The “Magnolia Parks” series, written by Jessa Hastings, is a diverse world filled with excitement, sadness and acceptance. With an overall rating of four and a half stars, Hastings created a series that charms readers into a deep connection with the characters. The story is set in high-society London and focuses on two couples’s love stories: Magnolia and BJ and Daisy and Christian. This adult romance is often compared to “Gossip Girl” with similar drama and wealth statuses.
The story starts with Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine, a couple rooted in deep love but deep trust issues. Parks is considered London’s “it” girl. She attracts everybody and anybody she wants, but she only desires one person. Ballentine is her perfect match and has been in love with her since he was 16; however, he cheated on Parks but won’t say with whom.
This mystery eats Parks alive but she still falls more in love with Ballentine everyday. Eventually, they end up happily ever after. The obstacles they achieve adds more to the storyline and creates vulnerability between the characters and readers.
After every “Magnolia Parks” book, a “Daisy Haites” book follows. Daisy Haites and Christian Hemmes have a more complicated relationship. Hastings writes a dual perspective between characters, but includes Haites’ brother, Julian, Britain’s most notorious gang lord. Hemmes and his brother, Jonah, are both gang lords, but not as powerful as the Haites.
The similarities in families brings both Daisy and Christian together and creates a spark between them. Although the Haites family has power and wealth, Daisy still craves normalcy. Throughout their story, Christian tries to give Daisy her desire of being “normal,” but just like Magnolia and BJ, these two struggle to find each other in the end.
The writing in these books is magical. Hastings emphasizes emotions in the text. She does this through the dual perspective, especially in “Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home.” Both characters, Parks and Ballentine, experience a sort of longing for each other. The cliffhanger after the first book leads to Parks leaving London for a year, settling down in New York City. They meet for the first time and the text seems like a normal interaction; however, Hastings suddenly puts in one of their emotions to set the scene of heaviness in lost times.
Parks says “He goes ‘hah’ again and the years whistle around our ankles like leaves in the wind and we’re lovers in autumn under a tree raining orange and regret, and in that moment we’re still each other’s and time wraps around us in the infinity we thought we had but we don’t anymore because he broke us.”
This series is a lengthy one. Each book is around 500-700 pages, including footnotes in each “Daisy Haites” book. Although the length can be intimidating, it has a purpose. Each character is complex and along with the theme of emotion, all characters involved have deep trauma. It is hard to describe what a certain character is feeling in only a few short sentences; however, there are times where the story feels dragged out. Readers should not be alarmed by this and should try to read these stories. The representation of sensitive topics such as addiction, grief, family secrets and more is fantastic. There are also trigger warnings to consider before reading, and these warnings should not be taken lightly.
Overall, this universe is a great new series to consider. In a podcast interview with Caro Chambers, Hastings described that this series is not finished. She states there will be two more additional books surrounding Haites and Hemmes. Parks and Ballentine’s love story is complete and Hastings has not started writing the next books but knows where she wants this story to end. With that said, there is enough time to start this series before it ends.
Natalie is a freshman studying journalism. Please note the views expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post.
