A review by doogsley
Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

challenging emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

3.25

oh it’s wild 😭 all of these people are out of control and are somewhat aware of it the whole time? but they don’t gaf cuz… money and privilege, i think? like their world is so small and they don’t need to worry about the lower end of maslowe’s hierarchy. and so, we’re given london socialite gossip girl madness and it’s truly silly.

it’s an entertaining balance of “you’re all terrible people” and “humans are flawed and thus, we must create space for each other’s madness.” it weights mostly towards the former, with moments of awareness and empathy sprinkled between the loaded toxicity. idk it’s just a good time.

hastings’ writing style is the star of this book. straightforward yet honeyed with starry-eyes soliloquies on a toxic love. the dialogue was also very fun, but a lot of the characters blend into each other. this felt lovingly nostalgic to reading the clique books back in elementary/middle school: a fascinating and hyperbolic caricature of a life i’ll never live.

i already have daisy haites downloaded on my kobo lol. what a wild ride. i look forward to dipping my toes into this madness when i want pretty prose about fucked up people.

my favorite part was when my boyfriend renamed bj to blowseph johnson.