Sunshine on a Rainy Day
By: Byrony Fraser
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 400
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): It’s Zoe and Jack’s first wedding anniversary party. They’ve got an announcement! They’re getting divorced.
Marriage isn’t for everyone – something that Zoe and Jack discovered only after they’d walked down the aisle. Bad timing, huh?
So now they’re stuck together in their once harmonious marital home, neither one of them willing to move out of their lovely house.
With Zoe’s three sisters always wanting a say, and Jack’s best friend trying his best to fix things between them, misunderstandings arise. Tempers flare. ‘Accidents’ happen…
Zoe and Jack are going to be lucky if they’re still alive when the twelve months are up. But maybe things aren’t quite as final as they seem?
First Impressions
This cover caught my eye while scrolling through NetGalley. It looked so cute! I read the summary and it sounded interesting and different from anything I had read lately. I was super excited to get a chance to read and review this story!
What I thought
Zoe and Jack are celebrating their one year wedding anniversary. At their anniversary party they announce that they are getting a divorce.
The story starts with their announcement at the party and then immediately goes back to their wedding day. From there, the chapters alternate between their present day marriage moving forward and the relationship before the marriage moving forward towards the wedding day. It sounds a bit confusing but it’s almost like reading two relationships simultaneously moving forward from their beginnings.
I expected the story of these two characters to be a happy first few months of marriage with something happening in the middle and then leading to a divorce. That is definitely not the way that this story moves. From the very beginning it is clear that Zoe does not want to be married. Not because she doesn’t love Jack, but because she abhors the idea and construct of marriage. She has never wanted to be married or believed in marriage, yet she finds herself married. There are troubles with the relationship from day one of the marriage. There is no honeymoon period and talk of the divorce comes up quickly. This is not a story of a happy couple who slowly dissolves into a divorce. It is about a couple who immediately falls into disrepair and has to deal with the next year of being technically married until they can file for divorce.
I was a bit surprised by Zoe and how immediately their relationship falls apart after they are legally married. It seems as though she completely turns into a different person from the moment the ink dries on their marriage certificate. This part seemed a bit unbelievable to me and I wish that somehow the beginning of the marriage had a bit more of a honeymoon period than it really did. As the story moves forward, it makes a lot more sense but it’s a bit hard to grasp right off the bat. I felt as though it made Zoe a little unlikeable and not relatable.
I don’t think there are many stories that have been told like this one. I feel like if someone doesn’t believe in marriage it’s always the male and I think it is refreshing to read a story where the woman is the one who doesn’t want to get married. There will be a lot of readers who relate to this story and I think it’s great that it’s out there.
I also truly enjoyed that there were alternating chapters that told the story of their relationship from the very beginning. It’s hard to root for a couple when they are made to seem so wrong for each other from the very beginning. My biggest issue was that it seemed a bit unbelievable that someone would change so drastically so instantaneously. It felt to me that Zoe knew she didn’t want to be married, did it anyway, and then never gave it a chance. I wish that she had maybe given it a few weeks before going a bit crazy, but maybe that’s be being unrealistic.
I think this is going to be a love/hate type of book. I can see many people being so annoyed with Zoe that they stop reading it. She’s not a likeable character at the beginning, but if you continue you will grow to understand her. I did enjoy the book and was curious to see how everything was going to play out since we already knew the ending. I wouldn’t read it again, but I would recommend it if it sounds lie a book you’d enjoy.