Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

All opinions are my own. I was lucky enough to receive advance copy through a book tour hosted by HearOurVoices.

I had my first child at 17 years old. I was also a foster kid. I was an honor student and stayed an honor student while graduating high school. The neighborhood I went to high school wasn't the best and wasn't the worst for my area. This book was an eye opener in a way. Life definitely could've been much worse in circumstances were different. B'onca's story is more common than people can imagine and not many have the second chance she was blessed with. I have had a relative and some acquaintances who ran the streets and didn't make it out unscathed. As a mother I understand doing whatever it takes for my child. However, I won't compromise my well being and the chance they won't have me for anything. I always make things work even if I have to go without.

If I’m being honest I went into this thinking it was one thing and it turned out to be something different. I enjoyed it none the less and def would read something by this author again.

"Sun Keep Rising" follows the life of new teenage mom, B’Onca Johnson, who is struggling to make ends meet in order to provide for her baby girl, Mia. As gentrification threatens her home and the rest of the Memphis neighborhood where she lives, B’Onca must choose between going away to college or staying at home to follow her dream of having her own hair salon.

In this emotional novel, Lee tackles topics of teenage motherhood, drug addiction, gang violence, poverty, gentrification, and intergenerational trauma. Dealing with all of these situations is difficult and B’Onca tries her best to power through. As in many cases of adolescence, naïveté and stubbornness
cloud B’Onca’s judgment and lead to some questionable decisions that may put her on a path to becoming the one thing she is trying to avoid: being an absent mother.

"Sun Keep Rising" serves as a reminder that life is all about choices, but those choices are significantly harder to make when you are a young, Black, single mother who lives in poverty and doesn't have the support of a financially stable household. Overall, this book has the potential to inspire necessary conversations about systemic injustice, navigating complicated lifestyles, and transitioning to adulthood. Even though it was a moving story, there were a few unanswered questions that left me feeling a bit unfulfilled. Maybe that means we’ll see B’Onca again in the future.

Rating: 👩🏽‍🍼👩🏽‍🍼👩🏽‍🍼.5/5

Thank you to Kristin R. Lee and Crown Books for Young Readers for providing me with this e-ARC via NetGalley. All opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Now there is absolutely NO way in hell you decided to end the book like that!

New favorite added to the shelf, not only for the plot, but our main character, B'onca. Her determination and selflessness is literally everything. I loved her character, the way she thought, the way she wanted better for her daughter, Mia, no matter what it took. Even if it took using money she saved for herself, B made sure Mia had "no thoughts of wanting" something.
And may I say, this was so hella nicely written representation! The way Kristen wrote the gradual process of B'onca's eventual plot-twisting decision was just mindblowing. It wasn't rushingly written, every thought popping up at once. It was written in an eventual flow, with small moments of doubt.
And OMG, can we talk abt Dej? Like, did anyone else kind of think of Dijonay from The Proud Family? Just me? Nice to know, Lol.
But oh my goodness, this was just absolutely a heartwretching book, I'm telling you. Watching the decisons and the conversations between characters were definetely something I can tell you was miraculously written.

And TBH, I'd kinda like to see a second part to this! The way we were just sped past her bail and her question to Trent near the ending threw me the absolute FUCK off. But I'm going to say, if it's not expanded, I'm glad B got her happy ending.

This book is great depiction of teenage motherhood and the sacrifices that are made to survive. This is a new to me author and I will definitely read more. It deals with the topics of addiction and family issues with compassion and care. B’Onca feels like a real teenager; she’s being confronted with the injustices of the adult world way too early and knows certain decisions are wrong, yet still makes these poor decisions impulsively without thinking it through or thinking to ask for help. This quick novel paints an insightful look at how systemic poverty is often cyclical and impacts everyone involved, perhaps in vastly different ways.

DNF @ 60% / B'onca is at a crossroads. She's incredibly smart and was accepted into college. The problem is she has a 5-month-old daughter and she just learned she's being evicted. Her neighborhood is succumbing to gentrification. Her financial situation is spiraling out of control. So B'onca turns to desperate measures.

