Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Nina understood, maybe for the first time, that letting people love you and care for you is part of how you love and care for them.”
Author
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher
Penguin Random House UK
Genre
Historical Fiction
Number of Pages
365
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Summary
Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit are the Riva siblings living in Malibu. And they are having the party of the year at Nina’s place. Little do they know that by the end of the night their family will have all its secrets out and the house will be engulfed in flames?
My Review
The story happens in two timelines. One is set in the current, where we are living through the 24 hours of the day of the party. The second timeline takes us to the time the Riva parents June and Mick first met, then fell in love and got married. The switching was seamless and very essential to the entire story. We understand why the siblings are the way they are and how they are so close-knit together as a family.
The plotting was paced brilliantly and I just kept turning page after page through the family drama. The characters felt real, the unconcerned Mick Riva, the compassionate June Riva, or the protective and caring elder sister – Nina Riva.
Final Verdict
This was my first book by the author and I now understand why readers love her characters. I will remember Nina Riva for a long time.
A memorable book about dysfunctional families. Highly recommended.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as well as four other novels. Her newest novel, Malibu Rising, is out now. She lives in Los Angeles. You can follow her on Instagram @tjenkinsreid.
- Top Quotes from Malibu Rising-
- “How were you supposed to change- in ways both big and small- when your family was always there to remind you of exactly the person you apparently signed an ironclad contract to be?”
- “She had to choose what, of the things she inherited from the people who came before her, she wanted to bring forward. And what, of the past, she wanted to leave behind.”
- “Our family histories are simply stories. They are myths we create about the people who came before us, in order to make sense of ourselves.”
- “Family is found...whether it be blood or circumstance or choice, what binds us does not matter. All that matters is that we are bound.”
- “Just because it is in Malibu's nature to burn, so was it in one particular person's nature to set fire and walk away.”
Books by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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