Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Magnolia Parks

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

6 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Wow! Just wow! This book was something. I have been avoiding this book for the past two years cuz I heard it was toxic and after reading Addicted because of its popularity, I avoided this one like the plague. And now after I've read it, this makes the Addicted series look like child's play. Normally I start off with things I liked, but for this book there really was much to like. The people who gave this book 1 star, valid, the people who gave this book 4 stars, I get it. The people that give this 5 stars, I don't understand, but I love that for you; love that you enjoyed this!

Things I liked:

This book is weirdly addicting. After the 7-10%-ish mark, I was actually pretty into it. I was eating it up and I was so surprised. I love drama in books so that wasn't surprising, but what was surprising is that I was enjoying THIS book in particular because it honestly was just toxic all around. But like I said I was eating it up. I think it's because I found the toxicity of it all to be very entertaining. Deep down I wasn't rooting for them, but I was feeling the soulmate vibes they were exuding. I was feeding into the delusion for the sake of entertainment. And this delusion lasted until I got to the 32% mark. I honestly felt myself giving this book a 4 to a 4.25 stars, maybe even a 4.5. I was ready to get the rest of the series in the MP universe. That spell ended because after that their behavior got really tiring really quickly. However, it would really flip-flop for me. After the 32% mark, I was trudging along through this book because things just got so repetitive and exhausting. There were a few times where I wanted to dnf it. But then sometimes something entertaining would happen and then I'll be eating it up again. And my feelings would just fluctuate throughout the entire book.

Honestly, I kinda understand the appeal to a couple like Magnolia and BJ. They possess that passion, desire, and high intense energy that many people enjoy consuming. It resembles a lot of popular tv show romance couples, like Damon and Elena, Eli and Claire, and infamously Chuck and Blair (hate them by the way). What's funny is that BJ and Magnolia were FAR WORSE than any of the couples I listed, they were even worse than Chuck and Blair and that's saying something because Chuck and Blair were awful. Both Magnolia and BJ (especially BJ) hurt each other in unimaginable ways and they can't just seem to stop, but they also can't seem to cut this magnetic pull that they have for each other. And when reading about that at times I get the appeal of each other. They are two people that love each other fiercely and it's because of that intensity that they can't seem to break away from each other. Have you ever loved someone so much that it destroys you? So, yeah, like I said I get the appeal (still not healthy though).

I'm not a fan of the writing in this book, but there are so many quotes that EAT in this book and it really goes to show the "soulmate" connection of Magnolia and BJ.

-"Have you ever had someone start you dead in the eyes and wearing all the ways you hurt them? It's fucking intense. But you know what, she hurt me too."

-"Normal for two broken hearts who can't fit their pieces with anyone but each other."

-"He’s a time bomb for me, do you see now? That he’ll hurt me. He’ll always hurt me. I’ll never be safe with him, even if I’m always safe next to him. So, it doesn’t matter if I love him—which I don’t—but if I did, it doesn’t matter, even now. Because loving him is the same thing as tossing the keys to my heart to a valet without a driver’s license. He’ll drive me off a cliff."

-" What a mind fuck it is to comfort the person who just blew your whole heart open with a rifle."

-" It was just easier to be with him than not to be, and maybe that’s not a good thing —I don’t know anymore. I can’t objectively tell with us. With anything to do with him, my heart’s logic is as blurry as the lines we pretend we don’t cross. I was still broken, and I was still sad, and I still didn’t trust him how I used to trust him, but I think at one point, I loved him more than he hurt me, and it sort of began to feel stupid to me to love someone how I loved him and to throw it all away......"

- "It happens because people are careless and callous and casual with hearts and emotions, and those people are dangerous to be involved with and so even if you love them, you shouldn’t love them because nothing is worth feeling how he made me feel, and there was no guaranteeing that what happened before wouldn’t happen again because the word of a cheater, she said, is void."

-"I remember resentment pounding through my body and then I remember it, like a physical punch in the gut, how much I loved him. Really loved him. To the bone, loved him. Cut me and I’d bleed him. How much I needed him, still needed him, would forever, always, never couldn’t even if I tried, needed him. And I remember being deeply afraid of what my life would be like without him in it."

"I didn’t realise hours were passing, let alone days. I was at the precipice of losing the love of my life and time had suspended."

-"He stares over at me, trying to dissect what Beej and I—an impossible task, I can assure him here and now that he—like the countless number of people before him—will fail miserably. Because BJ and I are unquantifiable. It’s the nuances of all the ways we love each other and have loved each other and keep on accidentally loving each other and it’s the intricacies of our threads we’ve knotted together and it’s the secrets we know about each other and it’s that one broken heart we share."

