Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

19 reviews

booksandlucy_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I ate this like if I was starving, and they put a 3 course meal in front of me and said GO! This is the most toxic relationship dynamic I've ever read, and I couldn't get enough of it! Probably says a lot about me, but I know I have issues, lol. I loved the duo POV because it was needed and the writing was so good. Just look up the trigger warnings on this book before you go into it because mannn! You either love this book or you don't. This was purely entertainment for me and so much fun to read. It's messy, full of drama, really rich rich people problems and I can't wait to read the rest of the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

emmaasbokhylla's review against another edition

emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Addiction, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity

headinthepages's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I have absolutely no idea whether I enjoyed this book or not 😂 I found it compelling and easy to read though somehow. It felt like an episode of Made In Chelsea, and I liked reading about the lavish lifestyle but the constant descriptions of what people were wearing got a bit old, though I understand it aided Magnolia’s characterisation. 

The “will they won’t they” element did get old and I felt like there was too much to and fro,

though I liked the twist with Paili at the end, and to be fair, Magnolias obsession with details made that twist fit nicely. I do wish she’d ended up with Tom. I don’t like BJ at all and didn’t see what attracted them to each other. I do wish more showing, rather than telling was done when it came to the characters. We get told endlessly that Magnolia & BJ are magnetic and people are obsessed with them but no actual personality traits came through that would make me believe that other than them being conventionally good looking & rich. The rest was taking the author at their word

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Addiction, Drug use, Mental illness, Infidelity, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

lucyrudd's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Death

daniisrevding's review against another edition

funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Minor: Grief and Gun violence

pageafter_paige's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I knew going into this book that most people love it and other don’t like it due to the toxicity at all. Well I figured I liked Chuck and Blair from gossip girl so this would be a love for me but I was wrong. Magnolia, and more specifically BJ, are abusive and manipulative toward each other and that all fine and good except it’s romanticized to the nth degree, and there’s nothing romantic about breaking your partner. I found some of this book triggering, especially BJ as he blames Magnolia for everything when it’s pretty clear he’s the root of the problem. Magnolia letting this abuse happen to her and thinking they’re fated hit too close to home since I’ve been in those power dynamic relationships in the past. This book wasn’t cute or fun, but it did have some nice quotes and Tom made it bearable. I will not be continuing the series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Classism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Toxic friendship

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Magnolia Parks is the first book in the Magnolia Parks Universe series by Jessa Hastings. It revolves around Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballantine and their group of friends who live in London. They are all fabulously wealthy high society socialites. 

This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story about two people navigating a complicated relationship. There’s gorgeously written passages about how Magnolia and BJ feel about each other. It’s definitely a book where you’ll feel a lot of different emotions. There’s also a nice side setup for the next book with Daisy, Christian, and Julian. I can’t wait to continue this series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Child death and Panic attacks/disorders

ecravens's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Update: bumping this one up to 5 stars because I haven't stopped thinking about it and it's been a week. ALL I WANNA DO IS READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS AND NOTHING ELSE BUT I don't have money so I have to leave them on my wishlist for now rip

There are a lot of things to like about this romp of a book. The world of high society London complete with a cast of filthy rich 20 somethings and 30 somethings was engaging and compulsively readable. Jessa Hastings has a unique but digestable writing style that makes our main characters feel like they're writing confessionals directly to the audience, so in a way, it felt like my favorite parts of reality TV. I don't mean that in a bad way by any means, I just mean that I liked having a front row seat to all of the drama even though the drama toward the end made me feel exhausted. I do think that this book could've been cut in half and it would've been even better. Still, I annotated and tabbed the hell out of this. There were a lot of quotable moments and moments worth reading and re-reading.

On to Magnolia and BJ themselves - I know they shouldn't be together, you know they shouldn't be together, Jessa Hastings probably knows they shouldn't be together, and yet...you want them to be together. There is no logical reason for me to want them to be happy. Firstly, they both have major growing up to do, and secondly, neither of them are very good people. A bad person doesn't mean a bad character, though. I still enjoyed reading their antics and sometimes BJ, even at his worst, was able to squeeze my heart in just the right way, damn him, stupid goblin boy.

I have some slight issues here and there that I can't get into without spoilers, but I overall loved this one and can't wait to read the rest of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Gun violence