Resurrecting Sunshine

I received a copy of this from netgalley for review.

Resurrecting Sunshine is a book about a boy named Adam who was a famous musician as a teenager, but lost the love of his life, Marybeth/Sunshine. He is a wreck and does nothing but drink until a doctor shows up at his door saying that she can change his life. Does he want Sunshine back?

Adam is flown to an island to undergo all kinds of simulations for memory. The doctors were able to clone Marybeth with her DNA, but they need his memories to help. During this time Adam meets the daughter of the man in charge. Gen quickly becomes a friend to him and he finds himself actually enjoying life a bit more. She makes things better while he has to relive some of the worst moments of his life. Adam has to remember exactly what happened to Marybeth and why she became Sunshine and a shell of the person she was when he fell in love with her. Adam must look past his own feeling and figure out if it's fair to bring someone back when they weren't happy with their life before. Can he let her go or should he bring her back and hope that they can continue on the way things were before?

This was a great book with a unique story. I found it hard to put down.

Just the premise of the book fascinated me. Everyone loves a good depression and cloning story. No? Just me. Ha, well this was a unique vision that enticed me from the get go. Adam and Marybeth were foster kids, who suffered a lot. Suffered so much, in fact, that Marybeth turned into Sunshine and started getting up on stage and vocalizing her suffering to other people, so deeply that she became a rockstar over night.

The world, and Adam, were devastated when she lost her life under somewhat mysterious circumstances in the ocean. Adam hasn't been able to handle anything since then, living under a constant haze of alcohol in Sunshine's estate. When she died, he died.

Suddenly, he has the chance to change everything. A corporation wants to resurrect Sunshine, his Marybeth. He's not sure what their reasoning is and he doesn't care. He can have her back. But as the story develops and he begins to understand more of what it means, to realize that she won't ever really be the girl he lost, and he falls for Genevieve, he isn't sure he wants to go through with this. Isn't sure that it's his choice to make, to force Marybeth back into life to become the person so filled with grief and sorrow that she gifted it back to the world.

The writing was superb and believable and the story just mysterious enough to keep you turning the page.

*I received an advanced copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not influenced my opinion in any way. *

I'm impressed.

Honestly, I went into this expecting something similar to This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzie Lee. The synopsis for each sounded very similar to each other, so I was initially skeptical. Originality, to me, is one of the most important qualities I look for in books.


I'm pleased to report that this was, though familiar, refreshing. Very. Resurrecting Sunshine (did I mention that I love love love the title?) still manages to have its own spark of originality while still infusing familiar elements into the mix. Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much

But what's it about? Basically, Resurrecting Sunshine follows the story of Adam Rhodes, a boy who lost the girl he loves, only to be given a chance to get her back again.

This idea could be explored extensively, and I believe that Koosis explored its full potential. The characters were complex, faced with hard choices that make them who they are, in the end.

So why did it lose a star? Well, the writing, at times, simply felt a bit..disjointed. It was distracting, and I just..couldn't overlook that fact. This observation, though, is entirely subjective, so this may not irritate other readers.

On the other hand, unpredictability is this book's greatest strength. The storyline is one of those that leads the reader to assume, falsely, that they would know how it would play out.

The ending is genuinely surprising. I am, indeed, genuinely surprised, and very impressed with how Resurrecting Sunshine turned out

Well written. Captivating. An incredible story that reveals layer by layer the personalities of those involved. A completely new twist for readers to wrap their head around. Not for younger teens - includes a lot of drug and alcohol use and references as well as a lot of swearing, including the F bomb.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy.
A different approach to the typical young adult contemporary. Resurrecting Sunshine didn't have the normal cliche characters and storyline. It was eventful and mysterious. The characters, I felt, experienced things in a realistic way. The characters outlook on things was similar to mine, so I felt I could relate.
The concept was interesting. I guessed correctly how it would end and maybe it ended a little too quickly. But, this novel gave me perspective. I really enjoy books that make you think outside the box or more in depth of a concept. I don't want to spoil, so I won't go in more detail here.
I will definitely be reading more from Lisa Koosis.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed Resurrecting Sunshine. It was a captivating story that deals with grief in a beautiful way.

Adam awakes from a dream/nightmare about his girlfriend, who passed away almost a year ago. It's clear that Adam is still grieving as he immediately reaches for alcohol to numb his pain.. And that's pretty much all we know about Adam as the story begins.

A doctor from Project Orpheus shows up to tell him that they are planning to bring Sunshine back, AKA Marybeth who was Adam's girlfriend that passed away. They need help with some of her memories, and that's where Adam comes into play.. After being completely thrown off guard and angry, he eventually agrees to this craziness. He heads off to this secret location as he clings to hope that he'll finally be able to right his wrongs.

As Adam gets situated at Project Orpheus there are a few more characters introduced into the story. I enjoyed all of them and what they brought to the story. My favorite is Gen who is an intelligent and brave young girl. She helps Adam in a way that represented true friendship, and I loved that she brought forth a new layer to him. Even with the addition of Gen, I still felt like all I knew about Adam was his grief. . . But maybe that was the point?

We learn more about Adam and Marybeth as Adam relives his memories. I truly felt for him as he continues to question if he's doing the right thing. As a reader, we can see all the problems behind Adam's decisions, but the writing was great in that way because it was like when will he realize them himself? That's what made this story intriguing.

There are so many twists/revelations as the story continues! Some people might find them predictable, but I was actually surprised by the majority of them. The cloning process was interesting, and it was explored to its full potential for this certain story to be told. This is more of a story about grief and moving on than it is sci-fi. I think Lisa A. Koosis did a wonderful job at balancing out the two to tell a great story.

By the end, I understood these characters in a way I never thought I would.. Even Marybeth. The writing became a bit confusing when it came to the memories, but it wasn't a downfall. I loved the idea behind this book, the way Adam needed to go through this process as a way of dealing with his grief and understanding of Marybeth's death. He does somewhat get answers to questions most people won't ever be able to get answers to in our own reality, but the way Koosis made me (a reader) feel was as if it was okay not to always have a certain answer.

The ending was unexpected. This book had a rough beginning but in the end I really enjoyed it. The theme of this book is what made me enjoy it. Finding that you can't just run away from your pain. You must choose to look, heal, and survive. Choose your own life and only yours.

A really emotional,engaging and poignant love story.hope for more books like this from the author

What a nice surprise! Admittedly, I'd gone into the book not expecting much, but the writing was amazing and I actually finished it in one sitting! Such a great story!

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.

Thrilling book with a character focus. The wait to meet Sunshine was a little long, but the author tells a compelling and intricate story that handles the subject of grief very well.