Book Review: The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl

Title: The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl
Author: Paige McKenzie 
Source: review copy from Little Bird Publicity in exchange for an honest review

Goodreads Summary:

Sunshine Griffith can communicate with ghosts. Even more amazing—to herself; her boyfriend, Nolan; and her adoptive mom, Kat—she’s recently learned she’s a luiseach, one of an ancient race of creatures who have lived among humans for centuries, protecting them from dark spirits and helping them move on to the afterlife.

Having survived an abyss full of demons, Sunshine Griffith must figure out who—or what—has been organizing the forces of darkness against her. Do they want to destroy her and the rest of the endangered luiseach? Do they want to take over the world? Nolan has figured out that Sunshine’s death would trigger a calamitous event, so not only does she have to stay alive for herself, but for the fate of civilization. It’s not just the demons who want Sunshine dead, though. Her biological mother, Helena, is back. And what is Helena’s history with the mysterious man in black?

Fortunately for Sunshine, she has a lot of people (and ghosts) to help her stop the darkness: Nolan, her father and mentor Aidan, her mom Kat, Victoria, Lucio, Anna, and Ashley—whose handsome new crush, Sebastian, seems hauntingly familiar. But time may be running out as an unexpected event unleashes a fierce war between the luiseach and the demon army. In the midst of the fiery battle, Sunshine will learn a shocking truth about herself and what sort of sacrifice is required to save the world. 


My thoughts:

Reminiscent in style to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the vampire books by Mary Janice Davidson, this YA book was a lot of fun. Based on the YouTube series The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, it is part of a trilogy of books. This is the third installment, and I actually read it without having read the previous books or having watched the series, although I do plan on both. 

Although I missed all the backstory and went straight for the ending, it was still a good read. It was not hard to figure out what was going on once I got into the book a little. It starts off in the middle of the action, right off the bat, and I was appropriately confused. But it soon all became clear. Sunshine is a high school girl who can see ghosts. She is a luiseach, whose job is to help ghosts move on from this plane, and also to protect humans from dark and evil creatures. By this book, Sunshine has fully come into her powers and there is a battle brewing. Sunshine is not alone in this war though - she has the support of her biological father Aidan, and biological mother, Helena, both powerful luiseachs. However, Helena did try to kill Sunshine, so who knows if she is really there to help, especially with her mysterious behavior and alliances, including to the lurking man in black. In addition to her bio parents, Sunshine has her whole group of friends and family to help her along the way - Nolan, Lucio, Anna, Ashley, Victoria, and her human mom Kat. And Sunshine not only has to figure out who is plotting against them and committing evil acts upon the citizens of her town, she also has to deal with her very real human social life, including boys. And boyfriends. And boys who are friends who might want to be boyfriends.

This is a fun book, enjoyable, fast paced, and I loved how it involved books and media - what a great way to get young people to read! Definitely a must read for those readers who like fantasy and supernatural tales. I know that I am going to seek out the first two books so that I can see what I missed!