One thing that I also find appealing about this book is that at times the characters realized their dynamic was messed up. I wish they would've leaned into the self-awareness more because I feel like that would've made the story more engaging to me. Because I understand having that magnetic pull towards someone that you feel is your everything to the point where it overrides your self-respect and everything in between because all you want to do is be with them. It makes for a great story. (also, there are portions of this book between Magnolia and BJ that are cute, like their staring contest, their "how's the weather parks" messages, the national geographic thing, it really sucks how all that is clouded by how toxic they are")
Not gonna lie, I kinda liked Christian and Magnolia. Their dynamic was kinda cute. And the rain scene they had was literally so cute!
Justice for Christian lowkey which is why I couldn't get into Daisy Haites because it was clear to me that he was still in love with Magnolia.
Oh and I liked her dynamic with Henry too wish we got more of them.
Despite its flaws, I still did enjoy Tom and Magnolia's dynamic. At times, the Tom chapter (not his pov) were a breath of fresh air to me.
I did enjoy the little glimpses we got of Julian. Lowkey shipping him and Magnolia.

Things that I didn't like:

My gosh, I know it may seem like I liked this book based on the lengthy the top portion of this review is but that honestly can't be further from the truth. I'm so annoyed because this book had promise to be great, but in my opinion, it kinda fumbled (for me considering this book has a huge fanbase regardless of the negative reviews).
There is not one good character in this book. Not one. I did like Bridget and Marsali, but then they do it some do a 180.
Loved Bridget at first because she would put both BJ and Magnolia in their place, especially BJ, but then she just turns out to be a BJ fan at the end of the book. What! And Marsali, the hypocrite she is, goes on and has a 6-year affair with Magnolia's father while also giving her a whole speech on how a cheater isn't to be trusted. Tom was decent, but he did want to get into Magnolia's pants the whole time as well as was also in love with his dead brother's ex-wife, so can't win them all.
Everyone enables this relationship and when some people would speak out on how dysfunctional and messed up their dynamic is, they'd still enable it regardless.
In addition to what I said previously, every single character in this book is flat and one-dimensional and that includes the main characters. Throughout this entire 400-500 page book we literally learn next to nothing about Magnolia and BJ outside of their"relationship". We get introduced to sooooo many characters like I had to pause several times to figure who's who. Henry (BJ's brother; Magnolia's bestie), Christian (Magnolia's first boyfriend; also in the friend group), Jonah (BJ's bestie; Christian's brother), Paili (Magnolia's female bestie), Perry (Magnolia's gay friend), Tom (the "foxhole"), Bridget (Magnolia's sister), Marsali (i think she's Magnolia caretaker, wasn't sure of her role in their household), and then there's Gus (he's also Magnolia's gay friend and works with her dad), there are a bit more people but they don't matter. All these characters and no depth to any of them except that they're all Magnolia x BJ stans no matter how much BJ hurts Magnolia.

Now to the ICK, himself, BJ Ballentine. Offense after offense after offense. There's not a single redeeming quality about BJ, like not a single one.
He claims he loves Magnolia then runs around constantly berating his sexual conquests right in front of her. It's literally a known fact that BJ is such a whore and just sleeps around with any woman he can find.
He deliberately hurts Magnolia because he gains comfort in the fact that she still cares for him. Excuse me! What! Imagine going around and purposefully going out of your way to cause emotional turmoil to the person who claims to be the love of your life.
So first, he cheats on Magnolia with her best friend, Paili (saw that coming) and he does it cuz he wants to and was even thinking about her at all when he was doing it (he wasn't even drunk). And then when he dumps him and dates someone else, he goes out and gets overdosed in Amsterdam. After said overdose, he promises her that he'll never do it. Then three years later when he sees that she could actually be happy without him, he goes on and starts doing coke again despite his promise to her, knowing good and well this is something she'd never forgive him for. And he has this crazy jealousy streak when it comes to Magnolia, especially when it looks like he could actually be happy without him. His outburst towards the Christian x Magnolia situation is so wild. He literally beats one of his best friends to a bloody pulp in an alley just because Magnolia was happy with him. Ridiculous!
The way he talks about girls sometimes it's unnerving as well. BJ is literally the scum of the Earth and nothing you can say will change my mind.
This book was soooooo LONG and it didn't need to be at all. After the 32% mark, it was just a repetitiveness cycle of Magnolia hurting BJ, BJ going out of his way to hurt Magnolia more, Magnolia crying over being hurt by BJ, BJ going on a bender because Magnolia hurt him, Magnolia taking BJ back cuz God forbid she cuts him off.
Magnolia (she was no saint) had no real friends and no good family. Henry and Perry were the closest, but even they weren't really that great in the end. I just can't imagine that there's nobody in her life who cares about her well-being to tell her that BJ is wrong for her. In this book, we're told just how damaging BJ's behavior is to Magnolia
sis, was literally in the hospital due to dehydration after he overdosed because she wasn't eating or drink; and he's given her major trust, and co-dependency issues
and yet nobody goes out of their way to overtly discourage from being with this man, my gosh!
Jonah got on my nerves. I can't stand him. Just as bad as BJ.
The amount of time Magnolia was describing people's outfits were so annoying.
This book was trying to justify cheating a good number of times, uhmm......Ms. Jessa get your life! Cheating is inexcusable, period!

