MagnoliaAuthor: Kristi Cook
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 336 pages
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
From Goodreads:
In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are southern royalty. Neighbors since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when a baby boy and girl were born to the families at the same time, the perfect opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.
Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen, for goodness’ sake, not to mention that one little problem: They hate each other! Jemma can’t stand Ryder’s nauseating golden-boy persona, and Ryder would like nothing better than to pretend stubborn Jemma doesn’t exist.
But when a violent storm ravages Magnolia Branch, it unearths Jemma’s and Ryder’s true feelings for each other as the two discover that the line between love and hate may be thin enough to risk crossing over.
Review:
I really wanted to love this book, but I just liked it. I loved the premise, a reverse Romeo and Juliet, where the moms are best friends and are pushing Jemma and Ryder together, but the execution was just ok. It was the perfect setup to have a lot of banter and heat, but there wasn't as much as I wanted and I just wasn't feeling it.
And I couldn't get past not understanding why Jemma's feelings for Ryder start changing. They go on vacations together, have the same group of friends, and all of a sudden she starts noticing how hot he is. What? That wasn't explained to my satisfaction. It would have made more sense for that to happen during the storm with them being forced together, but she starts feeling jealous and paying attention to him before all of that happens. But it was cute and I enjoyed the message about being independent, doing the unexpected, following your dreams, etc. And I loved the southern setting, I could completely picture it.
Posted by: Pam
I bought this about a month ago. I haven't read it yet but I hope I really like it. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteHmm so I recently traded for this book and hope to read it soonish. My expectations have lowered somewhat since you didn't love love it like so many others seem to have but that will likely help me out!
ReplyDeleteI went into this with really no expectations except wanting to like it and I ended up really liking it. Plus I think she liked him all along and was just in denial or still punishing him for what he did in the past. I'm glad you still liked it. :)
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