I am on the fence with Red Magnolia.

Pros:
Short first novel
Liked the history/curse

Cons:
Not enough character development
Some parts felt rushed, given it's part of a series
The age gap between Antoine and Harper.

I mean, it was terrible however, it wasn't great! For me, it passed the time.

For me, it didn't keep me, wanting more!

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"If I close my eyes, I can see him, leaning up against his old teal Chevy, his eyes like storm-tossed sea.
Always”.

THIS BOOK. OMG IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! It has some flaws but it is amazing. Before I talk about it, let me set the tropes:

🖤Vampire romance
🖤Supernatural
🖤Force proximity
🖤Fake marriage

So I was clueless about this book, didn't know what to expect, beside that it had to be of my October's read. And it did not disappoint at all. The story follows seventeen year old Harper and her stepbrother Connor, they both move to an Old Mississippi town after the dead of their mother and twin sister. The buy a Mansion that apparently holds a dark history and curse. This house is their new beginning and a chance to live their dream, but everything changes when Harper meets the mysterious, dark and dreamy Antonie Marigny, who apparently has a dark past with the house. And for Harper darkness never seemed so seductive.

This book was a really good mixed of The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, all in one book with a cool main protagonist, a guy so hot and good. He actually is a mixture between Damon and Stephan form The Vampire Diaries, but better, cause he is better, he is nice, he gives beautiful compliments and he cares for Harper, he is the best. Thanks Lucy, I know have another fictional character I want to marry and the feeling that I'll never find someone like that.

It is a small book, I finished it in 4 hours m/l, and the as the story goes, it is really fast, everything happens so quickly but it had a decent rhythm, it wasn't force, but the proximity with our characters, that develop fast but in a good way, and the ending compensate it in a way. I don't know how to explain it, maybe because I liked it a lot I can't mark the errors in the story, it has a few, but in all honesty I don't care cause it's the first vampire series I've read in a while and that I actually enjoy so, I don't care, I love it so much, and I've have a glimpse at the second one and I can't wait to read it, the story looks so good I want it to end already, there are going to be 8 books and there's only one published, I won't survive, I don't have the patience!!! Please, Lucy Holden, GIVE ME THE BOOKS!!!!

I really recommend it as a short supernatural romance read this October.

Enjoy your reading. 📚✨

Wow! The only thing bad about this book is I can't wait for the next one to see what happens next! Read this book based off the recommendation of the friend who got me reading southern vampire novels and this one did not disappoint. I loved that this one felt different, with the native American and African magic mixed in with the vampire folklore. Read the preview to the next book and Love where this is going. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

The first of seven books starts off an interesting tale of Harper and her step brother, Connor. Harper has lost her mother and twin sister. The story is interesting and keeps your attention. A little predictable but good. I will read the next one when it releases. Thanks #netgalley and #BooksGoSocial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Harper moves out with her brother after their mum's and sister's death to start a new life away from their grief to a new house with an interesting legend and history and seems like bad luck and death keeps following them they end up in a cursed house that should have never been sold to start with, that's when their "new life" turns upside down and they can never escape it.
I read this in one day and I have to say that I'm in love, do I have to say more? i totally love this book and enjoyed reading it
vampires check
romance check
arranged marriage as trope check
a cursed house check
What can I ask for? I can't even stop saying how much I loved this book it reminded me of twilight and vampire diaries but with different tropes and I have to say that the idea of the cursed house is really good, and I liked that there are native Americans in this story I've never read a book with native Americans characters so that's a plus
And do I have to mention that I’m so in love with Antoine?
I can't wait till I read the next book I hope I get the chance to review it as well

Red Magnolia took a while for me to get into, and from the get-go it feels quite derivative of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. There are also a lot of pervasive YA tropes, like dead parents (not that this is necessarily a bad thing). Would I recommend this novel to students? Ultimately, no. The story doesn't feel particularly fresh--though I think students who love Twilight and The Vampire Diaries would also love this book. The story is interesting enough and has a nice theme of found families going on. However, there are some problematic aspects to the story that I feel would be irresponsible to overlook.

For example, Keziah is described as having "wide, almond-shaped eyes above angled cheekbones and set under a high, intelligent brow. Sculpted lips, slightly parted, as if a secret smile lurks just behind them...It's only as I sketch in the elegant nose that I realize the face is neither Caucasian nor Black, nor even Native American, but rather something quite different, angular and wild and impossibly beautiful." We really need to stop fetishizing and exoticizing women of color. Keziah is basically presented as the ultimate Other. Furthermore, "Caucasian" is a dated term that really shouldn't be used anymore, and we need to move past describing characters--especially people of color--with comparisons to food, like "almond-shaped eyes."

