blondechaibooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At first, I had my trepidations due to the fact that this was more plain story oriented rather than interview styled like the other two books of hers I have read, but I was just as engrossed and excited reading this one.
In Malibu Rising, TJR comes at us with a wonderful and compelling cast of characters, and a sibling story that will make you just as sad as it will happy throughout the pages.
Halfway through the book, I had stopped counting how many times I had to close the book and share the crazy plot twist I had just gotten to with everyone in my life.
This book only made me more interested in “Carrie Soto Is Back” so I am totally looking forward to reading TJRs other novels and releases
In the end, I definitely recommend Malibu Rising.
Graphic: Vomit and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment
ashlikes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Police brutality, Violence, Drug use, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Medical content, Abortion, Racism, Vomit, Blood, and Miscarriage
nadiaherondale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Grief, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit, Misogyny, Violence, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage
lilith_hmr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
It was slow-paced compared to other books of TJR. The second half focused a bit on characters that weren't relevant to the story and so that was a bit of a turn-off. The ending was incomplete and I would like to have a sequel to it. There's so much that was left unfinished. However, the most remarkable thing about the book was the time switch in the first half. It was absolutely intriguing and written so amazingly well.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Vomit, Abandonment, Death, Deadnaming, Cursing, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Alcoholism
milenasbooknook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Spoiler
I loved the relationships between the Riva siblings! I loved how they looked out for each other (and how they cared for Casey :’)Nina Riva!!! Ever since we got to see her as a five year old, I was in love. She was definitely not perfect and made some difficult and questionable decisions, but it was so interesting to see why she did the things she did and how she provided for her family. She devoted her life to caring for her siblings, and she set boundaries that needed to be set.
The characters all grew so much! Their pasts made huge impacts on their lives, but there was so much character development and generational cycles were broken 👏🏻
The sexual content did get annoying, but it wasn’t graphic enough for me to stop the book. I just wish it was more brief/implied
Overall, this book surpassed my expectations and I can see myself rereading this one in the future
Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Abortion
ellis_elisha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Suicide, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Vomit
claire_fitzgibbon13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Abandonment
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
babsi_222's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
So this book is about a family and their history and you really get to see into each of the siblings/ and every family members mind. they’re a family who live near the ocean and I’ve never read a book that’s about surfers, which was really cool.
So there is a famous party where every hollywood star is and like the author said in the Q&A it’s really inspired by the great Gatsby. It was quite interesting, but it just kind of felt like one of those romance movies (Love Actually), because sometimes in between the chapters about the family you have like two pages where there’s a random star who hooks up with someone else or who finds the love of their life at this party, which is just so random, but kind of fun tbh
literally all of the men in this book are red flags!!!
Spoiler
Oh my God the women (June and Nina) get pushed around by them, but there’s some very good character development in the end which is everything I ever wanted while reading! God I hate Mick Riva so much how can you be such a horrible person??To be honest I’m not sure if I’m going to read ‘Carrie Soto is back’ any time soon because she does not seem like a great person in this book. I’m sure that it’s going to be interesting but I think I just don’t wanna read it right now.
Junes story makes me so mad omg :(((
There’s soooo much drama at the party btw holy shit
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit, Violence, Miscarriage, Gun violence, Car accident, and Outing
nikmalikov's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit
ellelockley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Car accident, and Pregnancy
Minor: Gun violence