A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

A Bad Day for Sunshine

Darynda Jones

St. Martin's Press

April 7, 2020

Summary from Publisher:

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.

Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, its strong cups of coffee—and a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff--an election her adorably meddlesome parents entered her in--and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of it's reminding Sunny why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that trouble at her daughter’s new school and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and Sunshine has her hands full.

Enter sexy almost-old-flame Levi Ravinder and a hunky US Marshall, both elevens on a scale of one to blazing inferno, and the normally savvy sheriff is quickly in over her head. Now it’s up to Sunshine to juggle a few good hunky men, a not-so-nice kidnapping miscreant, and Doug the ever-pesky flasher. And they said coming home would be drama-free. 

My Review:

I have never read a Darynda Jones book before, but I sure am picking up more of her series in the future, you can bank on that!

I truly enjoyed meeting Sunshine Vicram and can't wait for the next book in the series! The book was light, when it needed to be and dark when you least expected it. The backstory was tragic, the future outcome heroic.  Sunny's daughter, Auri was electric. The parallel outcomes in some of their coexisting stories could've been considered predictable, but were anything but that. Del Sol, Mexico is quirky with equally quirky mysteries and the townspeople are fitting for the area. I mean come on a Rooster named, Puff Daddy who does or doesn't bring two people together? Fun stuff abounds throughout the book. For instance each chapter heading is hilarious it starts the next part of the story out with a giggle and a warning.

“Two elderly sisters reported a man in the house across the street watching them for hours at a time. Deputies ID‘d the man as a cardboard cutout of Captain America. The sisters grew distraught when they found out he wasn‘t real and were transported to the Del Sol Urgent Care Center for observation.—Del Sol police blotter”

Read this book. You won't regret it. It might even put a skip in your step! Coming Soon to a Bookstore near you - April 7, 2020!

Thanks, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and meet Sunshine Vicram in A Bad Day for Sunshine in lieu of my honest review. What a great time it was!