Another great book by Darynda Jones! I really love this series and look forward to reading the next book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Wow, just wow! First of all, I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of the same. I can honestly say that my review would be the same no matter how I got the book. Really enjoyed this book. Everything came to light in this book and all was revealed. I don’t want to spoil anything but if you read the first two books, you have to read this one. I will just say that Sunshine begins to remember more from her past.

4.5 Stars 🌟

I was thrilled to see that the next book in this series was out and that I was able to read the ARC. I love Ms. Jones and love both her Charlie Davidson series and this - the Sunshine Vicram series - as well.

This is the third book in the series and it is the continuation of the story arc that has Sunshine and Levi trying to figure out what their relationship status is. Oh, and there are also quite a few murders happening in this small town.

As usual, there was a wonderful amount of snark and I really enjoy the relationship that Sunshine has with her daughter Auri. Honestly, I think that is my favorite part of the series. It is similar in the feel to her Charlie Davidson series - I think she really has a talent in the way she creates the dialog between her characters.

Unfortunately, even though I really enjoyed the book, I didn't like it as much as the last book. Without going into spoilers, I had a hard time with Auri's behavior. Her actions just keep getting her in trouble....in REAL trouble and I cringed every time she said, "what can go wrong?"

Seriously?

Not only did she say this several times, but her actions were reckless and we KNOW she's intelligent enough to think before she acts. It wasn't awful, it just got annoying after a while.

Other than that, the actual story arc of the crimes themselves and the actual perpetrator were a bit weaker than in the prior books, but it still kept my interest (I figured out pretty quickly who the criminal was) but it still managed to increase the tension as things came to a head. I will be anxiously awaiting the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Sunshine. I love you almost as much as Charley. And you do all that you do with just a gun and a spunky attitude.

When a girl is found beaten and clinging to life (and a ledge over a cliff), Sunshine Vicram, county sheriff, knows she’s got to figure out what is going on. What she doesn’t want is her headstrong daughter joining in the investigation, but when has that ever stopped Auri before? Plus add the fact that the love of her life has a crazy family that includes at least one homicidal uncle, and she has her work cut out for her.

received an arc in exchange for an honest review

After the ending in book 2, I have been waiting to find out what happened next. So I was super excited to receive an arc. This book did not disappoint. I read it all in one sitting and the only problem was I wasn’t ready for this series to be over. Everything gets wrapped up in a neat little bow but I still just want a little bit more. Perhaps a short story from Quincy? Or maybe we can get a little bit from cruz? Ok I’m reaching for scraps cause I just want more from this universe. Overall I really loved this book and can’t wait to see what darynda gives us next.

Amazing as usual. How does Darynda Jones constantly write such entertaining books? The third Sunshine book is as good if not better than the last two and as good as the Charley books. A great read.

WOW,! This newest addition to the Sunshine universe is so full of twists and turns, it keeps the reader on his/her toes. I love this series, as much or more than the Charlie Davidson series, and that is saying a lot. I read that this is the final book, I sincerely hope not. So much is going on in this story, it is such a thrilling read and there are so many laughs included, one of my favorite laughs:
“Keep your marriage fresh by writing each other love notes like, “I considered smothering you with a pillow last night but didn’t.”
Love this book, a definite addition to your TBR List.

Just a week after her daughter survived a murderer, Sun is back on the job and trying to solve a series of crimes in her small town. These crimes run from a single break-in to an attempted murder.

As Sunshine works to get the town back to the calm it was before she ever took the job as sheriff, her daughter is once again trying to help out by doing research and asking questions that put her in the sights of someone dangerous.

In the middle of all of this is the changing relationship between Sun and her eternal crush, Levi, who she finally remembered saved her from her own kidnapping and attempted murder fifteen years before.

With everything both coming together and falling apart, Sun and her somewhat crazy colleagues and family members must solve the mysteries and protect the teens who both help and hinder their investigations.

Final thoughts: Another solid entry from Jones, which is supposed to be the last for this trilogy but ends with a comment/question that left me hanging. I am truly hoping there is a short story from Levi's PoV that finishes this whole thing out. Speaking of Levi, I have a difficult time with some of the character shifts for him in this book. For the other two books (and much of this one) he has been pretty broody and uncommunicative. We've known that Sun has crushed on him for years, but it's been fairly one-sided. Jones has shown that Levi cares, but he just doesn't speak much. In this book, there are a couple of scenes where Levi is downright chatty in comparison but then goes back to practically silent again. It just feels like we need his PoV on something just to see how he feels since he's not expressive as a character.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

With "A Hard Day for a Hangover" (third in the Sunshine Vicram series) Darynda Jones checks all of the boxes.
1- an exciting plot'
2- all of our favorite characters, and further character development
3- comedy, drama, romance, parenting of all stripes
4- surprises, and some not so surprising developments
5- a little juvenile behavior
6- some serious butt kicking

Check, Check, and check!

Enjoy.

I love this series. It is definitely a must read for Gilmore Girls fan. I love the relationship between Auri and Sunshine. The same banter, sarcasm and sass. Sunshine and Levi are still terrfic together... I just wish that they have even more scenes together. This book finally answers a lot of the questions from the earlier books too. It's a fun and romantic read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

A Hard Day for a Hangover, the 3rd book in the Sunshine Vicram series is by Darynda Jones, naturally it is awesome! I sincerely hope that this is the third of many books in a wonderful series, but if this is the last of a limited set, it is as close to a perfect ending as you could find.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review an ARC of fantastic book by a beloved author. Getting to read it early was one of the highlights of my year so far. I will be shouting about A Hard Day for a Hangover for a long time.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #DaryndaJones #AHardDayforaHangover #SunshineVicram

What a fantastic ending to the series. SO much action. The truth coming out made for some very emotionally, happy scenes. Everything concluded, but I admit I want more. I just love these characters so much I wish we could get more in the series. This is one of my favorite series I've read and I know I will be revisiting it often in the years to come.

Great continuation of a great series not as good as the first book However I enjoyed the mystery and action great characters.

This was spectacular! Filled with mystery, lots of action, thriller tension. I love that there is always snarky banter in Darynda's books. Lots of police sub plots that I really like, just like real life. A few questions on characters still left out there, but didn't hurt the story for me. Levi and Sunshine, makes me smile. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

My favorite thing about this series is the characters. The humor, the banter, the friendship, the love. Darynda Jones writes amazing characters. The mystery in this one fell flat for me. It was insanely predictable, I put most of it together before even the halfway mark. I still really enjoyed the story, though because of the characters. It also didn’t feel like the end of a trilogy. Everything was pretty wrapped up I guess, but for a final book in a trilogy I guess I expected something bigger. Maybe I’m just not ready yet to say goodbye to Sunshine and Auri, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting whatever else Jones has in store for us.

I think this is the best of the Sunshine Vicram books so far! The story was great and moved along quickly. I loved seeing what happened to the characters!

I love NetGalley! I was able to read this through NetGalley and was so excited to dive in. Darynda Jones never fails in writing an entertaining and addicting book. These characters are amazing and I love them.

As with anything that Darynda Jones writes, I devoured this book. Even though I figured out the "who done it" about mid way through the book, it was still as engaging as ever. I love the way Jones sweeps you up in the story and keeps you reading as fast as you can through the action, high impact scenes. Sunshine Vicram is back at it trying to solve the goings on in her small town of Del Sol. Her mini me daughter is back at it as well trying to help sleuth out the truth behind the disappearance of a young girl and in the process getting herself into extreme danger. I loved this book. Thank you, St. Martin's Press for the eARC. 5 stars!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

OMG. I laughed, cried, cursed and then did it all over again. We pick up with Sun and the gang, with some new characters and some old favorites. It ends in a way where you will hope for more books. I would love a book on the Daughters of Darkness and Wynn. Tens all across the board.

Not the conclusion I expected—or wanted

Thank you to Darynda Jones and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Kejana Alaya for providing the ARC.

It’s about time. We could have had this book a year ago, but the publisher wanted to let us stew for a while. Marketing, scheduling, I don’t care why. Paired with Moonlight being delayed for over a year now, and toss in no progress updates on anything from Jones, except to further delay Moonlight, I got pretty salty. Graveside Bar and Grill was lackluster and hardly appeased my appetite.

So, was Hangover worth the wait?

Meh.



If you don't want anything spoiled, think twice about reading the rest of this review. Ye be warned.




I mean, it was fun. Jones’s books are always ostensibly fun because of all the humor. Beneath the humor, though, there were problems. Actually within the humor, too—the characters’ pathological need to make a joke out of everything wears thin when the reader is waiting for the plot to advance, for something besides banter to happen. Also a couple of the jokes were overused—"no idea why” (that really got annoying, especially when I started to mentally explain why to the character) as well as hearts bursting out of eyes, usually Auri’s.

Also, it was ironic (or spot-on?) to see this epigraph “If I’m ever murdered, feel comfort in knowing that I ran my mouth until the bitter end. – Journal Entry: Aurora Vicram” not long after she literally, stupidly, clichedly did just that: The perp was about to shoot her and asked if she had any last words. She couldn't resist being a smartass and said, “Duck?” and the perp was supposedly too busy puzzling over that to realize they were about to be bludgeoned and incapacitated. I hated that. Not because Auri survived, that was great, but because she alerted them to the attack. Why in god’s name would you do that? What if the perp actually did duck? If she’d said something random, like, “Did you know fruit are plant ovaries?” just to throw the perp off, I wouldn’t have been so irritated, but she really should have just kept. Her mouth. Shut.

Okay. *relieved sigh* With that off my chest, let’s move on.

Randi – It was nice to see Jones didn’t forget about Randi, but I don’t believe she explained why the department had a live-in raccoon (I don’t remember from previous books), and I don’t believe we were given closure on Randi, either. Did the coon continue to stay at the station? Did they release it into the wild? Take it to a wildlife rehab facility?

Doug – I could have missed something in the end, but I don’t remember closing the book on Doug, either. They figured out what happened—which was ridiculously convoluted—but nothing was done about him.

Wanda – Why did she need to be Cruz’s long-lost grandmother? Why did he need to discover biological ties? What was wrong with him having a family in Auri’s family and the town? It totally undercut what she said to him. I did not like that development. What was the point? What did the story, the characters gain?

DD&SS – We didn’t come full circle on this at all. A conflict was presented and never revisited. Sun and her parents came to an understanding, but that was all.

We only saw Hailey once, never saw Jimmy. And hey, never got closure on Quincy and Hailey. Did they go all the way? Did they get an HEA? Was her shop successful?

There was a sad lack of Levi and Cruz (and sign language, come to think of it). Cruz didn’t really have anything to do this time around other than be Auri’s love interest, so lack of him was understandable, but the lack of Levi was kinda weird. This book was supposed to be the culmination of his and Sun’s intense will-they-won’t-they romance, and it was an afterthought. Oh yeah, that mystery that was super important to the overarching plot and Sun’s character, the one that the first two books revolved around? Apparently it was all solved in book two. Levi pouted off-screen for the first half of this one, then he and Sun finally sat down and talked for five minutes, and voila, happy family. All that was left was to fill in Auri and her parents (Quincy seemed to already know?). Their overall reaction? “Cool, let’s plan the wedding.” Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see Levi and Sun finally get together and live HEA, but that whole plot thread was incredibly anticlimactic.

As to the main plot—where was it? Clay was supposed to be the big bad, there was supposed to be a mafia, it was supposed to be this big showdown between Levi and his last remaining evil uncle. Never happened. That got shoved completely off stage by a plot featuring someone else. The climax was quite topical, as it was adjacent to a school shooting—trigger warning—and it was also very intense, best part of the damn book, but . . . I wanted a Ravinder showdown.

And the “main” plot, the one that shoved Clay’s aside, was kind of pathetic. Screw Sun, Auri did most of the investigating while Sun ran her ass off dealing with all those superfluous subplots. Tying in the other victims was cool, as was calling in the dogs to find the other body, but aside from that it was mostly Auri digging through socials on her phone. I’m sure social media introduced a whole new and valuable way to investigate crimes, but the process isn’t very exciting to read about. We never even spoke to the victim who kicked it all off, we never saw her regain consciousness. How did things turn out for her?

I could whine about wanting an epilogue, but it seems silly to ask for an epilogue considering all the loose ends.

Overall, I’m disappointed, and I’m so, so sad to give a bad review. For years now I’ve observed that Jones has a serious problem with throwing in too many subplots and not paying due diligence to the story elements that matter most. She makes a mess of a cake, then ices it with humor. It’s so frustrating, because you can tell she’s got major writing talent. She just needs help focusing the story. A developmental editor—or a better one—is badly needed.

I have no idea what’s next for Jones, and right this moment I’m having trouble caring. I’m very, very scared for Beep’s trilogy.

P.S. – I can’t get over that the publisher wants this to be a holiday release. The book has nothing to do with the holidays. At all. It’s set at the end of the school year. It’s very much a spring/summer read.

P.P.S. – Auri says Grandma has a book series about a female grim reaper who’s in love with the son of [Satan]. Yeah, haha, cute—but wait, in the first book didn’t Sunshine talk to some guy in a bar who implied that Charley was alive in Sunshine’s universe? Now she’s just a book series? I’m confused.

P.P.P.S. – If Auri was alerted to something going on at her house by the fact that the light was on in the kitchen and she recognized Grandpa through the window, how could Grandpa have been “cast in shadows” once Auri arrived? I don’t think it’s necessarily a continuity issue, it just doesn’t make sense as described.

P.P.P.P.S. – I loved the shit out of Grandpa.