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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Almost Perfect
This book delivered everything that I love about the Young Adult genre. The storyline was fun and interesting from beginning to end. The romance was so sweet and wholesome. I loved seeing Olivia and Toni learn to love themselves. Their growth and acceptance was beautiful. The highlight of having real friends to have your back no matter what warmed my heart. There was a reasonable amount of angst and heartache. There was comedy and feel good moments. The only draw back was the lack of soul. The backdrop of the story happened at a punk music festival. That’s not relatable for me. I was hoping for something with a little more seasoning. A little more melanin magic. Overall, it was a great read. Leah Johnson delivered another winner!
This book delivered everything that I love about the Young Adult genre. The storyline was fun and interesting from beginning to end. The romance was so sweet and wholesome. I loved seeing Olivia and Toni learn to love themselves. Their growth and acceptance was beautiful. The highlight of having real friends to have your back no matter what warmed my heart. There was a reasonable amount of angst and heartache. There was comedy and feel good moments. The only draw back was the lack of soul. The backdrop of the story happened at a punk music festival. That’s not relatable for me. I was hoping for something with a little more seasoning. A little more melanin magic. Overall, it was a great read. Leah Johnson delivered another winner!
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
DNF... too much angst and not enough fun, unfortunately. I do really like Johnson's writing (YSSMIAC was fabulous) but this is driven more by the dark places in the 2 main characters' heads than humor or fun. Just not for me!
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
i started this a random day at the library over the winter but didn’t check it out
and then i just borrowed the audiobook but i didn’t like the narrators voice at all so i returned
and then i just borrowed the audiobook but i didn’t like the narrators voice at all so i returned
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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rise to the Sun was so wonderful in so many different ways! Reading Olivia and Toni's perspectives was lovely because they had great depth to them. My heart was hurting for them, but also soaring at the same time. They had such a fantastic dynamic and paralleled each other nicely. The concept of this book was unique and I personally loved everything about the setting. But one of the best things about this book was the character's connections to music, especially Toni's. I found myself getting lost in the elaborate descriptions about particularly her love for music. Sometimes the conflict of the book could be frustrating, but all in all, the incredibly powerful messages written within overpowered that.
Almost DNF because I did not get into it at all, but it was on audiobook, so I finished it while cleaning.
It was like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet for a lesbian couple. These two girls meet at a music festival and fall in love in a matter of hours. There’s no real conflict - one wavers between obtaining a golden apple at the festival, the two falling in love, other friendships, and an active shooter threat that wasn’t actually one.
It was so unbelievable, unrepeatable, and there was honestly no point.
It was like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet for a lesbian couple. These two girls meet at a music festival and fall in love in a matter of hours. There’s no real conflict - one wavers between obtaining a golden apple at the festival, the two falling in love, other friendships, and an active shooter threat that wasn’t actually one.
It was so unbelievable, unrepeatable, and there was honestly no point.
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Olivia is trying to make her way through yet another heartbreak with help from her best friend and trying to figure out how she can ever face going back to school after her latest romantic disaster.
Toni is grieving the death of her roadie father and trying to figure out what happens next when pursuing her dreams feels a lot like making the same mistakes her father seems to have made.
Two different roads lead to the same destination and Olivia and Toni end up at the Farmland Music and Arts Festival. The festival is a chance to enjoy live music and for both girls a chance to have one last really good time before everything changes.
What neither of them counted on is meeting each other. With chemistry that feels inevitable, Olivia and Toni are immediately drawn to each other. But after spending so long making bad choices, will either of them be ready to make the right one this time?
When the festival goes from a safe haven to anything but, both Olivia and Toni will have to dig deep to find their way back to each other and to the music they both love in Rise to the Sun (2021) by Leah Johnson.
Rise to the Sun is Johnson's sophomore novel. This standalone contemporary can be read alone but readers familiar with Johnson's previous novel You Should See Me in a Crown will recognize secondary character Mack and everyone's favorite band. Olivia, Toni, and Olivia's best friend are Black. Toni's best friend Peter is presumed Indian (last name Menon). The story alternates between Olivia and Toni's first person narrations.
This story is an ode to music--both performing and listening--as well as live performance. Farmland is such a well described setting that it quickly becomes a character in the story as the novel builds to a final act where the fate of the long-running music festival is called into question.
At the start of the novel, Toni is still grieving her father's death and still unsure how to reconcile her love of music with her father's seeming lack of success in the same profession before his premature death. Scared to be hurt again, she instead closes herself off with self-destructive choices to deny what (and who) she really wants.
Olivia, meanwhile, is a self-described nightmare person. Constantly surrounded by drama from her endless search for love, Olivia is used to having her hand held by best friend Imani through any and every stumbling block. The tension between long-suffering Imani and oblivious Olivia adds another layer to this story as Johnson explores what makes a healthy friendship alongside the specific pain of unrequited love.
Rise to the Sun is a story of first love, second chances, friendship and one epic music festival. Recommended for readers who enjoy books with festivals or road trips, music, and characters with chemistry.
Possible Pairings: Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest, Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker, Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud, The Summer of Jordi Perez and the Best Burgers in Los Angeles by Amy Spalding
Toni is grieving the death of her roadie father and trying to figure out what happens next when pursuing her dreams feels a lot like making the same mistakes her father seems to have made.
Two different roads lead to the same destination and Olivia and Toni end up at the Farmland Music and Arts Festival. The festival is a chance to enjoy live music and for both girls a chance to have one last really good time before everything changes.
What neither of them counted on is meeting each other. With chemistry that feels inevitable, Olivia and Toni are immediately drawn to each other. But after spending so long making bad choices, will either of them be ready to make the right one this time?
When the festival goes from a safe haven to anything but, both Olivia and Toni will have to dig deep to find their way back to each other and to the music they both love in Rise to the Sun (2021) by Leah Johnson.
Rise to the Sun is Johnson's sophomore novel. This standalone contemporary can be read alone but readers familiar with Johnson's previous novel You Should See Me in a Crown will recognize secondary character Mack and everyone's favorite band. Olivia, Toni, and Olivia's best friend are Black. Toni's best friend Peter is presumed Indian (last name Menon). The story alternates between Olivia and Toni's first person narrations.
This story is an ode to music--both performing and listening--as well as live performance. Farmland is such a well described setting that it quickly becomes a character in the story as the novel builds to a final act where the fate of the long-running music festival is called into question.
At the start of the novel, Toni is still grieving her father's death and still unsure how to reconcile her love of music with her father's seeming lack of success in the same profession before his premature death. Scared to be hurt again, she instead closes herself off with self-destructive choices to deny what (and who) she really wants.
Olivia, meanwhile, is a self-described nightmare person. Constantly surrounded by drama from her endless search for love, Olivia is used to having her hand held by best friend Imani through any and every stumbling block. The tension between long-suffering Imani and oblivious Olivia adds another layer to this story as Johnson explores what makes a healthy friendship alongside the specific pain of unrequited love.
Rise to the Sun is a story of first love, second chances, friendship and one epic music festival. Recommended for readers who enjoy books with festivals or road trips, music, and characters with chemistry.
Possible Pairings: Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest, Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker, Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud, The Summer of Jordi Perez and the Best Burgers in Los Angeles by Amy Spalding