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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I liked the story premise but wasn't impressed with the writing. I also felt there was more to the story that wasn't told. No clear reasoning or definition to several relationships. Characters introduced that never reappeared leaving me to wonder why they were mentioned at all. Too many loose ends. There was great potential but unfortunately, it was not realized.
Bleh.
Honestly that one word just about sums up my feelings for this book. There's a couple of red flags when it comes to racism--I can't honestly say whether or not it is racist, but, let's be honest, it's never a good sign when, during a conversation about pre-Civil War plantation homes and their slaves' quarters/kitchens, the male romantic interest remarks about how "So many folks today deem our cultural heritage as politically incorrect." Obviously, that statement in and of itself is not racist or even wrong...but...it's just a little too close to the line to me and sounds a bit too much like something ppl who support flying the confederate flag/keeping confederate statues would say. That exchange, combined with the way that the cook/maid/chauffer in the plantation home are all black and how Maddie, the only living, present black character in the novel, is the only character who speaks with a fairly obvious (if not exaggerated) southern accent... Red flags, red flags.
Red flags aside, I was interested in the plot and path of the book until about... 3/4s in? The "mystery" aspect was interesting, and learning about Ellie's mother and her past was interesting, but it reached a point where the characters just became a bit unbelievable and they seemed too caricature-ish. I also thought the romance part of the novel could use a lot of work...I mean...she meets the guy at an art gallery, talks to him for maybe five minutes? Then runs into him while walking her dog....invites him to see her house....ofc there's a hurricane outside so he stays the night--and they sleep in the same bed, spooned together? After knowing each other all of six hours and five minutes? And most of their conversation is about renovating her house and her inability to remember her past? It just felt really rushed to me.
Okay, let's get into the details of things.
Listen, I was totally like 75% with the book--I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, but I thought it was interesting and well-paced--and then...we met Lia.
I guess I should have realized it was coming, considering the way Eleanor acted, but I kind of rationalized Eleanor's cruelty and casual racism by thinking about how old she was (not just that she was born in a different era, but also that she may have been suffering from a form of dementia or something--which does have the ability to cause dramatic mood swings/aggression/depression, etc.) though I did acknowledge, even to myself, that Eleanor's cruelty was a bit much.
I also had a thought when the scene of Ellie's mother being pushed down the stairs came out--maybe the grandmother was possessed, maybe someone was living in the walls of their house (hence the paranoia and irrationality), maybe she was hiding a deep dark secret? Mostly because Ellie's mom didn't actually see her own mother push her down the stairs. And also I didn't understand the reasoning for it--the slapping I could understand (and by that I mean I feel like it's consistent with Eleanor's controlling, abusive demeanor), the jabbing with a cane, yeah okay, but pushing someone down a flight of stairs? That's borderline attempted murder, no?
I understand Eleanor not wanting to call a doctor because she didn't want anyone to know of her daughter's shame, but...pushing her down a flight of stairs takes Eleanor's passive attempts to kill her daughter/let her die and makes Eleanor an active force in trying to kill her daughter. And for what? Why?
I'm not saying that we needed to see a reason or a motivation for Eleanor to be cruel or abusive--obviously, abusive people don't need "reasons" to hurt others, they just do it to get what they want/to make themselves feel however it makes them feel. Whatever. But Eleanor seemed to become this sort of larger than life, overly sadistic woman. Was she always like that? Was this exacerbated by something outside of the narrative? It just doesn't fit for me.
Anyway, back to Lia. From her very introduction as an active character within the novel, she's branded to be just as terrible and cruel as her grandmother. But why?? Why doesn't she get any sympathy from the narrative? Ellie and her father try to acknowledge that she's been under a lot of stress, that she had to grow up with Louisa, etc, but I feel like the narrative, if not the characters, should have let Lia's character develop and deepen by exploring the fact that she grew up with memories of a terrible toddler-hood and then had a slightly-less awful childhood as she was raised by Louisa, and then is being physically (if not mentally/emotionally) abused by her husband. So no, she's not exactly going to be grateful when her twin sister and long lost father show up on her doorstep, showing her just how wonderful her life could have been, showing her that her sister was given everything she had never been given--and then they show up, expecting her to fall over and cry and be grateful, thirty years too late.
