Lady Sunshine by Amy Mason Doan is a stirring & very uplifting story about friendship and music.

In 1979, our heroine Jacqueline is sent off to live with her boho relatives on the beach in northern California, because her uptight father has had enough of her rebellion and promiscuous ways. There she finds love, friendship, acceptance, and her own budding talents as a musician. She's especially close with her cousin, Willa, who is her opposite but opens her eyes to a new way to live.

Everything crashes to a halt at the end of that magical golden summer, and Jackie packs up her things and also her memories. When she's forced to revisit the family property decades later, after a shocking inheritance, she's once again drawn into a free-spirited world -- this time with modern-day musicians recording her uncle's music on the property studio -- and she gradually realizes that everything she believed about that summer may not be true after all.

This book was very well written and unique. The characters stayed with me, and the last scene put a smile on my face. I can't ask for much more than that but have found it difficult to find with recent novels.

Thank you to NG and the author for access to the electronic galley in exchange for an honest review.

A coming of age story set in the late 1970's in California. The story is told in two timelines, present day and in 1979 when the main character ,Jackie, stays at her Uncle's estate for the summer. A perfect beach read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Set in dual time periods, we meet Jackie the young woman coming of age, trying to find herself, and Jackie the adult, unraveling the family secrets and trying to figure out why the wife of her famous uncle left the entire family compound to her. Jackie’s uncle was a beloved man and musician and the property welcomed everyone to stay and feel like family. Now Jackie has to prepare the property for sale but can’t run away from what happened there in her youth.
I adored this novel. Based loosely on Woodie Guthrie, it invokes and era of my own youth and the angst that comes with trying to find your own place in the world. The story has magic and mystery and family joys and secrets. I was riveted throughout and would recommend this to my patrons. I think it would make for lively book discussions.
5*

Cinematic. This is one of those books that is very easy to imagine on a screen somewhere, with the younger more idyllic scenes in bright yellow tones and the older, more mature scenes in blue tones. While it didn't hit me as hard as Doan's prior works, it was still a strong coming of age tale of secrets, revelations, finding oneself, and forgiveness. Both timelines were extremely vivid and visceral, and both worked well to show where our main character was at each point in her life. Truly an excellent read, particularly in the summer (and perfectly timed, releasing the week before a traditional major vacation week in the US). Very much recommended.

Amy Mason Doan is a natural storyteller and I enjoy reading her novels. I think she outdid her previous two with Lady Sunshine. I was worried that it was going to be another rock and roll biopic complete with lots of drugs and alcohol. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the angle with which she approached the combination of 1970s and famous musicians.

I liked the parts that took place in 1979 a lot. Amy really captured the feel of that time period. Given I was too young to appreciate that year, it was nice to live it through Jackie's eyes. I enjoyed seeing her friendship with Willa develop throughout the story. I also liked the combination of music and setting to bring the story to life even more.

While the 1999 parts were also well told and interesting, they didn't give off a strong feel for the time period as much as the 1979 parts did. I also wish the characters didn't say what actually happened in 1979 so that I could be more surprised about how things unfolded during those parts. (If they referred to something that had already happened, that was okay.)

Overall, this is an idyllic look at a simpler time, even though it had its own complex issues. I recommend checking it out when it publishes this summer!

Movie casting ideas:
Jackie (1979): Danielle Rose Russell
Jackie (1999): Chyler Leigh
Willa: Ellery Sprayberry
Graham: Eric Stonestreet
Angela: Jane Krakowski
Shane: Chris Wood
Paul: Josh Lawson
Bree: Gwyneth Paltrow

When a Boston music teacher inherits the home of her folk-singer uncle, she heads to San Francisco to prepare it for sale, the property holds memories of the one summer she spent there as a teen - some precious and some horrible. She is approached by a record producer who wants to record some songs that her uncle had written and some that she and her cousin had written. He convinces her that this was all sanctioned by her aunt, who recently passed away. Just as the summer she was seventeen changed her life, so will this summer. Love, betrayal and music combine to make Lady Sunshine an interesting read.

