3.5 - very very sweet

4.5 - Last year, Leah Johnson stole my heart with You Should See Me In a Crown. I knew, right then and there, that I was never going to be able to turn down another of her stories. Rise to the Sun is not the same kind of story; it's not comedy. But it does contain Johnson's signature brand of humor, and it is beautifully romantic. Personally, I think it might just be better.

I honest to goodness could not stop adding stickies to this book, nor did I realize just how much I needed it. From the off, Toni and Olivia's journeys were some sort of catharsis, healing my soul even after only two chapters. By the end, the pages were water-stained and salty. This one's for the musicians. This one's for everyone who's been missing the way live music grabs you and won't let go. This one's for the lonely-hearted and those who've been told they're too big. And believe me when I say, you're going to want to shed tears on these pages too.

P.S. If you read Lighty's story first, keep your eyes out for a cameo or two ;)

https://bibliobrittish.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/for-the-ones-who-miss-live-music/

Really sweet, current teen novel.

For some reason this just didn’t hit. I get what the author was trying to do. A story with a music festival as background. And two young girls, insecure, not knowing what they want in life.

But. The ‘event’ that’s mentioned on the back of the book, happened at 2/3. I was like, when is it coming?? and it was minor. Which in the context makes sense, but I wanted more.

Because the book takes place over two whole days, I didn’t really feel the story reached its potential.

Do have to say that the book has some powerful lines and critiques on certain topics, which was nice.
The fact that I kind of skimmed the book after reading only 80 pages, made it a 2,5 ⭐️ for me. Not bad, just not for me.

You Should See Me in a Crown was one of my favorite reads of last year, and while this book isn't on the same level, I still enjoyed listening to the audiobook and will continue to pick up anything Leah Johnson writes.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Scholastic for providing a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

★

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

Oh man. What a plot twist. [b:You Should See Me in a Crown|50160619|You Should See Me in a Crown|Leah Johnson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568912283l/50160619._SX50_SY75_.jpg|69288604] is, really and truly, one of my favorite books of all time. But wow, I hated this.

This feels like a book written by an entirely different author. Pure melodrama, no nuance, and a hyper-annoying character to the nth degree. I am so disappointed. I wish I could pull out something I liked about this one, like I usually do. But I can't think of anything. Everything about this book failed, on every level, in my opinion.

Starting this was a really strange experience, because I feel like I was just shoved into a pool with no floaties — and, friends, I'm really fucking bad at swimming. The book begins at the music festival in question with no lead up whatsoever. We don't get to learn anything about the four central players; Johnson just decides to hit the gas and we are going, okay. Right off a cliff. The two main characters, Olivia and Toni, meet immediately, and we're crashing against every rock on the way down. They're complete strangers who suddenly decide to team up for the entire weekend — Toni to win a music competition, despite the fact that she has no idea if Olivia can sing, and Olivia to win a car from an apple collecting contest, which has absolutely nothing to do with any other plot going on in this novel.

The love story, one of the areas where Johnson most excelled in her debut novel, is awful. It is the worst case of insta-love I have ever encountered (though, I should preface this by saying I have not read most of the YA fantasy that was popular a decade ago). The entire book occurs over the course of three days, and on day two one of the characters is considering uttering an I love you. At this point they've kissed once, maybe twice. They've had a deep conversation or two. That's it. Pain. I feel pain.

Back to the pure melodrama. The love story is certainly the biggest part of that; the conflicts gave me more whiplash than the contrived third act conflicts I've read in many a romance. Blink, and you'll miss the "you can't love anyone because they'll hurt you, so I must break up with this girl I'm not actually dating!!!!!" turn. On top of that, the inclusion of discussion about mass shootings feels really distasteful here. It feels very "issue of the week" preachy about how awful they are, haphazardly tied to the tragic background of one of the characters. I'm finding this to be an issue in YA a lot; you can say, maybe, that YA is required to touch on these difficult topics, but its primary audience certainly deserves something less surface level than this.

Most importantly, Olivia is one of the most irritating characters I've had the displeasure of reading about. I completely understand her trauma and thought that was at least a little more successfully handled than the topic of mass shootings, but it's as if the book gives her a free pass to be as awful as she pleases because she's experienced terrible things. She is horribly selfish, beyond impulsive, and to be frank, does not need a girlfriend. She needs therapy, and stat. It particularly infuriates me that she treats her best friend like garbage and gets forgiven for it. The only satisfying part of this book were the pages in which Imani rightfully calls out her ridiculous behavior and mistreatment of her. And that is promptly ruined when she suffers no consequences. I wanted to like Olivia so much, especially because she is such a great contrast to the prudish YA characters who have overtaken the YA contemporary genre as if they are the only brand of teenager that exists out there. But Johnson really does her no favors.

Gotta say, I've read some really bad books this year, but this one is the leading contender for my least favorite book of the year. My judgment is clouded by how much I was anticipating this one, sure — but it's also just really, really bad.