Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Malibu Renasce by Taylor Jenkins Reid

186 reviews

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

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

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

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

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: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

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

Minor: Vomit, Blood, 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, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Grief, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

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

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

creativelifeofliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

The first half of this book was pretty terrible and I actually thought about DNFing it several times. It got better for the second half, as long as you accept that there aren't any actually likeable characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Classism, Drug use, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

gracehx's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Drug abuse

mstlove90's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Read this book if you're looking for: historical fiction, 80s vibes, different timelines, family drama, badass women MC

*Look up trigger warnings because there are a lot of sensitive topics*

I really enjoyed this book but honestly I was expecting to love it like I’ve loved all of TJRs books so far. 

That’s not to say it wasn’t great, I really enjoyed reading about the Riva children and the MANY struggles that they faced. I liked how we got to see everything that happened on one single night told from everyone’s points of view. BUT in my opinion there were TOO MANY points of view. I found it very hard to keep track. It would bounce not only between the 4 main characters but then also side characters too and that got very confusing.

One thing I did really enjoy about this book (not a spoiler) was the perspective of the Riva kids and their love for their siblings. Each wanted to be better, stronger, and more resilient because they thought they had to be. In the end it really showed how the family bonded and saw the unconditional love they had for each other. 

I like family stories, especially siblings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Gun violence

wildflowerleahg's review against another edition

3.25

I don’t remember the line in the Katy Perry song about burning down the lawn…

I feel like every TJR book could be summed up as: Fame isn’t glamorous, men aren’t worth the trouble and Europe is always a good idea. 

Honestly, the only reason I wanted to read this was because of the her other novels. I absolutely love the world she has created. It’s so fun to see all these worlds colliding. This book was entertaining but just overall just okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse and Infidelity

Minor: Car accident

kyliieamberr's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Drug use, and Abandonment