Nina and Aaron have a really good story. He gets a second chance after making a bad decision for a good reason, she is a really good girl who is floundering and trying to make her way. But what kept me reading was the flow of the book, the way the words were put together. Thoroughly enjoyable.

ARC received for review

Well, it took a long time to get to Pinetree, like the last four chapters. Nina and Aaron were great for each other, and had an amazing friends and family (except for a psycho roommate...I was really expecting more from that story line). I'm not sure who else will be in future books since almost everyone is already married. Plus with how many times they mentioned who her biological father was and who his "boss" was I was expecting a major blow-up... Beautiful epilogue

I requested this book from Netgalley because the thought of an ex-con wanting/needing redemption just seemed too good to pass up. And the ideas of life stalling, that people need to move on as they find cracks in their lives that are difficult to smooth over—are seductive ones and so close to reality that I thought this story would actually be right up my alley.

But ‘Finding Sunshine’ just wasn’t what I expected, as it all read like a New Adult book populated with characters that just didn’t feel like they’ve grown up yet.

I couldn’t get into the them at all in fact: the instant love (or lust) which just seemed to be baseless and inexplicable to me which then led to a long period of feel-good lull of sunshine, sex and roses, the startling (and childish?) outbursts of temper that made me wonder at times about the characters’ maturity and the fight about who hooked up with whom in their friends’ group simply put me off.

I also had some difficulty separating the voices of Aaron and Nina, except for odd terms like ‘Golly’ and ‘Oh My Goddess’ which just didn’t seem to fit the entire storytelling; offhand, I do know they’re meant to be character quirks that make them distinct and maybe even adorable. Yet it threw me off and I struggled through the whole book with my reservations never quite dissipating at all towards the end.

Clearly, this is not the book for me at all.