Sunshine Mackenzie has it all…until her secrets come to light. Sunshine Mackenzie is living the dream—she’s a culinary star with millions of fans, a line of #1 bestselling cookbooks, and a devoted husband happy to support her every endeavor. And then she gets hacked. When Sunshine’s secrets are revealed, her fall from grace is catastrophic. She loses the husband, her show, the fans, and her apartment. She’s forced to return to the childhood home—and the estranged sister—she’s tried hard to forget. But what Sunshine does amid the ashes of her own destruction may well save her life. In a world where celebrity is a careful construct, Hello, Sunshine is a compelling, funny, and evocative novel about what it means to live an authentic life in an inauthentic age.
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0Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave | Book Review
Summary
Sunshine Mackenzie, a celebrity chef, gets her Twitter hacked and all her secrets spill out all over the internet.
Writing
The story is told in first person. Sunshine is narrating our story. The writing is very simple, easy to follow and it really sucks you into what's going on.
Characters
Sunshine
A 35-year-old celebrity chef whose Twitter gets hacked by an anonymous source. I kinda liked Sunshine, I don't think a lot of people will like her because she lies a lot but hey, nobody's perfect right? I liked that she was flawed and not some perfect little dandelion.
Danny
Sunshine's husband, he starts to question their relationship as her secrets get revealed.
Rain
Sunshine's sister. After Sunshine's secrets get revealed, Sunshine decides to go and visit her sister and her sister isn't happy about it.
Ethan
One of Rain's friends that live in Sunshine and Rain's hometown. He's a fisherman.
Likes
• I like how this book calls out celebrity culture and how fake everything is. I especially like how Sunshine has people tweet for her.
• I don't think a lot of people will like this part of the book but I laughed when I read it and it's that Ryan, who discovered Sunshine, decided to make up this whole story on how she became a chef. She grew up on a farm, moved to New York, started making videos on YouTube about cooking and ended up getting her own show but in reality she moves to New York, works at a bar when Ryan approaches her about cooking. I laughed out loud when I read that because it's so different from the truth, it's hilarious.
• I like how this makes you think about celebrity culture. Do really believe Taylor Swift and Katy Perry dislike each other?
• So much jaw dropping, I love it
• Plot twists you don't see coming
• I really like Ethan
Dislikes
• I hate hashtags. Why do authors feel the need to put hashtags in books relating to the Internet, or more specifically, Twitter? It looks so dumb.
• Sammy, Sunshine's niece, is so unrealistic. She's six years old and she's apparently "smart for her age" and a little "adult". Quote: “Actually, statistically, ninety percent of the time someone shows up within a half an hour of a scheduled obligation, or they don’t show up at all. Her half hour was up over an hour ago.” 2nd Quote: “Sammy Stephens has proven herself to be quite a star,” Kathleen said. “The fact that she is already designing a self-sustaining irrigation system, when we are only touching on water during geology . . . well, I just want to say, H2U. Here’s to you!” I'm sorry but no six year old talks and does things like this. I didn't even know how to spell obligation at six years old. I don't know why authors write children as little adults. Even if a child was some sort of genius, they would still talk like a normal kid, not some 30-year old. I think authors do this because they don't know how to write a child and it's so unrealistic. And come to think of it, I don't like Sammy at all.
• I'm not a big fan of Rain either
Overall
I honestly really enjoyed this book. There were a few characters I didn't like but overall, I liked how Sunshine wasn't perfect and think that's what made her realistic to me. This has a few mixed reviews on Goodreads but if you like flawed protagonists, this book is for you.
Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
0Eight Hundred Grapes happened to be one of my very favorite chick lit reads so I could not wait to see what Dave would write next. While this one was cute, the themes of coming home after a breakup are similar to her previous book and lacked that depth and charm that I had hoped for.
Sunshine (yes, her name!) is a culinary star that becomes victim to a smear campaign that leaks all her dirty little secrets. The destructive nature of the tweets end up shedding some light on a lot of missteps and a few Hollywood secrets that cause her to lose her career and jeopardize her marriage.
Facing your demons is always a challenge and the reader gets to follow along and think upon our own inauthentic photos and the nature of living in the social media age.
This is a great one for the beach bag if you are looking for something lighter to read.
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