Magnolia Parks

[4.5] where do i start? i don't think i've ever experience writing like jessa hasting's in this book, but i instantly fell in love with it. i could picture the characters pretty much straight away, but their personality described more and more throughout the book and seeing how they react to different situations just helped to fully flesh them out even more. i completely understand how this would be some people's nightmare fuel, with the toxicity and cheating etc. but i ate this up. so much. i've never ever tabbed so many quotes because i was just in awe of how someone's brain can come up with such beaitiful writing. i was fully prepared to give this 5 stars, but i just didn't get that feeling for some reaosn, so 4.5 it is!!

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher (Dutton) for promotional purposes.

Going into this book, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I was absolutely blown away.

This book was like Gossip Girl meets Sally Rooney. Parts of it were light hearted rich people drama, but when it came to Magnolia and BJ’s relationship, there was a lot of intense emotional depth. Magnolia and BJ have a toxic and codependent relationship that was just so fascinating and addicting to read. Their relationship and feelings towards each other reminded me of Sally Rooney’s work (which I love).

The book is over 400 pages, but there was never a dull moment. There are quite a few twists and turns in the story (including the ending) that show more kept me flipping through the pages like crazy. The pacing was spot on and I never felt like the story dragged on for too long.

As for the supporting characters, I loved Magnolia’s sister, Bridget, and her grandma, Bushka. Bridget was the rational little sister and Bushka was hilarious. I’m also intrigued to learn more about Magnolia’s friends in the coming books. I feel like this book only scratched their surface (especially the Hemmes brothers).

Overall, I loved this book and cannot wait to continue the series. Onto Daisy Haites! show less

So I can see why this is one of those books that you either love or that you really don’t like. I fall more in the loved it side, but the critics I see do have some merit. I found that I was whole-heartedly invested in the characters and their relationships throughout the story, even though a majority are toxic and messy. Cheating tropes are really not my favorite but I found that the trope was more focused on the toxic hate to love relationship between Parks and BJ. Granted I find both of them to make infuriating choices, however I was still invested and secretly cheering them on. In all reality I think that the messiness could really be a turn off for most people, and I really don’t blame them, in fact I support it. I, myself, show more find myself too fully invested in messy relationship drama on reality tv, and this felt similar to that, so I found myself eating it up. show less

“How's the weather over there Parks ?”

-5 Stars-

Tropes:
💚 Dual POV
🩷 Friends to lovers
💚 Fake dating
🩷Love triangle square
💚 Miscommunication (Major)

Spice:
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Oh my god! I mean where do I even start with this amazing book?!?!
When I say this, this is going to sound really weird and bad but I mean this in a good way… I really like the way Jessa Hastings wrote like an actual mid 20’s aged boy and girl would talk and think. Some of the word choices are just so spot on and I like how all the writing is how most people these days would talk. She really nailed the way Gen Z’ers talk.
Okay, so at the start of this book I really really loved the idea of BJ and Magnolia together. They just seemed so perfect, show more but by the middle of the book I’d gotten slightly tired of BJ’s actions and just saying things to get a reaction. That being said, I somehow still liked BJ… weird, right?!
Then Tom came into the story, and honestly I really like him too! I feel bad for him because she is so obviously in love with BJ, and Tom is so obviously in love with Magnolia. It's too cute the way that that they all kind of love each other.
To be honest the writing was pretty amazing! The plot/premise was too! Magnolia Parks, reminds me of a Gossip Girl based in England. Like for real, it's got the same snooty rich girl chic that Gossip Girl has but in London!
I think this is my new favorite book. It's the type of book where you know it's so toxic, but you can't stop reading it. It's the type of book where you want to route for the characters but they constantly do things that you don't approve of. Haha! This book was too good for its own doing.
I will definitely be reading the other books in this series, to see what other toxic things the other characters do.
I loved all of BJ and Magnolias friends. At first it was quite confusing, but after about a hundred pages, you'll get the characters and you'll love 'em.
Awesomely toxic book!

“I miss you, I blink in Morse code. I still love you, say the turned-down edges of his perfect mouth.” show less

I just finished this book and I don’t know how to feel. I’m left staring at the wall and not in a good way. While this book did keep me entertained I just don’t know if I want to continue with the series and put myself through more turmoil and I usually love angst. I kept thinking there was going to be some wild justification or explanation as to why BJ initially cheated, but nope it just got worse because it was her best friend. Am I supposed to be rooting for this couple? A part of me feels like I need to see this through out of morbid curiosity but the other part of me is holding onto a shred of self-preservation, a trait that both main characters are severely lacking. I am giving it 3 stars though because I couldn’t stop show more reading it. show less

What even was this book? I went in fully expecting to hate it, contemporary romance is not my cup of tea usually. And even though the plot was not plotting, I could not stop binging this. What kind of magical writing is this that makes you want to simultaneously care for the characters one moment and fucking hate them the next?

I finally got around to reading this debut novel by Jessa Hastings—recommended to me by a friend who’s obsessed with the MPU (Magnolia Parks Universe). I can see why: it’s fun, it’s fluff, it’s toxicity times 100... it’s nonstop drama.

I wasn’t surprised by how it all wrapped up. I had already read Hastings' standalone novel The Conditions of Will, which I absolutely enjoyed. It had something Magnolia Parks didn’t—a plot.

I can enjoy a character-driven book, but the main characters in this one felt a bit too repetitive. I'm giving this three stars, because I love how Hastings writes a novel - it's like one long run-on sentence!