I remember reading the summary of this book at a famous bookstore called The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, but was very unimpressed about it. If you told me then that something as mundane and routine as a party could captivate me, I would have laughed. Good thing I checked Good Reads before buying another book though, and that’s what convinced me to give this book a chance. It was also fitting to buy a book that takes place in Malibu in, you know, California. I’m glad I did though, as this was one of the best books I’ve ever read.
If you’re wondering what the summary of the book is, it’s literally about a party gone wrong. It dives deep into the backstory of a father abandoning his family, Hud dating his brother’s ex, and the overall tightness of the family. The house burns down in the end (don’t worry it’s not a spoiler), and Reid takes you on a journey on a very eventful party. Are you bored yet, because I was. But don’t worry, it’s an amazing book. I think the author needs the improve her summary writing skills though.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!
I absolutely loved the structure of this book. Normally, I hate when the author frequently jumps into flashbacks, because it becomes too much. When it’s not pulled off well, you’re put in a confusing situation where it’s hard to discern the flashbacks from the main storyline. I only know a handful of books that successfully pull this off — a good example being The Kite Runner. What Reid also does very well is make me hate certain characters. Like, wow. If you thought Mick was bad when he first cheated on June, he becomes way worse. AND, he even made a song about her! Talk about disrespect.
Furthermore, he then has the audacity to cut off his payments to the Riva family, leave a line of unfathered children, and then come back because he felt sorry for them. I guess it’s not uncharacteristic that a book so centered around a party would be about cheaters, so I can’t say that I didn’t expect this. Real talk though, do you hate Mick or Brandon more? I’d say Mick, but Brandon is a terrible person as well. The ending was really sad though. I normally like books with happy endings but they make me feel amazing, and not many stories — again — pull off sad endings very well. Normal People did it good, but nothing beat Malibu Rising. I was very saddened to hear that Nina was leaving her family to go to Portugal, but her character development needed her to end like this. By the way, the character development was so well made with Nina. Now, she cares about her own happiness, and it’s amazing. On a somewhat related note, I also watched Ted, and this felt like Ted leaving his best friend so he would get his girlfriend. It’s sad and heart wrenching for sure. The house set on fire was also an amazing call — it shows the trust that Nina has on her family. The faith that they’ll be okay because of the amazing on-the-fly parenting work that she did. The verdict? ABSOLUTELY READ THIS BOOK!
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