Magnolia by Kristi Cook

Published on: August 5th 2014
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary

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.

THOUGHTS

The wait was worth it! I’ve been dying to read Magnolia since I saw it and now, wow, it didn’t disappoint me. After months of only reading dark novels, this has been a breath of fresh air.

Magnolia was really light, fluffy and romantic! I could somehow relate to what Jemma and Ryder had gone through. Their parents already planned out what path they are supposed to take, what kind of school they are supposed to go, etc. It was really a fun journey seeing their characters grew up, break free from their parents dreams for them and just do whatever their hearts desired. Considering that this is a young adult romance, you hardly ever saw character development but this Kristi Cook did a fine job shaping up her characters.

I loved the banters between Jemma and Ryder. Even though their disdain on each other was palpable, the sexual tension, on other hand, was really frustrating and enjoyable at the same time. Lol

The other supporting characters were likable, especially Jemma’s best friends and of course, Mrs. Shelby (Jenna’s mom) and Mrs. Laura (Ryder’s mom) were also really cute although, some of the characters were not given much exposure.

I really liked this book it exceeded my expectations. It was really cute even though there some clichés that were thrown, I couldn’t care less. 😛