Finally--and most importantly--Antoine, the love interest, is twenty-three years old (though technically older than that) while Harper is sixteen years old. I realize that Red Magnolia is a work of fiction, but I think we need to move past romanticizing and normalizing relationships between adults and minors. It doesn't matter how mature Harper might be; she is still underage.

Thank to bookouture and netgalley for giving me a eARC in exchange for a honest review.

OMG I need the next book ASAP. this book make me feel so many things. And it might not have been smart to start reading it at 11 PM because I’m probably not gonna sleep the rest of the night. I love the twilight vampire diaries vibe this book gives off. I seriously could not have read it quicker. The writing was so easy to read I am dyslexic and I barely had any problems with it. what is saying a lot because I can barely read. The only thing in my opinion you could see as a flaw is the repeated use of the word magnolia but because it is also in the title I kind of love that.

cannot wait to find out where the rest of the series going to go.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Hmm. This was hard for me to rate because there wasn't much I liked about it, but there wasn't much I disliked? It sort of just felt like a mash-up of the usual tropes you find in supernatural romance. It was easy enough to read, and I did like Connor's character, but I think otherwise I found it fairly bland.

Harper is the typical protagonist with a tragic past, and her relationship with Antoine just didn't really elicit anything in me. And of course there's her token POC friends, Cass and Avery. Overall it was fine, it just felt like a mash-up of Twilight and other books in that genre that didn't contribute anything special to the genre.

Red Magnolia is Beautiful Creatures meets True Blood. From the very first page I was hooked. A mysterious pr-civil war mansion with a dark history. Dead family and a marriage of convenience.

My only complaint is that it was really short. The story and characters could have been fleshed out a bit more.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

5 stars

This story was so good! Loved the writing, love the characters, loved it all! I love a good vampire/voodoo story that centers around Louisiana/Miss. Hopefully the rest of the novellas (lets not kid ourselves, 170 pages is too short to be called a book) are just as good as this one.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my free copy in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this book so much and I found myself absolutely devouring it. I definitely got some Twilight and Vampire Diaries vibes which I enjoyed. Harper has experienced so much loss and my heart absolutely broke for her. I enjoyed watching Harper and Antoine interact because their chemistry was intense. There were many twists that kept things interesting and oh boy that ending absolutely broke my heart. I can’t wait to find out what happens in the next book

Red Magnolia is a great book where Lucy Holden invites you to the mysterious world with Southern Gothic legends and vampires. The main protagonist - Harper Ellory, has just lost her twin sister. Earlier, her mum lost a fight with cancer. Heartbroken and devastated, Harper, with Conor, her half-brother, moves to the Deepwater Hollow to begin a new chapter in their lives. Nothing will be so simple, lots of adversity, unexpected obstacles, which only prove how determined they are to follow new dreams and desires. Their new house is Marginy's cursed mansion with a very dark history. To make the situation more complicated, Harper meets the person who wants to buy back the house - Antoine Marigny. He has something special that attracts or even attaches her to him. Vampires, Natchey Indigenous, dark magic - you don't need anything.
It is hard not to think about other vampire series - like Twilight or The Vampire Diaries, not to compare these stories. I love Harper. She is definitely a strong young person who understand her desires and can accept them unimaginable. The Red Magnolia is a well-written story, easy to read and imagine, with exciting characters and a captivating plot. I enjoyed the book from the first page to the last. I cannot wait for the next book, as it is the first novel in a Nightgarden Saga - seven books in series.
The story itself is sensitive and emotional, which gives a refreshing feeling and makes it very absorbing. Inviting cover and unforgettable, well developed compelling read will stay with you for longer.
Highly recommend it for fans of YA romance with a paranormal background, but not only - if you give it a try, but you will also be impatiently waiting for the next releases!

Thank you, NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, for an ARC of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

Red Magnolia is a compelling read, which I sped through in one day because I was so hooked on it. Although it is not entirely unpredictable, it is well written and I found I was invested in the characters very quickly. I couldn’t read the book fast enough to discover what would happen to them. In my head, the mysterious Antoine Marigny was a dead ringer for Teen Wolf’s Derek Hale, which was a definite bonus for me!

I am a sucker for a good vampire book (if you’ll excuse the pun), and I absolutely loved this book. The setting is rich with history and the secrets surrounding the old Marigny house add a real gothic feel to the story.

