Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown is a charmingly eerie cozy mystery perfect for fans of small-town secrets and supernatural twists. With its vibrant characters and a delightfully spooky setting, this sequel delivers humor, heart, and just the right amount of ghostly intrigue. Alex Brown masterfully blends mystery and wit, making this a must-read for fans of the genre.

When I started this I was not into it. It was just too weird for me. But I gave it a chance & by the end I loved how weird it was! I love how it was a slasher movie in book form and I especially love how everyone was obsessed with Peaches the Parrot.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

When I heard about this book the only thing I knew about it was the fact that it was a slasher. Did I know it was about an unhinged town that loved their high school’s mascot wayyyyyyy too much? No. But when I did, I got even more interested in it. And I’m so serious lol I have notes all up and through that ARC. Anyway, this book was unhinged, but it was also slasher horror so it would have been anyway? Idk how to explain it lmao

Ok so first things first, the killer. There were parts that I got right, but I don’t want to say what it is because I don’t want to give up too much of the ending. I also got the motive way wrong too lol Well kind of. I was in the ballpark, but tbh it wasn’t very close lol Which was kind of stupid because there aren’t that many characters in this lol It should have been obvious, but it wasn’t. Which y’all know I loved lol I think it was so easy to get it wrong because the rest of this was so unhinged. Who knew a town’s obsession with a mascot was enough for me to get distracted and ignore the rest of what was happening in the book.

I did think it was a little slow in the beginning tho. I think I made it to page like 92 (maybe? I don’t have it in front of me… But I do remember it was late in the game) before someone got got? And like of course we don’t condone violence, but this was a slasher? Idk how to say it without sounding weird lol But basically, there was a lot of build up I’ll just say that. But when people started going, they went quickly. And it was people that I wasn’t expecting lol That trophy room? Yikes. But no, I was stuck when it finally got going.

The romance was cute tho. Not necessarily believable tho. I mean once you find out what one of them does, you’ll understand. Because Lordt it was almost worse than cheating. I verbally cussed her out when the secret was revealed lol I’m not gonna lie, if I was her I wouldn’t have said another word to her. But I get it tho. Now the romance is sapphic, and it’s full of representation. One of them is bisexual and the other is pan. But even still with the secrets and lies, I think they really balanced each other out. And when it came down to it, they really were ride or dies lol

This one was good! As soon as I started reading this I immediately went into watching all the old school horror movies. I’m talking the originals. I am a 1978 Halloween fiend, and I actually really like the Scream franchise, so you can imagine why I liked this so much. This was so much fun and the perfect way to finish my horror marathon until Halloween.

not usually a fan of young adult books at this point in my life, but this was a super-fun, campy teen horror romp about what happens when quinn is outed as olivia newton john high school's mascot peaches, a bird you may recognize that's lovingly dedicated hokie bird. when someone puts itching powder in queen's peaches suit, she ends up shredding it apart in front of a giant crowd and suddenly everyone hates her for ruining the mystery and for killing peaches. but soon, someone starts wearing the remains of the peaches suit and undead peaches wants a bloodbath.

i think the scream comparisons for this book are pretty obvious, but i'd also like to say that the humor and absurdity injected into this book also brought the movie bottoms to mind. this is especially true when quinn enlists childhood crush and student body president tessa to help her hunt down the killer. a fun aspect of this one for me was that the narrative was interspersed with chapters from a student-run podcast in the vein of serial or other true crime shows. it made this book compulsively readable. i did find myself looking for a deeper meaning when reading and i was a bit let down, but i think if you go into this with the understanding that what you're going to receive is pure horror camp you're going to have a great time.

This has been the PERFECT October read for me. If I love anything when it comes to horror it is my favorite horror franchise, Scream. When I saw this cover from from an author is fast climbing my favorites list, I could not resist! I was not disappointed.

This fun teen slasher definitely takes some inspiration from Scream but it’s a unique story all its own. If you’re looking for a slasher, a mystery, and a town that has a really unhealthy obsession with the high school mascot, Peaches — LOOK NO FURTHER!

We have a sapphic and Filipino representation, ode to multiple horror films, and campy horror with a touch of social commentary. The reveal of the mystery is classic slasher with a bit of mind games, blackmail and framing.

The only piece that didn't land 100% for me was the inclusion of the podcast element. I thought it was fun on its own but it seemed a bit of a waste of a POV, and I don't think it really added anything to the experience for me that I wasn't already getting from the POVs of the other characters. I don't think it was bad at all, just not the most effective use of the podcast element.

Disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher. No review was required and all opinions are my own.

