Like episode three, episode four just didn’t seem to have any pace; it yet again, seemed to be a filler episode, forty five pages that seemed to be building up to a bigger event. Back in the welcoming bosom of her family, Lea Chantry is horrified to discover that her clown suitor forgot to return her precious sketchbook, and finds herself engaging in the usual fuzzy familial conflict with her grandmother, Maia, and her cousins, Billy and Isolde.

Episode four was very very fast-paced; it was the dialogue that was fast; it was like watching a tennis match, it was just back and forth all of the time between the characters. There were also so many characters that were introduced that I had to keep a note on my phone to as who was who. One weird thing that I did notice was that Billy and Isolde are Lea’s cousins and half way through the episode, Panse incinuates that Isolde has got feelings for Billy. Reading that just felt so strange. They’re cousins! I felt so confused that I emailed Sonal and asked her if this insinuation is what she meant when writing it. She replied saying:

“Lea and Isolde are first cousins. Billy is their fourth cousin – they share great-great-great-grandparents. Which means, legally and genetically speaking, they could get involved if they wanted to”

Hmmmm…. I would still find it weird I guess. I don’t know… The word ‘cousin’ is still being thrown around so I guess the connotations that come with that word is what is putting me of this flirtation.

“Family is everything!” he always said when he went overboard with sentimentality. “If you don’t have family, what do you have?”

– Sonal Panse, The Sunshine Time S1E4

Episode four was slightly better than episode three, but not that much better than I can give it four stars instead of three; there just wasn’t enough happening in it for me to do that. The points that made it better than the previous episode was the banter between Lea and her family; she is so outspoken and she just doesn’t care. She doesn’t feel like she should suppress her opinions which I think is awesome and her Mom is so used to it by now that she doesn’t see the point in even telling Lea off. #goals

I’m also very very intrigued to see if Lea does actually get her sketchbook back from Pumpkin (the guy who proposed to her in episode three), and if she does end up meeting him again, I can’t wait to read it because their chemistry was amazing.

Disclaimer: ‘The Sunshine Time’ is a serial novel. The episodes need to be read in sequence. This is not a standalone novel. Please be aware of this.

Each episode will be published on a fortnightly schedule (that is, every two weeks). At present, 30 episodes are planned for Season 1

This episode was sent to me by the author for an honest review.