FFB Review: A Bad Day For Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones

 

From the archive….

 

Sunshine Vicram is back in Del Sol, New Mexico, with her teenage daughter, Aurora, better known as Auri. She is also less than thrilled about living in the small tourist town of Del Sol again. Even if it is home for her parents and she and Auri are in the guest house about fifty feet from their backdoor. She is also not thrilled about being the newly elected sheriff. Especially when she wasn’t even running for sheriff far as she knew. 

 

But, being elected in Del Sol when you are not even running for sheriff is not the strangest thing to happen in Del Sol as Sunshine Vicram well knows. She has been gone for nearly fifteen years and now that she is back, she is reminded again that Del Sol has a sun that never quits and neither does the strange.

 

While her fourteen year old daughter deals with her first day at Del Sol High School, Sunshine Vicram arrives at the station in her full uniform to see what her first day will bring. It soon brings a visit from the Mayor and a basket of muffins. The mayor is a problem, but nothing she can’t handle at this point. The muffins are another and, according to everyone else, a far more serious problem. Homemade by Ruby Moore, they certainly look and smell good. Ruby Moore can certainly bake as all can attest. The problem is that when she sends in food, trouble always follows. It does not matter if they eat the delicious offering or not, trouble is coming. They just do not know it yet.

 

Minutes after consuming the delicious goodness, they soon find out that they have a major problem on their hands. Wealthy new resident Mrs. St. Aubin reports that her daughter, Sybil, same age as Auri, is missing. She vanished during the night. Mrs. St. Aubin woke up this morning and realized that her daughter was missing. Having searched the house in an increasing panic she came to town in a full panic looking for help. If that is not enough, then comes word that an incarcerated prisoner known for kidnapping has escaped custody and could be in the area. Are the two situations linked? Does he have Sybil? Or is something else going on?

 

At about the same time as her Mom has her hands fill with her job, Auri has her hands full with her own issues at school. Being the daughter of the newly elected sheriff on top of being the new girl in school comes with a lot of pressure. A number of her fellow classmates are being less than welcoming. Three or four are being downright hostile as they take a page of the mean girls playbook. Her first day is turning into a real doozy and just like her Mom’s situation, thiings are only going to escalate.

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones is a really good book. It reminds this reader of J. A. Janice’s Sheriff Joanna Brady series with considerably more humor and a tad more romantic intrigue. It shifts at the start of each chapter as well as occasionally in a chapter between Sunshine and Auri as they deal with various events and situations. The backstory, told through memories and dialogue discussions, is very complicated and applies to both Auri and Sunshine.

 

At its heart, it is still a police procedural in many ways and that fact is not sidelined by the backstory, the personal dramas, and potential romantic entanglements. Plenty is at work in A Bad Day For Sunshine: A Novel is a fun and fast read that lays an excellent foundation for the series. A Good Day for Chardonnay is currently scheduled to be released in late July 2021.

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones is strongly recommended. 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4aFiYqE

 

My large print reading copy came from the Lakewood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020, 2025

Favorite Books of 2022

Back in July, I told you of my five favorite books of the year to that point. Today as the year winds to a close, I give you more favorites.

As I have said before, I remain very slow reading wise. The books selected refer my personal tastes, biases, and all that jazz. I am not saying that these are the best books. I am stating that they were my favorites during the past year.

An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells picks up a few weeks after Vanishing Edge. On assignment in Denali National Park, Investigative Service Branch Special Agent Felicity Harland is sent to the Gates of the Artic National Park to investigate the discovery of two bodies.

It is mid December 1935 as Funeral Train: A Dust Bowl Mystery by Laurie Loewenstein begins and life has been brutal in the panhandle of Oklahoma with the ongoing Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. The good people of Vermillion, Oklahoma, and the surrounding area are facing adversity on a daily basis and hanging on by their fingernails. A train derailment, a murder, and much more has a huge impact on all in this excellent sequel to Death of A Rainmaker: A Dust Bowl Mystery.

Murder at the Jubilee Rally: A Samuel Craddock Mystery by Terry Shames opens with many of the locals less than thrilled with the coming event featuring motorcycle folks from all over. They won’t be happy about the murder either.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love a good western. Larry D. Sweazy always makes that happen and did with Lost Mountain Pass. It is May 1988 and Judge Gordon Hadesworth and U.S. Deputy Marshall Sam “Trusty” Dawson plan to get out of town fast now that the three Darby brothers, Cleatus, Horace, and Rascal, are swinging slowly from the gallows and are most assuredly dead.

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones is the third book in the series that began with A Bad Day For Sunshine. This is a series that must be read in order. Along with some personal stuff that has just happened here in book three, Sheriff Sunshine Vicram and her team have two missing people to find and the case of a critically injured woman out at Copper Canyon. Rescuing her and then finding out what happened to her drives the novel forward alongside several complicated secondary story lines that have been playing out this entire series.