TW (as far as I read): postpartum depression, racism, death, parental abandonment, drug use, poverty

I love reading single parent stories. Even though I will never have children, I love reading their resilience and how love really can keep you going through the worst of it. I even wrote up a post about my favorite single parent stories.

It's not a long book at 240 pages, but it certainly packs a punch. I loved that a YA book discussed postpartum depression!! However, I could not stay invested. It took me too long to read and I don't think my short life is worth sticking around for books I'll *maybe* give 3 stars to. Would still recommend, I just didn't connect with the story and couldn't stay engaged. I'll still give the author another chance though.

Thank you Hear Our Voices Tours for the tour invite and to the publisher for the arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for my copy of Sun Keep Rising!

I love the way the author, Kristen R. Lee wrote her character of B'onca and her experience as a young mother. The struggles and social discrimination that B'onca faces help to create a realistic character who is more focused on her actually goal than becoming distracted by her environment.

As a single teen mom, B’onca finds herself under more pressure than before when deciding what her life should look like after graduation and how best to care for her infant daughter, Mia. No one expected B’onca to graduate or see her capable of caring for a child when she herself is beginning her journey into adulthood. From family telling her she should think of herself, the abandonment of her own mother, financial difficulties, and her daughters critical grandparents; B’onca begins to see her world tilt on its axis as things slowly fall apart around her.

However the novel truly lives up to its title because no matter how hard B’onca wants to shift the responsibility to someone else, the love she has for her daughter gives her the strength to make anything possible. I loved the novel for its realistic portrayal of the perseverance young mothers go through to prove to themselves that they are worthy of their own dreams and can do anything for their children.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

The novel explores powerful themes of race, prejudice against young mothers, social class, generational trauma, and substance abuse.

A sometimes intense, sometimes tragic story about a young mother trying her best to overcome the circumstances that she was born into, but ultimately succumbing to the allure of stealing. This book is very well written -- it is a clear, matter-of-fact vernacular, that is at times extremely poetic and vivid. While I do really like this book, plot-wise it seemed a bit lacking - the ending definitely felt a little rushed, and it seemed that B'onca didn't learn from her mistakes so easily. Ultimately, however, that seems to be one of the messages -- that even if you're forced to be an adult when you're 9 or 10, you're still a kid, and you'll still make childish mistakes. I think the book can be relatable, but maybe only for a certain teen -- but for the small group of teens this book finds, it could be a very important read.

B'onca is amazing, smart, and resilient. She perseveres despite all odds against her. She loves her daughter Mia and wants a better life for them.

I really enjoyed the book. It resonated with me on many levels. I was a teen mom and could relate to many of her challenges.

Thank you to the author Kristin R. Lee, publishers Random House Children's, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of SUN KEEP RISING.

B'Onca is a teen mom, facing all the challenges and judgments young, poor, black teen moms face when they're not teen fathers, when their rents are rising because of gentrification, when their only job prospects pay in insufficient wage, and when the burdens of Intergenerational trauma mean she can't count on her own mom, and the closest she has is a sister, Shana, just barely herself out of childhood, and with her own child to care for. As the pages turn in B'Onca and Shana's story, B'Onca feels more and more closed in by the lack of opportunity around her, and a future that appears more and more out of reach. Shana tries to encourage her, and she tries to take the word of this person she trusts so much-- but it's hard to feel hopeful. All those emotions finally start to affect B'Onca. Affect her judgments and choices. By the end of this book, she realizes-- she should have just listened to her big sister.

I really enjoyed this storyline! It takes an interesting shape. I don't want to spoil this book for those of you who go on to read it-- go on, read it! So I can't go into too much detail here. But I love the pacing and shape of the narrative. I was surprised to see how the action of the story (which I predicted to some extent) built to a climax, and what the climax entailed. And the denouement was amazing. It made me want to cheer and cry simultaneously.

The denouement is important in this story of a young black girl just starting her life, trying to escape the. This is a story that is powerful in part because you could feel the force of the vacuum on the other side of the plot's fulcrum just <i>tugging</i> at the main characters. What would happen <i>if things had been different</i> as they almost certainly could have been for B'Onca or Shana?

