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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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
read it in order of the series, i’m glad i did because i think i prefer the daisy side to magnolia, with magnolia it felt quite samey, they broke up he sleeps around they get back together and again and again, this felt like there was more of a story.
i want julian, christian is such a babe, i feel so bad for him. reading this just made me think of magnolia as more of a bitch, interesting tho to see everything from daisy’s perspective aswell
i want julian, christian is such a babe, i feel so bad for him. reading this just made me think of magnolia as more of a bitch, interesting tho to see everything from daisy’s perspective aswell
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Of the 20 people in this series, I think I only like 3 of them…. If you want to read the internal dialog of people who can’t get their crap together then this is the series for you.
Most of these characters are kind of awful. Instead if having a conversation, they assume things and then react accordingly, usually making the situation far worse than it was.
So much of the barely there plot could be solved if the characters would just freaking talk to each other. I’m annoyed that I’m invested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.
Most of these characters are kind of awful. Instead if having a conversation, they assume things and then react accordingly, usually making the situation far worse than it was.
So much of the barely there plot could be solved if the characters would just freaking talk to each other. I’m annoyed that I’m invested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.
dark
emotional
sad
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
I’m entertained by the storylines, but the grievances I had with Magnolia Parks are the same for this one.
So with that, let me list them out. (1) There are so many characters that we have to keep track of in just one book that they all get jumbled and I forget who’s who from chapter to chapter. (2) While intentional by Jessa Hastings herself, these characters are so insufferable. They take the cake for the most toxic characters in existence. Everyone is cheating on everyone. No one is actually communicating. There’s a weird love square (??) between the main characters, it’s giving me whiplash. (3) The characters are how old?? In their 20s & 30s? So why are they acting like teenagers? It’s so annoying.
With that said, I am invested in how these characters and storylines will develop. Despite the grievances mentioned above, I really did enjoy this book. It just took about 60% for me to REALLY get into it. Regardless, i’m excited to continue this series. I will say, I liked Daisy so much more than Magnolia, interested to see if that changes from book to book. This one also had a mafia-esque feel to it and it made me really miss my mafia romances
So with that, let me list them out. (1) There are so many characters that we have to keep track of in just one book that they all get jumbled and I forget who’s who from chapter to chapter. (2) While intentional by Jessa Hastings herself, these characters are so insufferable. They take the cake for the most toxic characters in existence. Everyone is cheating on everyone. No one is actually communicating. There’s a weird love square (??) between the main characters, it’s giving me whiplash. (3) The characters are how old?? In their 20s & 30s? So why are they acting like teenagers? It’s so annoying.
With that said, I am invested in how these characters and storylines will develop. Despite the grievances mentioned above, I really did enjoy this book. It just took about 60% for me to REALLY get into it. Regardless, i’m excited to continue this series. I will say, I liked Daisy so much more than Magnolia, interested to see if that changes from book to book. This one also had a mafia-esque feel to it and it made me really miss my mafia romances
frustrating and sad and infuriating and i don't even know why i keep reading these books but they're beautiful and i can't help myself
where do i even start with this one?? i have such mixed feelings. on the one hand: 4.5 stars, better than MP1. on the other hand: it made me feel utter proverbial sadness (just like MP1 did), and i physically couldn't bring myself to read the next book for fear of a complete emotional breakdown
one thing which is absolutely undeniable is that Jessa Hastings is a phenomenal writer. she has the most beautiful and unique way with words, and the way she describes people and love and everything is truly like none other. she facilitates such deep connections to her characters, in a way that makes it truly impossible to consume her books in a casual way. it's a joy to read anything she writes purely because she writes it so well. and this book was absolutely no exception, written in a familiar yet separate and different way to Magnolia Parks. for one, the themes in DH are a lot darker - we're dealing with death, crime and violence in a way which is completely foreign to the first book. before starting DH1 i was interested to see how Jessa Hastings would handle having two entirely different people incorporated into one book series - i couldn't really see why or how it would work. but i actually really liked the separation and difference between Daisy and Magnolia's London. it felt refreshing and meant that there was no confusion in timelines, characters, plots, etc - despite the groups being fundamentally interwoven.
