This is a wonderful book that feels like a time capsule from the 1960's. We get to experience the life of the jet-set in that era, and travel to Acapulco, Paris and Spain.
Young socialite Caroline is enjoying her life before she has to do what is expected of her and marry friend of the family and fellow social elite Henry and become a supportive wife with no career of her own. Then along comes Jack who is a photographer doing a piece on the jet-set lifestyle, and there is instant attraction between the two. Jack encourages Caroline to follow her dreams and persue a music career. So she has a huge decision to make.
I highly recommend this book, it's a great summer read.
Thank-you to Netgalley and Random House Canada for the ARC.

Entertaining read and enjoyed the insight into the lives of the rich and famous in the 60's.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC for this title. I really tried to read this book. I like the description they used that it was for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six. I loved that book. This one I just couldn't get into. I really didn't care about any of the main characters and in fact I found it extremely boring. I DNF at 53%.

DNF at a very early stage, the * I WANTED him to know the REAL me* bits felt entirely too forced. Overall the pages that I did read were boring. Rich girl travels the world worry free but worries people judger her for it? Not sure if this was supposed to inspire sympathy from the male MC who is an accomplished professional. 2/10 just in case it got better.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

No matter what the blurb says, this is more like a Harlequin romance than Daisy Jones. Still, it was well-written and an easy read although a bit superficial. Caroline meets and falls in love with a photographer who helps her to mature and realize her potential. Now, him I liked except for all the "g"s he dropped from his words ending in "ing"! There's much name-dropping of well-known celebrities due to the circles Caroline and her friends and family travel in and I found that kind of cute. There isn't much music or song writing involved though. Many readers will and do love this book but I definitely wasn't the appropriate audience. I have to admit that the Author's Note was interesting and her Acknowledgements section was worthy of 5 stars!

My thanks to Random House Canada via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this debut novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Published: June 6, 2023

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Follow The Sun by Liz Locke published by Penguin Random House Canada
I devoured this book, just lived it. Such a grateful story, wonderful characters, and a happy ending. The authors description of the characters, clothes and settings was awesome, you could see the people and feel the surroundings.
Caroline is the main character and comes from high society, well to do family. Her life is spent travelling, enjoying cocktails and dinner parties mostly with her best friend. And then she meets Jack. He does not hold the same social status, but vows to make it work between them. However she is "expected" to marry Henry.
This was an amazing first novel by this author, I would gladly read more books by Liz Locke in a heartbeat.

I just finished Follow the Sun by Liz Lock and here are my musings.

Caroline Kimball has it all. Life as a socialite, the fiance….. While in Acapulco she meets Jack “tex” Fairchild, a photographer who sees her for who she is and encourages her to follow her dreams of becoming a music star.

Running away with Tex she finds herself confronted with the death of her father. With her mothers secrets catching up to her too, it is all too much for Caroline and she must decide what she will do next.

The book started out a bit fluffy for my liking. It took a while to find its footing but once it did, I couldn’t put it down. Caroline grew on me the more I got to know her and who wouldn’t fall in love with Tex! You can see why Caroline was so ready to leave her world behind, imagine being trapped in a situation not of your own desires or making.

It was definitely a cute historical romance but I didn’t see the links to Daisy jones that it implied. It had its own vibes and the style of writing was interesting but the second half of the book was where all the magic was for me.

Definitely one of the easy summer reads people talk about.

3.5 stars. Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouseca for my gifted copy

#lizlock #followthesun #historicalfiction #romance #bookreview #bookreviewsofinsta #canadianbookreviews

Follow the Sun is the debut novel by Liz Locke.
The story follows poor little rich girl Caroline as she manoeuvres through her life in her early twenties struggling to find her place in the world in the late 1960's.

This is a sweet and lovely romance, told through the eyes of Caroline. The pace is slow and leisurely, told smoothly without any rough edges to it's scandalous parts. Liz Locke's writing has been compared to Taylor Jenkins Reid, but while there are some vague similarities, LL has her own distinct style.

Follow The Sun has a very retro feel, from the name dropping, the period music, the dialogue, LL has been consistent in recreating a slice through time. It has charm and elegance, edginess without too much crudeness.

I wish the story would have not been told through the first person perspective since it made the story feel a little one dimensional. Other than that, for a first time novel, this is a winner.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

An easy beach reach. Not quite as interesting or exciting as Daisy Jones and the Six, but a fine way to pass some time reading in the sun.

