Review – A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

Posted July 27, 2021 by Carole in Reviews / 8 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda JonesA Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones
Narrator: Lorelei King
Series: Sunshine Vicram #2
Published by Macmillan Audio on July 27, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
Length: 12 hours 8 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

From the New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones comes the second novel in her laugh-out-loud Sunshine Vicram mystery series, A Good Day for Chardonnay.

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.

Oh, this was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the first book in the Sunshine Vicram series so I knew that I wanted to read this one just as soon as I could. All of the characters that I grew to like in the first book were back in this installment. This book could easily work as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading the series in order if at all possible so that you get the full background for each of the characters. Once I started listening to this book, I was hooked and hated to take my headphones off until I reached the end.

Sunshine just wants to enjoy some time off but that plan is out just as soon as she learns that there has been a stabbing and a hit and run at one of the local establishments. The fact that Levi is in the middle of the chaos just makes things more interesting. Sunshine’s daughter is determined to catch a serial killer, someone with knowledge of her past promises her the answers she desperately wants, and she even decides to try something new in her romantic life. There was never a boring moment with a rather complicated mystery, plenty of action, and more than a few laughs.

I really liked the characters in this book. There were some pretty big revelations in this story and while I can’t say that I was too surprised by some of them, I enjoyed seeing the characters get the answers that they needed. Some of the characters faced some pretty difficult situations and I felt for them as they navigated a world with no easy answers. I really thought that each of the key characters showed a lot of growth in this installment of the series.

Lorelei King is the perfect narrator for this story. I thought that she did a phenomenal job with all of the character voices. She performed all of the scenes with a lot of emotion and I thought that she did fantastic with the more humorous moments in the book. I believe that her narration added to my overall enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I had a lot of fun with mystery filled with fantastic characters and a few laughs. I cannot wait to read more of Sunshine Vicram’s adventures in the future!

I received a digital review copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

8 responses to “Review – A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

  1. The decaf comment made me laugh. Yes! Who hurt them? This looks like such a fun read and I Have the first one on my TBR!