the first half of this book started so strong - i really enjoyed being thrown into the world of the Haites family, seeing how they operated and where they stood in the context of the wider MP Universe. and after struggling so much with how un self aware Magnolia was, Daisy felt like such a breath of fresh air. though younger, she's infinitely more mature (as to be expected when you grow up in a gang) and self aware. this made her a lot more likeable, at least at the start of the book. and while i would've liked some more context as to why her and Christian started sleeping together, i also really enjoyed the simplicity of their relationship to begin with. they have none of the 'star crossed lovers' style history which underpins so much of BJ and Magnolia's relationship. i lowkey LOVED that Daisy hated Magnolia, because everything which really irked her about Parks were the things that also irked me - it was nice to have those feelings validated. in a way i felt like Jessa was giving me permission to dislike Magnolia which was much appreciated lol
Christian was also a lot more likeable in this book (obviously) vs MP1. i really enjoyed his pov of everything which happened with Magnolia, both at that dinner where BJ kicks off at him, but also some more context to their relationship pre MP1. he was horrible at times, calling Magnolia a bitch (unacceptable) and wanting to deliberately hurt her with his words, but you really felt through the pages how devastated he was by the whole situation, and how much he actually wanted to let Magnolia go but for some reason couldn't. i felt as tortured by the whole thing as he did, and while obvs never call anyone a bitch, you can see why he was so upset. i thought it was super interesting how much this book exposed Magnolia as an unreliable narrator, especially when it came to the whole Christian situation - i really appreciated that detail and how much you realise Magnolia is blinded by her love for BJ. speaking of BJ... he also comes across surprisingly better and more likeable in this book (potentially because you don't get his pov so can't actually hear how toxic it is in his brain at that moment looool). there were some genuinely meaningful and mature conversations between him and his friends which i think humanise him a lot more than we see in MP1. hopefully a good sign for future books because please god give me some character development
where i started to struggle was when things took a bit of a darker tone - not in terms of gang violence (this was to be expected and i have no issues with reading it), but more within the characters themselves. almost out of nowhere Daisy goes from being mature and stable to absolutely off the rails toxic, hurting literally everyone around her and having no control over her emotions and how she deals with them. the triangle with Christian / Romeo / Tiller turned from a pretty harmless love triangle situation (not my fave, but not the worst trope in the world) to this awful situation where Daisy was just using all of them to mask her emotions, playing on their feelings when she herself didn't even know where she stood. i understand that she is deeply traumatized from everything which happened in her childhood - it's of course a fundamental and necessary part of her character - however she was like an entirely different character in the second half, which i HATED. it was awful having to watch her completely self destruct and take everyone along with her, sleeping around and refusing to communicate with any of the people who cared about her. it felt like groundhog day with Romeo and the worst part was that he was selfish enough to let her hurt herself like that. he was literally just the worst character. she was also selfish, not at all the Daisy i thought she was initially, and i hated how frustrating and sad the whole thing ended up being. i ached for her and Christian and especially for Julian - who i slowly grew to love through the book. JH said somewhere that Julian's great love is Daisy and, even in this first book, you can really feel that
the thing about Jessa Hastings is that she will make you FEEL things. so deeply. in such an all-consuming way. and so the issue i then have is that i don't like how i'm being made to feel. i've left DH1 with this deep sadness, feeling so low that i've decided that, for my own mental health, i can't read the next book straight away. i need some space and some breathing room before i even attempt to continue the series, because i know it'll just keep feeling like this. and it's not lost on me how crazy that sounds - it is literal insanity that words on a page have the ability to make me feel this way. it's exactly because of, and in spite of, this that i love this series. i've never felt so conflicted about a book in my whole life, and that's why i have to rate it so highly
where do i even start with this one?? i have such mixed feelings. on the one hand: 4.5 stars, better than MP1. on the other hand: it made me feel utter proverbial sadness (just like MP1 did), and i physically couldn't bring myself to read the next book for fear of a complete emotional breakdown
one thing which is absolutely undeniable is that Jessa Hastings is a phenomenal writer. she has the most beautiful and unique way with words, and the way she describes people and love and everything is truly like none other. she facilitates such deep connections to her characters, in a way that makes it truly impossible to consume her books in a casual way. it's a joy to read anything she writes purely because she writes it so well. and this book was absolutely no exception, written in a familiar yet separate and different way to Magnolia Parks. for one, the themes in DH are a lot darker - we're dealing with death, crime and violence in a way which is completely foreign to the first book. before starting DH1 i was interested to see how Jessa Hastings would handle having two entirely different people incorporated into one book series - i couldn't really see why or how it would work. but i actually really liked the separation and difference between Daisy and Magnolia's London. it felt refreshing and meant that there was no confusion in timelines, characters, plots, etc - despite the groups being fundamentally interwoven.
