Review: Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Once again with Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid delivers an incredible story of an intense family drama. Read my full review below!

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Published by Hutchinson on May 27, 2021
Genres: adult, contemporary
Format: ARC
Source: Penguin Random House UK
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From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six.A lifetime holding it together. One party will bring it crashing down.
Malibu: August, 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over-especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.
The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud-because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he's been inseparable since birth.
Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can't stop thinking about promised she'll be there.
And Kit has a couple secrets of her own-including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family's generations will all come bubbling to the surface.
Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.

I received this book for free from Penguin Random House UK in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

abandonment, estranged father, adoption, death of a parent, drowning, recreational drug use, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, infidelity, stroke, fire, sexual harrasment, dieting, abortion and miscarriage, violence.

There are no spoilers in this review.

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I ENJOYED…

☂️

• Everytime I read a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, I can’t believe how incredible it is. Honestly, I can’t.
• Malibu Rising is a family drama about the Riva, a family living in Malibu, from the 1950s’ to the 1980s’. From the parents’ bubbling romance to the children in their twenties, struggling with the aftermath of everything, we really get to follow this family’s messy, complex, heartbreaking history. As always, with Taylor Jenkins Reid, this story ended up being so compelling I couldn’t stop reading it.
• The author has a way of writing the characters in each story that makes me feel so eager to read on, that make the characters themselves feel too real, you can feel for them. In Malibu Rising, nothing’s black and white and every single character is so, so deeply human. Even when you know they’re headed for the train wreck, you can’t help but watch because it’s just so… real.
• Told from multiple POV, the story can be a little hard to follow, at first, but quickly and thanks to the author’s talent, too, I found myself immersed into the story and its characters. My favorite character in this story was, by far, Nina. I recognized myself in her so much sometimes and her growth was beautiful, really. Yet, the rest of the Riva family is equally as compelling: June, the mother, trying to cope with her husband’s infidelities and raising her children, Kat, the youngest kid wanting to be taken seriously, Jay and Hud, the inseparable fake twins with someone suddenly coming in between them… I really ended up enjoying them all so much.

• The highlight of Malibu Rising clearly is the family relationship and especially the siblings’ relationship. I loved how close they were, how supportive they were of each other while facing every hardship. Of course, there were tougher moments between them in the story, too, but… they’re a unit, this unit you can’t shake no matter what and I loved that. The story doesn’t stop there, though, making you question the past and present and whether or not you’re doomed to repeat your family’s past mistakes, for instance.

I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…

☂️

• Unlike every other book I’ve read by the author, I felt like it took me a little bit more time to get into the story, especially given the fact that there are lots of point of views. Once I was in, I was ALL in, but yeah, it took me a little bit of time.

OVERALL

☂️

Malibu Rising is, for me, still a hit. If it took me longer to fell for it than with the other books by the author, I still ended up loving these characters, this messy family, this world. 200% recommending it to fans of a good family drama.

FINAL RATING : 4,5 stars!

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Did you read Malibu Rising or do you want to? Do you have any recommendations of great stories featuring siblings? Let me know in comments!

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