There you have it. Five in July and five more now. Enjoy the reads. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER BY DARYNDA JONES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER BY DARYNDA JONES

Review: A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones

  

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones is the third book in the series that began with A Bad Day For Sunshine. Things remain very unsettled as Sunshine Vicram has told Levi Ravinder that he is a father and the man up and disappeared. The fact that he took her deputy’s patrol car, said Deputy is Quincy Copper who also happens to be her best friend, is another issue that could cost the new sheriff of Del Sol New Mexico her job. If that is not enough, Sunshine and Quincy are looking at some sort of assault as the book starts.

 

Doug Pettyfer apparently flashed the wrong person as he has a knitting needle firmly implanted in his neck while he sits in the local medical center. He claims a gang attacked him, but considering Del Sol is a small tourist town in the middle of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, gangs aren’t an issue. Doug keeps talking and with every statement it is clear he is lying about what he was doing, where he was at, and how he got impaled.

 

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram and her team do not have time for Doug’s nonsense. They have two missing people to find.

 

One is Levi and it has been two days since he stole (or borrowed in Sunshine’s mind) the cruiser. After all, the car was quickly recovered, so it was just temporally borrowed.

 

Clay Ravinder needs to be found and put into protective custody before Levi finds him and settles some things. The reason Levi is looking for him is complicated and ties into the previous books of the series and therefore is a spoiler.

 

All that and a couple of other things are already going on when Deputy Salazer informs her that they may have a body out at Copper Canyon. Drew Essary was out hunting and spotted it through binoculars. The body is on an incline deep in the canyon. He was going to try and reach it, but doing so will cut him off from cell service. Salazer is headed out to cordon off the area and Vicram and Cooper will respond with their rappelling gear.

 

It isn’t long before they receive word that dead body is not dead. The person is a badly injured female in her late teens or early twenties. Rescuing her and then finding out what happened to her drives the novel forward alongside several complicated secondary story lines that have been playing out this entire series.

 

A book and a series that is very good and well worth your time. Because A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones resolves several things that have been going on in various secondary storylines, it is best to read in order, starting with the first book. You will be glad you did.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3MtXTpa

 

My reading copy came courtesy of an ARC through NetGalley.

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2022

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – A GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – A GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX

Review: A Good Day For Chardonnay: A Novel by Darynda Jones

A Good Day For Chardonnay: A Novel by Darynda Jones is the second read in the series that began in A Bad Day For Sunshine. It was in that book that readers were introduced to the quirky town of Del Sol, the newly elected sheriff Sunshine Vicram, and her family. While some things were resolved in that book, one major thing was not, and that continues here in a secondary story line.

 

One of several secondary storylines in a complicated and occasionally a laugh out loud read. In the main storyline, Levi Ravinder is involved in a serious altercation in the parking lot of the Roadhouse Bar and Grill. To say that Sunshine and Levi have history is to say the sun and the desert have a history. This night Levi was trying to stop three men who were beating and stabbing Keith Seabright. What Seabright was doing at the place, what his connection with Levi is, who the three men are, and other questions are questions she needs official answers to as fast as possible. All she knows for sure, based on what Levi is saying is that he is military of some type and had to drugged to be losing to his three assailants. Instead of going to the hospital as the clearly injured Levi should, he soon escapes custody and disappears into the night. Presumably headed north in pursuit of the three who left the scene in a truck.

 

As in the first book, relationships in and outside of family power this novel. Therefore, as many things from the first book continue here, it is not possible to discuss those things that drive forward the secondary storylines in this read.

 

Along the same vein, it is also not possible to discuss two glaring technical errors in the last fifty pages without creating spoilers. Suffice it to say, those of who have spent time in hospitals or know a thing or two about police vehicles, might be briefly and annoying jolted out of the world of the book.

 

That being said, this is a funny read that reminds this reviewer of the Sheriff Brady series by J.A. Jance with a lot more humor. This read also has a multi-page and graphic sex scene between two characters that may be too much for some readers. One did expect the romantic moment though this reader did not expect the graphic detail of the event. The read also has plenty of action, violence, misdirection, and mystery.

 

All in all, A Good Day for Chardonnay is a good read and ties up the primary storyline and several ongoing issues from the first book quite well. 

 

  

A Good Day For Chardonnay: A Novel

Darynda Jones

https://darynda.com/

St. Martin’s Press (MacMillan)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250233110/a-good-day-for-chardonnay

July 2021

ISBN #978-1-250-23311-0

Hardback (also available in audio and eBook formats)

416 Pages 

 

My reading copy came from the Skyline Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Appalachia, Covid, Our Malady, Doctors Blackwell, Kevin Wilson, Darynda Jones

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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Bad Day For Sunshine by Darynda Jones

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Bad Day For Sunshine by Darynda Jones: Once again, we are pleased to have Kevin Tipple provide us with a guest review.  Kevin's own award-winning blogspot features reviews, ...