Back in 1979, Jackie spent the summer at her uncle's estate in California. The summer was filled with musicians and artists at the Sandcastle. Jackie became fast friends with her cousin Willa. It was a wonderful summer until until Willa disappears one night. 20 years later, Jackie inherits her uncle's estate. She goes to sell it but a producer wants to make a tribute to her uncle. She allows it and will it bring answers about Willa's disappearance? This was a wonderful book with amazing scenery. I enjoyed the twists and turns. This is a wonderful book to read in the summer. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

As a teenager, Jackie is sent to stay with her aging rock star Uncle Graham and his family during the summer of 1979. She comes of age among the music and free spirits of her uncle's 400 acre haven on the coast of northern California. She and her cousin Willa grow close over that summer until a horrible accident shatters their peace.

In 1999, Jackie is surprised to learn that she has inherited her uncle's estate. She revisits the land where she spent that magical summer and relives memories while making new ones with a group of musicians that want to honor her uncle's legacy with a tribute album of his last songs. They are recording in his studio on the estate while Jackie tries to tie up loose ends and sell the property. She soon discovers that she is not ready to let go of the land and the memories that it holds.

This wonderfully written novel portrays a summer of love, music, and freedom along with secrets, forgiveness, and the bonds of family. I was easily engrossed in the world that the author creates. Both timelines are lovely and easily navigated. I felt as though I was visiting The Sandcastle in both timelines and could have stayed for longer. This book is highly recommended to book clubs and readers who want to explore the power of music, love, and family. Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for the arc of this novel.

Amy Mason Doan is a beautiful storyteller and that is fully on display in Lady Sunshine. I felt like I traveled to California and was living among Jackie and Willa throughout this book since Doan provides the reader with such vivid descriptions. I enjoyed reading about Jackie and Willa learning to trust each other, form a friendship that the both of them needed and watch Jackie come to terms with the past 20 years later. While a bit slow at times, the story flowed easily from the alternating timelines of 1979 and 1999 and I thought the ending was a fitting conclusion for the book.

I loved this book! It was so unusual, so intriguing. The characters were real with good and bad sides., with a bit of fantasy. I would love to read more books by this author.

Lady Sunshine really snuck up on me and pulled me in with its lyrical writing and vivid imagery. Told in two time periods, 1979 and 1999, this novel unfolds at its own pace but keeps you turning the pages. For music fans like myself, the part of the book set in the Seventies on the California coast brought me right back to my childhood summers. Lady Sunshine is the story of two teen cousins, Jackie & Willa, living what appears to be an idyllic summer on a rock and roll compound, free of parental boundaries and filled with music and magic. By the point when the golden summer turns dark, we are already invested in the lives of Jackie & Willa. We meet Jackie again twenty years later, as she inherits the compound and comes to terms with the past. A satisfying read.

Lady Sunshine is more than a story to read and enjoy—it is a story you will LIVE and experience. I was completely and instantly transported to 1979, when Jackie exits the town car that has brought her to spend the summer with her uncle and his family. Like Jackie, I fell under the spell of the spirit of The Sandcastle, with the music, the freedom and the people who lived in the cabins, walked along the beach, hiked in the hills, and sat around the campfire. As idyllic as that summer was, there were secrets and darkness lurking beneath the beauty and peace, things that would alter the lives of everyone who was there in the summer of ‘79. 20 years after that fateful summer, Jackie inherits the property and returns to California with plans to quickly sell it and return to her life in Boston, but when a musician shows up with hopes of paying tribute to her uncle’s music, Jackie once again finds herself transfixed and transformed by The Sandcastle and its temporary residents. This is a glorious novel, nostalgic and clever, with shifting emotions and revelations that took my breath away.

Set in 1979 and 1999 this is a slow evolving story set in 400 acres called Stonecastle owned by her aunt and musician uncle Graham, along with her cousin Willa. All their friends flock to Stonecastle and It’s a summer of reawakening for Jackie, getting to know these family members she’s never met before, and quickly growing to love and be a part of them, especially Willa. The story flips from that summer of 1979 to 1999 when Jackie has inherited an empty Stonecastle and must confront her memories in order to clear it out for sale.
A wonderful plot, and characters, but the flipping back and forth through time the way it was done made me dizzy, it was done so much.

