“My first…everything, really. Love, time, heartbreak. […] But why am I explaining him to you? You already know who he is.”

This opening passage establishes that BJ means everything to Magnolia, the source of her greatest joy as well as her ongoing pain. Her effusive description sets the tone and establishes the dominant theme of the novel, and Jessa Hastings occasionally has her characters address readers directly in order to create the impression that Magnolia is telling the story and confiding all of her secrets to her unseen audience.

“The physical distance between us is meagre, but somehow still a forest grows between. Pine trees of mistakes so tall we can’t see over them and rivers of things we didn’t say so wide we can’t get around.”

Instances of figurative language are sparing in the novel, but this image establishes the many obstacles that lie between Magnolia and BJ. The passage also offers an example of the clipped prose and direct language that mark Hastings’s style; she also frequently uses short and fragmented sentences to heighten tension and represent the unruly emotions that dominate the plot.

“I want to kiss him forever, but I can’t because he broke forever and still I fight the urge to kiss him anyway.”

This anguished statement establishes Magnolia’s ambiguous feelings about BJ, establishing the novel’s primary conflict. She is still hurt by BJ’s infidelity, but rather than moving forward with her life, she finds herself mired in her longing for his presence. Unable to move past her love and attraction to him, she makes a series of erratic decisions that are fueled by this maelstrom of unresolved emotion and conflict.