Obviously, none of that is Ellie's fault. None of that is her father's fault. But Lia's character is branded by the author as a flat, cruel, selfish character and then denied any of the sympathy or growth we saw with Ellie.
Because of that flat characterization, I knew from the moment Ellie and her father talked to Lia's kids that the two girls would end up living with Ellie and not Lia. I knew Lia would abandon them. Because that's exactly what a flat, evil character would do.
I just think...if Lia's character had been given a bit more depth--make her more sympathetic, keep her disinterested in her own children (she never had a good mother-figure model anyway, so why should she bother to learn how to be a good one for her kids?), keep her interested in her (rightful) half of her inheritance--because it is her right, honestly, and I didn't agree at all with Ellie's opinion on the money and the way she acted like Lia should be grateful just for Ellie's generosity in offering the money. Obviously, no, Ellie is legally entitled to all of it, and she didn't have to offer any of it to Lia, but as Ellie acknowledged to herself and her father--it's rightfully Lia's money too, and to me, that means that Ellie shouldn't get a say in how Lia spends it or when she gets it. Does that mean that it would be right for Lia to make good choices with the money? No. Do I think that Lia should acknowledge that Ellie didn't legally have to give her anything? Yes.
Instead of letting the novel culminate with two sisters separated by nearly 40 years and two entirely different types of upbringing (and all the little resentments and fears that come along with that...) we get this weird, flat ending where Lia gets the check she was waiting for and then bounces without so much as a goodbye--an ending which only reinforces Lia's selfishness, cruelty, and terrible-at-being-a-mother-ness while also reinforcing Ellie as the golden, perfect child and destined, wonderful mother.
And the reason for that ending, of course, is so that there's material enough for a sequel, which--because it's focused on Lia and her terrible, selfish ways, I will not be reading.
Oh, and P.S.--what happened to the ghost of grandma past? They built up this whole fear of a spirit trapped inside the gma's room, literally locked Eliie in there at the very start of the novel, and then suddenly, like an afterthought, let everyone know that the ghost was finally free, no harm no foul, the end.
Oh my god! PPS--I actually posted the review and then remembered this and had to come back to bitch about it. What was up with the "rotting" smell that kept following Ellie around?? I thought for sure they'd find Lia's dead body in the floorboards at some point--maybe she was the one living in the walls, lmao. But seriously--that came up so often and was so harped upon I thought it would be relevant at some point, but they literally just never mentioned it again. Did it disappear along with the ghost of grandma past??
Jesus. I was reading another review and remembered another thing. PPPS(??): You're telling me, after the entire first half of the book is leading up to a "traumatic" memory that was so terrible it blocked out the first like six years of Ellie's life from her mind--and then you reveal that the "trauma" was Ellie's sister disappearing one day??? When she was THREE??? And somehow that was terrible enough that she blocked everything out?
Of course, the "traumatic memory" could have been seeing her gma push her mom down a flight of stairs, but the novel seems to indicate that that wasn't The Traumatic Memory. Bleh.
Honestly that one word just about sums up my feelings for this book. There's a couple of red flags when it comes to racism--I can't honestly say whether or not it is racist, but, let's be honest, it's never a good sign when, during a conversation about pre-Civil War plantation homes and their slaves' quarters/kitchens, the male romantic interest remarks about how "So many folks today deem our cultural heritage as politically incorrect." Obviously, that statement in and of itself is not racist or even wrong...but...it's just a little too close to the line to me and sounds a bit too much like something ppl who support flying the confederate flag/keeping confederate statues would say. That exchange, combined with the way that the cook/maid/chauffer in the plantation home are all black and how Maddie, the only living, present black character in the novel, is the only character who speaks with a fairly obvious (if not exaggerated) southern accent... Red flags, red flags.
Red flags aside, I was interested in the plot and path of the book until about... 3/4s in? The "mystery" aspect was interesting, and learning about Ellie's mother and her past was interesting, but it reached a point where the characters just became a bit unbelievable and they seemed too caricature-ish. I also thought the romance part of the novel could use a lot of work...I mean...she meets the guy at an art gallery, talks to him for maybe five minutes? Then runs into him while walking her dog....invites him to see her house....ofc there's a hurricane outside so he stays the night--and they sleep in the same bed, spooned together? After knowing each other all of six hours and five minutes? And most of their conversation is about renovating her house and her inability to remember her past? It just felt really rushed to me.