The story follows Caroline, a poor little rich girl with aspirations of making it as a singer, as she navigates the life and expectations of her own jetset society with her newfound love of a man from another social tier. It focuses mostly on her relationships and her desire to break the mould and become a singer.

The first half of the novel was both too slow and too fast paced at the same time - I was itching for something to actually happen and I felt like it moved from scene to scene really quickly. The storyline picked up a lot more in the second half and the pacing felt better.

I would’ve liked to see a little bit more time spent describing the opulence of Caroline’s lifestyle since it was supposed to be about the lifestyles of the rich, and a lot more time developing the two main characters’ personalities and backgrounds. I feel liked it ended without us knowing much about Jack beyond him being tall, Texan and a photographer.

Overall I’d say it was fine and easy read, but it’s not a story that will stick with me for a long time.

A love story and historical fiction that starts off on a beach vacation made this a great read to kickoff the summer reading season!

Caroline is a jet setting, musical, socialite who meets Jack “Tex” Fairchild whom she immediately feels a strong connection to. A story of finding yourself, following your dreams and falling in love this book has it all to be a fantastic beach read!

For fellow TJR lovers this reminded of Malibu Rising with a bit of Daisy Jones vibes and is a must read.

I look forward to reading whatever Liz Locke releases next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I could see this being a really easy beach read for someone who wanted a romance story as light and sweet as cotton candy. Following the 1960s jet set from one wealthy foreign enclave to the next, it feels like flipping through the pages of Vogue.

I think the blurb comparing this book to Daisy Jones and the Six did it a big disservice. If we want a TJR comparison, maybe Malibu Rising? A lot of time spent in glitz and glam, with celebrities, exotic locations, "the beautiful people", name-dropping fashion, and skimpy swimsuits galore, with a protagonist who is apparently mind-bogglingly attractive but a bit unlucky in love.

Here's the difference: Malibu Rising (and Daisy Jones and the Six for that matter) make a sensible narrative choice, and really the only one that can be made when the you are -- for some reason -- obligated to discuss at length the hotness of your protagonist. Use. The. Third. Person. Let us hear from other people how special this girl is. Because hearing it from Caroline/Carolina for 200 pages of false modesty made her hard to like. Also aggravating, the decision to have all of "Tex's" dialogue written with an apostrophe in lieu of the g at the end -- he's forever darlin' and thinkin' knowin' and wantin' to the point that it became cloying.

So, suffice it to say this wasn't for me, but could be for someone else 🤷‍♀️

wow! 4.25 stars from me! I was really intrigued by the synopsis of this story, as I have such an interest to the 60s music and socialite world. Very much has the vibes of daisy jones and the six and malibu rising! I would say it's a bit on the slower side, focusing a lot of imagery and vibes, but I actually enjoy things like that from time to time. This is half love story between Caroline and "Tex" who come from two different worlds. But the other half is also Caroline trying to find herself and woman in the music industry in the 60s. There's a lot of discussion on feminism during this time as woman we're merely wives and mothers and not having much of their own careers which I found interesting!

And the ending really had me anxious wondering what was going to happen!

Definitely a great summer read!

Thank you Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the arc!

The premise of this story was appealing to me as I enjoy escape reads to places I’ll likely never visit. The description lead me to believe I would be taken to far-away places and would be reminiscent of Daisy Jones (which I loved). What a disappointment.
I found the characters and story to be lacking any depth and the plot-points to be very broken up. The music that was claimed to play a big role in the story was a disappointing aspect in that, while it was always in the back-ground, never really developed except with an abrupt single being released on the radio. The romance element also left a lot to be desired. Aside from time spent in a remote cottage, Caroline and Tex had very little time together to develop into a long-standing relationship where they were sure they wanted to spend their lives together.
Thank-you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for and an advance reader copy.

the spirit of the story was so promising but i really could not get to a place where i enjoyed it. the main character is out of touch with reality and feels sorry for herself about it. i couldn’t sympathize with her and the rest of the story felt shallow & irrelevant because of it. sad because i really love the premise

This is a fun summery romance perfect for the beach or resorts. Caroline is living the dream! The posh 1960’s jet set dream. She and Daphne (her best friend) are from wealthy families and living in a state of permanent vacations. Caroline’s only real goal in life is to become a singer/songwriter but her rich and respectable boyfriend considers her dream to be just a hobby. Then she meets Jack, a handsome Texan, and a photographer for Life magazine. Tex, as she nicknames him, seems to know her better in a few days than her boyfriend has in years. Can she follow 2 dreams, or will she pick the stable and respected route?
The sixties seem like such a spectacular decade in this book, you’ll want to follow Caroline and her friends through Europe where all the beautiful play and no one worries about money. This was such a fun escape!

