce, after that the only thing she feels confident about is working the fields, at least she had her cousin Leeda.

Leeda comes from a wealthy family where her older sister is top priority, the more Leeda tries to fit into her family the more her family treats her like a unwanted second child. So she volunteered to work at the Orchard to get away from her family.

The three girls became really close trying to save the orchard from insects, frost, and foreclosure. At first Leeda and Murphy didnt care or want to be there but as time when on the girls began to bond. They became really good friends and stick together to save the Orchard.

[Tatum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely better than the first one but I found the beginning really slow and soo boring like nothing was really happening. But then about halfway through so many things started happening that I really was not expecting and it really picked up. The one part that bothers me is how Birdie dealt with Enrico. He was literally being so sweet to her and sending her letters with pictures and things from Mexico but when he came to the orchard for a day, she decided she wanted to do it with him and then after she was so ashamed she just completely changed. She went to Mexico for New Years but just didn’t even want him touching her, then she kissed him and ran away? Once she went home she just ghosted him and never replied to his letters or calls which was just so rude. She eventually called him back and said she was sorry and then hung up and when he went back to work at the orchard she went to his dorm and they just made up. I just felt bad for him and like he deserved more. In the epilogue it says she went to school in Mexico so I hope they do okay in the last book.

[Hannah McLaws · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secrets of Peaches tells the story of 3 girls. During the summer they all worked on a peach farm and became best friends. This book tells the story of their joineries and struggles the year after they meet. Each girl is taking different route in their lives. Birdie is going to stay and run the peach farm. Murphy is going to NYU for school. Leeda is battling her family and trying to find out where to go. The girls have romances and fights which help shape their lives.
I loved this book! I thought it did a great job at showing how teenage girls deal with friendship. It also is an emerging adult book because these girls are all graduating and trying to figure out where to go in life. They have to learn to listen to what their hearts are telling them rather than what the adult around them are saying. I would recommend this book to all teenage girls because it hits a lot of major things girls go through. It does have some "sex" references but nothing explicit.

[Ava · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally deleted my first review because it was on my favorites shelf but I wanted to take it off and I didn't realize it deletes everything. Anyways, I loved the book. It was amazing. I loved how the characters really unfolded and I could actually say it's better than the first book. I'm going to start the third one soon because the series has been extremely good so far. I read this about a week ago and I was pleasantly surprised at how much better it was than the first book. I loved how the characters really came to life this time and had real emotions towards the situations that happened to them. Their emotions and decisions and what came to them were so real. I would definitely recommend this to a friend and I already have! It was a great book and everything came to life and made sense.

[Natalie Juarez]

All these girls have huge personal problems and they are all trying to cope with it while still being best friends. This whole book really tests that bond and friendship while kicking the girls’ butts horridly. Everyone is just trying to find themselves and with Leeda dealing with her mom, Birdie with her farm and Enrico, and lastly Murphy. She wants to go to college but doesn't want to leave her boyfriend Rex behind knowing that long distance wouldn't work. FIlled with high ups and terrible lows, these girls find happiness and learn so much about themselves, growing as women. I did not read the first book and so I'll admit I was really trying to get the gist of the characters and learn about them what someone who had read the first book already knew.

[Katelynn Isbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nowhere near as good as the first in the series. It wasn't bad, but a lot of what I loved so much about Peaches was absent. Again, this wasn't terrible but in my opinion, Peaches should've been a standalone. This felt unnecessary and just wasn't as enjoyable to read. I didn't like how our characters were pulled apart and didn't appreciate some of the writing choices made. Still going to see how the trilogy wraps up and I hope that the third book brings back all of the elements I fell so in love with in Peaches.