I loved the style. Epically readable. Sounds great on audio, which I use as an accessibility feature. Already downloaded Lee's award-winning REQUIRED READING FOR THE DISENFRANCHISED FRESHMAN, and I'm really looking forward to starting it!

Rating: 👶🏿👶🏿👶🏿👶🏿.5 / 5 life-changing plot points
Recommend? Absolutely!
Finished: March 15 2023
Read if you like:
💜 Angie Thomas
👩🏾‍🦱 BIWOC authors
🤎 Diverse voices and characters
👩‍👧 Family drama
🟰 Social justice

The odds are stacked against B'onca. Her neighborhood is in influx, substance abuse, and poverty are everywhere. All she wants to do is provide for her daughter and she's willing to do that by any means necessary. This is not "Teen Moms" on MTV.

This is a 4⭐️ read that should be required reading for middle school and high health education classes.

SUN KEEP RISING by Kristen R. Lee is an insightful young adult novel that interrogates the double-standard between (teen) mothers and (teen) fathers while also having the levity of following a teenage girl trying to make it through life and grow up a little bit at a time. B’Once feels like a real teenager; she’s being confronted with the injustices of the adult world way too early and knows certain decisions are wrong, yet still makes these poor decisions impulsively without thinking it through or thinking to ask for help. This quick novel paints an insightful look at how systemic poverty is often cyclical and impacts everyone involved, perhaps in vastly different ways.

Sun Keep Rising details the life of a single teenage mom. B'onca gets pregnant the first time she is intimate, and that is enough to make you feel for her. B'onca is then forced to grow up fast and she shows much ambition and determination to ensure a good future for herself and child. I was disturbed at how manipulative her mom was and how Scooter's parents would not help with the baby' expenses even though they had the means to. Growing up in the projects, pregnant, and no support system just has B'onca down on her luck.

I remember seeing this cover for the first time and immediately pre-ordering it. I didn’t need to know what it was about, I knew I was going to love it. And I was right. Although there was a trigger for me in there, I was right. This book was amazing.

I guess I should start with the reason I canceled my pre-order. As older blog followers may know, I too have a family member who suffers from addiction. He went through a long fight with it but eventually came out on top. But till this day, he lives in a halfway house and has sponsors. He’s in his 60’s, so you can see the type of hold it has on him. This is why I couldn’t really say I loved this. I was able to read it without spiraling, but it still hurt unbelievably bad to see a family going through the same thing. And I could hardly take it. I did however have to take a break for a little. I think this hurts so much because I was also a tween when I realized what was happening and knowing that they don’t really understand what’s going on, always hurts. This is the third book I just plowed through, but I can’t see myself re-reading it. I’ll recommend it and purchase it for the library, but it’s just not my thing.

With that being said, the rest of this book was hella good. Everything was believable. Because trust me, the lengths you would go through to get what you needed for your child…. The limits do not exist. When I say this book is realistic fiction, I mean it. I am not a single or teen mom, but I AM someone who just had a kid 2 years ago and I know fa sho they are expensive lol So I hate to say it, but I really don’t blame her for what she did. Not entirely anyway. And then having the threat of gentrification breathing down her back, and what happens to her baby daddy….. Well, there you have it. But I do feel like she was pushing it. Because it’s not just about you anymore. You have to know better. But like I said, I do understand.

The characters in this book tho? I hated every one of them. Except the baby. Everyone was terrible and acted like things wouldn’t happen to them or that what they were dealing with was something that might go away. I just…. I just didn’t like the obliviousness from the adults. Or the ones that tried to act like they were ok and leave her in the dark. Yes I know it’s true (Black people are PRIDEFUL) lol but that didn’t mean she couldn’t know. She had a baby already for goodness sakes. Her sister wouldn’t even let her do hair, and it was hurting their pockets. I just don’t understand that. When it comes to that or eating, you better know which one I’m gonna pick.

