Ratings351
Average rating4.1
I remember jumping at the chance to get this book in my Book of the Month box because I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo a long time ago and loved it. Well, I'm not quite sure if my preferences have changed since then or if this book just doesn't hit as hard as Evelyn Hugo did but I came out of this one a bit underwhelmed. I knew that it wasn't a thriller going into it but I have heard beforehand that there's a mystery aspect to it and that's all I needed to know before picking it up. Maybe I should just stop trying to read historical fiction all together, since it does not seem to be the genre for me.
To begin with, Malibu Rising is about the lives and histories of the Riva family. We follow the family from it's beginning to where their lives consequently take them. We also follow Nina Riva and her party guests as she hosts the extravagant yearly party at her huge house. I thought the premise of this book was okay but I am starting to realize that I really don't enjoy reading about fictional characters' histories and lives, especially when it follows a long timeline. I'd rather follow what the character is doing at the present moment, with brief mentions of what they went through in the past. I was more excited to read about what was happening in the present day, at the party, and even then I didn't feel like there was nearly enough there. I usually love dual timelines but not when it's in a historical fiction novel apparently. It's good I finally learned this about myself. Also, the ending was a bit of a let down for me because I was hoping for more to the mystery of who set the house on fire.
Further on, the characterization was okay in this book, in my opinion. I felt that because there were so many characters, especially in the present day, at the party, we only got to see a very small snapshot of most of them and for this reason the characters really didn't grow on me and I didn't feel attachment to any of them. Don't get me wrong, I was still rooting for them and wanted to see where life would take them but it didn't illicit any real emotions out of me. I wish we could have seen more into the soul of the main characters, as opposed to reading very brief chapters about very minor ones. Also, for this reason I don't think this book should have been as long as it was, it would have packed a greater punch with less. In this case, less is more, at least in my opinion.
Finally, the writing style is classic Taylor Jenkins Reid, which is beautiful and flowing without being overly complicated and hard to follow. I love how she is able to make beautiful writing accessible and very easy to understand for everybody. I think that if she would have focused on less amount of characters, we would have really gotten to see into their souls and her writing would have evoked all the feelings and emotions within me that seemed to have been missing for me this time around. The beauty is apparent, there's just not enough of its focus in certain areas.
In conclusion, I thought this book was a good historical fiction novel about the ties of family and escaping your family lineage or what you're more prone to or is expected of you in the family dynamic. I think it would be good for historical fiction fans but I found it to be too much, with not enough depth and focus on the stars of the show. Overall it wasn't a bad book, just not the most memorable.