Review posted here. 
 I am so glad that I get to be part of this tour. I loved reading Magnolia! Not only is Magnolia well-written technically, but it also has great heart in addition to being an homage to one of the greatest writers of all time, William Shakespeare. But I'll get to that in a minute. 
 I think the first best thing about Magnolia are the characters, particularly Jemma and Ryder, who are most definitely not in love with one another. I mean, Ryder seems like a nice guy so at first Jemma's outright hostility confused me. What was awesome is that Kristi addressed this situatino very early, and as a girl, I can totally relate to Jemma for her dislike of Ryder. At the same time, I'm like, okay, Jemma, yes, Ryder did something stupid, but you're taking it out of context! So there is a bit of a misunderstanding that blew their dislike of one another out to another level, and that means there's some fantastic tension between the two. I also felt like the two of them were individually well-rounded. Not only do they have obvious interests, but they've both got secondary interests as well so Ryder is stargazing football player while Jemma is the fashionable filmmaker who's also an incredible shot. By showcasing many different sides to her characters, Kristi proves they've got real depth. 
 I also really liked the complexity of the plot. Sure, there's the requisite romantic drama between Jemma and Ryder, but there's also the physical threat of the weather, romantic entanglement (which is courtesy of Shakespeare, but again, I'll get to that), and the familial sideplot concerning Jemma's sister Nan. Oh, what a tangled web we weave (okay, that's Walter Scott, not William Shakespeare, but whatevs)! I thought each of the plots was wholly necessary to the overall plot of Magnolia, and each afforded readers the opportunity to witness all the characters in different situations. I thought it was cool that the combined Nan and hurricane storylines in particular gave Jemma and Ryder the opportunity to be apart from all other characters but together. You're bound to work through some issues when you are secluded from the world with only one other person, two dogs, and three cats! As the excerpt below shows, the moments when Ryder and Jemma are alone together are ripe with tension in the best way (totally my favorite chapters in the whole book!), but I also like that those chapters don't make up the entire novel. It's good to see them interacting with their friends and their family at other functions such as the gala and school and homecoming and football games and the like. The result is that we see the characters face good times and bad-like, really bad-together and apart. 
 Normally in a contemporary, the setting isn't a huge player other than to say this is a beach story or this is New York, I thought Kristi portrayed the small southern town well. The setting felt so realistic and sensory in description that it actually seemed like one of the characters. As a Tennessee girl, I could really relate to this setting. Imagining it took no trouble at all, and I felt very nostalgic about my own upbringing. Jemma and Ryder feel a bit trapped by their families' combined history, and in that way, the setting itself also felt like an antagonist, adding to the conflict. At the same time, during the storm, the way their homes are under attack really emphasized their positive feelings toward their town and the plantation. 
 Finally, the English lit major in me had a major squeal fest when I realized that Magnolia is to Romeo & Juliet what She's the Man is to Twelfth Night (coming from someone whose favorite movie is She's the Man, this is a high compliment!). It's not an exact retelling, but it's high points of the story plus a few twists. RM + JC? Tip of the iceberg. There's a former(ish) love(ish) named Rosie for Ryder, Jemma's sister Nan who takes the place of the nurse, cousins Ben (Benvolio) and Tyler (Tybalt), plus a friend named Mason (Mercutio) and the other love interest Patrick (Paris). I squeed inside with the fire of one thousand Shakespeare fangirls every time I recognized another element representative of the play. I think it's really cool that Kristi incorporated so many of these elements to play homage to Romeo & Juliet, but I also love that she wasn't a slave to the story (because Ryder and Jemma killing themselves in the name of love would be such a downer). Kristi gave herself the freedom to do her own thing, which makes Magnolia a complete success in my book because she does just enough to say, "I see what you did there, Will, and a tip of the hat to you," but then she also used the characters however she wanted. 
 Basically, Magnolia is a wonderful book in all aspects. I loved all the emotion reading Magnolia inspired, and I also just had a lot of fun reading it. At this point, it's entirely possible that Magnolia will make my best of 2014 list at the end of the year, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on what Kristi writes in the future. Magnolia will be released on Tuesday, and it comes with my highest recommendation!