A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

Title: A Bad Day for Sunshine

Series: Sunshine Vicram #1

Author: Darynda Jones

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: April 7, 2020

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.

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I thought Charley Davidson was a funny and interesting female character to follow. Yet, I must confess that I didn’t finish the series and I'm not sure why except that sometimes life interferes with my reading. I do plan to go back to it at some point.

However, when I learned a new book by Darynda Jones was coming out, I was super excited about it. I've always liked her writing style. As luck would have it, I was given a complimentary copy by the publisher and I couldn't be happier.

I can’t say enough about how entertaining this book was. It has so many good one-liners. The right amount of fun, drama, and mystery to keep me entertained on a Saturday afternoon.

The plot:

Sunshine Vicram has not been home in fifteen years. She’s back with her fourteen-year-old daughter Auri. Currently, she’s living in a remodeled guesthouse behind her parent's (Cyrus and Elaine Freyr) home. She’s not clear how she got the job, but she’s the new sheriff the Del Sol county in New Mexico.

Her best friend Quincy is a deputy and her lost love Levi Ravinder lives here too. Levi has made his family business legit. His corn whiskey distillery is wold-famous.

Multiple things are happening simultaneously:

*A young girl, a classmate of Auri's, Sybil St. Aubin has been abducted. Levi’s nephew, Jimmy has disappeared at the same time.

*A man, Ramses Rojas has escaped prison.

*A neighbor's dispute between Mrs. Sorenson and Mr. Madrid about a rooster named P. Diddy.

*Sunshine is trying to remember the details of her own abduction. When she was 17, she was taken and held captive. She had a traumatic brain injury with a month in a coma and with a sequela of retrograde amnesia. Although, lately she has been having some glimpses of her time as a prisoner. 

Soon thereafter, her town will have U.S. Marshal Vincent Deleon and Special Agent Carter Fields helping with the investigations. Both are nice to look at. Although, Sunshine's heart belongs to Levi.

As if this was not enough for Sunshine, she also has to deal with Donna, the Major. She wants to know who the Dangerous Daughters are. The Dangerous Daughters are thought to be a myth but maybe they're real.

If you like Darynda Jones' prior work, you're going to love this one. I was dying to get to the second book in this series right away. I have a desperate need to learn more about Levi and the secrets he keeps.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.