Though the summary might make this final novel in the Peaches series seem like it has the same conflicts as the first two, this one has a much heavier emphasis on relationships: Murphy with her mother and her absent father, as well as her ex-boyfriend; Leeda with her grandmother, the men in her life, but most of all, with herself; Birdie with her fiancé, her family, and her home.

The different relationships form the foundation for the stories in the novel, and while my heart goes out to Birdie while she struggles to come to terms with leaving the orchard behind, and Murphy is still my favorite character of the three girls, it is Leeda's story that I was happiest with. Throughout the Peaches trilogy, Leeda has always been the one who reverts most easily back to the character she was at the beginning of the first novel. She grows in sudden bursts, and then retreats behind her shell, always needing to appear perfect and "put together" to the outside world, standoffish from people she meets for the first time. She has a real difficulty connecting, and she despises putting herself out there or getting her hands dirty. Seeing her having to connect with, of all things, the miniature ponies her grandmother left her to find a home for is fascinating. Seeing her discover that she didn't know her grandmother as well as she thought—that maybe the woman wasn't always so picture perfect, or that she didn't have all the answers either—is just as interesting. All the girls have a lot of growing up to do, but Leeda is the one character who seems to not know herself at all. It's satisfying for her story to finally be fully realized.

Okay, just because I loved Leeda's parts of the books so much doesn't mean that the other two girls deserve to be overlooked. Like I said, I really feel for Birdie and I still love Murphy. And, in fact, I was pleasantly surprised with the ways their stories closed as well. Jodi Lynn Anderson didn't really take any of the three characters in a direction I would have expected as she ended her series, but I loved the directions she chose all the same. If you read the first three chapters of the first novel, and then the last few chapters of this one, you would probably be shocked. The changes in their characters would seem abrupt and unrealistic, but having gone through the journey with them, the ways their stories end really do make perfect sense. It's a real treat that the novel's final chapter was both surprising, and fitting.

If necessary, this novel could stand on its own. Anderson does a good job at recapping events here and there, and at making her books pretty self-contained. But, if you did choose to read this on its own, I think you would miss a lot of the character growth. If you want to read this book, do yourself a favor and read the whole series. Start at the beginning, and the ending will be all the more rich.