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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
This book is exactly what I hope for when I read contemporary YA: sweet, earnest, breezy, and serious, all at once, with a sprinkling of dazzlingly lyrical lines that left me breathless. Some of my favorite character tropes got some good rep here too: we've got bisexual disaster Olivia, loveable himbo nerd Peter, creative genius ice queen Toni, and takes-none-of-your-shit-but-actually-takes-all-of-your-shit bestie Imani. There are tears, there is mud, there are asthma attacks, there is poor cell phone reception, and there is kissing, and I love all of it.
I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did since the premise isn't really my thing. However, after hearing such good things about it from other YA authors I'm into, I gave it a read and am so glad I did!
The characters felt incredibly realistic to me, something that doesn't always happen with teenagers in YA books. Olivia dates a lot because it makes her feel special and loved, Toni closes herself off in response to a traumatic loss. Both read like actual teenagers navigating complicated emotions. Despite neither wanting a romantic relationship with the other, Olivia and Toni fit together so well that it happens anyway. The relationship develops quickly, as the book takes place over the three day festival. However, given how impulsive Olivia is, the atmosphere of the festival, and how big emotions can feel as a teenager, I did not find this to be unrealistic.
Overall, I'd say anyone looking for a cute YA romance should read Rise to the Sun. It's fresh, sweet, and the characters shine.
The characters felt incredibly realistic to me, something that doesn't always happen with teenagers in YA books. Olivia dates a lot because it makes her feel special and loved, Toni closes herself off in response to a traumatic loss. Both read like actual teenagers navigating complicated emotions. Despite neither wanting a romantic relationship with the other, Olivia and Toni fit together so well that it happens anyway. The relationship develops quickly, as the book takes place over the three day festival. However, given how impulsive Olivia is, the atmosphere of the festival, and how big emotions can feel as a teenager, I did not find this to be unrealistic.
Overall, I'd say anyone looking for a cute YA romance should read Rise to the Sun. It's fresh, sweet, and the characters shine.
Another great romance! A little more drama than Johnson's first novel and less commentary on bigger issues. However, it was a quick and awesome read!
Leah Johnson has knocked it out of the park again! I adored the characters in this one, I loved how real, messy, and vulnerable these girls were allowed to be. Their growth throughout the story was so well done, and I loved getting to see the journey they took both individually and together. This novel also tackled with grace a lot of really important issues that teenagers these days face: gun violence, death of a parent, violation of privacy and defamation of character from a former partner. I also loved the way it wasn't just about romance, it was also about self discovery and friendship, healing and trauma. Overall it was a fantastic novel and I'm so excited for it to publish!
3.5✨
I loved You Should See Me in a Crown but Rise to the Sun didn’t quite pull me in the way I hoped it would. It was still cute and tackled important themes but I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing and I found myself getting distracted very easily. I’m excited for Leah Johnson’s future books but this one didn’t quite meet my expectations.
I loved You Should See Me in a Crown but Rise to the Sun didn’t quite pull me in the way I hoped it would. It was still cute and tackled important themes but I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing and I found myself getting distracted very easily. I’m excited for Leah Johnson’s future books but this one didn’t quite meet my expectations.
Rise to the Sun takes place in the summer at a musical festival in Georgia, but with the farm and apples playing such a prominent theme, it also felt like such a perfect fall read. I loved Olivia and Toni, and watching them grow into the people then are - rather than the people everyone expects them to be. When a book is set over three days, it makes me wonder if character development is going to be possible or the love story even believable, but Leah Johnson did a masterful job of both. This book was just right.
DNF at 44%. This was disappointing for me as I absolutely loved You Should See Me in a Crown. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad book, but - from the get-go - I couldn’t get behind Olivia’s behavior towards her supposed “best friend” and was annoyed by both her actions and her self-talk. It was hard to be 50% in the mind of a character who was so insecure that they thought about it all the time. I think this insecurity may be realistic to some people’s experience, but I found it tiring to read in a book. Toni’s sections of the book were better written and I liked the supporting cast, but I almost think the setting and short timeframe of this book combined with a lot of heavy topics and gimmicky plot devices made for something overall unappealing and not for this reader. I will be excited to see what the author writes in the future, but couldn’t get into this book.
I loved the messiness of the characters in this - they felt real and compelling and even kind of annoying at times, which is fine, because people are often annoying in their realness. Also very glad to see queer Black girls at the center of this story - obviously there should be many books that center queer Black girls, but until the last couple years, maybe, the YA pickings have been slim.
I was less convinced by the romance between Toni and Olivia. While I totally get that sharing an intense experience like a music festival can create an attraction, it was harder for me to understand why these two particular girls were so drawn to each other. I was actually more into their personal journeys and their friendships than the romance itself. Definitely enjoyed the ways the book was a love letter to live music, and it was nice to escape into a pre-/non-covid world where big music festivals like Farmland seem like a really good time.
I was less convinced by the romance between Toni and Olivia. While I totally get that sharing an intense experience like a music festival can create an attraction, it was harder for me to understand why these two particular girls were so drawn to each other. I was actually more into their personal journeys and their friendships than the romance itself. Definitely enjoyed the ways the book was a love letter to live music, and it was nice to escape into a pre-/non-covid world where big music festivals like Farmland seem like a really good time.
2.5⭐️ this started off so good and then just got so cliche and boring. I could literally guess every scene and line that happened next. and one of the ‘plot twists’ was one of the ya tropes I hate the most. I loved the festival scene aspect of it.
I hate hate hate when a book I was really anticipating turns out to be a disappointment.
This book had a lot of potential in terms of the story and set of characters but the author just tries to cram too much into one story. The choice of having Imani be in love with Olivia didn’t need to happen in my opinion. The reader could already sympathize with Imani because of Olivia’s selfishness, the in love thing was just overkill. You can feel left out as a best friend without being in love with them! Romantic love doesn’t trump platonic love, radio silence is a perfect example of this.
I’m a bit upset at how the characters were handled, I didn’t feel connected with them at all, and when I did feel something towards them…it was loathing. I disliked Olivia for literally leaving Imani behind several times to hand out with Toni, and Toni and Imani barely had any interaction with each other? It was later addressed at the end of the book but it didn’t feel rewarding at all. I also found Toni very frustrating, why would you get mad at someone kissing someone else when YOU broke up with them? And they didn’t even really talk about the breakup? Sigh.
This book had a lot of potential in terms of the story and set of characters but the author just tries to cram too much into one story. The choice of having Imani be in love with Olivia didn’t need to happen in my opinion. The reader could already sympathize with Imani because of Olivia’s selfishness, the in love thing was just overkill. You can feel left out as a best friend without being in love with them! Romantic love doesn’t trump platonic love, radio silence is a perfect example of this.
I’m a bit upset at how the characters were handled, I didn’t feel connected with them at all, and when I did feel something towards them…it was loathing. I disliked Olivia for literally leaving Imani behind several times to hand out with Toni, and Toni and Imani barely had any interaction with each other? It was later addressed at the end of the book but it didn’t feel rewarding at all. I also found Toni very frustrating, why would you get mad at someone kissing someone else when YOU broke up with them? And they didn’t even really talk about the breakup? Sigh.