Malibu Rising.

 It is true what they say Malibu Rising is one hundred percent the book of summer 2021! Malibu Rising is quite literally a sex on the beach cocktail of a book as quoted by Pandora Sykes. 

The book mainly focuses on the Riva siblings. Nina, Hud, Jay and Kit however within part one of the novel we learn about their parents, June and Mick Riva. As readers we are taken through their journey from the first day they met, to having their first child and to the moment it all goes wrong. The second half of the book focuses on one main night. The annual Riva party held at Nina Riva's house. Little did they know, this night would change all of their lives...

Firstly, the story between June and Mick Riva is a heartbreaking one. Despite the fact that Mick promised June to provide her with everything she ever wanted. Their marriage soon began to fall apart and the future that they both dreamed of together was no longer. Instead Mick let his fame as a singer get the better of him. Which is heartbreaking. Mick choose what he thought was the better option for him yet he had everything he needed at his doorstep. I am not going to go into the full details as I am working on having little to no spoilers within my posts! However, I will say, we can learn a lot from their journey. We can learn to never take anything for granted. We can also learn that our future can really never be planned because we never know what is round the corner. As humans it is so natural to imagine scenarios in our heads or to create high expectations for our lives yet we may never get to live these scenarios or expectations as we imagined. 

The four siblings each have their own stories too and each of them are as interesting and so I am going to talk about my thoughts on each. We have Nina who is the oldest sibling and the most headstrong. You see, in her young teens she lost her mother and she had to look after and raise her siblings, keep up with the bills whilst trying to create a life for herself. Her growth in character through out the novel is inspiring. She becomes stronger in each page and as she faces more and more difficulties such as her cheating husband and her so called father who all of a sudden wants to be a part of her life. Simply nothing can break her. She was required to become a mother to her siblings at the age of fourteen, she watched her mother prioritize alcohol over her own children, she dealt with her cheating husband and she had to explain to her father how he is too far gone and can never live up to the role as a father. Nina Riva is an extremely inspiring woman. 

Next up there is Jay and Hud. The to brothers are more or less inseparable and are the best of friends. Yet Hud is hiding a massive secret from Jay that may break their unbreakable bond. I am very tempted to tell you this massive secret but I shall leave that for you to read and find out. In fact, I am going to leave Jay and Hud at that. But I will tell you it is INTERESTING. 

Last but not least we have Kit. Part of me feels sorry for Kit. She is the youngest sibling who simply looks up to her older sister Nina, she never understood her mothers death until years later and she never knew what was going on in the household as a child. For example she never understood that her mum had turned alcohol. However, she surprised me when she faces her dad with her other siblings at their annual party. Kit said it how it was and made it clear to Mick that she wanted nothing to do with him. She made him aware of how terrible he had been and she demanded answers as to why he all of a sudden wants to be apart of their lives. She is also discovering who she is to which she is very unsure who she is. 

As siblings I adored all four of them. Especially towards the end of the novel their sibling bond is so beautiful. Although Nina raised them, they always came together and dealt with difficulties together. They were the perfect family even though they clearly were not the perfect family. Their issues that made them seem troubled were not the point. It was the way they dealt with these issues. The way they always managed to come together is what made this novel so beautiful. 

As a reader I also fell in love with the layout of the novel. It dives into different times of the party with different people. Almost like scenes in a movie or a play. One minute we are reading about Nina and her husband and a page later we are reading about Mick Riva having the courage to drive to the party. It is safe to say, Malibu Rising is not only the book of the summer but it definitely has movie potential too! To draw this post to an end I will leave you with a warming quote from this warming, beautiful book. 

'Letting people love and care for you is part of how you love and care for them.'