A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

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Title: A Bad Day for Sunshine
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Sunshine Vicram #1
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Lorelei King
Length: 11 hours and 40 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Detective
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 1
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

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, strong cups of coffee - and, now, a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff - thanks to her adorably meddlesome parents who nominated her--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 this is reminding Sunshine why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that the trouble at her daughter's new school, plus and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and, well, the forecast looks anything but sunny.

But even clouds have their silver linings. This one's got Levi, Sunshine's sexy, almost-old-flame, and a fiery-hot US Marshall. With temperatures rising everywhere she turns, Del Sol's normally cool-minded sheriff is finding herself knee-deep in drama and danger. Can Sunshine face the call of duty - and find the kidnapper who's terrorizing her beloved hometown - without falling head over high heels in love . . . or worse?

My Review:

4.5 stars — Welp, can confirm: I truly love Ms. Jones’s wacky brand of humour.  I don’t always get all the jokes, but I love the way the characters tease each other mercilessly in her books.

I wasn’t expecting this book to be told in relatively equal parts between Sunshine and her daughter Auri, but it worked.  Sunshine is snarky, sharp, compassionate, and occasionally a bit over the top.  Auri is sensitive, sassy, and coming into her own as a teenager.  Probably a bit too smart for her own good, but what can you do.  Their interactions reminded me of so many fictional mothers and daughters where it’s not entirely believable, but you love them anyways.

There were quite a few mysteries in this book, from the big to the small.  I’m happy to say that I managed to guess one of them, and I don’t feel like it was super obvious, so I’m relatively proud of myself…or rather the author did a great job of obviously giving me enough as a reader to figure it out, but without making it super obvious so I could somehow feel that I was just smart enough.  I have some theories about a few ongoing mysteries as well, and can’t wait to see what we continue to learn.  And then there were other bits that I didn’t guess at all!  But I didn’t feel like they were unreasonable twists and turns.

I don’t read a lot of books without a central romance line, but this one was just fun and not without flirtations and crushes.  I loved the crazy cast of characters, a few completely wacky, a lot really fascinating and heartwarming.  I loved that it was so easy to get hooked, and that there was a great balance between fun and suspense.

There were definitely moments where I had to suspend my disbelief but other than one eye roll moment (in Auri’s POV), it was fun to just be taken on the ride.

This was my first listen to Ms. King, and she was fantastic for conveying Ms. Jones’s brand of humour.  Great pacing, great emotion, and pretty solid different voices.