Reviews with content warning for Classism - Malibu Rising

I was a little skeptical going into another TJR historical fiction novel after Daisy Jones, which it seems like the whole world loved but which I found a bit too cliche (I rated it a 4 though? idk perfect example of why I try to actually write reviews now). In any case, Julia Whelan is by far my favourite narrator, and I have been known to read books sight unseen if she's narrated them, so I knew I'd eventually get around to this one.

And I really enjoyed it! It felt like every scene was important to the story - nothing dragged on, the whole novel really kept to pace. I think there was potential for this not to be true with how many different perspectives were incorporated. Most importantly, I felt connected to all the perspective characters, even the minor ones (Not saying I felt for them all, to be clear lol). TJR has always been really good at writing complex, flawed, real people characters.

The one-day structure of the story was also well-executed. I appreciated that, even though we're told about how the 24 hours ends right at the start, the foreshadowing throughout isn't overbearing and there's room for other storylines to breathe and play out. Plus, while a number of predictable events happen, I was relieved to not come out of this reading feeling like I had been fed a cookie-cutter/play-on-real-life novel.

[April 9, 2022 update: I can't get these characters out of my head so I think that merits updating the rating to 4.75]

Content Warnings

mingostudio's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

no spoilers 🌼

wow. just wow. basically i started the seven husbands of evelyn hugo at THE WRONG time in my life bc i came back and gave tjr another chance and DID SHE DESERVE IT.

this book was phenomenal. expertly written and that’s really the best way to put it. There was probably the BEST character development i’ve ever read, i loovveedd some people, but even those i hated she almost explained their pov and why they made the decisions - albeit bad ones - that they did. There was even some good romance (although very realistic and not cringy and romcom-y.)

This is also a super mature book which is a weird way to describe it bc i don’t mean explicit i just mean her prose was the perfect mix of professional, adult talk..? and engaging and sometimes ironic storytelling.

It took me a hot second to read this, but i was craving more, and even without a huge plot twist i feel like the buildup of the story still sated me wait needing a huge BAM ya know? although i will say there’s one point in a romance subplot that i jumped at ahaha soo interesting.

Overall, such a five star read, and above all else i feel like a smart person reading it and experiencing what tjr has to give us loll. loved it!! will prob read more of her soon

triggers 🌼

infidelity, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual content, classism, toxic relationships

Content Warnings

mel_sh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

once again begging goodreads to let you rate books with half star ratings because four seems too high and 3 seems too low so im a bit torn.
but i had a lot of fun reading this! of the three taylor jenkins reid books that ive read, this one definitely impact me the least but was undoubtedly the most fun reading experience. i read this at a much faster pace than i normally do because i was just so excited to see how things would wrap up. i felt very strongly for the riva kids and i think my main qualm with this book was the way other people's perspectives began being shared by the end. i forgot about most of them almost immediately and i felt like it made the ending a bit messy. i would have rathered skipping their parts and focusing more on the conclusion of the story and the actual fire since despite the fact that it's part of the synopsis, it felt very rushed. all in all, i adore tjr's stroy-telling. i think she has a gift for crafting stories and characters that you're immediately attached to and this was no different. my next book of her's is going to be "daisy jones and the six" and i might bump malibu rising to a 4 star depending on how much i enjoy that.

edit: oh i also wanted to mention Julia Whelan! she narrates a lot of books and a few of them are tjr books and she's so good and definitely enhanced my reading experience!

Content Warnings

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