I had the utmost fun reading this book, it's a perfect combination of cozy and sassy narration!

💫 Murder mystery set in a high school
💫 Mascot MC x student body president (??) MC
💫 Sapphic romance! Sort of estranged friends to lovers
💫 Bi and pan rep in the MCs!

-- ty to the author, the publisher and @coloredpagesbt
for this advanced copy!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I did not enjoy this novel. I did not think that it was funny or cute or anythign really. The people who died, died too fast for me to care about them as people. In fact the people who did die, I wouldn't even call major characters. They appeared randomly and then died (except for Coach Robb he was a pretty good side character). Both girls, Quinn and Tessa, felt shallow and unserious. I didn't believe they liked each other at all even though they said they had in the past. It just... wasn't as enjoyable or as funny as I'd hoped it to be.

✨Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown ✨

What a ride!! I don’t know how to explain it and I know this is oddly specific, but Rest In Peaches feels like a combination of the Cheerleading episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Witch, S1 E 3) and the 1996 cinematic masterpiece Scream. It’s equal parts campy mystery and tongue in cheek thriller with a heaping scoop of high school nostalgia.

🔪 High School
✨ Mascot Secrets
🔪 Sabotage
✨ Ode to Slasher Films
🔪 Nostalgia
✨ Camp
🔪 Horror Comedy
✨ Buffy & Scream Vibes

I knew I was going to love Rest in Peaches the minute I read the blurb. Damned if You Do was one of my favorite YA reads of 2023 and Rest in Peaches totally shines just as bright! I can’t wait to see what Alex Brown writes next!

Thank you so much Colored Pages Book Tours & Page Street YA for sending a copy my way!

Rest in Peaches by Alex Brow has the vibes of a classic slasher scary movie, but it's also slightly ridiculous and queer. When I got the opportunity to read and review Rest in Peaches, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I just knew I wanted to branch out towards horror a bit more.
And with this story, I did.

Quinn is one of our heroines. She's Peaches the Parrot, Olivia Newton-John High's beloved mascot. But her promising career as the third best Peaches in history comes to a crashing halt when her performance is sabotaged and she's unmasked in front of everyone. And to top it all off, Little Peaches, her pet parrot, gets birdnapped. After all this, she launches an investigation to figure it all out, but the secrets are deeper than you think. The mistery is mistier than usual, and soon, the murders start.

This is a slasher movie made into a book. It's bloody, it's a tad ridiculous, it doesn't really make sense, and the twists just keep coming. Killer Peaches, the serial killer dressed up as the mascot creeps me out. Killer Peaches is obsessed with Tessa, ONJHS's star pupil and Quinn's long-time crush.
We also get Tessa's POV while she reconnects with Quinn to help her find Little Peasches and later try to figure out who's out for them.

The storytelling is propelled by segments of a fellow student's true crime podcast following the happenings of the past and the present, and also notes from the killer.
The uncovered clues point in several directions, and among all the characters who become suspects, it's not easy to figure out who the culprit is. And, of course, the twist and turns make it even more unpredictable.

I could criticise the storytelling and the unpredictability of the story by telling you about all the inconsistencies in the timeline, but that would be pointless. Becasue I truly believe it doesn't matter. The book reached its goal by being a predictable yet unpredictable slasher with little to no sense to the story. It is very enjoyable if you like this stuff and that's all there is to it.

I appreciated the queer cast and the sapphic romance, too.
However, I did not like the main characters that much. They were both deeply flawed, but especially Tessa made me want to shake her a little. I think it was intentional on the author's part to make them imperfect and do things that hurt others, but it was still a bit annoying. Refreshing, but annoying.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and it took me a little bit to warm up to it, but by the end, I couldn't put it down.

If a book is compared to Scream, then I’m going to read it, so here I am. I am a new, albeit very enthusiastic slasher fan, and so a horror comedy about a killer mascot was definitely something I was interested in (especially with the added dash of sapphic romance). This book is fun, and definitely reads like a book written by someone familiar with Scream (and not just the first movie). There are some elements of the horror slasher that don’t always translate onto the page exactly as they do to the screen, but I think this book holds pretty true, and is worth the read if that’s your kind of thing.

At Olivia Newton John High, everyone loves the mascot, a parrot named Peaches. And as the resident, anonymous Peaches, Quinn loves her job. But when someone sabotages her suit, and then people connected to Peaches start getting murdered, it’s not the happy ending she was hoping for. Add in Tessa, the childhood friend she’s had a crush on the whole time, and it’s a very messy situation. In many ways, this book is predictable if you’re not normal about slashers like I am. But, I think it still works in a way that can be delightful and unexpected, or you can just turn your brain off to be surprised when the killer(s) are revealed. I will say I was more invested in the horror aspects than the romance or even personal aspects, but I do think that a murderous school mascot is certainly something I would watch on the big screen as well.

