Malibu Rising

Finally got my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book, Malibu Rising!

Goodreads Stats

Why I Read This Book/How I Heard About It

If you have been following Reese Witherspoon's Book Club, you know TJR is the shiznit right now! They are making alllll her stuff into shows and movies! So I was pretty excited about this one.

Also, my sister is obsessed with reading all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books. She said, "I like [Taylor Jenkins Reid] so much because all her books are in the same fictional world and set in the same era and it's so fun. Characters from her books pop up in cameos in her other books, which is cool."

Basic Summary

This is a beach read (literally) about four famous siblings who grew up together with a single mom and an absentee famous singer (Sinatra-esque) father, Mick Riva. The oldest, Nina, is a swimsuit model and surfer who lives on the beach in Malibu. Nina's younger brothers, Jay and Hud are a champion surfer and sports photographer, respectively. And their high school sister, Kit, is also a skilled surfer looking to come into her own.

Little known fact: I am obsessed with surfing movies. I don't surf and I never had any desire to learn. I don't know why I love movies about surfing so much. I don't watch actual surfing. I just love the movies.

Back to the story...the family also owns a famous seafood restaurant on the Malibu coast that's been passed down through the generations. At the end of the summer every year, the place to be in Malibu is the Riva Party. It's an epic tradition for all their famous friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Everyone wants an invite to the Riva Party. This year, Nina isn't looking forward to the party because she's humiliated that her famous tennis player husband has been having an affair with a famous female player, Carrie Soto.

The story alternates between the hours leading up to the party and a deep dive into the backstory of every character, including the Riva parents and grandparents.

From the back cover: "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."

First Impressions

My sister, Rachel, loves historical fiction, which I was kind of iffy on, but spoiler: after reading a few of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books, I agree with her. The time period referenced is often the 80s (when I grew up), so there is quite a bit of fun childhood nostalgia packed into her books. And she develops her characters very well. As with any beach read, it's a bit cheesy. But that's part of the fun of it. Sometimes you just want a quick, easy, super fun read and that's what Taylor Jenkins Reid is good at giving us. It really is fun how she weaves her characters in to all her books, so they are in the same world.

Final Thoughts

Taylor Jenkins Reid, like other popular writers (Stephen King, Elin Hilderbrand, etc) has settled on writing her novels from a particular time period and location (Malibu/Los Angeles area). Of course her characters will cross paths with one another! I am sometimes confused when I switch from a TJR book over to an Elin Hilderbrand, because Erin sets all her books in Nantucket, but she does NOT overlap her characters and I always think it would be so much more fun if she did. But, this post is not about Erin Hilderbrand. Plenty of time to talk about her later.

I think TJR's strength is her ability to create rich and very human backstories for her characters. Even if you start off a book hating a character, she does find a way to give each character some texture and elicit compassion from the reader at some point. Her books remind me that all of us are going through a human experience and we all have things that have happened to us that cause us to be what we are today, in thought and emotion and mannerism. So, even though her books are easy, breezy beach reads...when you connect with her characters, they sometimes do make you think a bit deeper about your own life. But...just a bit. Haha.

Rating on Goodreads

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars. It was very entertaining and I loved feeling like I was back in California for awhile.

My rating method:

• I rarely rate books 5 stars. I save this for the absolute best books I've read. You know the ones...the ones that you can't get out of your head, even after you've finished them. The ones you think about for weeks afterwards.

• If a book is really, really good, I'll give it 4 stars. If you see a 4-star rating from me, I'd definitely recommend it to you to read.

• If it's just OK, it gets 3 stars. Basically, it means I could take it or leave it. I'd probably read it again because it wasn't terrible. But not like a favorite or anything.

• If I rate it 1 or 2 stars, I would not recommend anyone read it. It either didn't hold my interest or I couldn't relate to the characters/plot.