To a certain extent, we all reinvent ourselves frequently. But when you change every truth, you are bound to get caught in a lie sooner or later. Sunny lets little lies take over life but a series of events forces her to examine herself to find the real Sunny.. Along the way she discovers a way to have a relationship with her sister and her neice. As Sunny prepares to bring a child into the world,, she embarks on a new invention of herself, but this time with absolute truth guiding her.

REaders of Eight Hundred Grapes and The First Husband will not be disappointed in this wonderful story!

Everything seems to come up sunshine for Sunshine Mackenzie. Her husband’s architecture career is thriving. She is surrounded by assistants and promoters as she hosts her cooking show. While she didn’t create the mirage around her, it will be Sunshine who must pay for the deceit. A hacker, waiting in the shadows, revels in exposing Sunshine's secret. The unknown villain uses social media to illustrate who Sunshine is, and who she is not.

As Sunshine explores the person behind her Sunny persona, she uncovers a piece of herself, lost in the spotlight. Reminiscent of the twists and turns Laura Dave created in Eight-hundred Grapes, Hello, Sunshine delivers an interesting cast of characters and unexpected escapades.

I started reading this book before bed and ended up rocketing through until I reached the last page. Hello, Sunshine is a fun read about a young YouTube chef who isn't who her viewers think she is. It all falls down around her when someone hacks her accounts and unleashes a secret that destroys her aspiring celebrity career, her marriage and leaves her homeless. It's a fantastic story of discovering authenticity in a world ruled by social media where appearances seem like they are everything. A good one to tuck into the summer beach bag.

I gave up on this after reading 1/3 of it. I was willing to suspend my disbelief at first (really? a completely fake identity and no one would say anything?) for the sake of a fun read, but it wasn't clever enough to justify it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it on Mother's Day, and I'm so happy I did! Sunny is an amazing character who really is the definition of ups and downs. I really love her writing style and all of the depth of characters which you can vividly picture in your mind as you plow through this book! Great for summer!

When I saw this title, I was so happy to see it was by the author of "Eight Hundred Grapes." I loved the cover, and I love the current plot...You Tube "star," branching into Food Network...but how much of what they post/we post is really true...really showing ourselves? Sunshine Mackenzie has a YouTube cooking show that is super popular, and getting more so. Life seems good...until someone decides to show the world that it's all a carefully orchestrated lie. Sunshine has to lose everything to find out what is really what she wants. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I was immediately attracted to this novel because of the title and the cover art. Right away I have high expectations and then I start reading. YouTube, food, and drama? I’m in.

Sunshine Mackenzie has it all. Her own cooking show, numerous cookbooks, a successful architect for a husband, and adoring fans. When she becomes a public figure, she became a target like any celebrity and all those secrets she was tucking away were exposed with a stroke of a key. When faced with dire circumstances we see Sunshine rise to the occasion, but it’s an uphill battle. As she searches for a game plan to move forward she must go backward and make amends with the past. That means going back home, the place she vowed to never return.

I like strong, independent women as main characters and Sunshine is just that. Her transformation through the novel is sensitive, forgiving, and triumphant. Take this on vacation, take it to the beach, take it on the bus, but wherever you take it, enjoy the sunshine.

Laura Dave is a new author to me. I thank NetGalley and Simon Schuster for the opportunity to read this novel.

On my goodness, I LOVED this book! I was riveted from the first sentence. I cheered for Sunny the whole way through.
Make sure you pick up this book!

When a story opens by interweaving the history of writing a rock music song, I'm hooked. It is hard to pull off first person narratives, characters and actions the readers may view as unlikable, but Laura Dave's writing is simply that good.
Sunshine Mackenzie is a YouTube sensation on her way to a Food Network show, has loyal fans, a loving husband, and is living her dream. Her world comes crashing down in a single day as her Twitter is hacked, outing her as a fraud, and publicly shaming her. The attacks are so precise, so devastating, designed for maximum damage and no return, she goes the one place she never wanted to...home.
As Sunny wrestles with unpacking the reality of what happened, where she is, and how she got there, the brilliance of Laura Dave's writing shines. We don't like Sunny at times, we don't like her decisions, we want to write her off as the 'bad guy'. The subtle shades of grey are layered such that we can't get off that easy. The parallels of a 'curated life', an image made for social media, and it's steep slope, how small omissions, even lies, snowball, are not so different from what normal people do every single day on social media. The novel isn't as 'warm and comfortable' as some of her previous ones, however not all books are intended to be. I think it is particularly well suited for bookclubs and would especially recommend it for that as there is great potential for discussion here.
I received an advanced reader copy (eGalley) from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley. This review reflects my honest and unbiased opinions.

I enjoyed this light, summery read that speaks to authenticity in the digital age. The main character immedately establishes herself as an unlikable character at the outset, but also sets out to redeem herself both for the other characters and the reader. Laura Dave did a wonderful job of making her sympathetic and yet own her flaws. Release date July 11, 2017.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and an easy read that I couldn't put down. I totally got sucked into the story line and began rooting for the main character, Sunshine. I will definitely recommend this book to others.