I’m convinced Amy Mason Doan captured the sun when she wrote "Lady Sunshine." The summer of 1979—when seventeen-year-old Jackie meets her cousin Willa at a faded rock star’s California compound—carries that sun-washed aura of nostalgia and things that are sometimes best left in the past. Twenty years later—when Jackie returns to the estate—the sun penetrates ray by ray to reveal those things from the past, and Jackie must contend with secrets hidden in the shadows.

With her soulful probing of the pain that comes with the truest and most complex of friendships, Doan has confirmed herself as a “must read” for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Graydon House for providing an early copy of this book for review purposes.

Lady Sunshine is a beautiful story, beautifully told. I found so much to enjoy in these pages: bittersweet seventies nostalgia that felt unforced and authentic, layers upon layers of mystery that kept me guessing right until The End, lovable characters, and a vivid coastal setting that has me wishing this book was real so I could visit.

This novel falls into the category of "surprise inheritances" crossed with "visiting that special place from long-ago," both genres I appreciate and enjoy, and it's well done throughout.

I have already recommended this book to friends.

This book is incredible. I tore through it in a day and a half and loved it so much.

Woven together with a story about a seemingly uncomplicated woman, Jackie, who inherits her distant family's sprawling seaside estate in California are memories of the beautiful summer she spent there after her last year of high school in the seventies, and a propulsive series of events that have left an indelible mark on her.

As we learn more and more about Jackie and her past, the author pulls us in with astonishing precision and makes us love every one of these unforgettable characters. Jackie, her floaty-flighty cousin Willa, her tempestuous but brilliant uncle, Graham, her mysterious aunt Angela -- and the new cast of characters who "invade" her newly-inherited home in the present. They're all masterfully drawn.

This one is so tender and real. I adored it from beginning to end, and felt Jackie's heart pound as she experienced every twist along the way.
Lady Sunshine is about music, friends, family, and above all - the beauty of being brave enough to heal even when we think it is no longer possible.

Just the perfect bit of nostalgic wonder! (It felt reminiscent of moment in The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, which I Ioved and felt really encapsulated that era).

The writing is beautiful and truly builds a memorable scene that fills the senses. Characters were vivid and fully realized. And the added suspense made this compulsively readable, with a nice balance of darkness and heartwarming lightness.

Based solely on the description, I knew I'd like this book, but I was not prepared for how much I would enjoy this one. This was my first Amy Mason Doan book, but it absolutely won't be the last.

Wow, I loved this one. A stirring, escapist plot and gorgeous writing that won me over right away. At about the midway point, as always happens when a book has taken over my life, I found myself bracing for The Big Letdown. You know, when the ending just can't live up to the promise of the start?

But it never came. In fact, my only disappointment on reading the final scene was that I'd torn through this so quickly. I could have happily spent 350 more pages with Jackie and Willa and their various friends and loved ones.

Lady Sunshine is as beautiful and addictive as that one perfect song from way back, with a heart-melting final twist..

Thank you for early access to this title in exchange for my review.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

Boy did this take me back to my teenage years! Plus it is set in California, in an area I know so well and live close to. The concert venues mentioned in the story are all ones I have been to.

Jackie heads back to her late uncle's compound/estate that she has inherited. Things happened there many years ago that have changed Jackie forever. It brings back the memories so we get to hear all about the free way of life that was lived there. I guess people would have called them all hippies back then. People would come and go, stay in cabins, play music together. Jackie doesn't expect to become close to her cousin Willa but they become bosom buddies. There is a mystery that comes with people and their deaths that takes Jackie on an unexpected journey.

This just brought back so many memories. I can imagine that I was wearing a lot of what the author describes. I was wearing the scents and the colors. I was listening to the music. I love how Jackie finds herself there and how she loves her cousin. You go along a path of seeing what was true and what was what people wanted you to see. Free love wasn't always free. The descriptions are vivid and the storyline keeps you involved. Just a really great way to escape.

Thanks to Netgalley and Graydon House for an advance copy of this book.