A review by citrus_seasalt
Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson

2.5

Not in the mood to write a long or semi-eloquent review for this one. I enjoyed Leah Johnson’s debut and found it charming, can’t say the same about most of this one. Toni was easily the better of the two protagonists, and I don’t just mean this because of the “hey! I connect with her over having a dead dad who loved music!” deal. Olivia left her friend in the dust so many times that I was cheering Imani on when she called her out. (Olivia gets self-sabotaging towards the end, but somehow, that still feels selfish? And poor Imani should have gotten a better friend.) Many difficult topics are in this novel, but some are barely written about, not in a deft way but in a way that seems kind of careless..? 

The beginning started off cute and very fluffy, but the instalove drove me up the wall, and that last half was rough…also Peter felt like he was trying a little hard to have golden retriever energy.