Red Magnolia is definitely one for fans of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. It has everything you could possibly wish for in a YA vampire book, and I am very much looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Harper and her brother Connor bought the old Marigny estate in Deepwater, Mississippi to restore and start over after the loss of their mother and Harper’s twin sister Tessa. Starting fresh in a new town, new home should have been the best thing for them but there’s a curse upon the house and a mysterious man is determined to get them to sell the house back to the family name, or the curse could break and evil break out.

This is really well written, awesome characters, Southern Gothic vibe complete with plantation history and the horrors that happened in that time. The only downside I will say is that this entire series is apparently about vampires and there’s 7 books total (all 7 will be out by March of next year) and if vampires are your thing then this is definitely a series for you! It’s just not my particular thing. However like I said, the writing is good, characters are fleshed out and I enjoyed it overall!

Thank you to Netgalley and the author, Lucy Holden, for providing a copy of Red Magnolia (Nightgarden Saga book 1). I have reviewed honestly.

Red Magnolia features, but is not limited to, the following themes:
○ YA fantasy
○ Paranormal romance
○ Vampires
○ Curses
○ High school
○ Enemies to lovers
○ Gothic

My overall rating for Red Magnolia is…

4 Stars!

Red Magnolia is the vampire book I've been searching for every since Twilight and The Vampire Diaries came to an end. This book was well written and fast paced, the author keeping you on your toes as secrets are unravelled. Harper is the perfect MC; she's smart and strong and she's experienced loss and has grown from it. Antoine is sin on a page. He's like Damon and Stephan Salvatore combined as one person. We didn't see as much of his character as I would have liked, but I expect he'll feature more as the series continues. Overall, an intriguing and powerful series starter that will leave you craving to sink your teeth into book 2.

Red Magnolia by Lucy Holden was an easy read that, unfortunately, adds nothing new to the YA vampire genre. There were so many scenes "borrowed" from Twilight and The Vampire Diaries that I couldn't stop rolling my eyes. I can't in good faith recommend this when the above novels are so much better even with their flaws. I really wanted to enjoy this book as fall descends and creepy books seem perfect to cozy up to. The Southern Gothic vibe grabbed my attention, since I'm a big fan of Anne Rice's books, the queen of vampire novels. More research by the author could've painted the atmosphere with a truly creepy vibe. All the creepy parts of the story is told, rather than shown. The timeline doesn't even match for when red magnolias actually bloom in the south, another eye rolling bad move with the author's poorly written fan fiction to the above novels.

I have been captivated since the start of the book if Im honest. It's the first book of the author I read but no doubts I will continue reading her histories <3 This book is totally recommend for people who love The vampire diaries, the mistery and of course the romance.
A dark history with a good description of the places and vampires, what better mix??, it's reads fast and have plots I didn't see coming🤯🤯 About the characters: Harper i love you so much, your attitude, your devotion for people you love causes my heart feel warm. Antoine wow just wow I want read about more of him (special mention to Connor 😍)
I don't say more because this is a review spoiler free, just read this book!! <3 you will not regret

4.5 stars

PD: I need read the second book! 🤩🤩🤩

From the synopsis I did hope this would be a book I would love but unfortunately it was not executed in a way that allowed me to become completely immersed in the story. I felt pretty disappointed as I had high hopes.

Red Magnolia has been marketed as a paranormal romance with a Southern Gothic flavour and this immediately caught my attention. I particularly love Southern Gothic novels. Reading this did feel very much like I was in the Deep South and I enjoyed the descriptions of the Southern landscapes. This was my favourite aspect of the novel. I wasn't sold by the narrative though. Parts of the story felt a bit far fetched to me and this wasn't necessarily because of what was happening (eg; the quick marriage and the paranormal aspect). It felt more so like the ground work hadn't been laid properly. It didn't feel like the author did enough work to make me truly believe in the story.
In terms of the romance, I felt like we got to it quickly and then it fizzled out just as quickly. It really didn't hook my interest.

This was overall a quick and entertaining read and I enjoyed it for the Southern gothic aspects. I do not think I will read the next instalment though.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted on my Goodreads profile:

If I'm being completely honest, this book surprised me.

I saw the book on Net Galley, liked the cover and after reading the synopsis I knew I wanted to start reading it.

If you miss reading paranormal romances, I highly recommend this book.

I have read many ya/na vampire books before but this book had so many other elements that made it so good! I read this in one day and couldn’t put it down! I can’t wait for the next installment