The way this was written was like watching a movie. It made it even better because I was listening to it. I have never listened to anything else by this narrator, so I immediately went to go look at what else they did. This is me trying to tell y’all that even Own Voices narrators can make a difference. She knew how to put so much feeling into it. Like she lived it. I loved it.

If this trigger doesn’t bother you, please read this! Yes I was angry at literally everyone except the baby, I did like how relatable B’onca was. This book gives a realistic look at poverty, being a mom, and so much more. All through the eyes of a teen.

I didn’t pay too much attention to the synopsis of this one but it wasn’t a book I’d usually pick up. Personal preference this wasn’t my kind of book but I’d definitely recommend for those that enjoy these topics

Really enjoyed the difficult topics throughout this book. I did feel at times there might have been too much going on, and if we focused more on a few themes then the book might have hit stronger for me. I would probably only recommend this book to friends who enjoy urban contemporary YA as the book uses AAVE and sometimes that took me out of the story a little bit. But again, enjoyed the story for the most part, the time line was pretty easy to keep up with and the characters were pretty well developed.
3.75 on storygraph and goodreads

Thank you so much to Hear Our Voicestours and to Kristen Lee for giving me access to this book in return for an honest review (and the tour I participated in).

B'onca is a struggling teen, from a struggling family in a home in how struggling neighborhood. She winds up turning her dreams upside down when her daughter is born and pushes to still accomplish her dreams while not doing down under the pressure of society's expectations, being a single mom, doing what's expected, and figuring out everything while still being a teen.

The book is very raw, mostly for the way it's written but also because of the complex issues it approaches. And I appreciate how the main character and a lot of the others are in a gray area while still showing B'onca trying to do the best for her daughter.

In general, I especially liked how this can be read as a memoir of sorts and how it gives a voice to people just like B'onca and the other characters, often overlooked, and marginalized not only for being black and also for women and teen moms. It also analyzes themes like crime, substance abuse, family abandonment, and others so be mindful of any triggers.

Hi guys!
This is about Boanca who is a teenage mom with dreams of completing school and providing a good life for her baby Mia. It’s about how she finds it difficult to make her ends meet, how poverty combined with gentrification leaves her in a veritable mess. It’s about how she tries to rise above her issues and some really risky endeavours that she undertakes.
It was an eye opener in the sense, how lost we can get when we don’t have the basic luxury of a stable and decent income and when opportunities are really not in your favour. When you feel disconnected from your mother and her ways and when one feels that we have to do better for our child. One these become our driving forces, how sometime our decision making becomes muddled. It’s difficult to imagine or relate to our main character because the number of issues that she has to deal with are huge. Sad part is she is definitely not an isolated case and all I can hope is that others have some better support system in place
All in all , it was an ok read. Slightly slow. And I had some difficulty adjusting to the slang and form of conversation ( But that’s just me!)
It’s definitely worth a read though I wouldn’t recommend it as a 5star read

This was a pretty good read to me. It was a real depiction of what’s it’s like for a lot of black teen moms especially in Memphis.

I really wanted to read the book because the author is from my city and that’s where the story is based. It’s well-written and was a true exploration of what it’s like for black teen moms growing up in the hood. No real parental guidance, opportunities, or financial resources to maintain let alone make it out.

The book follows teen mom B’onca struggling to graduate high school and ensure her daughters needs are met. On top of dealing with personal problems of her own she finds out they’re about to be evicted. B’onca does what any mother would do to protect and care for her child. She made a way out of no way and did what needed to be done. But her misguided actions could put everything she’s worked for in jeopardy including her daughter.

It was easy to relate to B’onca’s character because I know so many teens like her in real life. The authors depiction of Ridgecrest and the situations teens get themselves involved in was real. I didn’t agree with a lot of the choices B’onca made but then I looked at it as what other choice did she have?

Overall, I enjoyed the book it was an easy read and I think would be very relatable for many. I finished it rather quickly because the story was interesting and kept me engaged guess you can say it was a page-turner.

Special thanks to the author, randomhousekids, & netgalley for my advanced readers copy!!!!