Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Magnolia Parks

I honestly couldn’t tell you how I feel. It was entertaining. But I’m supposed to root for BJ after all that? How is he going to redeem himself EVER. I don’t know what makes the toxic relationships in this book even worse to me than like every other one. Maybe because to me those ones are less realistic than this one to me. Like granted this isn’t top tier realistic but it’s not a stalker romance or a mafia boss romance that just seems way over my head to believe for even a second it could happen in real life but with this book I can see it happening in real life. It’s so messy. It’s like the Kardashians mixed with the bachelorette mixed with tons of cheating and drugs. I mean like I enjoyed my time but at the same time I wouldn’t count this as a romance. It has romance aspects I guess but I see no romantic stuff anywhere. I just see messy drama. 😭🙏

I do kind of felt like it got a bit repetitive. He cheats, she gets mad, goes to whoever, Christian, Julian, Tom. Whatever. Goes back to him. Repeat. At least 3 times in this book if we are including the time where he cheated when they were first together.

I just feel like would’ve enjoyed this more if it was marketed to me as a drama tv show and not a romance novel because I went into it with the wrong expectations as well as also knowing it’d be toxic. But I was expecting like Twisted series level toxic, not cheating left, right, center, everyone loves magnolia, repetitive breaking it off, getting back together, yelling at each other and sobbing, then kissing the next few chapters later. Like if I went into it expecting that I think I would’ve ate it up. But when I was expecting more romance than what this is, it disappoints a bit. But I think I’ll continue the series just keeping it in mind that it’s basically a drama tv show and pick it up when I’m in the mood for exactly that.

Content Warnings

yasha98's review against another edition

Go to review page

I can’t believe this was so praised on the internet. The writing is sloppy, the characters are trash, there is no true plot it’s just drama over and over again. BJ is an absolute shit of a person and I can’t believe Magnolia keeps giving him more chances. This is not love, no one should strive for this sort of toxicity!!

Content Warnings

kalefactory's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

heyheyhailey1's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I think I expected this to be more “modern romance” but it was more trashy-reality-tv-vibes. I like anyone love a good reality show, so that’s not an insult just wasn’t my cup of tea. The toxic back and forth got repetitive toward the end to the point of dulling some of the intensity of the awful things happening. I did like some of the characters and there were some really beautiful bits in Magnolia’s perspective where she is contemplating the realities of love. I don’t think I will read more of the series.

Content Warnings

helsbels_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

This was a painful read. The MMC is toxic and emotionally abusive and the FMC is a depiction of a woman who has been so degraded by her partner that she has no self respect left. Both main characters are deeply unlikeable and all of the side characters aside from the FMC’s sister and the secondary love interest are essentially the same character with different names. The fact that this is advertised as a love story is insane to me, as are the comparisons to gossip girl- this book had more in common with American Psycho with its ridiculous descriptions of the characters outfits and it’s over confident narcissistic characters.

Content Warnings

dmackreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Idk what this book is made of but it must be crack because I genuinely devoured this. Hooked immediately, like within 20 pages and did not want to put it down. This might actually follow most toxic relationship I’ve ever read about. I don’t even know what to say without giving everything away, just read the synopsis I guess 😂 the writing was immaculate, the vocabulary used left me with so many quotes that made me really stop and think. This is probably my most tabbed book to date.

I’ve seen far too many negative reviews because “this is just a toxic shitty relationship and it’s disgusting” I mean, yeah? Stop reading books that aren’t your cup of tea. The synopsis LITERALLY tells you exactly what they are about and this one in particular laid it out pretty black and white that that’s exactly what this book is, toxic. Also I feel like it can really hit home to a lot of people but if you’ve never experienced a toxic relationship or even an abusive one or one with a trauma bond or even bad co dependency issues yourself then maybe you just wouldn’t get it and it obviously wouldn’t be for you. Be thankful for that and read something that works for you. If you’re looking for something that will make you feel some emotions, this will do it for sure.

Oh, and fuck you BJ Ballentine :)

Content Warnings

adphillips0108's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

rheagoveas's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

More...