Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. As someone who is very far away from Christianity (was one when I was young tho) it felt a bit preachy at the start of the book. I honestly found Jo a bit annoying because of how preachy and holier than thou she sounded.

But honestly, it's been a while so I had to get used to that. And when I got over myself, I quite enjoyed the book. Look, Dana was an a very annoying best friend imo. The homophobic people from Georgia weren't the greatest either (fuck Jessica!). But my goodness, I loved BTB, Mary Carlson & George. Not everything about this was the greatest like the plot basically being her having to hide her gay which just gives us some miscommunication and lying to have a plot. But I enjoyed the ride.

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shelvesofivy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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tinytrashqueen's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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sandy_21's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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taelights's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book made me lesbophopbic /s

But seriously I hated this book and not even lesbians could save it for once. The story was mediocre, the romance didn't have much chemistry, the characters were awful, and there were some problematic things as well.

1. Literally every character was an asshole in their own way.

2. The characters were all flat and one dimensional. Jo, even though she was the only pov, you barely learn anything about other than she's a lesbian and religious and wants to host a radio show. Her friendship with Dana literally didn't make sense and isn't believable at all and really the only thing you know about Dana is that she's a selfish fuckgirl. Mary Carlson is just a lesbian that plays golf, is religious, and loves her family. Etc. Like the author just made one or two little things the whole personality of the characters.

3. The only POC in the book was a black girl named Gemma who used awkwardly phrased AAVE and was a sassy black girl stereotype.

4. The author of this story seems very ableist. Mary Carlson's brother, BTB, is neurodivergent and the way he's written is kind of disgusting. He is written as if he's a literal child rather than a teenage boy and infantilized by the characters. His hyperfixation is his only personality trait, like him having a hyperfixation wouldn't be a problem at all if there was more to his character but literally almost every single line was about elephants. He was reduced to just being Mary Carlson's disabled brother who likes elephants. Also he's treated as a burden by all the characters and it seems like Jo is supposed to look good for "putting up with him" and even his own sister who supposedly loves him makes him seem like a massive burden.

5. The conflicts were very annoying as they none of them would exist if Jo just told the truth to Mary Carlson and didn't build a relationship on lies and kept making excuses not to tell her for some reason??

6. Also Jo's father is ridiculous for wanting to shove her back into the closet and an asshole for suggesting the whole plan to begin with rather than sticking up for her daughter and I hate how he married such a homophobic woman to begin with. And I hate how she eventually is seen as "one of the good ones" when this is all her fault.

7. Also it's really uncomfortable that Dana, a 17 year old girl, hooked up with a grown ass woman in her 30s in the first chapter of the book and it's seen as completely normal???

Anyways this book was bad and I could rant more about it but I'm done.

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emweir's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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temeade's review

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruits was FANTASTIC! It is a great story about a queer teen who is moved to a new town and asked to do the impossible, hide her sexuality. This isn't a problem until she meets the girl of her dreams!

Joanna dreams of having a radio show on the station her dad does his radio sermons on. She wants to use this radio show to discuss Christianity and being queer, she is both. After her dad gets remarried, the family packs up and moves from Atlanta, Georgia to the small town of Rome, Georgia. For her protection (that she isn't aware of until later) and the reputation of her new grandparents, Joanna is asked to lay low on her sexuality for her senior year. In exchange for this, her dad will give her her radio show and let her go on a vacation with her friend without supervision. This isn't a big deal until she meets and falls in love with one of the girls at her new school.

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