Sunshine

Sunshine is the book that I want to press into the hands of every single Twilight fan and say ‘This is what a great vampire story looks like, read it!’. Sunshine is the book that I judge every single vampire novel against and against which every single one of them falls short. It is the perfect vampire novel. It is a novel in which vampires are terrifying and unnatural and are definitely not boyfriend material. It is a novel in which the main character is not a doormat and refuses to give up no matter how bad things get. It is a novel which whilst reading it you will gain weight and crave bakery products. You will curse the author for making you work out how to get your hands on a cinnamon roll at 2am in the morning. You will also curse the author for not writing a sequel. It is also a novel you will read every year and each year discover something new within its pages.

Reader reviewed by An_d

Robin McKinley paints a fun and different story of a young girl trying to find herself in a world of mysteries.  The book is pretty slow moving, but still very good.      Sunshine finds herself kidnapped and chained to a wall across from a chained, HUNGRY vampire.  The vampire turns out to be not your typical, angry vampire and the two of them form an unlikely partnership.  I enjoyed the story quite a bit and I found a lot of similarities to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga minus the love story.  I recommend this book to vampire fans, urban fantasy fans and fans of a great female main character.  I would not, however, recommend this book for people who do not like to read over-descriptive books with a slow moving plot and if you are looking for a prominent love story.Robin McKinley paints a fun and different story of a young girl trying to find herself in a world of mysteries.  The book is pretty slow-moving, but still very good.    Vampires are a central topic in this story, but it is not entirely what the story is about.  Sunshine finds herself kidnapped and chained to a wall across from a chained, HUNGRY vampire.  The vampire turns out to be not your typical, angry vampire and the two of them form an unlikely partnership.  I enjoyed the story quite a bit and I found a lot of similarities to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga minus the love story.  I recommend this book to vampire fans, urban fantasy fans and fans of a great female main character.  I would not, however, recommend this book for people who do not like to read over-descriptive books with a slow moving plot. 

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine for her love
of daylight, is just your average young woman, with maybe a slightly
greater-than-normal interest in the Others: paranormal creatures such as
vampires, Weres, and demons. She's a master baker (her cinnamon rolls are to
die for) at her stepdad Charlie's coffeehouse, and has a good relationship with
her boyfriend Mel. Sunshine's life was going on fine, until the night she
decides to drive out to the lake to be alone with her thoughts for a bit, and
finds herself smack dab in the middle of an epic ongoing fight between two
vampires, Con and Bo.

Once you're in the hands of vampires you're
pretty much dead, which is why Sunshine is absolutely terrified of
herself when she not only escapes, but manages to save Con from
Bo's gang as well. Now she and Con are inexplicably and dangerously linked, and
Sunshine is only beginning to realize her magic heritage and the extent of her
powers--powers that are wanted by SOF, the "police force" that deals
with the Others. Sunshine and Con must form the strangest alliance
ever--between humans and vampires--in order to defeat Bo and save each other
from sure destruction.

SUNSHINE is quite different from previous
Robin McKinley's books I've read and loved. First of all, this IS an adult
book, and so some of the themes and content may be uncomfortable for younger
readers (although, knowing McKinley readers, most are pretty mature already).
Sunshine is also an unusual narrator; I think of her as almost the Jessica
Darling of the vampire genre, with her snarky, diary-like commentary, which I
enjoyed most of the time except when it got dragged out a bit in the middle and
you just wanted to get to what happens next, to the action!

I'm not sure
how Twilight fans will respond to this one because vampires are not
glorified in SUNSHINE, although Con is attractive in his looming,
expressionless way. However, if you are looking for a paranormal book with an
extremely strong female protagonist's voice, be sure to check this one out.

Reader reviewed by stephanie

Rae Sunshine Seddon, lives a quiet life while working at her stepfathers bakery. However, one night, she goes out into the lake to find some peace and quiet. Not a good idea. Vampires find her and take her to an old mansion in the middle of nowhere. They chain her to the wall and leaves her with another vampire, Constantine, who is also chained. However, the vampire does not try to eat her. Instead, he asks her to tell him stories to keep them both sane and alive. Rae, realizing that she will have to save herself, she calls upon her long-forgotten powers that her grandmother had started to cultivate in her while she was little. She manages to transform her pocketknife into a key to unchain herself and Constantine. And surprisingly, he agrees to flee with her when she somehow manages to protect him from the sun with magic. They escape back to town, however, Constantine knows that his enemies will not be far behind. This meant that he and Sunshine will have to face them together. This book is the book where Stephenie Meyer got her ideas from for the Twilight series. This book started very slow, but got faster as time went on. And be prepared to read a lot about cinnamon rolls because the first half is all about cinnamon rolls. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out where Stephenie Meyer got her ideas from.

Reader reviewed by Sara

"There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it is unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and she needed a place to be alone for awhile. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. She never heard them coming. Of course you don't, when they're vampires. They took her clothes and sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to the wall of an abandoned mansion - within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight. She knows that he is a vampire. She knows that she's to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, as dawn breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is he who needs her to help him survive the day."

I read this book and immediately became addicted to vampire books. The next book I read was, in fact, Twilight. Constantine, the vamp, was a really intriguing character and Sunshine was great too. I really wanted a sequel for this book because I hated that it had to end.