Hello, Sunshine is a great summer book: quick reading and entertaining story about Sunshine Mackenzie, a successful You Tube star and soon-to-be Food Network chef who's outed and finds her life changing significantly and quickly. Much of the book takes place in the Hamptons giving us the opportunity to experience summer in this community vicariously through Sunshine, her sister, niece, and a cast of characters. I especially liked the foodie-related sections/story lines, including the making of a grilled cheese sandwich, but also found the commentary about social media and our lives to be interesting.
It was a 3.5 stars book for me.

I was stuck on a VERY delayed flight and out of books to read. I logged onto my Kindle app and wanted something "light and easy" to read that would hopefully improve my mood. The description hooked me right away. I started reading and no longer cared how delayed my flight was. Laura Dave has a great writing style. She is witty and writes very simply. Her book was easy to read and kept my attention. Laura Dave is a new author to me and now I am interested in reading more from her!

This book really got me thinking about the image and "life" people create via social media. Also, how possible it is for your entire life to change in the matter of just a few minutes. I loved the character of Sunshine MacKenzie and her journey through finding herself. I would recommend this book to friends who are looking for something light and fun to read. This book would be a great beach read as well!


Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital copy of Hello, Sunshine in trade for a fair and honest review.

Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave is a quick read that will leave you feeling satisfied. This book follows Sunshine Mackenzie who is hitting the big time after being featured in several online cooking tutorials. The Food Network is ready to give her her own show and she is writing a cookbook. Life is going splendid for Sunshine until it all quickly unravels after Sunshine is revealed to be living a fraudulent life. Sunshine quickly has to deal with the repercussions of the choices she's made leading up to this point. The cover design for this book is spot on. Read and enjoy!

Sunshine Mackenzie is a social media lifestyle guru whose fabricated life is coming apart. She has achieved and maintained her celebrity status by pulling the wool over the eyes of her adoring fans, and she is about to lose everything at the hands of an unknown truth-teller.
The directness with which Sunshine tells this very enjoyable story is ironic, considering the lies that have brought her to this point, and I quickly became her biggest fan, not for who she claimed to be but for who she must become — herself. What I appreciated most about this telling is how real it felt. No one is transformed overnight, and wronged friends and estranged family members don’t leap to forgive. We don’t know who has outed her, and there are lots of possibilities. And we don’t know who she will become next, because neither she nor the people around her are clichés.
The story moves right along, and the characters rise up off the page. I knew and understood her sister, I loved her niece, and I wanted to meet Chef Z for myself. I recognized the fair-weather friends, the co-workers who were quick to distance themselves, and the wronged individuals from her past who were reticent to trust her again. And I came to understand how someone could get so caught up in her own lies that she no longer knew who she was. Sunshine is the biggest victim of her own lies, and Laura Dave made me want to make sure that Sunshine would be okay.

Sunshine MacKenzie has the perfect life- a great job that includes a tv show, a great apartment,and a great husband until it all comes crashing down around her when her internet presence is hacked. A totally fun read! This was my first read by Laura Dave and I definitely will seek out other books she's written.

This is one of those books that appears to be a quick, easy read that's defined as chick-lit. All of that is true, but it was more than that as well. I read this book in under 24 hours and I didn't want to stop. It was funny, charming and didn't require my brain to work too much. It reminded me that I actually miss reading fun books like this. It made me start looking for more books just like it. But, best of all, I actually took some lessons away from it. I have been thinking a lot about the life we live on social media prior to this book but this really hit it home for me. What image am I trying to portray about myself? Is it true? Do we really "know" someone because we are social media friends and followers? Am I cultivating true relationships? This book will have me reflecting on those questions for awhile. Looking forward to reading other titles by Laura Dave and novels that have the same qualities that this one had because I just don't read them enough anymore.

Sunshine MacKenzie has just been through a social media nightmare. There is nothing left for her but to go back to her hometown and try to pick up the pieces. She’s been the host of a cooking show, but the secret has gotten out that she can’t cook. Many other things about her life were also a lie and her fans are now finding out the truth!