the first half of this book started so strong - i really enjoyed being thrown into the world of the Haites family, seeing how they operated and where they stood in the context of the wider MP Universe. and after struggling so much with how un self aware Magnolia was, Daisy felt like such a breath of fresh air. though younger, she's infinitely more mature (as to be expected when you grow up in a gang) and self aware. this made her a lot more likeable, at least at the start of the book. and while i would've liked some more context as to why her and Christian started sleeping together, i also really enjoyed the simplicity of their relationship to begin with. they have none of the 'star crossed lovers' style history which underpins so much of BJ and Magnolia's relationship. i lowkey LOVED that Daisy hated Magnolia, because everything which really irked her about Parks were the things that also irked me - it was nice to have those feelings validated. in a way i felt like Jessa was giving me permission to dislike Magnolia which was much appreciated lol
Christian was also a lot more likeable in this book (obviously) vs MP1. i really enjoyed his pov of everything which happened with Magnolia, both at that dinner where BJ kicks off at him, but also some more context to their relationship pre MP1. he was horrible at times, calling Magnolia a bitch (unacceptable) and wanting to deliberately hurt her with his words, but you really felt through the pages how devastated he was by the whole situation, and how much he actually wanted to let Magnolia go but for some reason couldn't. i felt as tortured by the whole thing as he did, and while obvs never call anyone a bitch, you can see why he was so upset. i thought it was super interesting how much this book exposed Magnolia as an unreliable narrator, especially when it came to the whole Christian situation - i really appreciated that detail and how much you realise Magnolia is blinded by her love for BJ. speaking of BJ... he also comes across surprisingly better and more likeable in this book (potentially because you don't get his pov so can't actually hear how toxic it is in his brain at that moment looool). there were some genuinely meaningful and mature conversations between him and his friends which i think humanise him a lot more than we see in MP1. hopefully a good sign for future books because please god give me some character development
where i started to struggle was when things took a bit of a darker tone - not in terms of gang violence (this was to be expected and i have no issues with reading it), but more within the characters themselves. almost out of nowhere Daisy goes from being mature and stable to absolutely off the rails toxic, hurting literally everyone around her and having no control over her emotions and how she deals with them. the triangle with Christian / Romeo / Tiller turned from a pretty harmless love triangle situation (not my fave, but not the worst trope in the world) to this awful situation where Daisy was just using all of them to mask her emotions, playing on their feelings when she herself didn't even know where she stood. i understand that she is deeply traumatized from everything which happened in her childhood - it's of course a fundamental and necessary part of her character - however she was like an entirely different character in the second half, which i HATED. it was awful having to watch her completely self destruct and take everyone along with her, sleeping around and refusing to communicate with any of the people who cared about her. it felt like groundhog day with Romeo and the worst part was that he was selfish enough to let her hurt herself like that. he was literally just the worst character. she was also selfish, not at all the Daisy i thought she was initially, and i hated how frustrating and sad the whole thing ended up being. i ached for her and Christian and especially for Julian - who i slowly grew to love through the book. JH said somewhere that Julian's great love is Daisy and, even in this first book, you can really feel that
the thing about Jessa Hastings is that she will make you FEEL things. so deeply. in such an all-consuming way. and so the issue i then have is that i don't like how i'm being made to feel. i've left DH1 with this deep sadness, feeling so low that i've decided that, for my own mental health, i can't read the next book straight away. i need some space and some breathing room before i even attempt to continue the series, because i know it'll just keep feeling like this. and it's not lost on me how crazy that sounds - it is literal insanity that words on a page have the ability to make me feel this way. it's exactly because of, and in spite of, this that i love this series. i've never felt so conflicted about a book in my whole life, and that's why i have to rate it so highly
Magnolia Parks was flawless—the relationship between Magnolia and BJ was so deliciously toxic, you couldn’t help but root for them. Then came Daisy Haites, and unfortunately, I just couldn’t connect with the storyline at all. I feel bad even saying it, but it’s a 2.5-star read for me—it just didn’t grip me the way the first book did.
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes