History Literature / MalibuRising

''Malibu Rising'' is a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid primarily set in TheEighties.

!!Tropes:

* 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 and loves him like he's her own, even after Mick leaves, with Jay and him growing up like twins.

* 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. She mentions multiple times that she is only doing what she does to put food on her family's table.

''Malibu Rising'' is a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid primarily set in the 80s. 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.

* {{Jerkass}}: 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 is this to a lesser extreme. He 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.]]

* 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.]]

* RealityEnsues:
** 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.
** Nina has to step up for her family after [[spoiler:June dies.]] She takes over the restaurant and becomes the legal guardian to her siblings since her father still won't support them.
** [[spoiler:Mick attends his children's party expecting a happy reunion after two decades of estrangement, but they understandably want nothing to do with him after his long history of betrayal and abandonment.]]

* IronicEcho: June's decision to love and take care of Hud [[spoiler:, 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.]]

** Jay is this to a lesser extreme. He 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 when [[spoiler:his siblings confront their father]], after which he realizes that he doesn't want to be like his father 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.]]

* 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. He gives a load of excuses, which Nina half-entertains until he states that he wasn't "capable" of being a father. Enraged, Nina reminds him of the various sacrifices June had to make after he left them (twice), and then the sacrifices she herself 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.]]

** ''Daisy Jones'' characters Warren Rhodes, Lisa Crowne, and The Breeze get a ShoutOut as well.

* YourCheatingHeart:
** Mick cheats on wife June countless times in the book, [[spoiler:resulting in the birth of one of the children, Hud, and him ultimately walking out on his family.]] He also cheats on his subsequent wives and mentions sleeping with his friends' wives.
** Brandon, Nina's husband, leaves her for another woman.
** [[spoiler: Hud slept with his brother's ex-girlfriend Ashley while they were still together. Ashley then left Jay for Hud, but they are unable to tell Jay until it's too late.]]

** Evelyn Hugo's third husband Mick Riva is featured prominently throughout the novel, his children being the main characters of this novel. 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.

''Malibu Rising'' is a HistoricalFiction novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 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.

* RemarriedToTheMistress: Mick leaves June to marry his mistress Veronica Lowe. He later cheats on Veronica as well. This makes him a...
* SerialSpouse: Mick has been married six times [[spoiler:(1. June, 2. the woman he left her for, 3. [[Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo "the biggest star in Hollywood"]], 4. June again, 5. a model half his age, 6. his former manager's assistant)]]. Most of these marriages ended because of his infidelity.

* TheWoobie: June. 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.]]

* TheWoobie: June. 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. Her parents die, leaving her without emotional support. She becomes depressed and turns to alcohol, leaving her children unable to trust 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 massively broken.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler:June becomes this when Hud's birth mother dropped him off in June's arms. Nina later becomes this when she gets a PromotionToParent after June dies]]

* SerialSpouse: Mick has been married six times [[spoiler:(1. June, 2. the woman he left her for, 3. [[Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo "the biggest star in Hollywood"]], 4. June again, 5. a model half his age, 6. his former manager's assistant)]]. These marriages ended because of his infidelity or general boorishness.

** Besides Mick Riva, who is featured prominently throughout the novel, ''Evelyn Hugo'' characters 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 Crowe, and The Breeze get a ShoutOut as well.

* 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.]]

** Nina has to step up for her family after [[spoiler:June's depression and alcoholism results in her death.]] She takes over the restaurant and becomes the legal guardian to her siblings since her father still won't support them.

** ''Evelyn Hugo'' characters Celia St. James, Mick Riva, Don Adler, Ruby (Reilly), as well as magazines Vivant and Sub Rosa get a ShoutOut. Evelyn is mentioned but not by name. The plot of ''Malibu Rising'' centers around Mick Riva's children, and Mick himself appears in flashback throughout the book [[spoiler:and in-person at the end.]]

* [[Jerkass Jerkass]]: 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.

* YourCheatingHeart: Continuing a trend in Taylor Jenkins Reid's books featuring disloyal men.

* Jerkass: 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.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Several random celebrities are given this as the party gets increasingly out of control. We get the POVs of characters as they distribute trays of cocaine, have sex in various places (not all private), steal things, break things, the list goes on.
* BrokenAce: Jay is a champion surfer with model good looks and a famous last name. He also has a heart condition that would require him to stop surfing and crippling ParentalAbandonment issues.

* [[Jerkass]]: Mick, to the extreme. 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.

''Malibu Rising'' is a HistoricalFiction novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 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 nursing will be revealed.

** Being the children of a famous singer, it's expected that the Riva siblings would grow up with endless resources and comfort. In reality, the siblings were left in poverty growing up because their famous father wanted nothing to do with them,

* Jerkass: Mick, to the extreme. 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. Tries to do a HeelFaceTurn after two decades of estrangement but is unsurprisingly rejected by his children.
* 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.
* RejectedApology: [[The Riva siblings reject their father's apology at the end of the book. Jay outright tells him that it's too late.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:After two decades of estrangement, 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".]]

* YourCheatingHeart:

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Mick, after two decades of estrangement, shows up at his children's party to make amends. When they refuse to welcome him back into their life, he thinks of leaving them alone as his redemption.]]

* CelebrityIsOverrated: Nina Riva, surfer and supermodel, despises her job and does it only to put food on her siblings' table. 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.

* DisappearedDad: Mick Riva is this to his children, whom he abandoned (twice) to pursue fame and the pleasures that come along with it.
* EasilyForgiven: June Riva 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.
* IJustWanttoBeNormal: Nina Riva 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.]]

* SerialSpouse: Mick Riva has been married six times [[spoiler:(1. June, 2. the woman he left her for, 3. [[Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo "the biggest star in Hollywood"]], 4. June again, 5. a model half his age, 6. his former manager's assistant)]]. These marriages ended because of his infidelity or general boorishness.
* TheAtoner: Mick Riva, after two decades of estrangement, shows up at his children's party to make amends.

** Mick Riva cheats on wife June countless times in the book, resulting in the birth of one of the children, Hud, and him ultimately walking out on his family. He also cheats on his subsequent wives and mentions sleeping with his friends' wives.

** [[spoiler: Hud Riva slept with his brother's ex-girlfriend Ashley while they were still together. Ashley then left Jay for Hud, but they are unable to tell Jay until it's too late.]]

** Brandon, Nina's husband, leaves her for another woman.

* 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.

* IJustWanttoBeNormal: Nina Riva 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.]]

* SerialSpouse: Mick Riva has been married six times (June, the woman he left her for, [[Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo "the biggest star in Hollywood"]], June again, a model half his age, and his former manager's assistant). These marriages ended because of his infidelity or general boorishness.

* YourCheatingHeart: Mick Riva cheats on wife June countless times in the book, resulting in the birth of one of the children, Hud, and him ultimately walking out on his family. He also cheats on his subsequent wives and mentions sleeping with his friends' wives.

* DisappearedDad: Mick Riva is this to his children, whom he abandoned (twice) to pursue fame and the pleasures that come along with it.