Magnolia

by Kristi Cook

[Leah]

One of the things I love most about the e-copy site Edelweiss, is the fact that a few of the publishers offer direct downloads to their books - it's delightful! I've gotten quite a few fantastic Young Adult novels from the lovely publishers that way, and expanded my reading horizons, and one novel that caught my eye a little while ago was Magnolia by Kristi Cook. I absolutely bloody love books where rivals end up together, because it would seem there very much is a fine line between love and hate, and they're usually one and the same, let's be honest. I was super excited to dive into Magnolia, and lemme tell you, it didn't disappoint, it's the kind of book where you finish it and you just sigh in complete and utter happiness!

Magnolia is one of those books that just hits ALL THE RIGHT SPOTS. Chemistry up the wazoo; a charming, romantic story; a freaking hurricane that makes way for the most awesome scenes I've ever read in a book... It's the kind of book that gives me butterflies in my stomach, and warms my cockles (if I have cockles - what are cockles?). I rather loved the fact that Ryder and Jemma's families are like as tight as any non-family-related people can be, that it goes back decades, to a time when one of their family members saved a member of the other family. TIGHT. So I could kinda understand Jemma and Ryder's reluctance to give in to the fact that they were the right age to marry each other (like, not immediately, but you may as well pick out the china as far as Jemma and Ryder's mama's are concerned, ya know? That kinda pressure can rather push you in the other direction (and you'd think their mama's would be well aware of that!) I think it's a bit of a Romeo-and-Juliet-type affair, especially as the text is interspersed with quotes from the great William Shakespeare but someone who has actually read the fella will have to confirm.

Magnolia really gets into its stride once the storm hits. There's playful looks before then, and a thin veneer of hatred (which may or may not be actual hatred because that is such a tough word) but the storm took down all of Jemma's defences, as a big hurricane whipped through Magnolia Branch, and with her parents at a hospital in Texas with her sister, Nan, it's just Jemma and Ryder in Jemma's house to wait out the storm. That was where the novel really hit it for me, because we got to see both Jemma and Ryder at their most vulnerable, and honest. AND OH HOLY MAKE OUT SCENE!!!!!! The make out scene was totally cliche, and the novel very much fills a lot of the cliches on the market, but it's flipping cute, alright? Sometimes you just want a bit of anger, followed by some hot kissing. What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants and my heart REALLY WANTED Jemma and Ryder to make out because the tension, at times, was unbearable. Delicious, but unbearable, and I liked that Cook didn't keep it until it had gone past boiling.

I absolutely adored the Southern setting in Magnolia. It's such a quaint setting, so old-fashioned, almost as if you've stepped back in time 50 years, and I know that probably sounds so daydream-y of me, but I just darn love the idea that you can go into your backyard and shoot a gun (named Delilah, btw) and kayak up the river. It's so bloody charming. I absolutely adored Magnolia; it's sweet, charming, warm, just simply delightful. I adored the setting, I adored the characters (oh, Ryder, be still my beating heart), I loved the Star Trek-inspired cats, and I LOVED the romance. I can always tell how much I love a novel by how invested I am in the romance, and I can tell that via the butterfly in my stomach effect, and they were out in full force when I was reading Magnolia. Kristi Cook is an awesome writer, if Magnolia is anything to go by, and I'll be looking out for her future books - and her backlist, because I just adored Magnolia, it was amazing, pure and simple.

This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read