A Bad Day for Sunshine

Full disclaimer: For some authors, I don’t even care what the book is. If I see an advance copy is available, I request it. If I get an advance copy, I read it. It’s an automatic reflex and, for me, Darynda Jones is one of those authors. Never mind that I work full-time and am in grad school full-time; these are the instances where my husband and kids can fend for themselves while I fall behind in school and sleep (work continues, because, you know, work) to read the book.

That said, I like A Bad Day for Sunshine. *Like*, as in I’d give it a solid 7 stars, maybe even 8 stars. Or maybe just shy of 8 stars. 7.75, let’s say.

I’ve read all the Charley Davidson books. I own them all as e-books. I also own several autographed first editions. I may or may not have a few Charley Davidson-themed tokens on my keychain, and I definitely added the Sunshine keychain to the collection. I’m a fan of Darynda Jones, if that wasn’t already obvious. But this book . . . sigh, it was just so similar that it was a little disappointing.

Quirky heroine who loves coffee and sarcasm and humor and finds herself surrounded by attractive men while she tries to solve crimes while – maybe – not following every letter of the law? Check.
Broody alpha-man, handsome enough to be described as a “god”, who comes from a destructive family and has questionable parentage, who may or may not be doing legal things to keep certain people (cough, cough – sister, or, cough-cough – heroine) safe? Check.
Young female (who wants to learn sign language) and young male (who knows sign language) who partner up to help solve things? Check and check.
Strong support system (aka supporting characters) for quirky heroine? Check.
Talk of coffee and burritos and green chili sauce? Check.

I could go on, but if you’ve read any of the Charley Davidson books I’m sure you get the idea.

And there are maybe 10 plot lines in this book. We’re supposed to be focused on a teenage girl who goes missing on Sunshine’s first day as sheriff. But there are so many other stories: I-hate-you-but-secretly-love-you-and-everyone-knows-it; an additional three or four other guys who flirt (or try to) with our heroine; deputy Bo is nowhere to be found; there’s a crazy rooster; there’s a flasher; there’s apparently a secret eye-liner trick that nobody knows; Sunshine’s own teenage trauma is a mystery; a group of ladies is running the town behind the scenes; the mayor is probably doing something illegal; the old sheriff is also probably doing something illegal; a book club member uses her psychic powers for good (and muffins) . . . and probably a few others.

And that’s just for Sunshine. If I paid attention correctly, this is a lot of stories for a 2.5 day period of time. It’s a lot to keep up with. Some of the plot lines, I imagine, exist as sort of comic relief, but may not be really necessary.

Additionally, her daughter’s POV takes up a lot of time in this book and she has her own issues. I waffle back and forth on whether I liked her POV. My default opinion is usually that if I want to read about high school from a high school kid’s perspective, I’ll read a YA novel. So bonus points to Auri for not being a dumb high school kid; she was smart and sarcastic and, I thought, well written. I just don’t know if I want to go back and forth between adult issues and teenage issues, even if the people involved and the issues they each deal with are related.

This is the first book of a new series, so there will be more. Technically, some of the stories in this book are resolved at the end, but this is a Darynda book and, of course, there’s a little cliffhanger. Overall, I thought the mystery was fine – there were clues sort of sprinkled throughout, but it is well written and I enjoyed reading it. I do think I’ve got a pretty good idea of where/how the cliffhanger story will develop, which is maybe a little disappointing (again, see my earlier comment that this book seemed very similar to the Charley Davidson series). But maybe I’m wrong; we’ll see.

Either way, I’ll read book #2 (whenever that comes out) because, again, Darynda.

I received an advance copy through NetGalley.
(But I have purchased the hard cover and am admiring it on my bookshelf.)

And yes, I’m still waiting to find out where the hell Osh went.

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