Okay, let's get into the details of things.
Spoiler
Listen, I was totally like 75% with the book--I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, but I thought it was interesting and well-paced--and then...we met Lia.
I guess I should have realized it was coming, considering the way Eleanor acted, but I kind of rationalized Eleanor's cruelty and casual racism by thinking about how old she was (not just that she was born in a different era, but also that she may have been suffering from a form of dementia or something--which does have the ability to cause dramatic mood swings/aggression/depression, etc.) though I did acknowledge, even to myself, that Eleanor's cruelty was a bit much.
I also had a thought when the scene of Ellie's mother being pushed down the stairs came out--maybe the grandmother was possessed, maybe someone was living in the walls of their house (hence the paranoia and irrationality), maybe she was hiding a deep dark secret? Mostly because Ellie's mom didn't actually see her own mother push her down the stairs. And also I didn't understand the reasoning for it--the slapping I could understand (and by that I mean I feel like it's consistent with Eleanor's controlling, abusive demeanor), the jabbing with a cane, yeah okay, but pushing someone down a flight of stairs? That's borderline attempted murder, no?
I understand Eleanor not wanting to call a doctor because she didn't want anyone to know of her daughter's shame, but...pushing her down a flight of stairs takes Eleanor's passive attempts to kill her daughter/let her die and makes Eleanor an active force in trying to kill her daughter. And for what? Why?
I'm not saying that we needed to see a reason or a motivation for Eleanor to be cruel or abusive--obviously, abusive people don't need "reasons" to hurt others, they just do it to get what they want/to make themselves feel however it makes them feel. Whatever. But Eleanor seemed to become this sort of larger than life, overly sadistic woman. Was she always like that? Was this exacerbated by something outside of the narrative? It just doesn't fit for me.
Anyway, back to Lia. From her very introduction as an active character within the novel, she's branded to be just as terrible and cruel as her grandmother. But why?? Why doesn't she get any sympathy from the narrative? Ellie and her father try to acknowledge that she's been under a lot of stress, that she had to grow up with Louisa, etc, but I feel like the narrative, if not the characters, should have let Lia's character develop and deepen by exploring the fact that she grew up with memories of a terrible toddler-hood and then had a slightly-less awful childhood as she was raised by Louisa, and then is being physically (if not mentally/emotionally) abused by her husband. So no, she's not exactly going to be grateful when her twin sister and long lost father show up on her doorstep, showing her just how wonderful her life could have been, showing her that her sister was given everything she had never been given--and then they show up, expecting her to fall over and cry and be grateful, thirty years too late.
Obviously, none of that is Ellie's fault. None of that is her father's fault. But Lia's character is branded by the author as a flat, cruel, selfish character and then denied any of the sympathy or growth we saw with Ellie.
Because of that flat characterization, I knew from the moment Ellie and her father talked to Lia's kids that the two girls would end up living with Ellie and not Lia. I knew Lia would abandon them. Because that's exactly what a flat, evil character would do.
I just think...if Lia's character had been given a bit more depth--make her more sympathetic, keep her disinterested in her own children (she never had a good mother-figure model anyway, so why should she bother to learn how to be a good one for her kids?), keep her interested in her (rightful) half of her inheritance--because it is her right, honestly, and I didn't agree at all with Ellie's opinion on the money and the way she acted like Lia should be grateful just for Ellie's generosity in offering the money. Obviously, no, Ellie is legally entitled to all of it, and she didn't have to offer any of it to Lia, but as Ellie acknowledged to herself and her father--it's rightfully Lia's money too, and to me, that means that Ellie shouldn't get a say in how Lia spends it or when she gets it. Does that mean that it would be right for Lia to make good choices with the money? No. Do I think that Lia should acknowledge that Ellie didn't legally have to give her anything? Yes.
