Where Wild Peaches Grow is a beautifully written, emotional journey about family, identity, and healing. The story centers around two estranged sisters reconnecting in the deep South, unearthing painful memories and long-buried secrets.
With lush Southern settings and vivid storytelling, Cade Bentley perfectly balances heartache and hope, making it easy to get lost in the pages. It’s a tale of forgiveness and rediscovery that will tug at your heartstrings.

**Book Review: Where Wild Peaches Grow by Cade Bentley**

Cade Bentley’s *Where Wild Peaches Grow* is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the complexities of family ties set against the backdrop of the American South. The novel follows the life of a young woman named Grace, who returns to her rural hometown after a personal tragedy, seeking solace and answers among the wild peaches that symbolize her childhood.

Bentley’s writing is both lyrical and evocative, capturing the beauty and harshness of the Southern landscape. The vivid descriptions create a sense of place that feels almost tangible, immersing readers in the sights, sounds, and scents of Grace’s world. The peaches serve as a powerful motif throughout the story, representing both the sweetness of childhood and the bittersweet nature of growing up.

At its heart, the novel delves into themes of grief and healing. Grace’s journey is one of self-discovery as she navigates her memories and confronts unresolved issues from her past. Bentley skillfully develops her character, allowing readers to witness her vulnerabilities and resilience. The emotional depth of Grace’s experiences resonates deeply, making her journey relatable and moving.

The relationships in the novel are richly drawn, particularly the dynamics between Grace and her family. Bentley explores the complexities of familial love and the struggles that come with understanding one another. These interactions are often fraught with tension, reflecting the reality that love can be both comforting and painful.

The pacing of the story is contemplative, allowing readers to savor each moment as Grace reflects on her life and the people around her. Bentley weaves in elements of Southern culture and traditions, adding depth to the narrative and enhancing the sense of authenticity.

*Where Wild Peaches Grow* is a beautifully crafted novel that invites readers to reflect on the nature of home and the impact of our roots on who we become. Cade Bentley has created a heartfelt story that lingers long after the final page is turned, making it a must-read for anyone who appreciates lyrical prose and profound emotional exploration. This book is a testament to the power of love and the journey of healing in the face of life's challenges.

Tried to enjoy this book but it just wasn’t for me. Not sure if it was the writing style but I couldn’t connect with it.

This was a DNF for me. The story did not hold my attention. It was a little too slow. I did like the narrator on the audiobook.

I enjoyed this book! I love family sagas. Going back to her hometown and dealing with matters that were unresolved. Estranged sisters, grief and more.

Great book. I enjoyed Reading it. The characters and plot were interesting life like and easy to connect with.

Finally getting through my Netgalley backlog and this one has been on there for a while. It was worth the wait though. An engaging story about family dynamics, the power of truth, and reconciliation.

Set in the USA, in the South, we follow lead character Nona (or Peaches) as she discovers her father is dead and returns home for his funeral, after 20 years of no contact. Family secrets are soon stirred up and everything changes.

It was hard to put this one down. Engaging, thought provoking, and makes you think of all three unsaid things where people try to keep the peace but can just make things much worse. The story is also interwoven with the history of the south which interlinks with the main theme of hidden information perfectly.

A good read for those who are interested in complex family dynamics but please be warned that themes of abandonment, abuse, and infidelity are involved.

This is such a good family drama. A story full of lies and secrets. The ending felt very rushed which spoilt my enjoyment

This was such a good family drama read.
I think in most families there can be misunderstanding, misinformation and lack of 100% honesty as not to upset others feelings. Coupled with each person’s assumptions of situations or concepts of what they “think” has or hasn’t happened. This can cause all kinds of upsets, breakdowns in relationships and contentious behaviour in some.

It’s what I call ‘family life’.
If left it can lead to all kinds of mistrust.

We see this within this family until.

I loved following along between the family, between the sisters and the Grandmother. A very wise woman.

The men within these pages were variable in temper, personality and degrees of niceness.

Truly loved it and came to love Peaches.

Title: Where Wild Peaches Grow
Author: Cade Bentley
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 2.50
Pub Date: August 30, 2022

I received complimentary eARC from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Atmospheric • Choppy • Forgettable

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Nona “Peaches” Davenport, abandoned by the man she loved and betrayed by family, left her Natchez, Mississippi, home fifteen years ago and never looked back. She’s forged a promising future in Chicago as a professor of African American Studies. Nona even finds her once-closed heart persuaded by a new love. But that’s all shaken when her father’s death forces her to return to everything she’s tried to forget.

