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!

I loved every second of this book! Full of humor and suspense, it makes for a great weekend read! Also, Olivia Newton-John High School is so umb, but such a funny name. I think many readers will really enjoy this novel.

This book was unlike any I’ve ever read! Think sapphic “I Know What You Did Last Summer” meets “Pretty Little Liars”. The romance juxtaposed with the thriller/horror aspects of the book kept me turning pages. I appreciated the twists and turns.

I thought this book had many fun moments. It really did well in focusing on the relationships between the characters and how the situations they got into impacted those relationships.

Thank you Page Street and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I love me a good mystery/slasher! Quinn has one goal with her future, to be a pro mascot! She currently preforms as her high schools mascot, Peaches the Parrot. And where most high schools go all in for the sports teams, Quinn’s goes all in for Peaches. While Quinn herself feels like a nobody, being Peaches allows her to be somebody. And no one will know she is Peaches until the big reveal at graduation. Tessa is the student body president, her mom leads the PTA. Tessa is good at getting people to do what she wants and she’s popular but she’ll never live up to her mom, who was once Peaches as well. Quinn also happens to have a huge crush on Tessa, only problem is Tessa has a boyfriend. Then at homecoming, where Quinn gets to outshine all the Peaches before her by introducing Little Peaches the real life parrot, disaster strikes and she’s revealed as the mascot. Her world is turned upside down, everyone hates her. Also Little Peaches is missing. Quinn his determined for find the parrot and Tessa is the only one willing to help. But can she trust Tessa? As they search people begin dying, and the murderer? The murderer dresses like Peaches. Can Quinn and Tessa figure out whose behind it all? Can they save Little Peaches? Does the current murder spree connect to the murderers that happened a year prior? As a slasher fan this one is approved! A comedic take on slashers with tons of thrill, a side of romance, and a whole lot of drama! And you can’t forget the mystery aspects as well!! Plus there’s two murder plots that unravel as you read! A read that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat and flipping the pages!!