Review: A Bad Day For Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones

Sunshine Vicram is back in Del Sol, New Mexico, with her teenage daughter, Aurora, better known as Auri. She is also less than thrilled about living in the small tourist town of Del Sol again. Even if it is home for her parents and she and Auri are in the guest house about fifty feet from their backdoor. She is also not thrilled about being the newly elected sheriff. Especially when she wasn’t even running for sheriff far as she knew.

 

But, being elected in Del Sol when you are not even running for sheriff is not the strangest thing to happen in Del Sol as Sunshine Vicram well knows. She has been gone for nearly fifteen years and now that she is back, she is reminded again that Del Sol has a sun that never quits and neither does the strange.

 

While her fourteen year old daughter deals with her first day at Del Sol High School, Sunshine Vicram arrives at the station in her full uniform to see what her first day will bring. It soon brings a visit from the Mayor and a basket of muffins. The mayor is a problem, but nothing she can’t handle at this point. The muffins are another and, according to everyone else, a far more serious problem. Homemade by Ruby Moore, they certainly look and smell good. Ruby Moore can certainly bake as all can attest. The problem is that when she sends in food, trouble always follows. It does not matter if they eat the delicious offering or not, trouble is coming. They just do not know it yet.

 

Minutes after consuming the delicious goodness, they soon find out that they have a major problem on their hands. Wealthy new resident Mrs. St. Aubin reports that her daughter, Sybil, same age as Auri, is missing. She vanished during the night. Mrs. St. Aubin woke up this morning and realized that her daughter was missing. Having searched the house in an increasing panic she came to town in a full panic looking for help. If that is not enough, then comes word that an incarcerated prisoner known for kidnapping has escaped custody and could be in the area. Are the two situations linked? Does he have Sybil? Or is something else going on?

 

At about the same time as her Mom has her hands fill with her job, Auri has her hands full with her own issues at school. Being the daughter of the newly elected sheriff on top of being the new girl in school comes with a lot of pressure. A number of her fellow classmates are being less than welcoming. Three or four are being downright hostile as they take a page of the mean girls playbook. Her first day is turning into a real doozy and just like her Mom’s situation, thiings are only going to escalate.

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones is a really good book. It reminds this reader of J. A. Janice’s Sheriff Joanna Brady series with considerably more humor and a tad more romantic intrigue. It shifts at the start of each chapter as well as occasionally in a chapter between Sunshine and Auri as they deal with various events and situations. The backstory, told through memories and dialogue discussions, is very complicated and applies to both Auri and Sunshine.

 

At its heart, it is still a police procedural in many ways and that fact is not sidelined by the backstory, the personal dramas, and potential romantic entanglements. Plenty is at work in A Bad Day For Sunshine: A Novel is a fun and fast read that lays an excellent foundation for the series. A Good Day for Chardonnay is currently scheduled to be released in late July 2021.

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine: A Novel by Darynda Jones is strongly recommended. 

 

A Bad Day For Sunshine: A Novel

Darynda Jones

https://darynda.com/

Thorndike Press (Gale, a Cengage Company)

https://www.gale.com/thorndike/a-bad-day-for-sunshine/-/N-5p?Ntt=a+bad+day+for+sunshine||71995720630726485320191209204518924&Nr=205&Ntk=APG%7C%7CP_EPI

April 2020

ISBN #978-1-4328-7883-2

Large Print Hardback

616 Pages 

 

My reading copy came from the Lakewood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020

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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

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Monday With Kaye: "First Grave on the Right" by Darynda Jones (Reviewed by Kaye George)

My first thought when reading this review from Kaye George was that this character would be very hard to buy a gift for. She sees dead people, knows every language, and remembers everything that ever happened to her. For any normal guy in her life he is doomed. There is no way she ever forgets anything which means one always hears about what one did wrong that time. It is Monday and once again for “Monday With Kaye” we are given another strange and yet very interesting book to consider.

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Charley Davidson, a woman who does her name proud, strides into this novel with sass and energy to spare. For starters, she wasn't born as a normal person: she remembers every moment since she left

the womb, she knows every language ever spoken anywhere and she sees the dead who are having trouble passing to the other side. In fact, that's where her most special talent lies. She's the portal through which those uneasy dead must pass to get to the good place. She's Darynda Jones' version of the grim reaper.

But something changed for her about a month ago. A dark, smoky being began visiting in her erotic dreams. She doesn't know who or what he is, but she doesn't want him to stop.

In addition to her full time reaper job, she works part time tending bar for her Dad's place, has a private investigator business complete with an office and a sidekick helper and is a consultant to the Albuquerque Police Department. This last role is because she assists her Uncle Bob—a homicide cop—by consulting murder victims and letting him know who killed them. When three lawyers who were in practice together all turn up dead at the same time and none of them saw who killed them, she has to dig deeper.

It takes all her talents to survive several incidents—which would have left an ordinary mortal dead—and to worm information out of the living as well as the dead to uncover a nefarious crime ring. All this while surviving the onslaught of the increasingly frequent visits from the dark, smoky, sensual being and getting tangled up in his complicated existence.

It's a fun, sexy, exciting read.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of A Patchwork of Stories for Suspense Magazine