Reviews with content warning for Mass/school shootings - Rise to the Sun

I really liked this book, I have read the author's other books and look forward to anything else she writes. This book is upbeat and bright while talking about dark subjects and other topics with nuance. I kinda wanted the story to go on but I am okay with where the story ends.

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

3.75

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. It didn't grab me like <i>You Should See Me in a Crown</i> did, but this is also a different story and a totally different kind of book. Yes, there was still a great romance and I loved that aspect of the story. Leah Johnson is great at writing character. Maybe I just wasn't a huge fan of the setting? I don't know! I'll have to give it more thought.

There were some plot points that I also didn't think were really needed for this particular story. I would have been fine with the book just focusing on Toni and Olivia's relationship and how it evolved over the weekend. The rest of the stuff going on with the festival kind of took away from that, and I wish that it hadn't.

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melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fun and cute contemporary that dealt with some deeper topics! I really enjoyed Olivia as a character. She very much morphs her own personality to the people she is around which is so relatable, but I love that she decides to just be herself throughout the events of this book and the way it pays off for her. Great, cute, sapphic, coming of age novel!

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turtlebrainlibrarian's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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delz's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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? Yes

4.0

Rise to the Sun is a sweet story that takes place at a weekend long concert, Farmland Music & Arts Festival. Olivia drags her best friend, Imani for the weekend to get away from a decision she needs to make, back home, but she simply wants to forget. Toni has been coming to the festival most of her life, but since tragedy struck her family she wasn’t sure coming was the right decision. Toni brings her best friend Peter, he’s been the only person she’s let into her life for a while, until she meets Olivia. Olivia has secrets, Toni has secrets, but they just might learn to trust each other. The entire story takes place in one weekend, woven around a music festival. It’s sweaty and dirty, it’s loud and colorful and it romanticizes the experience of being in a shared space, with a love of music along with thousands of other people. You kind of live vicariously through the characters enjoying live, large concerts.

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candidceillie's review

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5.0

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