

Nina ends up becoming a surf model to earn enough money to take care of her siblings: Jay, who becomes a pro surfer, Hud, who becomes a surf photographer, and the youngest, Kit, who hopes to follow in their surfing footsteps. Their mother was an alcoholic, leaving her oldest daughter, Nina, to take on the bulk of the parenting. Their father was a famous singer who came and went whenever he wanted, finally leaving for good. The Riva siblings didn’t have an easy childhood. This year a few unexpected and unwanted guests will arrive, the party will get out of hand as usual, but what takes place cannot be undone and everything will change in an instant.In the early 1980s, four Malibu surfer siblings throw a raging party that forces them to confront their pasts in this new novel from the author of Daisy Jones & the Six (2019). So throwing this party is what’s expected of her, everyone who is anyone will be there, and Nina must put on a smile on and entertain them. She loves her family but as each of her siblings find their way in the world she’s realizing she’s left with nothing but a house that constantly reminds her of the man who left her. She’s always dreamed of having the ocean as her backyard and no one knowing she’s that famous girl on the poster or Mick Riva’s daughter. Now Nina is doing everything she has to and nothing she wants. Unfortunately he walked out the door just like her father did. He bought her a house big enough for her and her siblings and right on the ocean because he knew surfing was her passion. When she met her husband on a photo shoot he made her so many promise’s that she felt like things were finally the way she always imagined them. Nina stepped up and took care of her siblings by modeling and essentially “selling her body for money”. Her mother never moved on and found comfort in a bottle. Her beautiful mother married a man who became a music legend and left her and his children without as much as a goodbye. Her husband left her for tennis pro, she’s working for the family business doing a job she never wanted, and spending her young adult life raising her siblings has been more then she could handle at times.

Nina Riva is preparing for her legendary end of the year party and her hearts just not in it. I never want her to stop writing books but man this woman needs to be a screenwriter! If you read Daisy Jones and the Six you already know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t you need to right away! I can picture in detail the characters, the setting, even the ambiance and moods of the characters. When I’m reading Taylor’s books I feel like I’m being transported to a movie set.

If you are a big fan like me then you are in for a real treat because the book was a 5 star read. Malibu Rising is the newest book by one of my favorites, Taylor Jenkins Reid.