Julia Curtis hasn’t forgiven her sister for deserting the family. Just like their mother, Nona walked away from Julia when she needed her most. And Julia doesn’t feel guilty for turning to Nona’s old flame, Marcus, for comfort. He helped Julia build a new life. She has a child, a career, and a determination to move on from old family wounds.

Upon Nona’s return to Natchez, a cautious reunion unfolds, and everything Nona and Julia thought they knew—about themselves, each other, and those they loved—will be tested. Unpacking the truth about why Nona left may finally heal their frayed bond—or tear it apart again, forever.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I was initially drawn to Where the Wild Peaches Grow after reading the synopsis. However, I never felt inclined to pick it up before now as I am trying to make my way through a backlog of e-ARCs. And I'd honestly forgotten what this one was even about.

Filled with family secrets, betrayals, and reconciliation, the descriptions of the setting and some of the history of the area are what stood out for me in this novel. Unfortunately, that's about all that worked for me. Told in the present with flashbacks to the past the whole thing was disjointed and I really had trouble keeping track of the characters. The flashbacks weren't clearly identified, so I constantly found myself having to backtrack to see where I was in time and place. This became irritating. Additionally, the main characters felt very surface level and could have used more fleshing out.

Where Wild Peaches Grow had all the elements to make it a winner, however, the execution just wasn't there. The whole plot centres around the misunderstanding trope, which at times felt juvenile. I cannot fault the author for the writing, yet this isn't a book I'll remember in a few weeks time.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of Southern fiction
• readers who don't mind the misunderstanding trope

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, toxic relationship, pregnancy, racism, racial slurs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Death brings up all kinds of thoughts. Of things long forgotten. Good memories. But also those strands of bad ones weaved in."

2.7 Stars
One Liner: Could have been great but ends up choppy

Nona ‘Peaches’ Davenport left everything in Natchez, Mississippi, to move to Chicago. Fifteen years later, she is a professor of African-American Studies. Back home, her sister, Julia, is livid that Nona deserted the family like their mom, Cat. She doesn’t mind using Nona’s lover, Marcus, for her comfort and a better future.
Jasper Davenport, their father, has secrets of his own. But it’s his death that forces Nona to return home and Julia to confront the past. With more secrets, plenty of misunderstandings, and miscommunication, it’s up to the sisters to sort through the mess and rebuild their family. Can they do it?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Nona, Julia, and Jasper.

My Thoughts:
On the surface, the book seems to have what it takes to provide entertainment and some food for thought. However, it is mostly a mash of this and that, with loads of stupid decisions thrown into the mix.
The setting is beautiful, and I loved how Natchez is woven into the narrative. The land, its history, the heat, random rains, architecture, etc., make the book interesting. I always enjoy reading about new locations (to me), so this was a plus.
The characters could have truly shined with their flaws and vulnerabilities. While we get some introspective moments in how Nona and Julia change over the years, the emotional quotient is missing. There’s only so much blaming others and justifying one’s actions a reader can bear.
The book tries to deliver multiple messages – family bonding & relationships on the personal level and the Black history on the macro level. Yet, both seem to be half-baked and don’t blend seamlessly.
I’m not sure why Sanganette was given so much space. I understand her characterization, but it’s not cohesive. Julia’s friendship with her is odd. Also, Sanganette’s character was annoying from start to finish. While I see why her sense of privilege had to come across heavily, it needs to align with the rest of the plot.
The story moves between past and present with no clear indication in some places. Julia and Nona randomly think about past events. It’s easy to miss the shift unless we pay complete attention.
I hate misunderstanding and miscommunication tropes. While they have some benefits, using them for trivial issues can be annoying. Yeah, it does show how something inconsequential can have life-altering consequences. However, it would also be good if the characters just talked to each other. Statements like ‘I know they betrayed me’, ‘everyone knows about this’, etc., become a little too silly as the story progresses.
Then we have the most confusing face-off drama where accusations fly for no reason. TBH, this feels way too dramatic, with zero progress in the plot. For people who are supposed to be in their 30s, the sisters act worse than 8yos. Also, Nona is younger than Julia. I thought it was the opposite given how Julia acted. Not that Nona was any better.
What’s astonishing is how the person responsible for the mess is not even really blamed. We even have a character accepting it as something done to protect them. Ridiculous. The only person with some common sense was Jayden, Julia’s teenage son. Now go figure.
The ending tries to explore how distorted Black history from the region affected Nona when she learned the truth. While I see how it helped her research more to share the actual truth, that Nona could become so freaking insecure and go into a shell for trusting a friend seems unbelievable. She was 6, for goodness sake.
As someone from a colonized country, let me tell you that even today, we have people who believe that Colonization was the biggest blessing to our ancestors. They take pride in being ‘civilized’ and act more white than Whites. Unlearning and relearning are a part of growing up. These aren’t supposed to make one feel insecure about what they accepted as kids.

