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ursolovelypjm 's review for:
Magnolia Parks
by Jessa Hastings
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I hated this book.
I genuinely never felt so much hatred and disgust over a book like this one… scary to think that so many people regard it as one of their favorite romance story, when in actuality it is just a plotless amalgamation of toxic and mentally ill 20 something years old, privileged and jobless people.
Bj and Magnolia were, honestly, made for each other: unaware of the world and what love truly is; horrible people and friends; cold hearted people, who shift the blame out of themselves constantly, even when they are clearly at fault; boring, shallow and empty characters. I hated every single interaction they had with each other and I hated even more how every single conversation they had was about sex (try and ask Bj to describe what he loves about Magnolia, and he won’t talk about anything else but her naked body and shape). Magnolia is a jobless, boring and pretentious 22 year old, who seems to be irresistible to every man on the planet, even though her entire personality revolves around fashion (but do not fear, she’s not like any other girl, she has class: she recognizes the expensive and luxurious brands people are wearing, she would never have one night stands and she would never consume erotica content, because she’s not a cheap, worthless slut, like every other woman mentioned on the book) and loves her nanny, at least until she finds out said nanny was sleeping with her father. Bj is just as toxic plus disrespectful and disgusting: obsessed and possessive over Magnolia, he sleeps around with any walking woman (unaware of their name and incapable of recognizing them as human beings) but can’t stand the idea of Magnolia with any man, even though he cheated on her BECAUSE HE WANTED TO! WITH HER BEST FRIEND! And to add another layer of “complexity” to him, of course he drowns his sorrows on drinking and drugs.
The constant referring to their outfits and brands… so tacky and irrelevant, I couldn’t visualize anything, neither I cared about it. The dialogues were borderline cringe and unrealistic. The plot… THERE IS NO PLOT! The author didn’t even take the time to write something that was structured, neither did she make any of the multiple characters described deep enough (when you have Bj cheating on Magnolia with her best friend, because he wanted to do, being revealed at the end as the big plot twist of the book, the minimum I asked for was a more in depth description of their friendship… every single person presented as a friend of Magnolia either was saying her and Bj were meant to be forever together or trying/succeeding to get into her pants). It surprised me an adult woman could write such a toxic “love story” and portray the character’s behaviors as normal… to romanticize a relationship like theirs, you have to be insane (and to write such deep and profound reflections on love about two people who just liked to hurt each other… I had to skim through those long paragraphs, I couldn’t BELIEVE someone was trying to gaslight me into believing what was happening was normal, that it was just two broken people in love).
This is not a love story. This is not even a story. This is an amalgamation of events put together, where both Bj and Magnolia are lying to themselves and being lied to by everyone around them, being told their love is forever. What they had might have been love when they were teenagers, but it was nothing more than disrespect and toxicity after Bj cheated on Magnolia.
I hated this book so much I won’t be reading the remaining books of this collection, neither will I read any other book from this author. If you love this book and believe it is the most complex, gut wrenching, intensely realistic and romantic story you have ever read, congrats to you and I’m happy for your happiness, but at the same time, seek therapy, please.
I genuinely never felt so much hatred and disgust over a book like this one… scary to think that so many people regard it as one of their favorite romance story, when in actuality it is just a plotless amalgamation of toxic and mentally ill 20 something years old, privileged and jobless people.
Bj and Magnolia were, honestly, made for each other: unaware of the world and what love truly is; horrible people and friends; cold hearted people, who shift the blame out of themselves constantly, even when they are clearly at fault; boring, shallow and empty characters. I hated every single interaction they had with each other and I hated even more how every single conversation they had was about sex (try and ask Bj to describe what he loves about Magnolia, and he won’t talk about anything else but her naked body and shape). Magnolia is a jobless, boring and pretentious 22 year old, who seems to be irresistible to every man on the planet, even though her entire personality revolves around fashion (but do not fear, she’s not like any other girl, she has class: she recognizes the expensive and luxurious brands people are wearing, she would never have one night stands and she would never consume erotica content, because she’s not a cheap, worthless slut, like every other woman mentioned on the book) and loves her nanny, at least until she finds out said nanny was sleeping with her father. Bj is just as toxic plus disrespectful and disgusting: obsessed and possessive over Magnolia, he sleeps around with any walking woman (unaware of their name and incapable of recognizing them as human beings) but can’t stand the idea of Magnolia with any man, even though he cheated on her BECAUSE HE WANTED TO! WITH HER BEST FRIEND! And to add another layer of “complexity” to him, of course he drowns his sorrows on drinking and drugs.
The constant referring to their outfits and brands… so tacky and irrelevant, I couldn’t visualize anything, neither I cared about it. The dialogues were borderline cringe and unrealistic. The plot… THERE IS NO PLOT! The author didn’t even take the time to write something that was structured, neither did she make any of the multiple characters described deep enough (when you have Bj cheating on Magnolia with her best friend, because he wanted to do, being revealed at the end as the big plot twist of the book, the minimum I asked for was a more in depth description of their friendship… every single person presented as a friend of Magnolia either was saying her and Bj were meant to be forever together or trying/succeeding to get into her pants). It surprised me an adult woman could write such a toxic “love story” and portray the character’s behaviors as normal… to romanticize a relationship like theirs, you have to be insane (and to write such deep and profound reflections on love about two people who just liked to hurt each other… I had to skim through those long paragraphs, I couldn’t BELIEVE someone was trying to gaslight me into believing what was happening was normal, that it was just two broken people in love).
This is not a love story. This is not even a story. This is an amalgamation of events put together, where both Bj and Magnolia are lying to themselves and being lied to by everyone around them, being told their love is forever. What they had might have been love when they were teenagers, but it was nothing more than disrespect and toxicity after Bj cheated on Magnolia.
I hated this book so much I won’t be reading the remaining books of this collection, neither will I read any other book from this author. If you love this book and believe it is the most complex, gut wrenching, intensely realistic and romantic story you have ever read, congrats to you and I’m happy for your happiness, but at the same time, seek therapy, please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol