Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

379 reviews

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

For a fun, easy and light-hearted read, I really enjoyed this book. It surprised me in many ways, not least because I did shed a few tears. I was engaged throughout, the character's all felt well developed and explored. Overall, a pleasant surprise- I enjoyed it more than I anticipated that I would.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was a little skeptical going into another TJR historical fiction novel after Daisy Jones, which it seems like the whole world loved but which I found a bit too cliche (I rated it a 4 though? idk perfect example of why I try to actually write reviews now). In any case, Julia Whelan is by far my favourite narrator, and I have been known to read books sight unseen if she's narrated them, so I knew I'd eventually get around to this one.

And I really enjoyed it! It felt like every scene was important to the story - nothing dragged on, the whole novel really kept to pace. I think there was potential for this not to be true with how many different perspectives were incorporated. Most importantly, I felt connected to all the perspective characters, even the minor ones (Not saying I felt for them all, to be clear lol). TJR has always been really good at writing complex, flawed, real people characters.

The one-day structure of the story was also well-executed. I appreciated that, even though we're told about how the 24 hours ends right at the start, the foreshadowing throughout isn't overbearing and there's room for other storylines to breathe and play out. Plus, while a number of predictable events happen, I was relieved to not come out of this reading feeling like I had been fed a cookie-cutter/play-on-real-life novel.

[April 9, 2022 update: I can't get these characters out of my head so I think that merits updating the rating to 4.75]

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful reflective 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m bummed there wasn’t more of Mick and June’s story! Without the party scenes that dragged on forever, the random sexual exploits, and the repetitive plotlines, I think I would have liked this book more. The first half was actually fairly engaging but I just didn’t feel emotionally attached to any of the characters (maybe bc there was like a hundred of them).

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective 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

no spoilers 🌼

wow. just wow. basically i started the seven husbands of evelyn hugo at THE WRONG time in my life bc i came back and gave tjr another chance and DID SHE DESERVE IT. 

this book was phenomenal. expertly written and that’s really the best way to put it. There was probably the BEST character development i’ve ever read, i loovveedd some people, but even those i hated she almost explained their pov and why they made the decisions - albeit bad ones - that they did. There was even some good romance (although very realistic and not cringy and romcom-y.) 

This is also a super mature book which is a weird way to describe it bc i don’t mean explicit i just mean her prose was the perfect mix of professional, adult talk..? and engaging and sometimes ironic storytelling. 

It took me a hot second to read this, but i was craving more, and even without a huge plot twist i feel like the buildup of the story still sated me wait needing a huge BAM ya know? although i will say there’s one point in a romance subplot that i jumped at ahaha soo interesting. 

Overall, such a five star read, and above all else i feel like a smart person reading it and experiencing what tjr has to give us loll. loved it!! will prob read more of her soon 

triggers 🌼

infidelity, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual content, classism, toxic relationships

Expand filter menu Content Warnings