Special thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

Fantastic book. I have really enjoyed Laura Dave's work in the past and this was no exception. Very quick read--I couldn't put it down and was done in a day. Definitely worth one's time.

3.5 stars

This novel is narrated by Sunshine, a social media celebrity chef with a seemingly perfect life. We quickly learn that all is not as it appears, and follow Sunshine on her journey back to happiness.

Overall, I liked reading this and looked forward to picking it up. The themes of celebrity and self in the social media era were thought-provoking. The writing moves at a comfortable pace.

There were some things I didn't like about the novel: the characters often felt underdeveloped, and with some of them I wasn't sure why they were there at all (Violet, Ethan). I don't think the conclusion was very natural - it came suddenly, in contrast to the dragged-out commencement.

My main problem was with Sunshine herself. She did not seem to accept much responsibility for the choices she'd made, instead ascribing them to influential men in her life, or social media image. Actually, she did have options throughout her brief career and she didn't seem very contrite or self-aware.

I'd recommend this book for a quick read, but it's not one that will stay with me.

I received an uncorrected proof copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sunshine Mackenzie seems to have it all and is truly living the perfect life. She has a successful YouTube cooking show, a series of cookbooks that would rival any lifestyle celebrity's, a devoted husband, and millions of followers. With a name like Sunshine, she radiates kindness; in actual fact, she is hiding who she really is. After a few tweets, Sunshine experiences a catastrophic fall from grace. She is left to pick up the pieces and reconnect with who she really is.

I really liked this foray into the effects of social media on one's life, and the pitfalls it can have on your social standing. Without giving a preachy commentary about how toxic social media can be, a lighthearted chick-lit novel is just the remedy one needs to remind themselves that everyone's life is not as picture-perfect as Instagram and Pinterest would lead one to believe.

My only criticism is with the actual characters themselves. Although Dave pens them as complex, there aren't any redeeming qualities, and the likability factor just wasn't there for me. For a novel that was about the superficiality of social media, I expected more.

The pace was on point, I was drawn in with her effortless writing style but was left unsatisfied by the ending. That being said, I would definitely pick up another book by Laura Dave.

Hello, Sunshine was such a great book that made you think about how much you would give up for fame. Based around Sunshine, a YouTube sensation who is getting ready to start her own cooking show on the Food Network when someone topples her world by hacking her twitter. As she navigates a divorce, cancelled show, and friends who turn on her she finds her authentic self. author Laura Dave wrote a great book that I could hardly put down! A great addition to your summer reading list! Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the pre-release copy.

I've been a fan of Laura Dave since her first book (which is still my favorite), so was very excited to get an early copy of this book from Netgalley. Really enjoyable light women's fiction but with a lot of heart, and her trademark knack for really bringing the characters to life. In this one, the main character, a woman who is becoming famous as a Youtube cooking show host suddenly has her life collapse around her, and goes back home to Montauk. She is certainly a flawed character who had a hand in her own downfall, but is nonetheless very sympathetic. I do wish the end wasn't left so open, but only because I really want to know more of what happens to the characters.

Hello, Sunshine is quite the book! It's a cute story with great characters (I really connected with them on a personal level) but I didn't care for the ending. Sigh. Sometimes this happens and readers won't agree with it (as shown here) but I tend to believe that not all endings are perfect in real life so why be so in books?

With that, I really enjoyed this book as a whole. Laura Dave is a new author to me, and after reading this one I think I need to go back and see what else she has written in the past!

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC of Hello, Sunshine - in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved 800 Grapes by Laura Dave (which was the first of her books I had read), so I was excited to hear about her newest novel - Hello, Sunshine.

Hello, Sunshine tells the story of an Internet sensation, Sunshine who to the outside world is a chef. The story starts by her losing everything important to her, and her quest to find out who wronged her. While the story line is good, and I can see it being made into a made for TV movie... I would have loved to have seen more development of some of the relationships (Ethan and Sunshine, for one).

The story had an unexpected twist in there, that I really didn't see coming, which I enjoyed.

All in all, an easy weekend read, any of my friends who are chick-lit, Women's Fiction readers would enjoy this light story.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this book. I really liked Laura Dave's Eight Hundred Grapes so I was really excited for the chance to read this book. The book centers around Sunshine who was internet cooking star who falls from grace when it comes out that she couldn't even cook! It definitely shows how social media can easily make you believe someone has a wonderful life and create an imagine that isn't really true. In one night she gets exposed and loses not only the empire she is trying to build but also her husband. Sunshine returns to her home town that she left at 18 to figure out what to do next. Back to the Hamptons, she learns to find her true self while developing a relationship with her adorable, smart niece. I wish there more of a development with some of the characters in her hometown like the fisherman she meets and love to have more scenes with her niece and sister. Her relationship with her husband was not developed as well.

However like Eight Hundred Grapes, the book was easy to read and flowed well. I could see it being a good girls night movie!