Rise To The Sun by Leah Johnson - Book Review
9/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TWs: parental loss, gun violence, panic attacks, non-consensual image sharing
(TWs are in order of severity, please take them seriously!)
I finished Rise to the Sun 2000 miles in the air somewhere above the southeastern United States. I was, literally, rising to the sun. This book touched my heart in so many ways, and there is a disturbing lack of Pinterest boards about it? (Someone needs to get on that, asap).
I feel so lucky to have read so many amazing books about queer POC this summer, and this one is definitely at the top of that list. It’s been a long time since a book made me laugh out loud at a joke or exclaim “SERIOUSLY?” at a plot twist. A long time since I’ve felt in conversation with the characters instead of just watching them. Olivia and Toni truly warmed my heart (and convinced me to have an appreciation for live music despite having a general fear of crowds). If you’re a music fan, a festival fan, a romantic, or all of the above this is for you!
Summary:
“Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.
Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her.
Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward.
When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined.”
TL;DR Two girls have a chance meeting at a music festival in northern Georgia and end up getting way more than either of them bargained for.
Let’s talk representation:
This section is gonna be short - not for lack of rep but bc it’s pretty simple and I’m sleepy. This is not really an own voices review, so this is just listing the representation I saw and not my take on it.
Olivia and Toni are both queer Black girls (Olivia is going into her senior year of highschool and Toni into her freshman year of college).
Imani & Peter, the respective best friends, are also of color (not gonna elaborate on rep here bc spoilers).
I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community, so I can affirm that from my POV the wlw rep was good - realistic. It didn’t portray the relationship as something perfect or overly dramatic - it was like any other love story in all the best ways: flawed.
There is a character who experiences panic attacks, so 1. Please take those content warnings seriously (listed at the beginning of the book) 2. It’s accurate, painfully so.
And ofc I’m not gonna review a book by an author that isn’t of the communities they’re writing about, so this is an “Own Voices” book🤗
What I Liked:
Whewww 😮💨 I could talk about this book for ages. To start, let’s talk about character development. When I say flawed characters I mean flawed characters and I loved seeing their growth and knowing that it didn’t need to all work out in the end, they would keep working with what they had.
Clear communication, good messages about life & living in the moment, some close to home moments for American readers dealing with the regular gun violence here, the works.
Rise to the Sun was written during quarantine and I think that’s part of why it inspires me so much- it makes me happy to know that during one of the loneliest times in the nation someone was able to write a love story this beautiful, celebrating human connection - the one thing we were missing so desperately.
There’s a special place in my heart for queer love stories involving music, especially duos. Maybe it’s the ex. choir kid talking, but someone singing a song with you is such an intimate and massive thing at the same time, & I think that captures music festivals perfectly.
I also really really can’t wait for the pandemic to be over now so I can go to my first concert! The last music festival I went to was a Reggae festival a couple towns over & though I don’t remember enough, this book awakened some good memories 🎶
Why I couldn’t give it a 10:
Full disclosure, I was sure this was going to be a ten for over half the book. Olivia’s character was well done, I thought, because yes she was flawed but I was sure she was going to have a moment of realization/redemption. That moment came… but it wasn’t equal to the level of problem if that makes sense? Which has honestly been my problem with some books in the past.
I understand she has low self esteem and has been going thru it, but her automatic response to [redacted for spoilers] was uncomfortable. I had to put down the book and take a break, and convince myself to finish. I’m glad I did, but that was a major almost DNF moment. I think Olivia had some deeper problems beyond just being selfish and those weren’t really addressed? I would recommend therapy 😭
I’m so grateful for Imani’s character for calling stuff out and showing that friendships can be … complicated and definitely far from perfect. She deserved better.
I’m glad Olivia got her HEA but at the same time I wasn’t rooting for her as much by the time we got there. This was just my personal take on it so others may feel differently though, and I understand that!
It took a point off but overall I’m happy I finished the book and I loved how sincerely hopeful it was. Truly Rising To The Sun.
I sincerely recommend this to:
Fans of Nicola Yoon (The Sun Is Also A Star, Everything Everything) ⭐️
People who are obsessed with Woodstock & music history 📖
Queer musicians 🏳️🌈
Folk music enthusiasts 🪕
Rupi Kaur fans (specifically her book Sunflower) 🌻
People who have seen Heartstopper📺
I promise you won’t regret picking up this book! Definitely check out some of the quotes if you get the chance😍
(I also have a lot of drafts for reviews so there will be more coming soon after I finish my library books 😅)
11 notes
·
View notes