History Literature / MalibuRising

%%* ForegoneConclusion: Mick and June's love story starts off really sweet and innocent, but those who read Reid's other novels ''The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'' and ''Daisy Jones & The Six'' already know that they will not last and that Mick is not a good person. [stopped here]
* GenerationXerox: Like her mother, Nina marries a charismatic man who cheats on her and then dramatically begs for her forgiveness and promises to change, and like her mother she seems set to take him back. [[spoiler: But she breaks the cycle and goes incognito to Portugal instead.]]
* HappilyAdopted: Hud Riva. Mick's mistress stoically dumps him in a startled June's arms before announcing he is her husband's illegitimate son and that she cannot raise him. June takes him in and loves him like he's her own, even after Mick leaves, with Jay and him growing up like twins.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Nina longs for a life where no one knows of her celebrity status and connections, [[spoiler:which she gets at the end by flying to Portugal after the party is over.]]
* IronicEcho: "X needed someone to love them. Y could do that. It would be very easy for Y to do" when [[spoiler:June's decision to love and take care of Hud, Mick's illegitimate son, as her own child mirrors the Riva siblings' decision to love and take care of Casey, Mick's possible illegitimate daughter, years later.]]

** Mick is a serial cheater, deadbeat dad, and all-around selfish man who makes a ton of excuses to get the people he's hurt to forgive him. His [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuse]] is that his father was the same, often stepping out on the family to be with other women.
** Jay wants the same prestige and power as his father. When he is rejected by a girl he fell in love with, he "insults" her by saying he knew she wasn't the type of girl to marry. Luckily, he TookALevelInKindness after [[spoiler:he and his siblings confront their father and realizes that he doesn't want to be like Mick after all.]] He also forgives Hud after [[spoiler:he finds out about his affair with his ex-girlfriend, supporting them having a baby together and then getting engaged.]]
* LukeYouAreMyFather: Casey Greens, a seemingly regular girl who recently lost her adoptive parents in a car crash, shows up in Part 2 of the book claiming that Mick is her father, a result of a one night stand between him and a young girl (her birth mother). Whether he is truly her birth father was not confirmed.
* ParentalSubstitute: June becomes this when [[spoiler:Hud's birth mother dropped him off in her arms. Nina later becomes this when she gets a PromotionToParent after June dies.]]

** [[spoiler:Nina delivers an epic, much-deserved one to Mick when he crashes their party expecting a happy reunion after two decades of estrangement. At the peak of their conversation, Mick states that he wasn't "capable" of being a father. Fed up with having to clean up after people (especially him) her whole life, Nina reminds him of the various sacrifices she had to make to save their family from poverty and being sent to different homes. Whether she felt capable of doing the job didn't matter because her siblings were relying on her. She tells him that he would've been capable if he gave even half a shit.]]
** [[spoiler: Kit gives a smaller one when the group discusses whether Mick could be Casey's father. She mocks his promiscuity and then blasts him after he admits that if he was interested in being a dad, he'd go home to his kids.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Most of the Riva partygoers. They commit indecent acts including ruining Nina's home because they can.
* SerialSpouse: Mick has been married six times [[spoiler:(1. June, 2. [[RemarriedToTheMistress the woman he left her for]], 3. [[Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo "the biggest star in Hollywood"]], 4. June again, 5. a model nearly half his age, 6. his former manager's assistant)]]. Most of these marriages ended because of his infidelity.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: While Nina acknowledges that being drop-dead gorgeous has many benefits, mainly financially, she finds it very demoralizing that people admire her looks more than her surfing skills, and that her career as a model has had to take priority over her desire to surf competitively. Additionally, people feel really entitled to her and act creepily, such as a customer at the Riva family restaurant who touches her without asking and repeats a line from one of her ads in a very flirtatious manner--right in front of his wife and kids.
* TheVerse: Set in the same universe as Reid's other novels ''The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'' and ''Daisy Jones & The Six''.
** Evelyn Hugo's third husband Mick Riva is featured prominently throughout the novel, his children being the main characters. In addition, Celia St. James, Don Adler, Ruby (Reilly), as well as magazines Vivant and Sub Rosa get a ShoutOut. Evelyn is mentioned a few times but not by name.
** ''Daisy Jones'' characters Warren Rhodes, Lisa Crowne, and The Breeze get a ShoutOut as well. The Six's record label Runner Records is also mentioned.

