Sunshine

Robin McKinley

Nov 2014 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A small-town baker uses her magic to confront a post–vampire apocalypse world in this award-winning fantasy Neil Gaiman called “pretty much perfect.”

Although it had been mostly deserted since the Voodoo Wars, there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years. Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, head baker at her family’s busy and popular café in downtown New Arcadia, needed a place to get away from all the noise and confusion—of the clientele and her family. Just for a few hours. Just to be able to hear herself think.
 
She knew about the Others, of course. Everyone did. And several of her family’s best regular customers were from SOF—Special Other Forces—which had been created to deal with the threat and the danger of the Others.
 
She drove out to her family’s old lakeside cabin and sat on the porch, swinging her feet and enjoying the silence and the silver moonlight on the water.
 
She never heard them coming. Of course, you don’t when they’re vampires.
 
Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sookie Stackhouse will cheer for this tough and quirky heroine. In Sunshine, which won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, McKinley has a vampire novel that is “a smart, funny tale of suspense and romance” (San Francisco Chronicle).
 

Ratings and reviews

Difficult to read, sentences and and spelling could use some polish. About 50% of the book has potential, too bad. I didn't finish the last 30 pages because it didn't flow and I gave up on it.

A wonderful read! Great characters, deep world-building and it leaves you wanting more! My friend recommended this to me and you better believe I'm thinking of making her cinnamon rolls as a thank you! My only minor complaint is that some of the segue thoughts and added exposition through Rae's eyes about her world, while interesting, tend to be on the rambling side and I must admit to being easily distracted and thus had to reread some, BUT it does not at all detract from the story or the pleasure of reading it. Absolutely 5 star quality book!

I loved this book the first time I read it in 2010. My only complaint is that some explanations take four to five Paragraphs to get to the point. and there is a lot of chatter that is supposed to tell you more about the word created, but it diminishes the story and take away the fire you have at the juicy parts. I caught my self skipping half of a chapter on more than one occasion. And was disheartened. It ruins the story when you find yourself skipping pages of words just to get to the point.

About the author

Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine. Her other books include the New York Times bestseller Spindle’s End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; Deerskin, another novel-length fairy-tale retelling, of Charles Perrault’s Donkeyskin; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson; three dogs (two hellhounds and one hellterror); an 1897 Steinway upright; and far too many rosebushes.