(Review contains spoilers which are hidden when posted elsewhere.)

I have mixed feelings about this first book in Darynda Jones’s new series. On the positive side, the characters are likable and Jones brings her trademark snark and sass both to Sunshine and to her daughter Auri. Sun’s relationships with Auri, her best friend Quinton, and her parents all are enjoyable and there are some fun, quirky characters who will be fun to follow. I especially like Auri, a bit better than I do Sun, if I’m being honest.

But I also have some frustrations with the story. Despite the urgency of finding the missing girl, Sun and her fellow law enforcement people seem to get easily distracted and the plot often meanders. Some of the plot devices to create tension make little sense. <spoiler>Why would the kidnapped girl, after having had visions much of her life about her kidnapping and death, hide some of the most crucial clues like the drawing of the name graffiti, in a hidden envelope? Why not send everything to the new sheriff and tell her to ask Auri about it?</spoiler> One of the biggest, most personal mysteries about Sun seems so obvious as a reader, but she herself remains clueless despite the blatant clues. <spoiler>Audi’s looks alone should have given a clue as to her father’s identity. Once Sun found the shack in which she was held and Levi’s uncle’s body found nearby, she should have put some clues together. It’s blatantly obvious that the uncle had kidnapped her, that Levi rescued her and killed the uncle, and that he and Sun had been consensually intimate shortly before the kidnapping and he is Auri’s father. Even if Levi doesn’t know about Sun’s retrograde amnesia from the kidnapping (he obviously knows Auri is his), the blindness and stupidity on both sides is frustrating. Worst, the “mystery” is not solved in this book and Sun idiotically is wondering if Levi was one of the kidnappers.</spoiler>

While wanting at times to slap some sense into some of the characters isn’t exactly an endorsement, I enjoyed the characters enough that I likely will check out the second book in the series. I only hope Jones doesn’t drag out the mystery reveals too much longer.

Oh Sunshine you have many questions with little answers given. That leaves us with many questions and little answers, but LOADS of theories. I like loads of theories.

We meet Sunshine on her first day as Sheriff of the town she grew up in. Things are not all sunshine and roses for her on that first day. Mainly b/c of muffins.

This was great book world building. You have her 14 yr old daughter. Her best friend. Her parents. Her mom's book club. An old crush. A nemesis both Sunshine's and Auri's. High school drama. Gay friends. TWINS sorta (side note I love Quincey). Old crime unsolved, new crime to solve. A missing rooster.

The humor is much the same as Charley and Cookie from the Grave series. The quick whit and back and forth are awesome.

An addictive first installment in an exhilarating new series. Sunshine is an extremely capable, if somewhat bewildered, new sheriff in town. Her daughter, Auri, is the love of her life, and has her own stuff going on. Both story lines are equally enthralling and the mom-daughter dynamic is hilarious and heartwarming. Throw in a bunch of tiddly older ladies, meddlesome parents, Levi Ravinder, a town flasher, Levi Ravinder, oodles of gorgeous men and women of all ages, mean girls, Levi Ravinder, a murder or two, kidnappings, a psycho chicken and have I mentioned.... Levi Ravinder? This promises to be a blockbuster of a series.

I loved it! This author is one of my favorites. She combines humor with light topics and heavy ones and maintains tight loyalties with friends and family all while multiple mysteries overlap in the story line. The steam is building and I can't wait to see what happens next in the series.

A Bad Day for Sunshine was about a sheriff who won an election without entering a race. Returning home to a town you grew up in to face a harrowing past. It is easy to engage with the character Sunshine and how she deals with today and the past. Nothing is as it seems, and remembering the past has everything with today's mystery.

A great mystery and love story. The election of a sheriff that didn't enter the election is a little unbelievable but the rest of the story is great with lots of surprises and very lovable characters including a mystery deputy. I love the relationships between the Mother, daughter, and grandparents as well as a high school boyfriend.

I like Jones’ writing and was eager to read this new series from the beginning. It has all the snappy dialogue that I love from this author. For me the characters were just a bit too precious and special. I kind of overloaded on it. Even the names were a little snowflake-y. The plot moved right along but I found it was just overall a little too twee for me.

This was my first book I’ve read by Darynda Jones. A little dark, a little fun, this was an adventure to read! Sunshine is the new sheriff in Del Sol. She has to uncover the mystery of what happened to not only herself when she was young but to another missing girl. All in all it kept me guessing. Love the writing style!

I received this book from Netgalley. I did not think Darynda could come up with another series as good as The Charlie Davidson series, but she has! I love Sunshine and Auri. I love Sunshine's and Quincey friendship. This book has mystery and intrigued. I have laughed and cried. When I thought I figured a certain plot, I was pleasantly surprised that I had it wrong. Especially the mystery with Lt. Bo.

Wow guys!! I have never read a book by Darynda Jones before, in fact I've never even heard of her. Netgalley sent me an email saying this was available to read now for only 2 days so I grabbed it!! I'm so happy I did! I LOVED this book! I loved these characters and was pulled into this story right from the start! These characters are fun, I loved the mystery, and I even laughed in parts. The suspense was great. I'm definitely going to be reading more books by this author no doubt!!

I loved Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson series so I was so excited to get to read the start of her new series! Sunshine and her daughter Auri haven't had a very easy life but they get to start over in Del Sol with all the ghosts and baggage of Sunshine's life. There were twists I wasn't expecting and questions still up in the air at the end that made me antsy for whenever I can get my hands on book 2. Im looking forward to more about one hot crush, Levi and what he really knows about what happened to Sunshine. I definitely recommend to anyone who is a Darynda fan, there is the same humor and feel as her Charley books even without the paranormal twists.

First, Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press for providing A Bad Day for Sunshine in exchange for my honest review.
I LOVE THIS BOOK, and i loved all of Darynda's books. It was everything i expected and more cant wait until the next book.

Sunshine Vicram has returned home and it’s her first day on the job as the sheriff. As far as first days go it’s a pretty epically bad one. It’s a smallish community so she’s expecting the usual stuff but her first day starts out with a BANG!


I have loved this author since her Charley Davidson series. She made me laugh and cry through the entire series. So when I found out she had a new book out going a totally different direction I was excited to check it out.

This new series doesn’t disappoint and I was laughing out loud through the whole thing. The plot was great and kept me guessing all the way until the big reveal. I’ve fallen in love with these new characters of hers and am super excited to see them in follow up books. This book was action packed but still had a lot of feelings.

I will be recommending this book to all my friends who love the crime thriller and mystery books. I think my friends who love Karin Slaughter will flip for this new series!

Was not what I expected. Despite a promising premise, I couldn't finish it -- the narrative was too much like Young Adult fiction, with a simplistic sentence structure and an overly emotional protagonist.

Sunshine is the new sheriff of the community where she grew up in New Mexico, and challenges occur beginning on her very first day of work. Her daughter, Auri, does her best to fit in socially in her new school, but she is accused of something she didn't do before her semester even begins.

The story weaves in and out between Sunshine's work, and Auri's contributions to her mom's investigations. The events are not quite believable, and when the book ends, the reader is left wondering just exactly what transpired.

This book had the potential to be a fun page-turner, but because it was just way too wordy, it ended up for me being a dreaded job to get through. If the text could be cut back by maybe 30%, A Bad Day for Sunshine might earn a few more stars.

A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE By Darynda Jones

I love this one! I know that Darynda Jones has another hit on her hands with this. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram is reminiscent of Charley Davidson and her attitude with the witty banter. Sunshine has returned to Del Sol New Mexico to take over the sheriff’s position in her home town. She has her daughter and parents with her. Lots of craziness ensues and mysteries. This is definitely a 5 star read.

Thank you, Net Galley, for a copy of this book for an honest review. First off, I have read another series by Darynda Jones, the author and I enjoyed it very much. I was looking forward to this new series. Sunshine is detective and is elected as Sheriff in her hometown without her knowledge. She has a young daughter Auri. Sunshine is expecting a slow time but there are a lot of crimes all happening at once, it is alluded to that something happened to Sunshine as a young girl, but everything was so mysterious
I must say I did not care for the book, It had too many snarky comments, crimes to be solved and no one solving them. Sunshine just seemed to wander around talking about how she got the job. Things went on and on, then wrapped up quickly at the end, mostly.
I did enjoy the different viewpoints - Auri the daughter and Sunshine. I like a book where we hear different points of view. I enjoyed Levi. This is the first on in the series and Ms. Jones books are so good I expect the next one will be better, and we will have a great new series.

What do you do when you win an election without trying. So begins the saga of Sunshine, a newly minted sheriff inDel Sol, New Mexico. An unusual homecoming to be sure. A place of mystical , unexplained quirky characters and events. The book club is a excuse to gather and drink and gossip for older women, who have never lost pace with the real world and have more than a passing eye to the events of the day. Sun has a daughter ,the result of a kidnapping who Sunshine loves and protects with every fiber of her being. Issa kidnapping that starts Sun’s first day on the job.We have a fully realized hero in Ravinder,local moonshiner turned honest businessman,who happens to be the best tracker around. It doesn’t hurt that he could stop an influencer in her tracks. The search for the victim uncovers truths long held by Sunshine only to be key to the truth we hope not to see. Happy reading

A Bad day for Sunshine was a very fun read. This book was funny, saucy, and a little sad. These characters are different from Darynda’s Charley books, but still very much had the feel of a Charley book.
While reading it felt like I was missed the first book of that series, even though this is the first book of the series. Sunshine and Auri kept alluding to events in the past in such a way that it felt like everyone should know and understand the motivations that went with it while the reader was left in the dark. Aside from parts reading like an inside joke I wasn’t apart of, the story sucked me in and I eagerly await more books in this series.

This was a story that I was very glad that I persevered through the first few chapters, as I wound up really enjoying it more than I thought I would.

Pro's:
Well written. (This is the main reason I continued with the story).
Lots of surprises. (Good one's and bad one's)
A lot of humor that helps break the more stressful situations.

Con's:
The thirty something year old sheriff (who is the main character) is more hormonal than her teenage daughter. Every new male character introduced had her thinking about possible relationships.

The settings and people would change from one sentence to the next. Sometimes in the middle of a paragraph. IE: Auri would be in a conversation/situation in a classroom, the next sentence would be Sun in the middle of a forrest looking for a missing person. This is extremely distracting and confusing as I am still following the previous train of thought. And this happens multiple times in the story.

All in all it was an enjoyable story, and I would recommend it to others. I would also give an expectation of what to expect.