Review: ‘A Bad Day for Sunshine’ by Darynda Jones
A Bad Day for Sunshine
by Darynda JonesSeries: Sunshine Vicram #1
Published by St. Martin's Press on April 7, 2020
SubGenres: Mystery
Format: AudioBook
Pages: 397
Narrator: Lorelei King
Length: 11 Hours And 40 Minutes
Source: Library - Libby
Audience: 18+/Adult
Add to Goodreads
Purchase at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones is back with the brand-new snarky, sassy, wickedly fun Sunshine Vicram series!
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.
The second I started listening to A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones, I knew I was going to have a hard time doing anything else. Darynda’s storytelling hooked me right from the start, and Lorelei King’s narration brought the story and characters to life in my ears, making me believe I was there with the characters as everything unfolded.
I’m a romance/fantasy reader most of the time, but there are times I crave a mystery/thriller that has me on the edge of my seat with the characters that are trying to solve cases. It also helps when the story has humor in it that has you laughing out loud and your husband giving you crazy eyes, wondering what can be so funny in a mystery book. A Bad Day for Sunshine was that book. If I had to stop listening to the book because I had to sleep, I was dreaming about it or thinking about it constantly.
I needed to know if Sheriff Sunshine Vicram was going to find the kidnapper who kidnapped Sybil, who happened to be around the same age as her daughter. The girl who was abducted premonitioned her kidnapping for years in her dreams, but no one believed her until it eventually happened, and now that is the first case that Sheriff Sunshine Vicram has to solve on her first day on the job. Sunshine’s daughter, Auri, knows the girl and wants to help her mom find her, but unfortunately is dealing with her own issues at school, with kids bullying her due to her mother being the Sheriff of their small town.
Poor Sunshine Vicram is having a busy few days at her new job as Sheriff, something she never signed up for, but she won during the election. I felt terrible for her, but she did have some fantastic deputies working for her, one of them being her best friend from school, who was assisting her in her new job. Sunshine isn’t only dealing with the kidnapping case but also having to figure out what happened to her when she was seventeen since she has no memory of her abduction. She only knows that it may involve the Ravinder family since they are part of an organized crime family.
I really enjoyed this book and wish I would have read it sooner. The mystery behind the case of the kidnapped girl and the whole dark past of the Ravinder family had me on the edge of my seat. The snarky humor that was in the book definitely kept me entertained, especially with how Sunshine handled things. I loved that her daughter had that same humor.
There is an emotional part in the book that had me in tears, and it involved Sunshine’s daughter and what she found out about what happened to her mother years ago. I won’t go into it because it’s a spoiler. Just be prepared to have tissues on hand, just in case.
There is a romantic subplot developing between Sunshine and her longtime crush, Levi Ravinder, but with his family’s dark past, she isn’t sure she can trust him. It’s obvious something is brewing between the two, and I need more of it. I also need answers to the truth of Sunshine’s abduction. I need more of this small town, Del Sol, New Mexico, and the characters, which means I’ll be borrowing the second book from my library.
If you enjoy a mystery with comedy and a suspenseful storyline with a great cast of characters, then this book needs to be added to your TBR.
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. It will help sponsor future giveaways but costs you nothing extra. You can read the full disclosure underneath the Privacy Policy.
About Darynda Jones
NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious RITA, a Golden Heart, and a Daphne du Maurier, and her books have been translated into 17 languages. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, certain they went away the better for it. She penned the international bestselling Charley Davidson series and is currently working on several beloved projects, most notably the Sunshine Vicram Mystery Series with St. Martin's Press and the Betwixt and Between Series of paranormal women's fiction. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.
Related Posts
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
- Happy Release Day + Giveaway: ‘Bracing The Storm’ by J.C. Reed - May 27, 2025
- ARC Review: ‘Restless Hawke’ by Gwyn McNamee - May 26, 2025
- ARC Review: ‘From Drummer to Gamer’ by Emberlynn Raine - May 25, 2025