Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 720 pages
Author: Jessa Hastings
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: February 13th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Book five in the sensational Magnolia Parks Universe series!

How many loves do you actually get in a lifetime? Everyone knows by now that Magnolia and BJ are in the stars, but is that enough?

Magnolia and BJ are reeling from a devastating loss as they try to plan what’s been dubbed “the wedding of the century”. As family tensions mount and their respective pasts begin catching up to them, they finally have to look the truth in the Can they learn to trust and be with one another again, or will they die trying?

WELL I FINISHED IT.

First and foremost, this book is entirely too long. 700 pages?? Absolutely not.

This about lost me in the first half. I just can’t get on board with Magnolia. And BJ occasionally too. They kind of drive up the wall, OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The personality clash is real, though I can admit to finding some enjoyment in watching it all play out. I felt like I was taken on a roller coaster because I would be cranky at one point, and then I would understand the grief sentiments, and then I would actually think these two are sweet, and a million other things too.

I don’t even know if I can recommend this series because it really is for a specific type of reader. And while I never fell IN LOVE with it like I wanted to, I’m not *mad* I read it.

And I do think the plot was kind of a wash at this point. It got super repetitive. I’d go into more detail but I think I’d accidentally cause some spoilers. If you took out some of the sub-plots I think much of this would have worked better.

Overall audience notes:

• Contemporary Romance
• Language: moderate – strong
• Romance: vague open door
• Violence: moderate
• Content warnings; miscarriage (recounted), infidelity (on page & recounted), eating disorder, grief/depression, loss of a sibling, child loss, sexual assault

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph