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betweentheshelves's review
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, and Toxic friendship
jennikreads's review against another edition
The characters felt inconsistent. They were doing things that the setup for their character made seem incredibly unrealistic, but were explained away by this being "completely out of character". Which felt really annoying because there was this whole setup for who these characters were and then it just went out the window. I also wasn't a fan of the way one of the main characters was repeatedly treating her ride or die best friend. Ultimately that dynamic is why I stopped reading. I have very low tolerance for toxic friendship dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Grief
Minor: Toxic friendship
melaniereadsbooks's review
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
turtlebrainlibrarian's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, and Toxic friendship
kaitherabbit's review
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was one of my most anticipated reads, but I'm only a little disappointed. After trying and dnf-ing You should see me in a crown, I knew that this was gonna be a hard sell. I disliked Olivia so much and compared to her, Toni seemed like a reprieve. Also, I love the ice queen/king trope. That being said I think that Leah Johnson is a good writer. She writes unlikable characters in a compelling way. I really wanted to know how everything ended up. I get that this was supposed to be black girl joy, but I only got black girl romance. No one was really joyful (especially with Imani getting snubbed and Olivia just straight up ignoring her). I like the aesthetic of the festival too. Reminds me of the ones we have here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment
Minor: Grief and Death of parent
delz's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent
Minor: Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
aliciaclarereads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief
Minor: Gun violence
bookcrushin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
5.0
There are a lot of content warnings for this book please look at those before reading to make sure you are safe (grief, gun violence -current and in the past, as well as internet photo revenge porn).
I loved this story. It was fun, fast-paced, and had real growth of characters. Sometimes when we are young, we take our friends for granted and sometimes we take ourselves for granted. We want to be loved, and to be liked, and to be fun.
A music festival is definitely a test to your strength and will, especially when your friend want you to be different, but you truly just are being yourself. As we grow and find ourselves, we take some of what we were as teens with us into adulthood, and those lessons can serve us well.
I loved this story. It was fun, fast-paced, and had real growth of characters. Sometimes when we are young, we take our friends for granted and sometimes we take ourselves for granted. We want to be loved, and to be liked, and to be fun.
A music festival is definitely a test to your strength and will, especially when your friend want you to be different, but you truly just are being yourself. As we grow and find ourselves, we take some of what we were as teens with us into adulthood, and those lessons can serve us well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gun violence, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
revenge pornperpetualpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.25
CWs: references to mass shootings and gun violence; loss of a parent and grief; trauma, anxiety, PTSD, and panic attacks; asthma attacks; some exploration of public slut shaming and online harassment
Once again, Leah Johnson writes an unforgettable story that is emotionally evocative, powerful, and cathartic. Rise to the Sun is definitely not a book I would classify as a "rom-com," but it does have a strong romantic subplot while still largely being a story about healing, self-discovery, and learning to be unafraid.
While You Should See Me in a Crown is often billed as a "cutesy, fluffy queer rom-com," I think people often forget that it's also a story that tackles really complex topics like racism, homophobia, privilege, classism, and even chronic illness. While I don't think the two books should be compared because they're fundamentally different, I also think it's important to acknowledge that Rise to the Sun does more of same, but perhaps with even more emotional stakes.
What I really appreciate about this story is about how it centers two queer Black girls who are deeply flawed, and the story allows them to *be* flawed and make mistakes. The story understands that there are so many reasons why Black girls, especially, don't allow themselves to experience joy, how they're expected to meet unspoken and unreasonable standards of behavior in order to be "deserving" of that joy, which only further keeps it out of reach.
Olivia and Toni are deeply imperfect. Olivia is self-centered, impulsive, constantly prioritizing romance over any other type of relationship, and she will go to great lengths to avoid the issues in her life at all costs. Toni is still grieving the death of her father, she's insecure and uncertain about her path in life, she's keeps herself emotionally distant and is really bad about giving people chances. While it may seem like these two are far from a perfect match, their flaws and their behavioral tendencies challenge the other person, and they're both able to grow *because* of that discomfort.
And most importantly, their relationship shows the reader that you don't need to be perfect in order to be worthy of love; love—of any kind—is not something that you only get to have once you stop making mistakes. Rise to the Sun is a story that says, "You deserve the kind of love where you are seen in your totality, not just for the pieces of yourself that are smallest and easiest to process."
I also appreciate how this backdrop of a summer music festival could've easily been this fun, inconsequential setting incorporated for the sake of novelty, but the story manages to balance a sense of adventure and excitement while also addressing the real-world issues that come into play. Specifically, this story explores gun violence and mass shootings, which I think is a sadly necessary conversation to have, especially for stories like this taking place in the United States, where gun violence poses a very real threat to any kind of widely-attended event or experience. Especially if you're a person of color, that's something that's always on your mind, and you're constantly questioning how you balance being present and being visible with possibly unknowingly putting yourself in a space that's dangerous. So again, it kind of goes back to that question of learning to be unafraid and trying to figure out how you pursue joy and experience joy knowing that joy is indefinite and precious.
I also love how this story is so fast-paced. It definitely has a compressed timeline with the festival only lasting three days, and because of that "ticking clock," the characters are really trying to make the most of each and every moment. There's really no downtime in this story; the characters are constantly being pushed forward by the jam-packed schedule of the festival, which creates both a sense of anticipation and also tension between the characters as they realize the festival is coming to a close. It's a really effective structural device for the story, and it's a big part of why I felt so incredibly invested in both the event and the characters.