Instead of letting the novel culminate with two sisters separated by nearly 40 years and two entirely different types of upbringing (and all the little resentments and fears that come along with that...) we get this weird, flat ending where Lia gets the check she was waiting for and then bounces without so much as a goodbye--an ending which only reinforces Lia's selfishness, cruelty, and terrible-at-being-a-mother-ness while also reinforcing Ellie as the golden, perfect child and destined, wonderful mother.
And the reason for that ending, of course, is so that there's material enough for a sequel, which--because it's focused on Lia and her terrible, selfish ways, I will not be reading.
Oh, and P.S.--what happened to the ghost of grandma past? They built up this whole fear of a spirit trapped inside the gma's room, literally locked Eliie in there at the very start of the novel, and then suddenly, like an afterthought, let everyone know that the ghost was finally free, no harm no foul, the end.
Oh my god! PPS--I actually posted the review and then remembered this and had to come back to bitch about it. What was up with the "rotting" smell that kept following Ellie around?? I thought for sure they'd find Lia's dead body in the floorboards at some point--maybe she was the one living in the walls, lmao. But seriously--that came up so often and was so harped upon I thought it would be relevant at some point, but they literally just never mentioned it again. Did it disappear along with the ghost of grandma past??
Jesus. I was reading another review and remembered another thing. PPPS(??): You're telling me, after the entire first half of the book is leading up to a "traumatic" memory that was so terrible it blocked out the first like six years of Ellie's life from her mind--and then you reveal that the "trauma" was Ellie's sister disappearing one day??? When she was THREE??? And somehow that was terrible enough that she blocked everything out?
Of course, the "traumatic memory" could have been seeing her gma push her mom down a flight of stairs, but the novel seems to indicate that that wasn't The Traumatic Memory. Bleh.
Magnolia Nights was a lukewarm read for me. I've heard great things about the author, but this book didn't capture my attention like some of the other books I read in 2017.
Magnolia Nights is about a woman who can't remember her past. Ellie Pringle has spent many hours in therapy trying to remember a traumatic event that happened to her when she was a child. When her grandmother passes away and leaves her entire fortune estate to Ellie, she's shocked and doesn't really know what to do.
Ellie hopes that by returning to her grandmother's home in Charleston, she'll be able to piece together the missing parts of the puzzle of her early childhood, but when she arrives in Charleston, she wonders if she has made a huge mistake.
A handsome architect named Julian helps her through some of the more troublesome aspects of her move to Charleston, but will he be enough to help Ellie face her past, forget it, and move on with her future?
Magnolia Nights reminded me of scaled-down version of V.C. Andrew's Flowers in the Attic series.
Magnolia Nights is about a woman who can't remember her past. Ellie Pringle has spent many hours in therapy trying to remember a traumatic event that happened to her when she was a child. When her grandmother passes away and leaves her entire fortune estate to Ellie, she's shocked and doesn't really know what to do.
Ellie hopes that by returning to her grandmother's home in Charleston, she'll be able to piece together the missing parts of the puzzle of her early childhood, but when she arrives in Charleston, she wonders if she has made a huge mistake.
A handsome architect named Julian helps her through some of the more troublesome aspects of her move to Charleston, but will he be enough to help Ellie face her past, forget it, and move on with her future?
Magnolia Nights reminded me of scaled-down version of V.C. Andrew's Flowers in the Attic series.
I love anything by Ashley Farley.
This was a book I could not put down. It held me until the end then of course I wanted the next book. It will keep you turning pages until you reach the end. Ashley has a way of telling a story that keeps you wanting more.
Thank you to #NetGalley #Ashley Farley #Magnolia Nights and #Kindle Press for this wonderful book
This was a book I could not put down. It held me until the end then of course I wanted the next book. It will keep you turning pages until you reach the end. Ashley has a way of telling a story that keeps you wanting more.
Thank you to #NetGalley #Ashley Farley #Magnolia Nights and #Kindle Press for this wonderful book
https://superfluousreading.wordpress.com/2018/01/07/magnolia-nights-by-ashley-farley/
Started good, ended weird
I was excited when I thought this was going to be a suspenseful ghost story. Turned more into a Nicholas Sparks-type of book. Not my thing. 🤷♀️
I was excited when I thought this was going to be a suspenseful ghost story. Turned more into a Nicholas Sparks-type of book. Not my thing. 🤷♀️