Book Review: Malibu Rising

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a book I included in my post about books on my tbr that have been on my shelf for way too long and I was hoping to get to soon. I’ve had Malibu Rising for almost 3 years now! I finally read it and loved it so much more than I thought I would.

I had a good feeling I would like the book, but didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I absolutely loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and One True Loves, but did not really like Daisy Jones & the Six that much so I wasn’t sure what my feelings would be towards this one. This novel connects to Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones through the character, Mick Riva. Mick was one of Evelyn’s husbands and he made a cameo or was mentioned (I don’t remember) in Daisy Jones since he is a singer. Malibu Rising focuses on the four children of Mick Riva.

The novel starts off on the morning of the infamous summer party thrown by Nina Riva – famous model and surfer, and eldest daughter to the famous singer, Mick Riva. And we learn at the beginning of the book that by the early hours of the next morning, the house and parts of Malibu will be engulfed in flames as Malibu is occasionally prone to wildfires. The novel tells of the events during those hours from the points of view of Nina and her siblings, Jay ( a famous surfer), Hud (famous surf photographer), and Kit (college student and also a surfer). And the novel flashes back in time to how Mick and June, the kids’ mother, met and the kids’ childhood.

When Mick and June met, he was a young man from New York who made it out to California and was hoping to make it big as a singer. June worked at her parents’ local seafood restaurant in Malibu and had big dreams. The two get together, fall in love, and start a family as Mick’s career takes off. What follows is years of Mick becoming more and more famous and coming in and out of his family’s life, destroying June every time he made her believe he was going to be serious about her and his family from now on and then leaving abruptly again to be with some new girl he met. Mick and June’s relationship and Mick’s actions shape his children’s lives and effect them throughout their childhood and into adulthood. This all leads to this day of the Riva party and everything coming to a head. Secrets are revealed and true feelings are shared before it all burns down and leads the Riva kids to fresh starts.

I really loved this book and loved all the Riva kids. The book made me emotional and I teared up multiple times, which shouldn’t have surprised me because TJR books apparently always make me cry. I really felt for June and also Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit during so many parts of the book. Even for Mick a tiny bit at certain parts, but a lot of times he was too much of a narcissist for me to really feel bad for, but I guess part of the beauty of this book is that people are not all good or all bad. I really loved the close relationship and love the Riva kids had for each other and it makes me wish I had a lot of siblings. They may have had a lot of difficult times growing up, but the four of them always had each other and took care of each other. Their relationship was probably my favorite part of the book.

If you’ve been putting off Malibu Rising like I was for three years for no real reason, I highly recommend it!

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