Title: A Good Day for Chardonnay
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Sunshine Vicram #2
LOVED IT
I would like to thank Darynda Jones, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t think I speak of anything in enough detail to be considered a spoiler, I made an effort not to, but if you want to make sure to avoid them, maybe don’t read this.
I loved this book more than the first! I have a strong craving to reread it already, to reread both of them. There were a million plots, per Jones’s MO, but they were all interwoven seamlessly, also per Jones’s MO. A few threads didn’t get completely tied up because they’ll extend into book 3, but they were resolved enough to leave the reader satisfied, which is much appreciated.
I refuse to think too hard about this book and pick it apart, I don’t have the heart this time.* But off the top of my head, there was one thing that could probably have been cut without consequence: the Randy gag. As far as I can tell, it served no purpose but to be funny. And now that I think on it, was it even resolved? Were we told what happened to Randy? If we were, I don’t remember. *runs search* No, he isn’t mentioned past chapter 24. But anyway.
The pace was fast but steady, every scene had room to breathe. It might throw some readers off that the climax for one plot is as early as 60%, but personally I was ecstatic to know that there was still so much left of the book! I didn’t want it to end. Jones said she had to cut like, ten thousand words during revisions, which makes me gasp like Damian when Cady breaks the crown at the end of Mean Girls. (3:30 in the video if you follow the link)
The characters were all amazing, every single one. I couldn’t get enough of them. I admired Sunshine’s goodness and dedication and maturity (that’s a feat, making the character appear mature despite her constant quips); I related to Auri’s well-intentioned mistakes and to just generally being a teenager; I sympathized with Quinn and Sun’s parents; I was afraid for Hailey and Jimmy; I was conflicted about Wynn; I adored Rojas and liked Zee and Salazar.
And oh god, Cruz. Cruz simply shattered my heart.
I was most impressed with Levi, though. I liked him a lot more this time around; he was still prickly and obstinate, but much less of an asshole, at least to my mind. He didn’t once complain as he ran himself ragged trying to help and protect everyone he cared about. I think he reveled in being involved, being needed, being useful, especially in regards to Sunshine. I hope his eye’s okay . . . I kept expecting Sunshine to force him to go to the hospital and he’d come out with a sexy eye patch. But alas, no eye patch.
I do wish Jones had included a few more lines at the very end; I’d really like to hear Levi’s answer to Sun’s question, because it would help me understand where his head’s been at for the last fifteen years. When did he? I want so badly to understand; I’m still tempted to be angry with him for not doing anything, but I’m much more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt than I was after book 1. He earned that benefit in 2.
*groans* The third book cannot come fast enough. I want it almost as much as I want Beep and Osh, that’s how much I’ve come to love this series. Forget Annette’s book, can we have A Hard Day for a Hangover this fall? Pleeeease?
Overall, this has to be one of Jones’s best books of late. I loved it times infinity.
As for what’s coming down the pipeline:
The Gravedigger’s Son, an Amber and Quentin novella (part of the Grave series), will be out on May 11. See my review for that here.
Then this book, A Good Day for Chardonnay, will release on July 27.
The Betwixt and Between trilogy has become a series; I’m not entirely certain what Jones is planning, but it sounds like she’s going to write another trilogy around Annette, the first of which being Moonlight and Magic, currently set for release on October 18. (In the Amazon blurb, it says beware of spoilers for the “first trilogy,” which implies a second trilogy, so that’s where I got that notion from. Though perhaps it’s just a one-off, which is what I first thought it was meant to be.)
Now it’s guesswork on my part. If Annette is indeed getting a trilogy, I would think it’ll follow the release pattern of the first trilogy, meaning book 2 will arrive in early 2022 and book 3 in late 2022.
A Hard Day for a Hangover, the third book in the Sunshine Vicram trilogy—last I heard, it remains a trilogy—will likely release in Spring 2022. But I believe Jones has already written it and should be in the middle of edits and revisions at this point . . . I wouldn’t mind it being a 2021 Christmas present. 😉 But most likely Spring 2022.
Jones also mentioned in Jan 2020 that she had plans to write a novella featuring Cookie and Uncle Bob, but she didn’t mention it in the last Facebook live video, so I’m not sure if she still intends to do that. Otherwise I believe she should have started writing Beep and Osh this winter, so once Sunshine’s trilogy is over and Annette’s is either done or nearly done, we’ll get Beep and Osh’s trilogy. I would guess the earliest chance for release is mid to late 2022, more likely early 2023. I hope we get those six months apart, but a year apart wouldn’t surprise me.
She was also working on putting together a cookbook, but I haven’t heard any more about that.
*I reread book 1 a few days after writing this review, and there are at least a couple continuity errors; granted, there are still four months until release, so it’s possible these could be corrected somehow, but I rather doubt it.
First, a pretty glaring retcon on Jones’s part: Book 1 says the kid who was treated for stab wounds got himself to the urgent care center, the local one, and snuck out on his own as well; no one else, such as an uncle, checked him in or was present or involved.
Second, in book 1 Auri has a mild to moderate problem with asthma that seemed to be triggered and aggravated by stress, but in book 2 neither the word “asthma” nor “inhaler” was so much as used.
If I notice others in further rereadings, I’ll jot them down here.
