Review: Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

By Hermione Reid

‘How many loves do you get in a lifetime?’

– a question you will undoubtedly be asking yourself as you fall in love with this group of characters who are incredibly unlikable, yet impossible not to love.

2021 saw the release of Jessa Hastings’ debut novel Magnolia Parks. This contemporary romance took the internet’s book community by storm, rendering it a huge success and allowing for the expansion of the Magnolia Parks universe into a five-book series. There are currently over thirteen thousand videos under #magnoliaparks on TikTok, and just over fifteen thousand related posts on Instagram. The series has attracted a huge audience, and it is no mystery as to why. Readers have described Magnolia Parks as being ‘as if Gossip Girl and Made in Chelsea had a baby’ – I think this sums it up excellently. The book is based around a group of ‘rich kids’ living in London, whose lives revolve around friendship and relationship drama, spending their parents’ money, and lavish partying. Their lives couldn’t feel further from the reality of many students living through this cost of living crisis. Diving into this drama-filled world allows for an escape from real-world problems and invites us into the tumultuous relationship between Magnolia and BJ.

Magnolia and BJ are our main characters, whose ‘love story’ (if one could call it so), is what drives the plot. Their story is far from plain sailing – not exactly the kind of love story one would want for oneself. Nonetheless, their narrative is kept deeply entertaining through Hastings’ engaging and emotional writing. The pair have known each other since childhood and have become so deeply linked that they are almost one soul split between two bodies. Through good times and bad, they are always ultimately drawn back together. Their toxic relationship fluctuates between passionate, heart-busting romance, to deep, mutual hatred, as Magnolia dates other wealthy, popular men and BJ sleeps with every girl he can just to get back at Magnolia. Magnolia describes their love as;

‘kind of like those animals that’ll eat themselves to death if they’re left to their own devices. I’ll love him ‘til I die, love him ‘til it consumes me whole and kills me dead – so maybe love doesn’t conquer all, but just some’

They both know they cannot be together, but simultaneously can’t figure out how to live without each other.

This novel will have you picking up the pieces of your broken heart and gluing them back together time and time again, as you try to imagine a world in which Magnolia and BJ’s relationship can work. BJ’s twenty-two tattoos dedicated to Magnolia are a testament to how deeply intertwined their souls are, and how they cannot escape their magnetic pull. Their story is engraved on his skin, seemingly proving his love for her, and making it impossible not to root for these deeply flawed characters, toxic as they may be.

The talented writing of Jenna Hastings engrosses the reader in this imagined, lavish world inhabited by Magnolia and BJ. She switches between their perspectives to humanise them and help us understand why they are the way they are. It is impossible to justify the things they put each other through throughout the novel and they will have you viscerally reacting to the stupidity of their actions. I found this book difficult to put down, and immediately ordered the second novel, Daisy Haites. The series alternates between the perspectives of the two female characters. Daisy is an enemy of the perfect Magnolia Parks, who deals with her own relationship issues whilst navigating life as the sister of London’s most notorious gang lord (surprisingly not as cringe as it sounds and perhaps better than the first in the series!)

Even so, it is highly unlikely that Magnolia Parks will become known as a classic piece of literature. It is a contemporary romance full of drama and ‘rich kid’ gossip. However, this should not mean it is to be disregarded as an unimportant piece of literature. This series is entertaining, frivolous, and I hope it will brighten your dark January days, as it has mine!

4/5 Stars

Edited by Abbie Vauls