Overall, this book was a mess! The writing wasn't good (had some great quotes though). It had so much potential to be this entertaining messy rich people wind-up of the shenanigans they get into while hyper-focusing on the dysfunctional dynamic of London's "IT" couple, but nope! It was just a book full of flat characters and a repetitive cycle of abuse with no resolution. I don't mind a toxic romance (for entertainment) when the toxicity is MUTUAL. I wish she burned his car(s) down or something. But noooooo, although Magnolia did some things, all she did was play games and drag other men into her mess. Nothing she did was tantamount to the mental and emotional abuse BJ put her through. Sis was a doormat most of the time, and I just didn't vibe with it that.

All that because said, although there are so many horrendous things about this book, I still didn't hate it by any means. I honestly didn't know how to rate this. Like I said before I can see the appeal and it can be oddly addicting which is why it's not a 2 star or lower. I found myself, after finishing this in a Magnolia Parks hangover weirdly enough. I think I'm trauma-bonded to this book; I'm oddly attached to Magnolia and BJ and this world. So, I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next book, MP2 (i have no interest in reading Daisy's books). If I do I just hope it gets better. That they get better. It'd suck to read the second book and learn that literally hasn't changed. I heard in the second book that BJ goes to therapy so fingers crossed.

Spice:🌶️🌶️(there are no like descriptions of sex on the page, not really, but there is ALOT of talk about sex in this book, like ALOT so beware if that's not your thing)

Note: If you're a mature well adjusted individual that can't suspend your disbelief for toxicity, don't read this, please. SAVE YOURSELF AND DON'T FALL FOR THE HYPE! You've been warned

Content Warnings

nicklepolaroid's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Estoy impresionada con el libro, esperaba basurita pero es mucho mejor que eso. Realmente es un libro que explora una relación tóxica entre dos personas que se conocen de toda la vida, y lo difícil que es salir de una situación así. Tiene muchas cosas problemáticas, y sí creo que tiene personajes poco desarrollados (mi teoría es porque los desarrolla más en otros libros del mismo "universo").

Creo que si sabes que es un libro sobre una relación tóxica y lo que eso implica, y te llama la atención leerlo, creo que vale la pena.

Mi mayor problema con el libro es que no sé si quiere decir que ellos deben estar juntos, o si los personajes creen eso por haber estado juntos prácticamente todas sus vidas. Supongo que lo sabré con los siguientes libros y, honestamente, creo que mucho de mi gusto por la serie depende de cómo coloque las demás relaciones (si también son tóxicas o no) y qué final le da a BJ y Magnolia. Por ahora, lo disfruté mucho.

Content Warnings

crinkledmochi's review

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i just don’t understand the hype or how this can even be second chance romance under any of the circumstances presented, i also hated the writing style and how the author would describe every single outfit and brand the characters wore

Content Warnings

readingwithtrey's review

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medium-paced

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

3.0

I went into this one not really knowing what to expect. I’ve heard it gives Gossip Girl vibes, but I never got past a few episodes of the show🙈. Since it’s the March pick for a book club I’m in, this is going to be a super mini review. Swipe for a synopsis👉🏽.

What I Loved: The ending 😅. The last 15-20% made it worth reading.

What I didn’t love: A lot of it🙈. This one wasn’t for me. I like a romance where there’s someone to root for & for me this wasn’t that type of romance🥴.

Content Warnings

ingridbergman's review

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medium-paced

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

1.0

Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review

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dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Update: bumping this one up to 5 stars because I haven't stopped thinking about it and it's been a week. ALL I WANNA DO IS READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS AND NOTHING ELSE BUT I don't have money so I have to leave them on my wishlist for now rip

There are a lot of things to like about this romp of a book. The world of high society London complete with a cast of filthy rich 20 somethings and 30 somethings was engaging and compulsively readable. Jessa Hastings has a unique but digestable writing style that makes our main characters feel like they're writing confessionals directly to the audience, so in a way, it felt like my favorite parts of reality TV. I don't mean that in a bad way by any means, I just mean that I liked having a front row seat to all of the drama even though the drama toward the end made me feel exhausted. I do think that this book could've been cut in half and it would've been even better. Still, I annotated and tabbed the hell out of this. There were a lot of quotable moments and moments worth reading and re-reading.

On to Magnolia and BJ themselves - I know they shouldn't be together, you know they shouldn't be together, Jessa Hastings probably knows they shouldn't be together, and yet...you want them to be together. There is no logical reason for me to want them to be happy. Firstly, they both have major growing up to do, and secondly, neither of them are very good people. A bad person doesn't mean a bad character, though. I still enjoyed reading their antics and sometimes BJ, even at his worst, was able to squeeze my heart in just the right way, damn him, stupid goblin boy.

I have some slight issues here and there that I can't get into without spoilers, but I overall loved this one and can't wait to read the rest of them.

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