Reviews - Rise to the Sun | The StoryGraph

741 reviews for:

Rise to the Sun

Leah Johnson

3.62 AVERAGE

sunflowerjess's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I loved "You Should See Me in a Crown" by Leah Johnson, so I was so excited to read this one by her. It definitely delivered! Johnson is so good at creating realistic, beautifully strong characters with authentic weaknesses, passions, and life stories. I was rooting for Olivia and Toni the whole way. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and the narrators were fantastic!

mardzipan's review

3.0

3.5 stars

Johnson writes incredibly solid YA novels with likable, discerning characters.

In Rise to the Sun, you have Olivia and Toni, two seniors from different high schools who wish to reconnect with some aspect of themselves during the Farmland music festival. For both, music is meaningful to them. Respectively, they're battling their own past traumas and insecurities. They seek the music and crowds of Farmland to either escape from or reconnect with who they are.

Firstly, I'm not a huge romantic. But this novel was an enjoyable summer read. It was light-hearted with familiar tropes. It could easily be a light (but meaningful) rom-com movie.

I like Johnson's writing in particular because it's clear she's got smarts. I don't know how to write it any other way than that. She makes some clever, often funny, references that I appreciate.

I think the slight gripes I have with this book are similar to the ones I had for You Should See Me in a Crown. The plot leans on quite a few cliches. They aren't necessarily bad cliches, but there's quite a lot of them. I enjoyed the music festival setting more so than the high school/prom one. But the conflicts that existed, for e.g. between Olivia and her best friend, Imani, were typical.

The other gripe I have is that, while I appreciated nods to certain issues that worry young people, which included gun violence and sexual abuse (trigger warnings, take note), I felt like the novel could have sat with them a little more and explored them. Maybe, again, it's 'cause I'm not huge on romance that I felt these issues needed more attention.

But, honestly, really liked the pairing of Olivia and Toni. Especially appreciated a character like Toni because she is quite a different character - stoic but internally a ball of nerves. Clearly, I resonated with her more.

After two books, Johnson is an author I will definitely keep my eye out for future publications.