To summarize, Where Wild Peaches Grow aims high but falls flat in many places. The execution is not strong enough to present the themes cohesively, resulting in a choppy read.
Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I'm from the South, so the setting and characters here all felt very familiar to me. This is a family drama with lots of secrets and lies. A lot of the drama boils down to a huge misunderstanding though, so if you're not a fan of miscommunication, this may not be for you. Overall though, I found it to be well-written and an enjoyable read.

There were a few things that had me scratching my head and having to suspend a lot of disbelief. Not once in speaking to each other every week for twenty years did Nona's grandmother mention Julia being married to Marcus or having a son? I find that really hard to believe. Also, I get that Julia's been friends with Sanganette since childhood and sometimes we can look past our friend's beliefs, but she just sits idly by as a black woman while Sanganette plans on teaching revisionist history about slavery and the Confederacy to a whole generation of students?

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the e-arc of this book. The two main characters, Julia and Nona aka Peaches, are sisters who have not seen or spoken to each other for years, each feeling as if their sister and other members of their family and community did them wrong. Then, their father dies, so Nona, who fled to Chicago years before, comes back home. All of the misunderstandings, outright lies, and manipulation that kept them apart finally come to light, and their relationship is mended, with lots of bumps along the way. I loved the premise and the complex, complicated characters. I loved that there was responsibility on everyone's shoulders for how messy their lives had become. There were points here and there when the writing style lacked a good flow, and I think it could have been a little shorter without disrupting the story. There were grammatical errors and awkward sentence structure in places, but I assume those were corrected in the final copy so that's not a concern for me. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the way it was nicely woven together.

I really enjoyed this book by Cade Bentley. The characters were interesting, flawed, and real. Even when I thought I knew where the story was headed amidst the trials and tribulations of the dysfunctional family members I was left in awe when there was twist after twist I was not expecting. The story was engaging and included a satisfying ending. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

I highlighted this book on my Booktube channel. The video can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/LTn1nMBRomA

Let’s start with the cover.. the cover is beautiful!

The settings and descriptions were so descriptive and I feel like this was a real highlight.

However I found this book very choppy and hard to follow. It is hard to distinguish between the present and the past and this made it hard to read.

I loved this. The depth of the story hooked me from the start and I couldn’t put it down. Would love to read more from Cade Bentley

Overall, I found this story line to be flimsy. We're introduced to sisters, Nona and Julia, who are meeting face to face for the first time in 20 years, when their father passes. So we keep reading about this big reason of why the sisters (and most of the family) haven't talked in so long. Except, when it's finally revealed it ends up being a misunderstanding that was blown out of proportion. Within the extended family members, we learn that some had relationships with one another but those relationships were basically kept secret. What? Very little of the storyline seemed plausible.
Most of the characters were a headshake for me. Everyone gathers for Jasper's funeral - but he really was a lying, cheating, manipulative, cheating drunk. Also, he was mostly responsible for keeping the family torn apart for all those years. Cat left her children because off this jerk; Mawmaw knew about all this; a white woman, who believes slavery wasn't all that bad, is a black woman's best friend.
In general, Nona and Julia felt like teenagers in a perpetual state of temper tantrum.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing an electronic copy of the book, in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn't get into this story. It was slow to start and it was hard for me to figure out which character was who. I couldn't relate to the characters or their plight.
If you like a low burn story or can relate to the characters, I'm sure you would like this story. It just wasn't for me.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Bentley beautifully wrote a story about family and about how lies, secrets and drama are detrimental towards these familial relationships, as well as to history and the future. I found myself getting emotional at the events that occurred but was also fascinated and struggled to put it down as I needed to know what was going to happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone.