I have read a lot of Jackie Lau novels, and at this point I’ve got a pretty good idea what one of her books is going to contain and if I’m going to enjoy it. It will have emotionally layered backstories for both of its main leads; be set in the larger Toronto environs; food, beverage, bars, and restaurants with delicious descriptions will appear; there will be some quite steamy scenes; mental health representation will appear in no small way; and the value of true friendship – both within and outside a romantic pairing – will be fore fronted.
All of that is present in Revenge of the Sunshine, Lau’s newest book, which is the first in a new series focusing on a group of friends and built around love and spite. The book jumps in with the FMC Zoe arriving home ahead of schedule and walking in on her oldest friend/roommate and boyfriend hooking up on one of their kitchen chairs. She quickly breaks things off with both and leaves – with her now ex’s phone in tow. She is so angry and betrayed that she swears she’ll have revenge and concocts a plan to convince her ex’s older brother, Bennett, whom he has a poor relationship with to fake date her to cause her ex-boyfriend mental anguish.
Very quickly (perhaps my biggest detractor in this book is the way Lau zips through these early plot beats) not only has the standoffish Bennett agreed to the fake dating plan, but he also offers his guest room to Zoe since he feels badly that she has lost her place to live because she is another in a long string of women his brother has cheated on. All of this wraps up the set-up in a neat bow (a little too neat) and sets the stage for Lau to unpack all of the emotional beats with the ongoing plot as Zoe and Bennett start as housemates, develop a friendship, and eventually agree to a friends with benefits situation when it becomes clear that they don’t want to keep their hands off each other.
While the first 15% of the book left me worried that this one would fall into some of the Lau writing ticks I enjoy less, once she got her writing feet under her the story was just the sort that I love from her. I’m not the biggest fan of first-person narration, but this dual POV book focused on small moments that unpack big emotions worked for me in a way that not a lot of books have this year.
I received an ARC of this book from the author; it has not affected the contents of the review, only its timing. Revenge of the Sunshine publishes September 22, 2026.
Bingo Space: Left. Sometimes it can feel like the only thing left is revenge. Or self-protection.
