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amalas_bookstop's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Drug use
hollyleapurtill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Violence, Drug use, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
angeliquescollection's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ve been reading this through a recent breakup so it hit waaay harder. So many quotes I resonated with. So much emotion I was experiencing in my real life. I felt Daisy’s pain. I’m living it.
This book broke me but honestly I’m happy it did. I think I needed it in a way.
I think in every Daisy pov, I shed a tear or just completely bawled my eyes out. And Christian… poor Christian.
Omg Julian. I have to see what happens next. I’m going to take a little break to mend my little heart lol but these characters, I feel in my soul.
I would say I like the Daisy Haites side of it all over Magnolia Parks but I love the whole group still.
The ending tore me to pieces though.
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Murder and Alcoholism
Minor: Kidnapping, Drug use, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders
xxeviex's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
plot line:
All 20-year-old Daisy Haites has ever wanted is a normal life, but as the heiress to London's most notorious criminal empire, it's just not on the cards for her.
Raised by her older brother Julian since their parents were murdered, Daisy has never been able to escape the watchful gaze of her gang-lord brother. But Julian's line of work means that Daisy's life is... complicated.
And things don't become any easier when she falls hard for the beautiful and emotionally unavailable Christian Hemmes, who also happens to be one of the few men in London who doesn't answer to Julian.
Christian's life is no walk in the park either, since he's in love with his best friend's girlfriend, Magnolia Parks.
He's happy enough to use Daisy to throw off the scent of his true affections - until she starts to infiltrate those too.
As their romance blossoms into something neither were anticipating, Daisy, Christian, and Julian must come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. As their relationships intersect and tangle, they all learn that sometimes life's most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.
my thoughts:
wow that was a roller coaster of emotions and events 🤯 I have well and truly been sucked into this series now too - which if I’m being completely honest I didn’t think this was going to happen.
as I listened to this book , it was a nice surprise when I found out that this story was being told from three pov’s / perspectives - each narrator brought the characters to life and let me just say , if I didn’t already like Christian as a character I definitely do now 🤩.
however , whilst I enjoyed nearly all of this book , I once again was asking myself why is this book was sooo long??
(after my own research) I have a feeling this is Hastings writing style and this will continue to happen as the series goes on.
also why is there so many cardboard dimensional side characters written into these books? (it’s a little off putting) why write characters into the plot if they hold no substantial information apart from having a terrible name?? 🙃
overall , I very much enjoyed this book and can’t wait to dive into the next book within this series.
Minor: Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Alcohol
harley_dean's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
nara_knl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
still love jessa hastings writing, love her characters!!
love a little magnolia and bj content
and literally always LOVED christian so…
EXCITED FOR THE NEXT BOOK
* the footnotes in daisy‘s chapters were super annoying… „yep“ like stfu you don’t need footnotes for that
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Death, and Gun violence
ines_santos13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child death
folkofthebook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Sitting next to him saying nothing feels like taking off a corset. A great undoing, if you will, and he will. In every way.
while i couldn't stand magnolia parks, i am firmly team daisy.
i think i can chalk up liking daisy haites MPU2 much more than its former counterpart for a few reasons.
one, we watch the culmination of daisy and christian's relationship from fairly early-on. with magnolia and bj, it's very much second chance, which is not a trope i enjoy much to begin with. we're also thrown right into the angst with them, without seeing what exactly we're supposed to be rooting for, why we would want them together, or really believe them to actually be the loves of each others' lives. with daisy and christian, we get to experience the highs and not just in brief references of memory.
“He has a lot of ‘just friends’,” I say out loud accidentally.
BJ follows my gaze. “Yeah, he does.” He gives me a look. “But you’re not one of them.”
secondly, daisy was much more relatable to me. magnolia is an archetype i don't care for. they both rely a lot on validation from men, but magnolia has this added quality of overachieving perfectionism and, while mostly well-meaning, ultimately self-serving, put-on miss sunshine personality that i don't care for. i didn't like magnolia in her own book from her own perspective, and that was only compounded by seeing her through daisy's and christian's eyes.
And actually, the more I think about it, the more I think about Magnolia these days—and in a lot of ways, I actually think about her a lot less—I think that maybe she’s just trash.
(omg drag her Christian lmfaoooo)
daisy did have a bit of that girl-everyone-loves syndrome with a dash of not like other girls, but ultimately i connected w her more personally. she's sassy, determined, and tough as nails. she can be a petty queen, especially when it comes to magnolia, but it only made me love her more.
I think I understand for a fleeting moment why everything that’s bad and painful and sad is worth it if you love someone, because I’ll remember how he’s looking at me now forever.
overall, i was immediately more invested in this story, esp having been teased at it in book 1. there was a bit of an area where it started to slow and lag for me about 50 - 65% through, but it starts to pick up again. i really liked the choice of having julian's POV. i don't think i've read a romance with one of the romantic lead's siblings POV and i think it helped color the story. a lot of people love julian, i can't say i care for him bc i don't care for the contemporary crime trope and i didn't like what he did near the end, but i don't hate him.
with this book, i lost myself in their story and really got to appreciate jessa hasting's writing. i do love her attention to wardrobe detail especially, and i for one thought daisy's footnotes were really fun.
i'm not loving the idea that i will have to revisit magnolia and bj before i get more daisy & christian, but i've heard some things that have intrigued me about book 3, so i'll dive in soon.
“There is a fatal flaw to your normal plan, you know,” he tells me.
I turn to face him, lift my brows but make sure he doesn’t let me go. “And what’s that?”
He locks the door behind me. “You have that face and that brain and you’ll never be normal—” Shakes his head. “Couldn’t be if you tried.”
Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Trafficking
wet_towlette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Trafficking, and Vomit
kellyhannahk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping