I was hoping this would feel more mature based on the description, but the writing feels aimed at someone very young. I think this one is going to be difficult to market to our readers. Topic wise and cover wise, it looks like it would appeal to a new adult or mature young adult, except it's about prom, which is very middle/high school, and which is also where the writing level/style seems to be aimed. I think this one missed the mark. I stopped at 5%, but I don't think our average readers who are likely to pick this up will actually enjoy this or feel like it was more than "OK." We are not as hands-on for our libraries, and so much relies on the cover and how the books market themselves, so I don't think we would be able to get this book into the hands of those who would enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

This was really easy to read. Sunny's grief is palpable throughout the whole novel and it really changes the way you view all the characters that were friends with his brother. I really enjoyed this and I learned alot about Sikh culture.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read to this book!

I enjoyed this one and I highly recommend. I binged read this in one day!

Thank you to Penguin Teen for an eARC of this book! I'm sad to report that I really disliked it because the premise sounded so fun. You all know I love diverse, contemporary YA stories, but this read like an unfinished first draft. It seemed like the author had a lot of things that he wanted Sunny and Mindii to do, so he mashed them all together into one night with only the thinnest string of plot holding it all together. And I've never been to Fresno, but can someone explain to me why there were at least 4 cosplay events/parties happening there on the same night, for a fictional book series that is a thinly-veiled cover for Harry Potter (Jamie Snollygoster)? Unless San Diego Comic Con was magically transported to Fresno for one night only, this seemed unrealistic. There were tons of discrepancies like this (like how much food they managed to eat in 5 hours) that really took me out of the story.

Look, I love that Sunny was Sikh and Mindii was Hmong. But most of the dialogue in this book was cultural info-dumping with absolutely no subtlety and no relation to how teenagers actually talk to each other. This is an actual excerpt from the book (keep in mind that I have an eARC and some bits could have changed prior to publication):

"Yeah," Mindii says. "Fantastic documentary. The Donut King, by Alice Gu. Plays on a loop here so at least people can get a bit of a history lesson. Ted Bun Tek Ngoy escapes a genocide in Cambodia, learns about the donut business, buys a ton of donut stores across California, and sponsors hundreds of families who now do the same thing. And it wasn't even to get rich, it was literally just to survive in a country that creates all of these messes in other countries, then is all 'why are all these brown people here?'"

Two paragraphs later, Sunny responded:
"It's like those rags-to-riches stories of the first Punjabi immigrants who came to the US in the early 1900s. They worked on railroads and lumber mills and as farm laborers, and had to deal with so many openly racist laws made just so Asians couldn't make it. And still they took their shot, buying up things through white people they hoped they could trust.... Like how is the Alien Land Law not taught in history classes. Or the fact the Ghadar Party-the revolutionary movement to end colonial rule in British India-was started by steel and lumber workers in Astoria, Oregon, in 1913."

Yes, what a totally normal conversation to be having at a donut shop. What regular, unstilted dialogue from two teenagers who are supposedly flirting with each other. I could maybe forgive this if it was the only time it happened, but this social justice info-dumping occurred roughly once per chapter. Even though I agree with the points made, they were so jarring, so distracting, and made the reading experience super unenjoyable.

I do want to give credit to the author for his efforts to celebrate such a diverse array of cultures while exploring the heavy topic of grief, which is why I rated it two stars. This story had heart but was seriously lacking in execution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this DRC.
I had to read this book when I saw that it was set in Fresno, California. I grew up there so looking for places I’d been or things I experienced made it extra fun. It is a great adventure, total fun, I enjoyed it very much.
#SunnyGsSeriesofRashDecisions #NetGalley

A fun read and a good time. Really enjoyable and the characters were relatable without being annoying.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

This was so much fun to read! The characters were great and charming, I was rooting for them the whole time, and I was so happy to see Sikh representation in a romcom. I read it quickly and had a blast. More of this please!!

DNF @ 34%
Nothing was specifically wrong with this and I found it cute while I was reading it. But I haven't picked it back up in a long time and when I was picking it up it was hard for me to get into it. I've simply lost interest in this story.

Love all the details about being Sikh and how it made Sunny feel strong and badass. This was funny and endearing and will be great for lovers of YA rom-coms about finding yourself and being apart of a big fandom. I did get lost by some of the cosplay/fandom aspects but loved Sunny's enthusiasm.

Prom night. Rom-com.

Sunny is determined to fill out his dead's brother notebook with all his rash decisions from hair cuts to skipping prom. This was a cute YA novel filled with humor, discussions of grief, and a wonderful adventure.

I’m sure this book is exactly what some people need to read, and the story they’re looking for, it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really find myself falling for either of the characters, and it felt more middle grade than YA in terms of the characters thoughts and actions, and the end dragged on much too long for me.

⭐

I am sorry to say that this was a big DNF for me. I'm sad because I anticipated this book so much. I love YA books but this was.... super YA. Even just reading a bit, I felt everyone was so immature and annoying. I couldn't get past 15% with Sunny. I was bored. This book just was not for me.

Why everyone in this book was in cosplay continues to be a mystery to me.

My actual criticism of the book is that it felt like it had a false ending, and then proceeded to continue on for well after it should have ended, but also that the narrative couldn't seem to balance the romantic storyline with that of Sunny processing the loss of his older brother. [ Sidenote: how the brother came back in a dream to tell Sunny all the things he wanted to hear and be a support system... that was just.... not good... at all.. made me want to chuck my phone across the room. ]

For the amount of time that Mindii and Sunny were together it just felt unnecessary for the book to end with these characters promising to make something long distance work when they had literally only just started associating, had only associated for like eight hours, after moving in similar friend groups and never interacting...

It also just struck me as odd that Sunny had already accomplished all of the things on his list before we knew what the list was. That this list was in the notebook owned by his dead brother, that the notebook seemed to hold some kind of alleged significance to Sunny despite the fact that he was using it more to inspire himself to push himself out of his comfort zone and not understand his brother like he kept telling himself. It was weird and never made a lot of sense and ultimately I just wanted the notebook to stop getting stolen so maybe we could stop talking about it.

The cultural aspects of the book, and some of the conversations Sunny and the side characters had were enjoyable. I just think that the narrative needed to eliminate some of the time crunch aspects, let itself breath a little more to fully engage with the heavier topics that it wanted to include, or even just dive in head first to the romance and embrace telling that instead of this weird mix of the two it was.

I was tempted to DNF this book. It is not a bad book and that’s some thing I would like to stress. It’s just a book that wasn’t for me, I was bored while reading it and while reading it it felt like a chore to me, and that's not what reading should be. This book follows Sunny the night of his prom. His brother passed away from alcoholism recently and Sunny has his old journal which has a list of rash decisions. Sunny, not being someone who makes rash decisions, decides to do it and in the process he learns more about his brother I absolutely loved this books explanation of alcoholism and how it is an illness and a lot of people in society do not take it seriously enough. For me personally I just couldn’t connect with the character despite having so much in common with him and I didn’t care for the romance. I didn’t feel any fluttering or “awe” moments. The representation of the story is great and I think it is a wonderful book to be on the shelves it’s simply just was not for me.

i love the concept!! this book takes place over the course of one night (other than the exposition).

sunny is trying to get over his brother's death, his brother that died from his alcoholism. the characters are so diverse and compelling, other than the token white bully (i love how intentional this was lol). there was so much about cosplay and fandom culture, and their chaotic prom night where they're following goldy's journal of rash decisions! i love that while navdeep singh dhillon is writing about sunny coming to terms with his grief, he also talks about the overall large scale problem of alcoholism in the punjabi sikh community.

This one put me in mind of a modern version of an 80’s teen film! Complete with prom, mishaps and of course, poignant moments, this is a story about a Sikh teen seeking to step out of familial and cultural expectations after tragic loss.

