Reviews tagging Fire/Fire injury

Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

257 reviews

kcruzoyola's review

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Drug use

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

lchambers394's review

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I started this book as a a fan of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and left as a fan of TJR!!! 

It is SO easy to fall in love with both her writing and characters. TJR's writing is suspenseful, powerful, delicate, and elegant all at the same time. You're waiting for the hook at the end of the book  (and are reminded of it in the most beautiful and punchy way) and yet you love every single part of the journey. You're warned of the twists and yet they still surprise you in the most enchanting way. In one single sentence you're shocked, delighted, amused... so many emotions at once, and TJR does it again and again as if it's nothing! I adored and related heavily to Nina, as I'm sure every older sister will. She's so complex and you can really understand her actions. Her character development is a joy to follow and there is one scene near the end (no spoilers, all I will say is cheese!!) that I found incredibly funny and rewarding. Jay, Hud, and Kit are just interesting and easy to love and the sibling bond between them all is so authentic and compelling. The settings were beautifully written; I want to go to all of the restaurant and beaches! All of the side characters contribute to the story and its atmosphere and I loved seeing how they were all tied together at the end!! Talking of the end, I loved how satisfyingly everything was wrapped up. I honestly teared up it was so good.

I only have one real criticism and that was that the first half of the book, the build up to the party, took slightly longer than it could have and for a little while I was just hoping for the party to start. But, ultimately, this didn't stop me loving this book because it just meant a few more pages of TJR's writing!!

This book was both profound and charming, effortlessly charming my heart and leaving me adding every other TJR book to my TBR!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident

faybeckett368's review

funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

zara89's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Car accident, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, and Miscarriage

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

TW: alcoholism, abandonment, death (of parent), drug use, cheating, addiction, sexual harassment, divorce, violence, fire, injury, sexism, parentified child, childhood trauma

Oh to be a Riva! On the surface, the four Riva siblings seem to have it all: fame, fortune and each other. But by the end of the night, everything's changed. This is what drew me in, that the whole book was set over the course of one night. The character analysis started off well and I enjoyed the switch between flashbacks and present day as we learned more and more about the Rivas.

I was expecting 80s beach-babe Malibu vibes, but I wasn't expecting this book to approach and handle some heavier topics like death, grief, divorce, betrayal, alcoholism and family issues. Although it is a TJR book, so actually that's on me for not thinking this would pack an emotional punch. I thought these topics were handled well, and the characters struggles felt realistic. I was able to empathise with them despite their sickening level of wealth (rich kids 😔🥲).

The first part was setting up for something massive—secrets revealed and people exposed. I was excited to watch it all unravel over the course of a night. However, what followed was an underwhelming and understated second half. New characters were introduced too frequently to fully care (which I admit is truthful of large parties) and so much more could've been done when a certain character arrived. I was left disappointed and sad. The ending was emotional but not in a cathartic way–although I guess life is often like that. These characters deserved better endings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Injury/injury detail

juvonh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Abandonment, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Miscarriage , and Vomit

kaitlynnnng's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

Mick Riva is a piece of garbage.

Spoiler

I found myself incredibly angry every time Mick and Brandon’s infidelity was brought up. I hate cheaters in real life, and I hated reading about cheaters.

Some of the chapters about other people at the party were interesting, but I found most of them to be confusing and unnecessary.

To me, this book didn’t have a “wow” factor, but I did enjoy reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Gun violence, Sexual content, Miscarriage , Car accident, and Domestic abuse

nataliapassos's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident and Pregnancy

mazielee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

nickdebucci's review against another edition

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

3.75

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Body shaming, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Vomit, Car accident, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Miscarriage , and Police brutality