Book: Malibu Rising

 Book: Malibu Rising

Author: Taylor Jenkins Ried

Pages: 384

This is my 74th read of the year

This is the story of 4 Riva children.  They are the children of the famous Mick Riva who grew up without him after he cheated multiple times on their mother and left them to find for themselves.  Nina - the eldest - is having her annual party in her mansion in Malibu but this year it is shortly after her husband left her for another woman.  Jay - the second eldest is a champion surfer, Hud - the half sibling brother who is a renowned photographer, and Kit the youngest is the adored baby sister.  The 4 of them raised by Nina after their mother dies, have long put their deadbeat famous father out of their mind and made their own lives.

The party -which Nina never wanted to have - is quickly spiraling out of control.  By the morning, the house has burned down and the siblings have faced all their demons.  Told in a timeline from when Mick met their mother to present day, we find out how the siblings ended up where they are.

So - I don't get the good reviews for this book.  And I was happy to see Amazon reviewers that agree with me.  This book was terrible.  I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.  But this one was not good at all.  I found myself wanting to skip read over the bad writing and terrible characters.  I didn't like any of them except for maybe Nina.  The chapters with the party were so disjointed I couldn't follow the madness.  Characters were unbelievable.  Name dropping of fake celebrities was dumb.  

My vote is skip it.  

Stars: 2