Sunshine Vicram Series

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my gifted review copies of these books.

The Sunshine Vicram Series by Darynda Jones follows the newly-elected Sheriff of Del Sol, New Mexico, as she investigates everything from rooster-nappings to murder. For such a small town Del Sol certainly has more than its fair share of oddities, mysteries, and crime. The characters in both books are absolutely delightful and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with them and wish you could visit in real life.

These books don’t fit neatly into any one genre because there is adventure, police procedural, mystery, a little romance, and I’d even say they are part YA because they are split between Sunshine’s perspective and her teenage daughter’s. There is romantic tension all through the books, but in terms of actual action, it is limited to just a scene or two (there is a particularly steamy scene in Book 2 though).

While the books deal with some pretty heavy subject matter (kidnapping, abuse, murder and more) they are also witty, heartwarming, and completely hilarious at times. I am 100% here for some good banter, and these books have that in spades. Plus, there are little vignettes between each chapter, showing some of the signs ‘seen around town’ out front of various businesses. Those had me laughing out loud every, single, time.

In short, I loved them both SO much and if you haven’t read them yet you definitely should!

The audiobooks are SO well done, both being narrated by Lorelei King. They come in at close to 12 hours each but you’ll swear they were shorter because you’ll be hooked all the way through.

BOOK 1: A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE

Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆🍆 /5

Synopsis:

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o' joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.

Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, strong cups of coffee - and, now, a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff - thanks to her adorably meddlesome parents who nominated her--and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of this is reminding Sunshine why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that the trouble at her daughter's new school, plus and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and, well, the forecast looks anything but sunny.

But even clouds have their silver linings. This one's got Levi, Sunshine's sexy, almost-old-flame, and a fiery-hot US Marshall. With temperatures rising everywhere she turns, Del Sol's normally cool-minded sheriff is finding herself knee-deep in drama and danger. Can Sunshine face the call of duty - and find the kidnapper who's terrorizing her beloved hometown - without falling head over high heels in love . . . or worse?

BOOK 2: A GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY

Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆🍆🍆 /5

Synopsis:

Running a small-town police force in the mountains of New Mexico should be a smooth, carefree kind of job. Sadly, full-time Sheriff--and even fuller-time coffee guzzler--Sunshine Vicram, didn't get that memo.

All Sunshine really wants is one easy-going day. You know, the kind that starts with coffee and a donut (or three) and ends with take-out pizza and a glass of chardonnay (or seven). Turns out, that's about as easy as switching to decaf. (What kind of people do that? And who hurt them?)

Before she can say iced mocha latte, Sunny's got a bar fight gone bad, a teenage daughter hunting a serial killer and, oh yes, the still unresolved mystery of her own abduction years prior. All evidence points to a local distiller, a dangerous bad boy named Levi Ravinder, but Sun knows he's not the villain of her story. Still, perhaps beneath it all, he possesses the keys to her disappearance. At the very least, beneath it all, he possesses a serious set of abs. She's seen it. Once. Accidentally.

Between policing a town her hunky chief deputy calls four cents short of a nickel, that pesky crush she has on Levi which seems to grow exponentially every day, and an irascible raccoon that just doesn't know when to quit, Sunny's life is about to rocket to a whole new level of crazy.

Yep, definitely a good day for chardonnay.