I enjoyed watching Sunny G embark on his “series of rash decisions” and although sometimes overbearing, found Mindi to be a fun wingwoman for him. Filled with both cultural and pop references, this was a great geeky read! I very much appreciated the diversity represented in the novel.

Trigger Warnings: Grief, alcohol addiction, bullying, racism, ableism (stuttering)

Set over the course of one very busy evening, Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon is a romantic comedy that follows a grieving Sikh teen as he attempts to make rash choices without overthinking the consequences.

It’s Sunny G’s senior prom night, but he is the only one of his friends attending. Everyone else is preparing for the real event of the season—The Snollygoster Soiree—happening that very same evening. It’s an “annual shindig dedicated to the world of Jamie Snollygoster” that Sunny himself is supposed to be playing with his Bramble-core (a genre of Snollygoster-themed music) heavy metal band, but Sunny is sitting it out and going to prom instead. However, he doesn’t stay long once he meets Mindii by the punch bowl and she steals his handmade crocheted pouch that happens to contain his whole life: phone, cash, ID, and the notebook left to him by his older brother Goldy who passed away one year ago.

Soon, Sunny is chasing Mindii across Fresno in an ice cream van, but upon catching her, he realizes that his own friends put Mindii up to the theft to drag Sunny out of his own head. Over the next few hours, Sunny and Mindii criss-cross Fresno with no real plan of action, stopping off at food trucks and late-night slam poetry events in back rooms. No matter how hard he tries, Sunny can’t be as rash as he wants to be, but as he chases the ghost of his dead brother and tries to decipher the notebook he left behind he makes some unexpected discoveries of his own.

Sophie really wanted to love Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions; a book filled with cosplay, pop culture, and the opportunity to see those things from a different cultural perspective, what’s not to love? Sadly, she really struggled with it, but first the good parts. Sunny himself was an interesting and immediately likable character with his love of cosplay and crotcheting and it was great to learn about so many aspects of Sikh culture through his eyes. There are some beautiful depictions of grief—especially the way Sunny’s family honors the dead—and also some laugh-out-loud moments that will be instantly relatable to anyone who has ever attended a con.

The most obvious thing that Sophie struggled with was how the book was so overladen with pop culture that it became grating. Barely a paragraph could pass without some reference to a comic, TV show, or film—mostly regarding the Jamie Snollygoster series that Sunny and his friend group are obsessed with. The overabundance of cosplay in particular felt weird. When Sunny looks around his prom, he realizes that everyone there is wearing cosplay so they can ditch early and head to the Snollygoster Soiree. The same thing happens when he and Mindii go to his best friend’s cousin’s engagement party, with half the attendees in cosplay. Why is there a huge yet obscure fandom event happening at 11 pm on prom night that seemingly every teen in town is attending? It felt odd, and unbelievable enough to repeatedly pull Sophie out of the story.

That previous point leads Sophie to her other issue with the book: so much of it felt painfully contrived as if the author desperately wanted to convey lots of cultural information and thus crammed it into strange places. Why is anyone having their engagement party take the form of a Nigerian culture trivia quiz at a roller rink? Why does the donut shop have a 24-hour looping documentary running to teach visitors about the important historical connections between donut stores and genocide in Cambodia? Sure it’s great to learn that stuff—Sophie had no idea about the connection before reading this—but it all felt so forced that she found it hard to enjoy the actual story. Mindii too came across as little more than a manic pixie dream girl, leading Sunny around on her motorcycle from one wacky circumstance to another.

This one had a lot of potential, and it was fantastic to see a book filled with nerds from varied cultures rather than the usual stereotype, it just needed to calm down in order to avoid losing its heart in an avalanche of forced educational moments and unnecessary pop culture references.

Wacky YA Novel Examines Decisiveness and Grief of a Sikh-American Boy

Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon is a wacky debut young adult romp that takes place in and around Fresno during an over-the-top night for the title character. Sunny Gill’s presence is expected at two conflicting events that evening: the barsi for his older brother and the Snollygoster Soiree where his heavy metal band is scheduled to perform for a gathering of other fan fiction fanatics. Instead, Sunny chooses to fill with a series of rash decisions the notebook his brother Goldy left him.