* TheAlcoholic: June wants to leave her parents' restaurant behind and thinks Mick can be her escape ticket. However, she ignores the glaring red flags during their honeymoon phase and even during their marriage. Mick eventually abandons June and their four kids, forcing her to go back to the restaurant she wanted to leave behind. Her parents eventually die and leave her behind as well. She becomes depressed and turns to alcohol to cope with the pain.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Mick shows up at his children's party to make amends. His reason for doing so is primarily self-motivated (getting old and lonely and irrelevant in the music scene), but he reasons that all broken families "ache to be reunited". His efforts culminate in a RejectedApology, where Jay outright tells him that it's too late.]]
* TheBabyTrap: Averted. Mick pulls this when he sees June is just as protective over baby Hud as she is of her own biological child and ultimately convinces her not to leave him.
* BreakTheCutie: June. She starts off the novel as a "tenderhearted dreamer" with a genuinely kind heart. She's expected to take over her family restaurant which she doesn't want. She falls in love with and marries a man who ends up cheating and leaving her to raise four children (not all biologically hers) alone. She takes over the restaurant she didn't want and lives in near-poverty with her children. Her parents die, taking away the only emotional support she had left. She becomes depressed and turns to alcohol, leaving her own children unable to trust or rely on her. On the night that [[spoiler:would be her last, she realizes that her ex-husband will never come back. She then accidentally drowns in the bathtub, her dreams unachieved and her heart broken.]]
* BrokenAce: Jay is a champion surfer with model good looks and a famous last name. He also has crippling ParentalAbandonment issues and [[spoiler: a heart condition that would require him to stop surfing.]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[spoiler: The Rivas have a possible half-sister apparently due to a one night stand their father had with a random woman. Said half-sister comes to the party dying to know her origins, but Mick doesn't remember.]]
* CelebrityIsOverrated: Nina, famous surfer, supermodel, and celebrity offspring, greatly despises her job/status. She despises the attention and objectification of her body, expressing shame towards the fact that her claim to fame is a poster of her showing off her assets (especially as she didn't realize before she took the picture just how revealing the outfit was). She also hates how she doesn't actually get to surf competitively, because her managers say that it's not worth the risk she would lose and pressure her into not entering. She mentions multiple times that she is only doing what she does to put food on her family's table.
* ConvenientPhotograph: How Jay [[spoiler:finds out that his brother and ex-girlfriend are sleeping together behind his back. He finds photos of them in the act in Hud's truck.]]
* ADayInTheLimelight: Several random celebrities are given this as the party gets increasingly out of control. We see them distribute trays of cocaine, have sex in various places (not all private), steal things, break things, the list goes on.
* DisappearedDad: Mick is this to his children, whom he abandoned (twice) to pursue fame and the pleasures that come along with it.
* EasilyForgiven: June takes Mick back multiple times despite his continuous betrayals. He ultimately leaves her and their four children behind, but she still believed he would come back until it was too late.
* ForegoneConclusion: Mick and June's love story starts off really sweet and innocent, but those who read Reid's other novels ''The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'' and ''Daisy Jones & The Six'' already know that they will not last and that Mick is not a good person.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Several random celebrities are given this as the party gets increasingly out of control. We see them distribute trays of cocaine, have sex in various places (not all private), steal things, break things, the list goes on.

* IronicEcho: "X needed someone to love them. Y could do that. It would be very easy for Y to do" when [[spoiler:June's decision to love and take care of Hud, Mick's illegitimate son, as her own child mirrors the Riva siblings' decision to love and take care of Casey, Mick's possible illegitimate daughter, years later.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Mick shows up at his children's party to make amends. His reason for doing so is primarily self-motivated (getting old and lonely and irrelevant in the music scene), but he reasons that all broken families "ache to be reunited". His efforts culminate in a RejectedApology, where Jay outright tells him that it's too late.]]
* TheBabyTrap: Averted. Mick pulls this when he sees June is just as protective over baby Hud as she is of her own biological child and ultimately convinces her not to leave him.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** [[spoiler:Nina delivers an epic, much-deserved one to Mick when he crashes their party expecting a happy reunion after two decades of estrangement. At the peak of their conversation, Mick states that he wasn't "capable" of being a father. Fed up with having to clean up after people (especially him) her whole life, Nina reminds him of the various sacrifices she had to make to save their family from poverty and being sent to different homes. Whether she felt capable of doing the job didn't matter because her siblings were relying on her. She tells him that he would've been capable if he gave even half a shit.]]
** [[spoiler: Kit gives a smaller one when the group discusses whether Mick could be Casey's father. She mocks his promiscuity and then blasts him after he admits that if he was interested in being a dad, he'd go home to his kids.]]

''Malibu Rising'' is a 2021 novel by Creator/TaylorJenkinsReid primarily set in TheEighties.

It tells the story of the Riva siblings - Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit - who throw an end-of-summer party every year in their hometown of Malibu, except this year will be different. The siblings' father is legendary singer Mick Riva and their mother a local restaurant owner, June Riva.

The story is split into two parts: the first focuses on the Riva family beginnings, from Mick and June's meeting in the 50s to Nina taking over as the head of the family after a series of tragedies. The second part focuses on the wild Riva party filled with celebrities, drugs, sex, and various hedonistic activities that make everything go out of control. So much that at the end of this party, Nina Riva's mansion will go up in flames. And the secrets the siblings have been keeping will be revealed.