This book was not only a Goodreads Choice Winner for 2021, it was also a finalist for Book of the Month’s Book of the Year for 2021.  I think I got it as an add-on with one of my monthly book selections – I’d heard that it was highly thought of, and while it wasn’t the first choice, I thought I would try it out.

Not going to lie – it took me a while to get into this.  After flying through the first two books of the year, this one slowed me down a bit.  I’m not entirely sure why.  I didn’t immediately dislike any of the characters, and while a book set in the 80s feels weird, it wasn’t completely off-putting.  Perhaps it was because there was a little more obvious in some places than I had hoped.  Spoilers ahead!

We know from the beginning that the book covers a single day in the 1980s.  It starts out with Nina, a surfing sports model who has recently been cheated on by her husband.  He’s a tennis pro, and left her for a fellow tennis pro randomly and without explanation.  Obviously she’s in a state of just trying to exist at this point, knowing that that evening there will be the annual party that she and her siblings throw once a year.

Next up is Jay and Kit, second and fourth in the sibling line.  They seem like tertiary characters on the outset, though we can tell immediately that Jay is the overly confident one and Kit just wants to be noticed for her skills.

And finally, Hud, or Hudson, who we meet during an intimate moment with Jay’s ex-girlfriend.  They’re in love, and don’t know how to tell Jay.

Shortly after we meet all of the siblings, we do a flashback to their mother, June, who doesn’t want to spend her entire life at her parents’ restaurant.  Obviously, she meets someone and they fall in love, and she believes it’s going to be happily ever after.  But it’s not.  And we know it from the beginning.

So it’s not surprising that there’s cheating, separation, reconciliation, divorce, reconciliation, and divorce again.  June’s choices from here on out are mainly putting her kids first, but she’s also pretty damaged and meets a difficult end, putting Nina in the difficult position to take over the care of her younger siblings.

Back in the 80s, we follow the siblings through the various activities that they perform throughout the day, including the development of pictures that Hud has taken of his girlfriend that we all know are going to be found at the “worst possible time,” because OF COURSE they will be.  We see that there’s love between all the siblings, but at the same time, some animosity/competition.  Pretty typical, in my opinion.  Nina’s ex-husband shows up when least expected (but expected), begging for forgiveness and getting his foot in the door.  Jay, who unfortunately doesn’t get a ton of attention in the book, other than a medical condition he has and his anger at his brother, looks for a girl he thinks will be THE ONE.  Hud tries to figure out how to tell Jay that he’s in love with Jay’s ex.  And Kit spends the night trying to prove her maturity by finding a guy who might be interested in her, only to determine the larger answer about herself.

Meanwhile, in the background is the party – this massive blowout party with music, alcohol, drugs, sex, and utter craziness.  Movie and TV stars are there, music personalities show up, models, and entertainment execs abound.  Randomly through the book, comments are made about how this party is way more out of control than the other parties that have been held.  Many times, actually.  The party parts were kind of fun, if I’m being honest.  They sort of reminded me of the movie “Sisters,” which I’ve watched recently (again – I love me some Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!), and there’s a specific line in the movie that rang true for the book: “People are really working their shit out at this thing.”

To be fair, the only people that ended up working their shit out were the siblings, and maybe one or two other people.

The reason for the three stars is because so much of this seemed obvious.  Not the party part, but definitely the flashbacks and especially those pictures.  I’m okay with sometimes guessing what’s going to happen before it does, but if I do that more than 2-3 times in a book, and it’s some of the main plot points, it gets a little boring.  The end helped, bumping this up to 3.5, because it wasn’t some sappy resolution, and it was in danger of being so.

There are some good lines in the beginning and the end about the fires of Malibu, but those didn’t save the book, either.  Not for me.  All in all, enjoyable for what it was, but it wasn’t my favorite!  Three books down for the year!