The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
Author: Paige McKenzie
Series: Untitled #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror
Release Date: March 24, 2015
Publisher: Weinstein Books
Summary:
On their first night in Ridgemont, Sunshine is awakened by the sound of footsteps coming from above, followed by a child’s ghostly laughter. In the days that follow, things just get more frightening. But Kat seems oblivious to the terror, insisting that Sunshine’s imagination is getting the best of her. Determined to prove her mother wrong, Sunshine begins taking photographs, desperate to catch evidence of the supernatural presence. At her new school Sunshine meets Nolan Foster, a cute – if slightly bookish – classmate. Nolan also has a passion for photography – and, more importantly, for ghosts. He offers to help Sunshine figure out exactly what’s going on.
What they uncover is a story that’s much bigger and runs deeper than they could have imagined. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become stranger – and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger – Sunshine learns that everything she thought she knew about her past has been wrong.
First Sentence: She turned sixteen today.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
My Review:
Before The Haunting of Sunshine Girl popped up in my mailbox, I haven’t ever heard of the book. I haven’t even heard of the Youtube series before either, but I was pretty sure I’ve seen the cover of the book somewhere in the book community. Even though I liked the cover, I wasn’t ever planning on reading The Haunting of Sunshine Girl because I just don’t trust books written by celebrities, Youtube famous people, or the like. I mean, who could blame me after how horrible Rebels: City of Indra turned out to be? However, since I received The Haunting of Sunshine Girl in the mail, I thought hey, why not give it a chance?
“Not ghosts,” I mumbled into the darkness. “Ghost. One ghost.”
…
“Sweetie, I know you’re lonely. But believe me, you’re going to make friends at your new school soon, and the idea of this ghostly playmate will disappear.” (55)
When I read the summary of The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, I was honestly quite worried. When the summary talked about Nolan, it automatically screamed INSTA-LOVE MAY HAPPEN! to me. Why else will the summary talk a little too much in depth about a guy the main character just met? To my relief, there was absolutely no insta-love in The Haunting of Sunshine Girl. In fact, there was very, very, very little hints of romance in the book. There was no kissing whatsoever, just very few innocent touching.
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl is quite predictable because it has been done before several times – I saw everything coming from a mile away. Although The Haunting of Sunshine Girl was quite predictable, it still managed to entertain me and pull me in into the story. I predicted every single thing that happened in The Haunting of Sunshine Girl except for the name of something I can’t say because of spoilers (because hey, who could predict that part of the book?), but I couldn’t put the book down for a single moment. As soon as I had the time to read, I immediately picked up The Haunting of Sunshine Girl and continued to devour it, never mind that I should have done other things like studying. The Haunting of Sunshine Girl was such an addicting read – I just couldn’t look away from its pages.
“There,” I gasp, pointing.
…
“Wow,” he says, and I nod in agreement.
…
I can’t believe it. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t think I was right about what I was seeing and hearing, but still, I don’t know if I ever actually really believed I would capture proof. (84)
In terms of the creep factor, from a scale of one to ten, ten being OMG THIS BOOK IS TOO CREEPY, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl scores a creep factor of two point five. Maybe even a three. The Haunting of Sunshine Girl wasn’t that creepy to me at all. There was only one bloody scene in The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, but it wasn’t described in detail. Basically, all it stated was that this particular event happened and then there was blood. If you want a book that will scare your socks off, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl won’t be it.
Overall, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl was definitely a nice surprise. Although it’s predictable and has been done before, once you start reading it, you just can’t look away. In fact, I may watch the Youtube series that was based on the book – as long as the quality of the videos are good of course.
hmmm…i’m not really fond of horror stories and this one isn’t enticing me, the book cover is intriguing to look at tho.
Oh I am sorry you didn’t enjoy this one more. I had heard about this one and was hoping for more of a creepy factor. I may skip this one. Great review.
Cynthia recently posted…BOOK REVIEW: The Wild Oats Project by Robin Rinaldi
Yea, this book wasn’t as scary as I had hoped but I loved it all the same!
Brianna @ Otakutwins Reviews recently posted…Mini Review- Love is the Drug
Awwww sorry this one didn’t live up to your expectations for creepiness. For me personally it would’ve been a good thing. May check this out.
It sounds interesting; there are videos based on this?
It’s funny, I had heard of this before. I think I read an article in which someone – can’t remember who now – was recommending this as the next big thing in YA. I guess the praise was somewhat excessive, huh? I have little patience with predictability myself. Loving your review :)
Ramona recently posted…Zen Monday: Cajoling The Sun
I’ve never heard of this book before reading your review. I don’t recall ever seeing the cover anywhere either. but I’m not impressed. I did enjoy reading your review though. Now I know what to expect if this book ever got my attention and it was in my hands. But at this moment I don’t feel a draw to read this story. And I love creepy stories and if this wasn’t very creepy it would only disappoint me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts though. :)
This seems to have the common ingredients for a horror flick. Though, I love the cover.
Lawrence Bunag recently posted…[Top Ten Tuesday] Book Related Problems
sometimes i used to wacth some of her videos on youtube she has a youtube channel with the same name as the book, i never understood her videos tho.. i like horror stuff and creppy stuff but i didnt understand her videos with the ghost stuff.. im surprised u didnt like it that much since many people like this book, i dotn know if im going to read the book or not.. i have so many other books i want to read first anyways. at least its good to know what u thought about the books tho :P
Hm, I can try this one because I am a scaredy cat haha.. I never read ghost books before, so this will be a new start for me because this book is a book that won’t scare my socks off
Grrr! I hate that the creep factor is so low, but I like that you enjoyed it and found it addictive! Like you, I had never once heard of the YouTube channel. So, I suppose I will check this one out. But really quick? Do you have any rec’s for TOO CREEPY?!
Jaime Lester recently posted…The Spider- a review by Crystalee
I’ve never heard of this book, but now I want to read it. And I like creepy, but if it’s still enjoyable without then I don’t think I’d mind.
This is a great review.:)
I hadn’t heard of the Channel either, but the cover drew me in. I found it fun, and a bit innocent, like the scary stories you’d tell around the campfire as a kid and not like a scary movie that will keep you up at night. And while predictable, I enjoyed that there was storyline and such, not just random scary nonsense. I’m glad you enjoyed it as well! (:
Mandy K recently posted…Stacking The Shelves