Review: Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m getting ready to go camping tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to. This will be the only post this week until Friday, as I’ll be gone on Tuesday. Today, I have a review for one of the books I read for Pride Month!

Rise to the Sun was one of my most anticipated releases for 2021. I loved Leah Johnson’s debut novel, You Should See Me in a Crown, so I had some hopes for this. Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite live up to them.

Title: Rise to the Sun
Author: Leah Johnson
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Series: None
Page Count: 336 (hardcover)

A stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark.

Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.

Toni is grieving the loss of her roadie father and needing to figure out where her life will go from here — and she’s desperate to get back to loving music. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again) and is beginning to feel like she’ll always be a square peg in a round hole — but the Farmland Music and Arts Festival is a chance to find a place where she fits.

The two collide and it feels like something like kismet when a bond begins to form. But when something goes wrong and the festival is sent into a panic, Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other (and music) more than they ever imagined.

Content Warnings

parental death – gun violence – shooting – panic attacks – PTSD – non-consenual sharing of photos

There are no spoilers in this review.

Rise to the Sun follows Olivia and Toni at the Farmland Music and Arts Festival. Both are looking forward to a weekend of live music and spending time with their friends. They don’t expect to cross paths and they definitely don’t expect to end up forming a relationship with one another. This book is written in dual perspective and takes place over the three days of the music festival.

I really wanted to like Rise to the Sun. However, some aspects weren’t my thing. The themes and character arcs were amazing and I also appreciated the representation of queer Black girls. Olivia has been in a lot of romantic relationships that ended badly for her; her most recent one was a disaster. She’s been lead to believe that she’s too much for anyone and that she needs to become a different person–someone who can change to fit people’s needs. Olivia is a bit of an unlikable character. She’s selfish and not a very good friend but I like how she learned from the mistakes she made and became more aware of those around her. She also learned that she does deserve to be loved and that she doesn’t need to change herself.

“That big love you give everyone else-you deserve to save some for yourself. You’re worth that much. You’re worth every good thing.”

Toni’s known the Farmland festival for all her life and this year is the first one without her father who died eight months ago. She’s hoping to find something that will lead her to know what she wants to do after high school. Toni is very standoffish; she’s even be nicknamed the Ice Queen for her cold and distant personality. She’s been finding it hard to let people in after getting hurt from her father’s death. Over the course of the story, she slowly starts letting her barriers down.

Olivia and Toni are very different from each other but I kept getting their chapters mixed up. Unless they were directly talking to each other, I sometimes forgot who was narrating. Olivia is an extroverted, energetic person, while Toni has a quieter personality, so their voices should’ve been more distinct.

Insta-love is one my least favorite tropes since it’s so unrealistic, and having it in here brought down my rating a lot. Because Olivia and Toni only know each for a short amount of time, it was hard to fully imagine them being together and having these deep, emotional conversations. I also didn’t love the fact that, once Toni met Olivia, everything started to open up in her life for the first time since her dad’s passing. I feel like it’s not realistic; romance doesn’t solve all the challenges you’ve been facing, but it was portrayed that way with Toni.

“Love is messy and awkward and ugly, but at least it’s honest.”

Another prominent character was Imani, Olivia’s best friend. I feel like Olivia treated her really unfairly. She promised Imani that the festival would a best friend weekend and that she wouldn’t get involved in another relationship. And she goes and does just that. It’s like she didn’t even realize what she was doing. I’m proud of Imani for finally standing up for herself and telling Olivia that she’s being unfair to her. But then it gets blown over and Olivia is forgiven so easily.

All in all, Rise to the Sun was an okay read. I liked the themes of self-discovery and friendship and the setting was also a nice atmosphere. I just didn’t like the romance and, seeing that this book is mainly a romance, it brought down my opinion.

My Rating: 3/5 dragons

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Have you read Rise to the Sun? Is it on your TBR?
What are some romances you recommend?