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kcarney86's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol
sarah_boo_hoo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment
hmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
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]
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Classism
Minor tags are predominantly just "mentions of"moonbin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Cursing, Infertility, Car accident, and Pregnancy
hannahstvns's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
alainasanders's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Infidelity, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
ninahuynh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Chronic illness, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
mel_sh's review against another edition
- 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
but i had a lot of fun reading this! of the three taylor jenkins reid books that ive read, this one definitely impact me the least but was undoubtedly the most fun reading experience. i read this at a much faster pace than i normally do because i was just so excited to see how things would wrap up. i felt very strongly for the riva kids and i think my main qualm with this book was the way other people's perspectives began being shared by the end. i forgot about most of them almost immediately and i felt like it made the ending a bit messy. i would have rathered skipping their parts and focusing more on the conclusion of the story and the actual fire since despite the fact that it's part of the synopsis, it felt very rushed. all in all, i adore tjr's stroy-telling. i think she has a gift for crafting stories and characters that you're immediately attached to and this was no different. my next book of her's is going to be "daisy jones and the six" and i might bump malibu rising to a 4 star depending on how much i enjoy that.
edit: oh i also wanted to mention Julia Whelan! she narrates a lot of books and a few of them are tjr books and she's so good and definitely enhanced my reading experience!
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Vomit, Car accident, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism
maebowman's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
cepbreed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Song:
- Heatwaves - Glass Animals
- Dancing On Quicksand - Bad Suns
- the last great american dynasty - Taylor swift
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Chronic illness and Cursing
Minor: Gun violence and Blood