Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave

The morning of Sunshine McKenzie's thirty-fifth birthday started as innocently as any other. The celebrity chef woke to her favorite song, sunlight streaming in through the window, and her husband's admonishments about checking her phone in bed.

If only the day had stayed so innocent, so normal.

When the first Tweet lands, Sunshine's team is quick to quash the incendiary missive and ferret out the hacker who seems to have taken over the account. But even as their IT person swears its been taken care of, more messages appear. Messages intent on proving Sunshine is a fraud.

And the fact of the matter is - the Tweets are true. Sunshine is a fraud. Everything she's built has come from lies and, on her thirty-fifth birthday, she loses everything.

I really loved Laura Dave's Eight Hundred Grapes, so I was pretty excited to dive into Hello, Sunshine. And it was right up my alley, all things considered!

Sunshine McKenzie is head of an empire. She started out with online videos and has become a household name. Now she's got a cookbook deal and is about to start her own Food Network TV show (probably a show I myself would tune in to). Except it's all a lie. Sunshine can't cook. Her last name isn't even McKenzie. Her persona is one that was built for maximum mass appeal. And it worked...until she got caught.

Which all happens in the opening chapters.

But what she does next is really the crux of the story. How does she learn from her experience and what does she get out of it?

Well first of all, she returns to her hometown and her family - both of which she's neglected in the wake of her own fame. And her sister, for one, is none to happy about the whole thing.

Following along as Sunshine navigates the tenuous waters of her family relationships and attempts to make amends was actually quite a funny and charming read. Somewhat surprising considering Sunshine does not start out a very likable character. And yet, she is resilient. And wondering how she'll deal with everything is a driving force in the appeal of her story.