And the way this story showcases music—both literally and as metaphor—is so incredibly special. It's hard for written prose to capture the energy, electricity, and power of music, especially live music, because words and sound seem so completely unrelated on the surface. But Leah Johnson is really able to make you *feel* the energy of music and its emotional resonance through her writing alone, and I think that's a truly remarkable feat. Music as a metaphor also comes up quite a bit as the relationship between Toni and Olivia deepens, and even though comparing romance to song is somewhat of a cliche, Johnson is able to make it feel powerful, and earnest, and fresh.
Ultimately, I once again felt an immense sense of gratitude for Leah Johnson after finishing this book. It's a story that's so clearly written from a place of love, and that is so evidently a love letter to queer Black girls, specifically. In these pages, Leah tells those readers: "You are worthy of the time it takes to figure yourself out and you deserve grace when it comes to not knowing. You are allowed to be imperfect. You deserve happiness for the sake of happiness." It's such a worthy message that comes across with so much care and nuance, and I once again just feel thankful that her work exists and that so many more people will get a chance to experience this story and internalize that message for themselves.
Once again, Leah Johnson writes an unforgettable story that is emotionally evocative, powerful, and cathartic. Rise to the Sun is definitely not a book I would classify as a "rom-com," but it does have a strong romantic subplot while still largely being a story about healing, self-discovery, and learning to be unafraid.
While You Should See Me in a Crown is often billed as a "cutesy, fluffy queer rom-com," I think people often forget that it's also a story that tackles really complex topics like racism, homophobia, privilege, classism, and even chronic illness. While I don't think the two books should be compared because they're fundamentally different, I also think it's important to acknowledge that Rise to the Sun does more of same, but perhaps with even more emotional stakes.
What I really appreciate about this story is about how it centers two queer Black girls who are deeply flawed, and the story allows them to *be* flawed and make mistakes. The story understands that there are so many reasons why Black girls, especially, don't allow themselves to experience joy, how they're expected to meet unspoken and unreasonable standards of behavior in order to be "deserving" of that joy, which only further keeps it out of reach.
Olivia and Toni are deeply imperfect. Olivia is self-centered, impulsive, constantly prioritizing romance over any other type of relationship, and she will go to great lengths to avoid the issues in her life at all costs. Toni is still grieving the death of her father, she's insecure and uncertain about her path in life, she's keeps herself emotionally distant and is really bad about giving people chances. While it may seem like these two are far from a perfect match, their flaws and their behavioral tendencies challenge the other person, and they're both able to grow *because* of that discomfort.
And most importantly, their relationship shows the reader that you don't need to be perfect in order to be worthy of love; love—of any kind—is not something that you only get to have once you stop making mistakes. Rise to the Sun is a story that says, "You deserve the kind of love where you are seen in your totality, not just for the pieces of yourself that are smallest and easiest to process."
I also appreciate how this backdrop of a summer music festival could've easily been this fun, inconsequential setting incorporated for the sake of novelty, but the story manages to balance a sense of adventure and excitement while also addressing the real-world issues that come into play. Specifically, this story explores gun violence and mass shootings, which I think is a sadly necessary conversation to have, especially for stories like this taking place in the United States, where gun violence poses a very real threat to any kind of widely-attended event or experience. Especially if you're a person of color, that's something that's always on your mind, and you're constantly questioning how you balance being present and being visible with possibly unknowingly putting yourself in a space that's dangerous. So again, it kind of goes back to that question of learning to be unafraid and trying to figure out how you pursue joy and experience joy knowing that joy is indefinite and precious.
I also love how this story is so fast-paced. It definitely has a compressed timeline with the festival only lasting three days, and because of that "ticking clock," the characters are really trying to make the most of each and every moment. There's really no downtime in this story; the characters are constantly being pushed forward by the jam-packed schedule of the festival, which creates both a sense of anticipation and also tension between the characters as they realize the festival is coming to a close. It's a really effective structural device for the story, and it's a big part of why I felt so incredibly invested in both the event and the characters.
And the way this story showcases music—both literally and as metaphor—is so incredibly special. It's hard for written prose to capture the energy, electricity, and power of music, especially live music, because words and sound seem so completely unrelated on the surface. But Leah Johnson is really able to make you *feel* the energy of music and its emotional resonance through her writing alone, and I think that's a truly remarkable feat. Music as a metaphor also comes up quite a bit as the relationship between Toni and Olivia deepens, and even though comparing romance to song is somewhat of a cliche, Johnson is able to make it feel powerful, and earnest, and fresh.
Ultimately, I once again felt an immense sense of gratitude for Leah Johnson after finishing this book. It's a story that's so clearly written from a place of love, and that is so evidently a love letter to queer Black girls, specifically. In these pages, Leah tells those readers: "You are worthy of the time it takes to figure yourself out and you deserve grace when it comes to not knowing. You are allowed to be imperfect. You deserve happiness for the sake of happiness." It's such a worthy message that comes across with so much care and nuance, and I once again just feel thankful that her work exists and that so many more people will get a chance to experience this story and internalize that message for themselves.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Gun violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, and Toxic relationship