Sunshine returns home to Mantauk to try and put her life back together. With the help of a little girl, a new friend and an eccentric chef, Sunshine begins to find her way back to her authentic self. As she attempts to heal an old rift with her sister and begin to repair her marriage, Sunshine realizes what happiness really is and how social media has had an impact on her life, both positive and negative.

This is an eye-opening look at the impact of social media and how dangerous it is for some people to build their lives around what looks cool on the internet.

Hello, Sunshine was a fast-paced and fun read! A great book that’s not too heavy for care free summer days. I enjoyed it. I’d give it a solid 3.5.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced read copy.

This book was a lot of fun. The pace moved really quickly. I was eager to find out what happened to the character. I liked that it laid out the plot in the beginning and then we found out what happened. As a native NYer, I enjoyed the setting. It took place in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Hamptons. It dealt with relationships, career and redemption. There were certain parts that felt unrealistic. But it was a lot of fun. I haven't liked many characters lately and although Sunshine was flawed, she was likeable. This is my first time reading this author. I would definitely read her other books as well.

“Hello Sunshine” normally meant someone was leaving a compliment on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The day of Sunshine Stephens’ 35th birthday didn't bode well for the “hello sunshine” greeting.

Everything she had made up about herself was being made public by a hacker, and no one knew who the hacker was.

Sunshine's life was turned upside down personally and professionally. Not telling the truth from the start backfired on her.

When Sunshine started her career as a TV chef, she should have been truthful and said she was from the Hamptons and not from a Georgia farm town.

Telling the truth was something she hadn't done for years, and telling the truth now had no credence. No one believed anything she said.

Where could the real Sunny Stephens go except back home? When she got home she had a big surprise too.

The characters in HELLO SUNSHINE were for the most part likable, but they also were on the side of deceitful.

HELLO SUNSHINE was an easy, breezy read for me. I loved the cooking theme, and I loved the glimpse into the life in the Hamptons even though it was on the wrong side of town.

If you enjoy people watching, family situations, and food, HELLO SUNSHINE fits the bill.

I enjoyed HELLO SUNSHINE and the wisdom of life decisions which was a major theme. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher return for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. I really liked this book. I LOVE books written in the first person and I loved Sunshine. She was funny and smart. She screwed up like a normal person which made her real. She had this whole cooking empire which I thought was awesome with her enemy/competition Amber who made everything on TOAST! That made me laugh. It was so realistic too because I bet a few of the real-life cooks with shows etc. on The FN are made up personas just to get fans, too. It wasn't her fault that she was a success and a fake person, it was more Ryan, her manager's. It was all his idea. He seemed like a schmuck though. Throughout Sunshine's whole downfall I tried (like she did) to figure out who hacked her and ruined her career. It was tough because all fingers pointed at Amber. Sunshine had it all: a great career, happy marriage etc, but I don't think she was 100% happy. Going back to her hometown and her estranged sister, Rain, changed her in a good way and made her see that her made up life was just that, made up and she needed to really start over as herself. Sammy was a great character too--super-smart & sensitive for a 6 yo but she really helped Sunny get back to reality and see what was important. I loved Ethan the fisherman, he was so real and absolutely hilarious, too. In the end by the time she figured out who betrayed her, I had kind of too because there was really only one person left who knew her well enough to do it. I kind of hoped that Sunny would end up with Ethan, but I guess in the end, leaving it up the air was kind of a good way to end the story. I do think that Danny really loved her after all that happened and they maybe have a chance, too. All in all, a great book with funny, smart, entertaining writing and real characters. This could happen in the real world! Loved it!

Hello, Sunshine is a novel that speaks of our society today and how it shapes us. When we go into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. we are showing a side of ourselves that may not be the whole truth. We aren't lying, per se, but in a world where filters rule, can anybody claim that everything they post on social media is the truth. That's kind of what this story is about. Sunshine is a huge YouTube sensation with all types of endorsement deals, book deals, and in talks to be on a Food Network tv show. Everything sounds perfect...but she's lying.