Caroline has been spending her trust fund traveling and partying- but she continues to write letters to her father, who took his own life. She would like to be a musician but she can't settle down or into it. Then she meets Jack aka Texas a photographer who takes her seriously and urges her to do the same. The 60s were not as glamorous as this novel would like you to believe (unless you were living the high life Caroline was) but take this for what it is- a novel about a woman of privilege finding herself. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good beach read.

I found this poor little rich girl and her cast of characters yawn worthy. I think it was more “Harlequin Romance” than “Daisy Jones and the Six”. It followed a proscribed formula and everything was tied up neatly at the end. Lots of eye rolls from me. I wanted to love it and I feel bad even saying this as I can’t imagine even attempting to write a novel, but this was just not the book for me.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The book follows Caroline, who is a wealthy woman in her early twenties during the sixties. She is part of the jet setting era, where the wealthy would jet set from the hottest location to party, sun bathe and be seen. However, Caroline is unfulfilled and in walks Tex - a rugged and real photographer who has her questioning what kind of life she wants.

Liz created an alluring setting that transported me to the glamorous sixties. From the references to fashion, food, art and pop culture she mastered the little details to transport the reader to this time period! I love all things vintage and find this era nostalgic and beautiful. This book had me feeling like I was born in the wrong time period!

The main characters were both likeable and well-rounded. I really loved the side characters introduced along the way. There was a great mix of family dynamics, friendship and romance in the storyline.

If you're a fan of Malibu Rising I would definitely check this book out. It is the perfect book for the beach!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: June 6, 2023
Liz Locke’s debut novel, “Follow the Sun” has been dubbed in some reviews as similar to “Daisy Jones and the Six”. Newsflash- it isn’t. So, if you read this novel thinking you’re going to get Jenkins Reid vibes, you will be disappointed. In general, though, it is an entertaining summer read full of romance and globetrotting fun.
Caroline Kimball is a socialite and aspiring musician, living in the 1960s, who travels the world with her group of elite friends, beaching and partying. After the suicide of her beloved artist father, Caroline and her mother, a renowned fashion designer, were never able to see eye-to-eye, so Caroline does what she can to live a fast-moving, fun-seeking life. On a sunny beach in Acapulco, she meets photographer Jack “Tex” Fairchild and she is instantly smitten. However, Jack does not travel within Caroline’s social circle, and choosing Jack will mean giving up on everything and everyone she has ever known. Is love enough for Caroline to finally settle down?
Caroline is a naïve, young, aspiring musician who has everything handed to her. The heartbreaking death of her father is the only struggle she has ever faced, growing up in the lap of luxury with her group of celebrity friends. She is completely unrelatable and pretty much embodies everything I despise- entitled and spoiled, having never worked a day in her life. Without the sympathy I had for the horrible loss of her father, I would not have liked Caroline at all. Tex however, has all the Texan cowboy charm that one person could possibly want (and then some!). Although the two were complete opposites, they seemed to complement each other well, and the wrong-side-of-the-tracks trope managed to fit well with these two.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Caroline, directly but also through small snippets of letters she sends to her deceased father. This helps to endear Caroline to readers and it absolutely works (she needs all the help she can get). In spite of it all, I rooted for Caroline and Tex and the ending provided that emotionally charged, saccharine “awwww” moment that readers look for in a summer romance.
Sandy beaches, exotic locales, 1960s charm and celebrity, and a good-looking cowboy from the American south? Liz Locke checks all the boxes for “perfect summer read”.

This was an excellent historical fiction book from a debut author, taking place in the 1960s during the International Jet Set Era.

Caroline's mother is a famous fashion designer and she lost her father to suicide. She spends her days traveling and sitting by the pool. Jack is a photographer from Texas and encourages her to dream bigger and take her passion for music seriously. Jack's job is to see people and Caroline feels like it's the first time she's seen. Her mom wants her to go party and have fun before she settles down and doesn't think she should pursue music. The two have very endearing nicknames for each other, "Tex" and "Al" from Alice in Wonderland. Caroline also has a boyfriend, Henry, whose father was her father's art dealer.  This is a story of finding yourself at a crossroad in life and choosing the best path forward for you. I really enjoyed this story! I loved how atmospheric this was, seeing all the locations Caroline visited, I loved the love story and seeing their connection, and fighting for the life you deserve. Beach read vibes with depth!

This book brings you to:
Acapulco, Mexico 
Gstaad Switzerland 
Formentera, Spain 
LA