Malibu Rising
Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2021
Historical fiction RomanceContemporary fiction
One family, one legendary Malibu party, and the marriage that made them: famous parents, and the children left holding the house. A sunlit, nostalgic family story that moves between siblings' memories and a party's mounting buzz, with a warm, lyrical voice.
Feels like nostalgia, longing and wonder. About family, freedom and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy family sagas about famous parents, sibling bonds, and the pull of a place like Malibu. The story shifts among the four siblings' viewpoints, so you may want to be comfortable with a narrative that keeps changing its angle.
Why read it
It gives you a vivid sense of how one marriage echoes through children and a legendary party, and why the past keeps shaping the present.
A page from the book
Ask four siblings about their parents' marriage and you get four different books.
The story of June and Mick Riva seemed like a tragedy to their oldest child, Nina. It felt like a comedy of errors to their first son, Jay. It was an origin story for their second son, Hud. And a mystery to the baby of the family, Kit. To Mick himself it was just a chapter of his memoir. Taylor Jenkins Reid.Mick Riva is not new. He first appeared as one of Evelyn Hugo's seven husbands, part of the fictional Hollywood Reid has built across her novels.
Books that feel like this
More by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2017
A reclusive screen legend picks an unknown journalist to write her life story, and starts with the seven husbands.
Daisy Jones & The Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2019
A rock band's rise, told as an oral history by everyone who lived it—and the singer at the center no one can agree on.
Atmosphere
Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2025
One CAPCOM, a shuttle crew she trained with, and a mission going wrong in real time — mission control procedure as a story about the people who talk each other through danger.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Malibu Rising for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy family sagas about famous parents, sibling bonds, and the pull of a place like Malibu. The story shifts among the four siblings' viewpoints, so you may want to be comfortable with a narrative that keeps changing its angle.
- What is Malibu Rising like?
- A sunlit, nostalgic family story that moves between siblings' memories and a party's mounting buzz, with a warm, lyrical voice. Feels like nostalgia, longing and wonder. About family, freedom and love.
- What should I read after Malibu Rising?
- If you liked Malibu Rising, try The Summer of Broken Rules (K.L. Walther), It's Not Summer Without You (Jenny Han) and Every Summer After (Carley Fortune).
A taste of the feed
What you say when a perfect week is almost over.
Let’s pretend that time doesn’t exist. Let’s pretend that this week isn’t ending. Let’s pretend that we will always be us—happy, sunburnt, and tangled up together.
The Summer of Broken Rules · K.L. Walther
Grief makes a person feel like a stranger to their own life.
I wasn’t in Cousins. Conrad and I weren’t together, and Susannah was dead. Nothing would ever be the same again. It had been—How many days had it been? How many days exactly?—two months since Susannah had died and I still couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t let myself believe it. When a person you love dies, it doesn’t feel real. It’s like it’s happening to someone else. It’s someone else’s life. I’ve never been good with the abstract. What does it mean when someone is really and truly gone?
It's Not Summer Without You · Jenny Han
How a wine list can expose a person's entire character.
It’s not that I’m still in love with my ex; I’m not. I never was. Sebastian is kind of a snob. An up-and-coming corporate lawyer, he wouldn’t have lasted one hour at Chantal’s party without scoffing at her choice of signature drink and referencing some pretentious article he read in the New York Times that declared Aperol spritzes “over.” Instead, he would pretend to study the wine list, ask the bartender annoying questions about terroir and acidity and, regardless of the answers, go with a glass of the most expensive red. It’s not that he has exceptional taste or knows a lot about wine; he doesn’t. He just buys expensive stuff to give the impression of being discerning.
Every Summer After · Carley Fortune
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