When you lie, sooner or later the truth will come out. And that's exactly what happened with Sunshine. She lost her tv show, the endorsements, and her husband. She's forced to leave everything behind; her apartment, the money, and her wounded pride. I'm the first few pages of the book, we are told that Sunshine is not a good person. I saw a woman who lost herself due to the fame and fortune of becoming a hit YouTuber. I want to say I pitied her, but I didn't.

The story is not about romance or finding revenge on the hacker who let out all of Sunshine's secrets; it's about finding yourself and not letting a blip on the radar (no matter how big) keep you down. I was able to finish the book in one sitting. It was highly entertaining and I just had to find out who the hacker was. And when I found out, I can honestly say I wasn't at all surprised! Here's to reading more amazing books by Ms. Dave.

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Enjoyed the book! Quick summer read! I'm someone who likes a protagonist who I can route for; I enjoyed that Sunshine set herself up to not be likeable...I found myself routing for her even more as a result! Also a good reminder that underneath it all we are all human.

I sort of guessed what was going to happen in this book too, so again, a little predictable but oh so good! I loved that this book sheds some light on the fact that we all try to be someone we aren’t on social media. We share our curated life, and Sunny let that curation take over her whole life. Sifting through photos and coming up with perfect phrases and making everything look just so. We all kind of do that, don’t we?



Bottom Line: Read it! This would be the perfect, quick beach read!

Rating: 4/5

**I received a copy of Hello, Sunshine from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

*My rating would be somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars. This is a light read, perfect for summer/beach time for those who enjoy foodie/chick-lit.

Sunshine Mackenzie's internet cooking show is a youtube sensation until the day she turns 35 and a vindictive hacker reveals to the entire world through a series of well-timed, explosive tweets that her whole persona is fake. Sunshine loses her husband, her home, her career, and her chance at a Food Network show as a result. Her only option is to return to her hometown of Montauk, NY, and throw herself on her estranged sister's mercy for a place to stay while she decides what to do next--like maybe doing some much-needed soul searching to figure out who she really is.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Eight Hundred Grapes so I was excited to see she had another book. But I can't get through books that have unlikeable characters. She tells the reader she's a bad person all.the.time. and I couldn't do it. Not for me.

Sunshine MacKenzie has a wildly successful career as a youtube celebrity cook and lifestyle icon....only she really doesn't cook and her bio is mostly fabricated. When someone close to her betrays her on social media, she loses everything, including her husband. Having nowhere else to go, she knocks on the door of her estranged sister's cottage and meets her six-year old niece for the first time.

While the dialogue is very snappy and the storyline very contemporary, I just didn't buy the reason or the person who betrayed her. I also didn't buy why her sister was so mean to her.

This was a quick read, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well written book. Hello Sunshine had a great plot and well developed characters. I also enjoyed the author's writing.

This is the perfect summer beach read. I loved it!

After enjoying Eight Hundred Grapes two summers ago, I was excited to see this new release from author Laura Dave. While both books could be categorized as "chick-lit", I felt that "Grapes" was a notch above others in the genre -- offering more character and plot development than is typically found in this category of books. Unfortunately I can't say the same for "Hello, Sunshine."

In Dave's latest book, YouTube star Sunshine MacKenzie has sold tens of thousands of fans on the notion that that she's a fish-out-of-water farmer's daughter now living in NYC. Her ruse has landed her a cookbook deal and a contract for a show on the Food Network. All is well and good until someone who knows the truth hacks her Twitter account and spills the beans -- and then some.

Aside from the thin plot, my biggest issue with the book is that none of the adult characters in this novel are particularly likeable (there's a young niece who is charming). Sunshine's modus operandi throughout the whole book is to continue to lie to get herself out of the lie that got her in trouble in the first place. The side characters are vapid, shallow, and rude. The "redemption" just doesn't seem that redeeming.

This book would be fine for a beach read, but there are others that would probably be more satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a perfect read for the beach. Easy to read writing that sucks you in from the beginning. Story has a few twists to keep it interesting. Thoroughly enjoyed!