Magnolia by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

I was curious when I was asked to review Magnolia by Caroline Garcia-Aguilera. The concept of the novel is about a twenty-two year old woman who leaves behind her family in her native Minneapolis to follow her boyfriend to Miami. The relationship doesn’t pan out, but Magnolia is too embarrassed to go home and hear “I told you so.” Fate puts her at a sports bar, where she meets Oona, a sports agent. The ladies begin chatting, and before Magnolia can figure out what is happening or why, Oona has offered Magnolia a position as an “edge” in her business. What does that mean? Magnolia is basically a high-priced call girl, ready and willing to make Oona’s athlete clientele happy at any moment. Magnolia finds herself living in a luxury apartment, driving a brand-new Mercedes, and making thousands of dollars per job. She glosses over the fact that what she is doing is illegal, and that she has to lie to family and friends – and new love interest Max – about what she is really doing in Miami.
I thought this book was interesting. I was hesitant at first to say yes to reviewing it because I was worried it was going to be a pretty explicit read, but it was not. It focuses more on Magnolia outside of her encounters with the athletes – thought there are still a few of those scenes written in. I did like Magnolia as a character; she admits freely to her flaws and openly struggles with the situation that she agreed to. It’s interesting to see how money can really factor into someone’s decision, though Magnolia did start out with good intentions. The first half of the book I was invested in, but then things started to get a bit wonky. I actually wondered if my book was formatted incorrectly because the timing didn’t make any sense. One minute Magnolia is gearing up to tell Oona she is quitting, the next there is three encounters in a row with no talk of quitting. Then suddenly she is in Japan on top of it, which really threw me. I also didn’t quite get the Max situation. Magnolia falls for him the night of Oona’s offer (where she is strictly told no boyfriends) but then he just seems to appear randomly throughout the book. I never quite got him or what he was there for. I also got frustrated at the end with Magnolia’s new business decision. She starts in Oona’s business to hopefully start a center for underprivileged kids, gives up on that because it’s too hard, wants to get out the business completely, but then starts her own business for call girls. I was just scratching my head with the second half of the book. I liked the concept, but unfortunately it just fell flat for me.
[Rating: 3]