Synopsis:

Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over–especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud–because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own–including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.

Malibu Rising is a family saga story with an unforgettable setting and characters you can’t help but be mesmerized by—all leading up to the most epic party the Riva siblings have ever hosted.

Reid has a talent for creating characters. She knows how to set them apart from each other, making them believable. BUT that doesn’t always mean they’re likable. Her honest, but somewhat removed or at a distance writing style, is what sometimes keeps her books from being five-star reads for me. I know I’m in the minority, but while I enjoyed the story of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I never felt a connection with any of the characters. I did, however, gush about One True Loves. I have yet to read Daisy Jones and the Six, her most popular book. It remains at the top of my tbr, but I think I’m scared it won’t live up to the hype for me. And I really want it to.

But back to Malibu Rising. The book alternates between the Riva family origin story of how the siblings’ parents met and started their family in the ’50s and ’60s to the events of an August day in 1983 when Nina Riva will be hosting her annual come-if-you-know-the-address party at her cliffside mansion in Malibu. I enjoyed both alternating stories, equally interested in how each one would play out. The two timelines converged at the start of the party, allowing the party be the main focus the second half of the book.