Reviews with content warning for Blood - Malibu Rising

men are terrible lol.
i most enjoyed the plots concerning the core four siblings and, later, their plus-one. you'd think they be the majority of the plot, but there are a lot of subplots that have little-to-no bearing on the main storyline, and i understand wanting to make this gigantic party with all these interesting people feel more alive, but after a while i stopped caring and just wanted to skip to the Rivas. it was overall pretty good though
book cover discussion: the British one is so much better than that of the United States, like the pretty sunset/fire (👀) colors, the serif font. unfortunately it doesn't carry over perfectly to the square aspect ratio for the audiobook.

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anniefwrites's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved diving into this world and the lives of the characters, who all felt so real. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing style is so attentive to the minutiae of everyday life and also the incommunicable parts of Big Feelings.

Spoiler

But the ending to me felt contrived, almost too saccharine. I found it hard to believe that SO many plot lines would all be resolved in one night. I wanted things to be more open-ended than they were.

I also started getting confused by the sheer number of characters toward the end. But I loved the core family members—especially Kit—and would have been happy just to live in a world with them where nothing really happened.

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I’m finding that all Reid’s latest books are true masterpieces, the perfect example of the craftsmanship of a writer. Her characters are so alive, her narrative and plot becomes a living thing, so much so that in every book I keep feeling that what she’s telling actually happened, that it is a true story, and with this one, like with Daisy and Evelyn, the same happened.
I loved this tale of the Rivas, these four Malibu born siblings with surf, sand and love in their hearts, their beautiful relationship with each other, their care and protectiveness, but also how each of them was impacted by the trauma of abandonment and how that reflects in their current lives.
The narrative takes place in only a day, 24h, in the present, where Nina, the eldest, a model who has just been cheated on and left by her husband, is preparing to host the Riva’s anual party event at her mansion in Malibu, but while we see each hour go by we are brought back to the past, to their parents relationship, to their father’s fame, to their abandonment and poverty, and to the sad fact that Nina ends up carrying so much of the family’s responsibilities on her shoulders.
I know some people felt that there were too many POV, not only did that not bother me at all, I actually felt it was quite impressive that we could glimpse so much of what was happening through those many eyes, and I was also amazed by the ability of the author to create such different characters, with such specific characteristics, backgrounds and idiosyncrasies,some of them in only one or two chapters. It made the tale come alive and, again, feel so freaking real.
I also really loved that Portugal was mentioned a couple of times 😉
It didn’t supplant my fave, Daisy Jones & The Six, but I got the same connection to the characters that I did on that one.

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kayabennett's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

surprise, surprise, i’m giving another taylor jenkins reid book five stars. i know, i’m so predictable. daisy jones and the six was the first book that i picked up written by taylor and i’m now in love with every book i own of hers.
firstly, i absolutely love how the events of the book all is wrapped up in one day (with the exception of the flashbacks). i like medium/fast paced books so this definitely was the one for me. i actually started reading malibu rising because the secret history was being too slow for me and i needed to read something else before i fell into a book slump.
for the characters, i am so in love with each and everyone of them (except mick, fuck you. you know what you did.) i am especially in love with june and the way she was talked about by her children made me tear up about every single time. yes, she had flaws and she knew that but they were because of mick’s actions and i hate him for that. nina-baby, you deserve the world and more (also, fuck you brandon). the way she was so selfless to care for her siblings after her mother’s death and even before it makes nina so lovable. nina had been put through so much (as so did all the other siblings) and i hope she’s living her best life in portugal.
i also want to mention that tjr’s books all being in the same universe is literally my favorite thing ever. seeing mentions of people from daisy homes and the six and evelyn hugo lights up my face.

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alannahberkeley's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

loved itttt definitely reading tjr’s other books

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kajcibere's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The relationships between siblings were really well developed despite the time frame. They all felt like humans and so real. They all made mistakes and fucked up and it was so fascinating to read. I did get confused with the names many times but i got used it.

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