Review for Author Jodi Lynn Anderson

This young adult novel, Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson, is the story of a memorable, juicy summer. It follows the lives of three very different teenage girls who come together that summer and discover many things about themselves and each other.  It hits a lot of young adult hot topics: self-confidence, family problems, romance/lust/first love, rebellion, finding yourself, and friendship. Anderson does a good job of establishing so many major characters in a relatively book. The setting is fantastic. It made the novel feel even more realistic since the all of the descriptive details were so intriguing. She keeps the story moving at a steady pace, and includes a few surprises. The only place she faltered was with occasional inclusions, in italics, of sections of back-story. I liked some of the information it provided, but it was awkward to have random bits scattered sporadically throughout the book. They either needed to be integrated better, or the information incorporated into the book in a better way. On the whole, though, I enjoyed the book.