Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Random House Ballantine, June 2021

Women's Fiction/Saga, 384 pages

eGalley via publisher, thank you

From the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six . . . 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 rising 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 have read a few titles by Taylor Jenkins Reid previously so I knew I would enjoy Malibu Rising where us normal people get a salacious look inside the overly rich and famous/other people in this universe/ and I was not disappointed. Reid's newest book reminded me a bit of her Daisy Jones and The Six due to the number of characters and the going back and forth between their characters, but this time Malibu Rising focuses not only on the siblings but also dips into their parents' pasts so we can get a bigger picture of the proverbial Ferris Wheel of family matters that will either make or break you.

Her mother had screwed up almost as much as she'd succeeded.

Malibu Rising definitely has a message even from the title, and the first pages of the book eludes to Malibu burning and you can't help but think of the phoenix rising from the ashes. When we think of people living in their multi-million dollar mansions we automatically assume that life must be so easy for them yet this book quickly takes that impression away. The family of siblings Nina, Jay, Hud and Kit have definitely not had a spectacular life even though their dad was a rock star but yet the family knew how to stick together and truly look out for each other, with most of the work being done by Nina. The plot's current timeline is focused on the famous Nina Riva Party but we keep getting pulled back in time to learn how these characters actually made it this far. 

 June was gone. Yet here she was living on through her children.

It was a very intriguing story, although very depressing when you look at how parenting is portrayed here. Lots of sex, scandal, drugs and crazy things going on all culminating in a tearful ending that still leaves you wanting to see what happens after.  Taylor Jenkins Reid succeeded once again in providing an addictingly fabulous story with bonus eccentric characters that really fleshed out the entire saga. You will definitely want to add this to your summer reading list for 2021.

I turned off commenting long ago on the blog but I welcome comments at the Facebook page here.