When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie by Erin Soderberg Downing (review)

When the three Peach kids and their dad discover that their late mother’s invention has made them millionaires, they plan a summer excursion: traveling the Midwest in a food truck, selling pies and hopefully winning the food truck competition. Lucy, the oldest child and now mother hen (whose teen angst and resentment are fully aligned and aimed at her father), is skeptical of this project; historically, their father has tended to choose his research over spending time with his children. Freddy, who clearly inherited optimism from his mother, welcomes the adventure and finds his niche in charming customers, and youngest son Herb longs for validation. In this opening title of a series, Downing presents a sweet story of a family’s attempt at coping with an enormous loss. The trip is far from perfect, and Mr. Peach frequently breaks promises, even nearly thwarting the whole experiment for the sake of work. Unfortunately, his character is flat, and the story is fairly predictable in its trajectory resolution. Nonetheless, readers looking for a pleasing family-themed outing may appreciate the flavor of the Peaches.