The Awakening of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie
**This review is based on an ARC from Netgalley, release date 3/1/16.
Summary from Goodreads:
Having passed her test in Book One, Sunshine’s Luiseach powers are now fully awakened: for months now, Sunshine has felt spirits everywhere: heard voices, felt emotions – intense and sometimes overwhelming. She tries to ignore them, but it is impossible. Hoping to get her powers under control – and hoping for answers to her never-ending questions – she agrees to undergo training with her Luiseach mentor, even though she still hopes to give up her powers someday.
She and her mentor clash left and right; he doesn’t understand or approve of her attachment to the humans in her life; and she can’t understand how he could give her up so many years ago, only to endanger her mother’s life as part of a test.
Sunshine’s training is every bit as terrifying and creepy as her test was, and along the way she meets and befriends another young Luiseach, forcing her to confront her feelings for Nolan. Though her mentor is reluctant to answer her many questions, she finally learns more about her lineage, as well as the rift that threatens the future of Luiseach and the human race… and the crucial part she has to play in repairing it.
My thoughts:
I read the first book of this series as an ARC as well and really enjoyed it. I have recommended it to quite a few students in my high school library, and will probably do the same with this one. I am not good at remembering details from books that I read last year, so I was glad that I was able to fill in most of the blanks on details from the first book while reading through this one. The author did a good job of reminding readers of the major things that happened in book one. This book mostly takes place in Mexico, where Sunshine is training to be a luiseach with her birth father, Aidan. She discovers that she is much more sensitive than any luiseach that has been known and that she is being hunted by her birth mother, who thinks that she is the reason that the whole luiseach community is going extinct. Sounds weird, right? It all makes sense as you read though! While this is going on, Sunshine is trying to learn how to control her body and emotions when surrounded by multiple spirits that want her help in moving on. She is also dealing with typical teenage problems, like her feelings for her protector and friend, Nolan. I really enjoy the writing style of this author and it is a quick read. I have already put it on the list of titles to purchase for my library and am looking forward to the next installment.
My rating: 4/5
The Library Princess 