Book Review: Malibu Rising
What would you do if you had one night to party with all the hottest celebrities at a beach house in Malibu?
When one of my best friends, who always has a great list of reads, mentioned to me that Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid had to be #1 on my list, I knew it was time to end my reading dry spell. Little did I know that I would be so enthralled by the plot that in the span of 24 hours, I wouldn’t only finish the book - but want to read it again (a rarity for me).
Malibu Rising takes place in...shocker… Malibu, California and follows the four Riva siblings on the biggest weekend of their year, the annual Riva summer party. This party is no high school kegger, but instead has made a name for itself throughout the Hollywood social scene as the place where all crazy, exciting and unbelievable stories come from. However this year, Nina, surfer star and the eldest of the siblings, is not much in the partying mood since her husband recently and publicly cheated and left her for another woman. But, like they say in the industry, the show must go on.
The book follows Nina, her “twin” brothers Jay and Hud, and her younger sister Kit as they all maneuver through romantic, family and coming of age struggles throughout the few days leading up to the party, and the party itself. The drama of the weekend is intertwined with flashbacks highlighting the not-so-glamorous circumstances that the Riva children grew up in - even though their father is the legendary rockstar Mick Riva. While there are some emotional and very real struggles discussed throughout the book, the author is able to bring in some lightness by describing the party antics. After all, the attendees are some of the wealthiest people in the U.S, all of whom are used to getting whatever they want.
This book drew me in from the start, kept my attention, and compelled me to finish it in less than a day. To be completely transparent, I am a sucker for most books that could be even slightly categorized as romance or drama, but Reids’ writing is so fluid and easy to read that it felt almost effortless to comprehend the plot and the underlying insinuations. However I did knock off 1 point from my rating, giving it a 9/10, being that I didn’t love the all flashbacks throughout a book and felt as though at times it could leave readers a little confused on where they last left off.
Even though summer has quickly slipped away, I am a full supporter of getting your fix of summer beach reads in any season. With school going at full speed now in our fifth week (crazy!), it’s nice to take a second to remind yourself that tasks like reading can sometimes be for your enjoyment, and give you the much needed space to take a breather.