Decisions don’t come easily for Sunny, but he’s determined to make some pretty reckless and impulsive ones. Goldy, who died of alcohol poisoning a year earlier, was gay, alcoholic, carefree, and cool. Sunny is the complete opposite, but he bravely makes his first rash decisions:
1. Change face. (He shaves his beard, cuts his hair, discards his turban.)
2. Go to prom. (He wants the “Very Important Prom Experience” even without a date.)

At the prom, Sunny’s self-rebranding and nerves-enhanced stutter are mercilessly mocked, throwing the Experience into the toilet. The night worsens when Mindii Vang, a Hmong teen with a reputation for making impetuous decisions herself, steals Sunny’s crocheted pouch (part of his cosplay garb he wears to prom), hops on her motorcycle, and speeds off into the night.

Desperate to retrieve his pouch—which contains his phone, cash, student I.D., and Goldy’s notebook—Sunny manages to track Mindii down. She then leads Sunny on an all-night adventure to strange and wonderful places he’s never been. In his quest to make rash decisions, Sunny meets people who impact his outlook on himself and his future. And, on the definite plus side, his escapades are sprinkled with a dash of unexpected romance.

The book is, admittedly, targeted to a readership of teens who love cosplay, swoon over Avatar: The Last Airbender, and endlessly drop pop and fan-fic references (there are mentions of Bollywood films, too). Nevertheless, there are two significant topics that make Dhillon’s debut YA novel a should-read.

The novel is populated with characters from several diverse communities through language, culture, location, and food. These characters from the Hmong, Ghanaian, and Nigerian communities and across the gender and sexuality spectrums, are seamlessly woven into Sunny Gill’s story. Sunny, himself, is an awkward-but-amusing narrator that is, according to the author in an interview, “a super nerdy, cosplaying, crochet and Bollywood-obsessed Punjabi-Sikh teen, who is trying to figure himself out while dealing with grief and an uncertain post-high school future.” Punjabi-Sikh teen representation in young adult literature is overdue and duly celebrated.

However, the bedrock of “Sunny G” lies with the honest portrayal of a teen dealing with ableism and bullying, racism and xenophobia, and most importantly, the effects of alcoholism and addiction on families. Where Dhillon’s storytelling shines is in the inclusion of grief. Pure and perplexing, simple and complex, sibling and generational grief is a substantial part of Sunny and Mindii. Sadly, Sunny says about his family’s loss, “We contort ourselves into all kinds of positions to avoid saying what we’re really thinking or feeling.”

Sunny and Mindii bond by sharing their grief through stories and memories about Sunny’s big brother and Mindii’s beloved grandmother during casual conversation, extending to each other the courtesy of listening, speaking, and responding without one or the other’s feelings being dwarfed. Thus, the teens feel free to reveal their hurts, losses, and discoveries. Dhillon also gives Sunny room to express his most profound emotions through his music, fueled by his family’s “deafeningly silent grief.”

One of Sunny’s social media posts offers the heart behind his series of rash decisions:
“Don’t just let life pass you by wondering what if. BE the IF.”

This book follows Sunny the night of his prom. His brother passed away from alcoholism recently and Sunny has his old journal which has a list of rash decisions. Sunny, not being someone who makes rash decisions, decides to do it and in the process he learns more about his brother.
I absolutely loved this box explanation of alcoholism and how it is an illness and a lot of people in society do not take it seriously. I also appreciate all the fun anime and avatar references throughout the book. As an anime avatar lover myself it was so cool. For me personally I just couldn’t connect with the character despite having so much in common with him and I didn’t care for the romance. I didn’t feel any fluttering or “awe 🥺” moments.
The representation of the story is great and I think it is a wonderful book to be on the shelves it’s simply just was not for me 🤷🏻‍♀️