A Good Day for Chardonnay

A Good Day for Chardonnay: A Novel by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram is back in the second installment of the hilarious series that bears her name. A few months have passed since we last saw Sun, and since then her parents managed to con her into going on some really terrible blind dates. The current one is definitely the worst, so it's a huge relief when her deputy calls with an emergency, cutting the date short. A raccoon emergency. At his own house. But hey, it got her out of a creepy coffee date, so there's that!

All too soon her attention is diverted from Randy the Attack Raccoon to a stabbing and hit-and-run at the bar owned by Levi Ravinder, the man she's been in love with since childhood. One man is taken to the ICU, one refuses medical treatment, and a third has his body dumped down a nearby ravine. But before she heads out to track down witnesses to an altercation between the stabbing victim and unknown assailants earlier in the day, Sun receives a message from one of Levi's uncles, claiming to have information about her abduction 15 years ago, and her destination changes. Upon returning to Del Sol, Sunshine is stunned to recognize the face of a young kidnapping victim on security camera footage from the previous day--a child who went missing years ago. Meanwhile, Sun's daughter Auri decides to enlist the help of her boyfriend and best friend in investigating a serial killer from decades ago.

I absolutely LOVED this book. The witty, snappy dialogue and multiple plot threads interwove with tender personal moments. One minute I was laughing out loud, and the next (OK, mostly later in the book) I was sobbing and trying to explain to my kids why Mommy was so sad. I am grateful some questions from the first book were answered or at least partially resolved, even if the answers to the biggest were completely obvious the entire time to everyone but Sun. As per usual, the breakneck pace made putting my iPad down nearly impossible. Plus, I just wanted to spend more time with the characters. And hug them. And join the secret club.

For readers' advisors: story, character, and language are all very strong doorways. There is quite a lot of swearing, some sexual content, some on- and off-screen violence, some alcohol, and a couple of scenes where children or teens are in danger (they survive).

Many many thanks to NetGalley, Darynda Jones, and St. Martin's Publishing Group for letting me read an eGalley copy in exchange for my honest review. Um, when does the next book come out? Is it soon? Please may I read it right away? Please??

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A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's Sunshine Vicram's first day on the job as Sheriff of Del Sol County, New Mexico. She got elected despite being unaware she was even running, thanks to her parents, who were determined to both bring her back to Del Sol and get rid of the corrupt, inept incumbent. Within minutes of her arrival, homemade muffins are delivered, horrifying her staff, who have long since learned that the size of the muffin basket portends the scope of the crazy or catastrophic cases coming their way. Today's basket is huge, and sure enough, a short time later a Mercedes crashes through the front of the sheriff station, driven by a desperate mother whose teenage daughter has just been kidnapped--an event the daughter has been predicting since she was a little girl. Sunshine and her deputies have only three days to find Sybil before her captor kills her.

I stayed up WAY past bedtime because I couldn't stop reading until I finished this book. The writing style is very witty (quite similar to Jones' Charley Davidson series) and just as fast-paced as the plot. In fact, the relationship between Sunshine Vicram and her daughter Auri reminded me a lot of Lorelei & Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls. Well, except that Lorelei knows from the beginning who Rory's father is, and Sunshine doesn't figure out Auri's until WAY WAY WAY after the reader catches on.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, language is secondary. The closest genre this book/series fits into at the moment is humorous mystery/suspense. There is a strong romantic subplot, (well, two, actually, and a bit of a third) but it will probably take another book or two (or 5, at the rate Sun's going) to develop into anything like a real relationship. There is one dream sequence that counts as a sex scene and some sexual references. Since the plot of the book focuses on a current and a past abduction, there is also reference to rape, in case that is a trigger for anyone. Also some off-screen violence, a bit of profanity sprinkled throughout, and on-screen teen bullying of Auri by a Mean Girl & her lackeys.

The diverse, quirky characters include many with brown skin in various shades and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, chiefly Latino, African, and Apache. The father of one character is deaf, and another character is on the autism spectrum, so ASL is mentioned semi-frequently. Unlike with Jones' Charley Davidson series, there is only a hint of anything possibly beyond normal human experience. It's not urban fantasy. A minor character from the Charley series has a small cameo, however, and that was fun!

I read a free ebook ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for my honest review. The only bad thing about that is that now I have to WAIT for the next book in the series to be written. Waiting is HARD.

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