I could not wait to read this book. The first thing that drew me to it was the cover. I absolutely loved the cover and found it very intriguing, making me excited to find out just what the book was about. I am so glad I read 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 because it did not disappoint!

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 is a fun, lighthearted, YA novel filled with mystery, horror, and thrill. The characters were fun, and I enjoyed that this was written using dual, 1ST-person, POV, giving us a better understanding of the story. I also loved the LGBTQ representation and my goodness, the thrill of trying to figure out who the culprit was, made this story so much more entertaining! I was not expecting what happened at the end!

I really enjoyed 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 and found it quite engaging and entertaining. I am really looking forward to reading more from this author's catalogue.

I recommend this book for all YA readers, and even if you are new to this genre, I think you will enjoy this book all the same.

Thank you Page Street YA and Colored Pages Book Tour for the gifted ARC of this book! All thoughts are my own!
This book was honestly EXACTLY what I needed for this Spoopy Season. This book has humor, romance, horror, thrills, and boy does it keep you on your toes! Not only am I screaming over the high school name (named after the amazing Olivia Newton-John), but the dedication to old school and new school horror references, the unearthly amount of times Gritty is mentioned, the campy horror vibes. I really think this book can be for everyone (keep in mind the content warnings of course). I can't wait to read the authors other works and see what else the author comes up with!

There is a mix of some great humor and definitely a love letter to those who love slasher movies. Definitely a special read for the right readers!

Peaches the Parrot is the beloved mascot of Olivia Newton-John High School and no one knows who is behind the mask except for the person in the costume, Quinn who dreams of one day becoming as big as Gritty. However her dreams are short-lived when a vicious prank is played that ruins everything and reveals that a nobody is inside the living legend. But before Quinn can prove to everyone that she is actually someone, Killer Peaches emerges who is hell bent on getting rid of everyone in Quinn’s path.

First off, as someone who attended Virginia Tech, can I just say I love how this book is dedicated to the Hokie Bird who yes IS the best college mascot out there. Fun fact, my high school mascot is a Trucker. Yes, exactly what you think that is. I think we may be the only school to have this as their mascot.

I kept guessing throughout this entire book about what was going on and who was behind everything. I could not stop turning pages trying to figure out what was going to happen next in the story. The story gives off the vibe of those 90s high school movie/TV show feel but still manages to feel fresh and relevant. Sure there were parts that seemed a bit over the top but I found them also to be very tongue in cheek and entertaining. I found the writing to be fresh and funny and also keeping me drawn in to the story. I really liked the two main characters as I felt they were struggling with things that teens of today do go through and feel like they can’t always explain. The story does also focus on sapphic relationships and diverse populations.

This book isn’t too gory, I feel like it’s more a thriller but there are some deaths and descriptions of what happens so just be prepared for that. Overall a fun book and with football and homecoming season in full swing right now, this is the perfect time to read this story.

In addition - the formatting for this book in the NetGalley app had issues. There were several pages that were printed on top of each other making them impossible to read. The kindle version was fine however.

Rest in Peaches was a humorous and entertaining YA horror/thriller. I had a lot of fun reading this book. When the villain is a school mascot called “Peaches the Parrot,” you know you’re in for a good time. I loved the Scream vibes and the dark humor. The story was a little predictable, but it was still an enjoyable read.

This is the second book that I’ve read by this author and I really like her writing. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

3.5⭐️

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC via NetGalley for review.

Rest in Peaches is a thrilling investigative story about ambition and revenge. While it's easy to get sucked into the mystery and action, what I appreciated is the exploration of the theme of masks. For Quinn, she's made being Peaches her entire personality. She identifies with Peaches and the persona it gives her. When she's Peaches, she feels a sense of being larger than herself and so when she's exposed, it's incredibly traumatic for her. Who is she without Peaches? And this theme continues to be discussed in Rest in Peaches. Who are all the faces behind the masks and what motivations do we have to don a mask?

Thank you Netgalley and Page Street Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Rest in Peaches” by Alex Brown is a fun, campy YA slasher with a mix of mystery, humor, and romance. The book centers around Quinn Marcelo, a high school nobody whose alter ego, Peaches the Parrot—her school’s beloved mascot—gives her the chance to shine. But when her secret identity is sabotaged and revealed at homecoming, Quinn’s life takes a dramatic turn. The chaos escalates as people start turning up dead, and the killer is dressed as Peaches. With her future and reputation on the line, Quinn teams up with her crush and ex-best friend, Tessa, to unravel the mystery before they both end up as the killer's next victims.

