Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 384 pages

ARC courtesy of Ballantine Books and Netgalley for an honest review

Book Blurb:

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever. 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 for him 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.

My Review: 3 stars

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Malibu Rising was the one of my most anticipated books for 2021. I loved Daisy Jones and the Six as well as most of Reid’s entire catalog of books, so you can imagine my disappointment when halfway through the book I was wondering when “something was going to happen”. Let’s be clear, I’m having a hard time writing this review and I’m just shocked that it’s a Taylor Jenkin’s Reid book. 

The first half the book was introduction heavy as we met Nina Riva, her siblings and her parent’s back story. I loved meeting Mick Riva, as he was also a character in Reid’s, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I greatly enjoyed. We got to know the characters through a lot of telling, which quickly became tiresome. 

The second half of the book moved a lot faster and was filled with many more characters that attended the infamous Riva summer party. Nina’s home was filled with models, starlets, photographers, surfers, agents and actors that behaved like spoiled children with drugs and drink aplenty. There was so much going on; breakups, makeups, coming out, siblings lost, and siblings found. I was just waiting for the fire to start, as we learn from the very beginning that there will be a fire, as the title signifies in Malibu Rising. 

This book releases in a few months and I can tell by other early reviews that I am in the minority on my review. So see for yourself. I’d love to know what you think!