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A review by imme_van_gorp
Daisy Haites by Jessa Hastings
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.0
Jeez, this girl seriously had about twenty different love interests so it was pretty much impossible to keep track of them all. Moreover, it was also very hard to take any of those feelings seriously considering she had them for so many different people.
I mean, she claims to be in love with Christian (and even hates Magnolia for being the girl he loves), but then she also goes on and on about how much she loves Romeo and how she always will?? Like, girl, PICK A SIDE! I honestly don’t understand why the author chose to include Romeo in this book at all; there was no need for it and it only made Daisy seem unfaithful, superficial and insanely hypocritical. It was a weird choice. And a bad one.
Honestly, I just feel bad for Christian at this point. He keeps falling in love with girls who have this toxic, insane love connection with boys from their childhood. This guy can’t ever catch a break and I want him to find someone who only loves him, and only him.
Of course it could be said that he wasn’t faithful to Daisy at the start either, and sure that’s true, but at least he didn’t claim to be in love with her at that point. First he was in love with Magnolia, then he started to slowly and unconsciously develop feelings for Daisy, until he eventually fell in love with Daisy completely and moved on from Magnolia. That’s a normal and valid trajectory.
Daisy, on the other hand, claims to fully and completely love Christian from the start but also feels the same about Romeo, and also has very intense feelings and attractions to a million other men. That’s not normal and not valid. She’s giving exactly the type of behavior Christian hates Magnolia for, but Daisy is actually much worse since she isn’t honest about her feelings to anyone and also doesn’t have a single valid reason for stringing all these people along. She uses people and doesn’t even acknowledge how evil some of her actions are.
I think the thing that annoyed me the most about her was her hypocrisy; she was so hurt and so angry about Christian’s unresolved feelings for Magnolia, but she’d been having so many more worse feelings for Romeo the whole time. This girl was exasperating! And Christian really deserved better. He really did. (And Romeo too, actually).
As might be quite clear by now, I genuinely couldn’t stand Daisy. But my dislike for her turned into full-on hatred towards the end when she broke up with Christian for the dumbest reason and just completely fell of the wagon. She became a giant mess who didn’t care who she hurt in the process of her own little mini-drama. She was selfish, mean, cruel, embarrassing, self-absorbed and insanely slutty; she turned into the absolute worst, and I was completely done with her by then. She didn’t have a single redeeming thing left about her. And it killed me to see Christian still pining away for her, willing to give her a million more chances, and even acting like he was the one who had to make things right. SHE was in the wrong. SHE should be begging. Ugh.
Honestly, I think there is only one couple I’m actually interested in right now: Henry and Taura. They’re both such decent people, and I love how they seem to have a little more of a slow-burn with actual development. I’d love to get a book about them. Probably won’t get it though.
Lastly, I want to talk a bit about Julian: I’m not sure why we got his POV considering he never really gets his own story and he only really exists to narrates about Daisy’s life and feelings, yet I still found him to be the most intriguing and meaningful character (perhaps that should tell you something about the lack of overall depth in this book, but I digress). I definitely think there could have been a lot more for this character if only the author cared enough to give him his own voice, relationships and feelings outside of Daisy. That said, his unconditional and deep-rooted love for Daisy was kind of exactly <i>why</i> I was intrigued by his character so much. A cold mobster who hates everyone but his baby sister? Yea, love that. And when these two had their falling-out it was the only time I actually felt sad while reading this book. Their relationship was so gentle and truly loving; it broke my heart a bit to see that shatter. And I’m very curious to find out how Julian will react to it after he’s had a minute to calm down. I imagine he’ll be absolutely devastated…
All in all though, this book gave me yet another awful romance where I do not want the couple to get together in the end because one of them deserves better (Christian in this case, Magnolia in the other), yet I still really enjoyed this book due to all the addictive drama and high-paced angst. I have such a weird relationships with these books where I kind of hate and love them at the same time.