This review is written with thanks to Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read and review Sunny.

Blurb:

Sunny is the queen of living a double life. To her friends, she’s the entertaining, eternally upbeat, single one, always on hand to share hilarious and horrifying date stories. But while they’re all settling down with long-term partners and mortgages, Sunny is back in her childhood bedroom at thirty, playing the role of the perfect daughter. She spends her time watching the Sikh channel, making saag and samosey with her mum, hiding gins-in-a-tin in her underwear drawer and sneaking home in the middle of the night after dates, trying but failing to find ‘the one’.

She juggles both lives perfectly . . . on the outside, at least. But when her mum sees a guy dropping Sunny home one evening, Sunny’s life gets a little complicated. Now her mum wants to know about the life she’s hidden from her for so long.

Sunny is well versed in lying to her friends, her family, and, above all, herself. But how long can she keep it up for? Or is it finally time to start being honest?

SUNNY by Sukh Ojla is a relatable, moving, and life-affirming novel. It is warm and full of honesty, exploring family, love and mental health. Perfect for fans of Grown Ups by Marian Keyes and Olive by Emma Gannon.

Review:

I must admit that Sunny is not the type of book I would usually read but it is already one of my favourite books of the year. I loved getting to know Sunny and if I had not been reading on Pigeonhole, restricted to only one stave each day, I would have devoured the novel in one sitting. 

As you can guess from the title, the protagonist is Sunny and I cannot remember the last time I related to a fictional character so well. Her dating disasters, her relationship with her mum and her often negative thoughts about herself all resonated with me and I wanted to jump inside the pages and be the friend she so desperately needed. Sunny is not the only relatable character though: I loved Beena and I was so glad that Sunny found her. 

Sunny’s culture is obviously a large part of her life and I enjoyed learning more about her family’s beliefs and traditions. 

Sunny’s journey is by no means plain sailing and there were times I would be laughing and crying in the space of a single page. It is testament to the author’s writing that this novel had such an emotional effect on me. 

Sunny is available from Amazon.