THE AWAKENING OF SUNSHINE GIRL

Sunshine Griffith develops her paranormal powers under the watchful guidance of her estranged father in this sequel to The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (2015).

Only a few days have gone by since Sunshine met her birth father, Aidan. Sunshine hasn't told her adoptive mother, Kat, yet, and with good reason: Sunshine is a luiseach, a creature that looks human but actually spends its time communing with the dead and warding off evil spirits. Aidan believes Sunshine is a particularly special luiseach, one that can help unite her people under one banner and fight off a mysterious darkness. But first, she must be trained, and to do that, she must leave her adopted home behind. The chills and thrills found in this episode's predecessor have been switched out for mythology and worldbuilding, a different flavor that is frankly a bit of a letdown. The author is at her best when she exploits her premise for scares and bumps in the night, but she hamstrings herself hanging the spooky doings upon a “chosen one” narrative. A superfluous love triangle among Sunshine, her friend Nolan, and sexy new guy Lucio feels like nothing more than padding. Sunshine's back story involving a troubled mother is much more engaging than the romance subplot, as is her developing relationship with the father she believed to have abandoned her.

A mixed-bag sequel that misplaces what made its predecessor so special.