Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

191 reviews

daringreader13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Car accident, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

zulliekinz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My first Taylor Jenkins Reid - and what a fantastic book to pop my cherry. Couldn't put it down and was engrossed in how quickly TJR made every character so real and authentic. I loved the pace of us experiencing just one whole day and the inserts of the past felt so well placed within this telling of the story. 

My only gripe was somehow how neatly tied up and finished it all was... It just felt a little too much like a neat bow around what was an incredibly messy package just moments before. Seemed unecessary for things to be that neat, and sadly unrealistic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming

alyssadavis's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Malibu catches fire. 
It is simply what Malibu does from time to time. 
… 
The Malibu fire of 1983 started not in the dry hills but on the coastline. It began at 28150 Cliffside Drive on Saturday, August 27—at the home of Nina Riva—during one of the most notorious parties in Los Angeles history. The annual party grew wildly out of control sometime around midnight. By 7:00 A.M., the coastline of Malibu was engulfed in flames.
Because, just as it is in Malibu’s nature to burn, so was it in one particular person’s nature to set fire and walk away.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

gkgkgk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

estefizaga's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

nadiaherondale's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Although great, what I love the most about Taylor Jenkins Reid's books is how much she fleshes out her characters and makes me feel for them, and on Malibu Rising I think she took on more than she could. I felt like there was way too much going on, too many characters and not enough time with them, and in the end I didn't care about the Rivas, or Malibu (who I think acts as a city-protagonist or something). I'm a tiny bit disappointed, 'cause I was expecting to love this as much as my other reads by this author 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

milenasbooknook's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was so much better than I expected!

I loved the relationships between the Riva siblings! I loved how they looked out for each other (and how they cared for Casey :’)

Nina Riva!!! Ever since we got to see her as a five year old, I was in love. She was definitely not perfect and made some difficult and questionable decisions, but it was so interesting to see why she did the things she did and how she provided for her family. She devoted her life to caring for her siblings, and she set boundaries that needed to be set.

The characters all grew so much! Their pasts made huge impacts on their lives, but there was so much character development and generational cycles were broken 👏🏻

The sexual content did get annoying, but it wasn’t graphic enough for me to stop the book. I just wish it was more brief/implied

Overall, this book surpassed my expectations and I can see myself rereading this one in the future

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Abortion

reb_vo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Family drama of the social elite, following the families life stories with their highest and lowest points. 
This book is about who we choose to love and who we don’t 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

livbowman's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol