A review by icedviennalatte
Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

2.5

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 3! Magnolia Parks started off strong for me with some juicy drama. I love eccentric rich people shenanigans, but after a while I started getting bored…because I realized that the same conflict was repeating like 50 times.

BJ (“Beej”) and Magnolia broke up 3 years ago, but they are still in love and VERY codependent. And very, very toxic. Now don’t get me wrong I love reading about a toxic relationship sometimes! The problem is that they go through the same cycle of drama over and over and over and over again.

Magnolia dates guys to get her mind off of BJ and to also make him jealous. BJ sleeps with a girl to try and forget Magnolia and also to make her jealous. They fight. They make up. Detailed description of their designer outfits each time. Repeat for almost 500 pages. Drama is less juicy when it brings nothing new to the table.

I will say that I find Magnolia’s inner monologue to be as entertaining as it is frustrating. I don’t understand how Magnolia is so in love with this man. Yes they were together for a long time, but he was and continues to be terrible. Magnolia’s whole personality is being obsessed with BJ and wearing designer clothes. I do love how her godfather is randomly Elton John. 

BJ’s inner monologue is infuriating. He is extremely possessive over Magnolia, while also talking about how hot every girl he sees is, and then tries to sleep with them. He’s so possessive over Magnolia that he gets mad when people try to call her “Parks” because that’s “his name for her” even though it’s literally her last name?? He’s so incredibly toxic!!! At least he is self aware because he knows he’s horrible, I guess??????? Get him out of here. Also his nickname of his nickname is Beej which is disgusting.

I was rooting for Magnolia and Beej in the beginning, before I found out…information. And before their merry go round of boring drama began. Magnolia and BJ simply do not exude enough chemistry for me to want them together. Magnolia definitely loves BJ (too much), but I’m not convinced that BJ loves Magnolia at all. He says he loves her many times, yet his actions show otherwise. I kept thinking about how better off Magnolia would be with poor, dear Tom England. 

The prose is actually really good, there are some impactful lines in this book. I’m way more interested in Daisy Haites and I hope her book is more enjoyable! I also hope Magnolia dumps BJ!