One of the book’s standout qualities is its unapologetic embrace of slasher tropes. With its over-the-top premise, the book leans into the absurdity of a high school obsessed with its mascot to the point where Peaches is an actual celebrity and fans are so rabid for Peaches that they will literally cry when they see Peaches. Brown plays with these cliches in a self-aware and comedic way, delivering a story that feels like a mash-up of “Scream” and “Scary Movie.” The humor is sharp and the setting adds to the campy, ridiculous tone of the book. I will say that this humor will not work for everyone. I, unfortunately, could not really get into this story because of the humor. I think some readers will really love the humor, especially with the podcast episodes that are interspersed between the chapters that actually had some good jokes in them.

Told from the dual perspectives of Quinn and Tessa, the book explores their complex relationship. Once best friends, the girls have drifted apart, and Quinn’s crush on Tessa only complicates matters. Their rekindled friendship slowly blossoms into something more, making the romance subplot sweet and engaging amid the chaos of a murder mystery. There was some good LGBTQ representation in this book as Quinn is openly bisexual and Tessa is openly pansexual.

The diverse side characters, snappy dialogue, and multimedia elements—like podcast snippets interspersed throughout—give the book a lively, modern feel. I did find the podcaster character can come off as annoying, though she serves an important role in piecing together the mystery.

Though labeled as horror, “Rest in Peaches” leans more toward the comedic end of the genre, with a masked killer on the loose in a small-town high school. The body count isn’t overwhelming, but there’s enough danger to keep the tension alive. The pacing lags a bit, especially as the first major death doesn’t occur until a third of the way through the book. Still, the plot remains fast-paced and unpredictable, even if a few elements of the mystery are easy to guess.

What makes “Rest in Peaches” truly shine is how it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It revels in its goofiness and cliches, delivering a story that is equal parts thrilling and laugh-out-loud funny. Quinn and Tessa’s romance, combined with a killer on the loose in a parrot suit, creates an unforgettable and wildly entertaining read. With its LGBTQ+ representation and fun, diverse characters, Alex Brown has crafted a unique slasher that stands out in the YA horror genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Some spoilers below!

I had a blast reading this book. It’s comedy meets slasher in the best way. You’ve got throwbacks to the classic slasher films like Scream, you’ve got a final girl, and you’ve got some truly bonkers comedy, all packed into a heartfelt story of a girl who wants to be the next Gritty, while she battles her feelings for a girl who wants to get out of her mother’s thumb and a truly insane PTA.

The writing is clever and easy to follow. Brown does a fantastic job of putting depth into what could be a surface-level story. The killer reveal was neatly done and I mistakenly followed the red herring all the way through. (Honestly, I almost didn’t want the reveal because a killer in a parrot costume was an amazing bad guy).

It’s also truly unhinged. There’s a sub-murder plot, a teenage investigative journalist, and so much mascot devotion (seriously, people love them some Peaches the Parrot), and a school named after the late, great Olivia Newton-John, that this was a riot from start to finish. There’s also a sapphic romance between a bi character and a pan character, PLUS they’re both Filipino!

At the end of the day, the kids at ONJHS treat their mascot Peaches like a god, and isn’t that what we all deserve? And if we sully the great name of the mascot-god, don’t we all deserve a little murder, as a treat?

This is compelling, laugh-out-loud, and the perfect read for the slasher season. If you enjoy slashers, sapphic romance, queer characters, mascots, and puns, this is definitely something you should pick up and feast your eyeballs on—before Killer Peaches finds you.

Look for this on October 15, 2024!

One of the funniest quirky reads this year it is full of banter and suspense that will have you laughing your butt off

With slasher movie vibes with the humore of scary movie

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was goofy, hilarious, cheesy, and ridiculous in the best ways. I kind of loved it. From the beginning, we get a great sense of Alex’s humor. The extremity of Peaches’s popularity was incredible. I can just imagine a person in a giant parrot costume blessing your baby with a peck of its beak. I was cackling.

We get a dual POV between Quinn & Tessa, 2 ex friends who have more than friendly feelings for each other. Both girls are Filipina, so it was interesting to see how that affected their experiences growing up. There is also a lot of strong background characters. The body count is impressive for the type of horror book this is as well. Horror is also a very strong word. This is a masked villain slasher, but think more Scary Movie. I love a good story that knows that it’s cliche and is able to make jokes about it. The ones that are too serious can be so boring. I had so much fun reading this and as always look forward to this author and more books like this!