I haven't read any  Robin McKinley for years and Sunshine made me wonder why. It was a good vampire story. McKinley's world was a lot of fun, sometimes disturbing and sometimes just odd, but always a nice place to be.

I've wondered about the relationship between Sunshine and Constantine; trying to see what it is that I like about it. Perhaps it's just that I'm a sucker for such relationships, or maybe it was that I didn't find it overwhelmingly or explicitly romantic (except maybe near the end). Lustful at times, sure, but mostly it's cool because both characters are uncomfortable, unsure, and frightened (at least she is, Con you wonder) by the bond between them. It was also cool that vamps and humans have a lot more differences than just their eating habits and the hours they keep; makes things that much more complicated and bizarre.

The story began and ended very well and remained interesting through out, only brief moments in the middle lacking a bit, probably from Sunshine's rambling narrative that sometimes was more than necessary, yet consistent with her character. Yeah, she can sometimes be annoying, or just stubborn and moody. But that's understandable for a baker who's life gets turned upside down and she has to adjust and grow up. She often does so reluctantly, but she does it. In the end I was satisfied.

4.5 stars - I really enjoyed this.

We find ourselves in a world that seems a bit like ours, but with demons and were-people (werewolves, were-skunks and even were-chickens!), and the most evil “others”; vampires, as well as human magic-handlers, ward creators (that’s not the right word, but I can’t find the term) and part-bloods and a government agency to handle all of them, Others and special humans.

I won’t say more, because that would be spoilery.

McKinley balances the darkness of events with humor and self-deprecation and real kindness and compassion. The story unfolds in quite a logical way, despite completely bizarre and illogical things happening to our MC. The ending is pretty good closure, but leaves a door open a crack for one’s own speculation or an actual sequel, which at this point, I’m uncertain will be forthcoming.

The narration is quite well done. I was mildly distracted by Merlington’s voice, accent and delivery being uncannily similar to Kate Mulgrew’s. Like a younger sister, but I know they are not at all related. Both grew up in the Midwest, at about the same time, but Iowa and Michigan have slightly different accents. I’m not sure any of that could account for the similarities. I enjoyed her narration nevertheless.

Sunshine is just a baker who makes the best cinnamon rolls in New Arcadia. So when she goes out to the lake and is snatched up by vampires, she doesn't expect to survive, much less tap into her hidden magical talents and escape. As she tries to recover, she finds the darkness pulling towards her.

Her light self, her deer self, her trees self. Can they outnumber her dark self?

This was a book that I had called my all time favorite for years when I was a teen. I loved it. This was my vampire book, and I loved the unsteady relationship Sunshine and Constantine developed over their time together. The instinctive mistrust and fear working towards understanding and the magic and the baked goods. And Jesse the SOF badass, who I inexplicably had a hardon for. Plus, I loved the lush writing style.

Fast forward probably 15 years or so (I'm pretty certain that I have not read this since high school, although maybe I did a reread in college, which was still some time ago).

The same magic I remembered from my teens was there, but holy exposition this thing needed some heavy editing, particularly towards the end.

The writing is um, lush, yes, but the exposition is a little all over the place and the storyline bounces constantly into flashbacks and segues—even the segues have flashbacks. This is not unlike McKinley, who spends have of The Hero and the Crown in a flashback, but it definitely made the storyline frustrating to follow because just as I got invested—flashback or segue into something I didn't particularly care for, like the cobblestones of Old Town.

The constant segues wouldn't have been as annoying had the information not been repeated several times over, like I was reading that information anew each time. And sometimes the information provided in this world that was kiiiiiiinda like ours if it was dark and you were squinting and the colors were all wonky and oh yeah there was magic and vampires and whatnot, although the world-building was weirder and weirder.

Also: vampire dick.

There is a lot of vampire dick in this book.

Which...adult me somehow forgot all about? And I guess teenage me overlooked? How?

Anywho, I enjoyed it this go around, even if it felt like it took forever. This is a book where the journey is what matters, not necessarily the storyline or the dialogue or whatever else.

Sunshine dives into her past and remembers events from her childhood that she had forgotten or thought were fantasies, and starts to bring her past self into her future self—and discovers something anew within her as an adult. She has no fucking clue what she's doing, because she wasn't prepared in the new world she finds herself in, and the reader muddles along just as she does.

It's circular storytelling, it's kind of a train wreck, but it's still my most favorite vampire story.

Also, That Distant Dream is written in a very similar style to this—as in, mostly in the MC's head as she figures herself out—so there is that (although there are no vampires). And now no one will ever want to read anything I write.

This is a hard review to write!! There were things I liked but didn't, things I'm not sure I understood, but overall just great emotional appeal. It's written like you are in Rae's mind, so that can be frustrating yet also revealing. It is futuristic yet doesn't feel out of touch. My favorite thing and what ultimately sold me on the story is the relationship between Con & Sunshine (aka Rae). Great depth there.

Not a new favorite, but it wasn’t what I expected (in a good way) and I thought the lore and set-up was pretty interesting on the whole.

For quite a while I thought there was something special about long-time favorite books. Something like a block or a mental brick wall that kept me from being able to put words on a page and describe how I loved that story, and how much the reading and re-reading of it changed me. Well, there IS a special magic surrounding old, favorite and familiar tales, but I’ve worked myself around to being able to write about them (a bit). Robin McKinley is one of my most favorite authors, and her adult fantasy (paranormal? urban fantasy?) Sunshine is one of her best books. The other day I needed sunshine in my life, and I picked it up off the shelf for an extremely well-timed re-read.

Sunshine is a young, perfectly ordinary (she thinks!) girl with a loving, messy, normal family. The only thing is, her world is full of the Others, including demons, Weres, and the Darkest Others, vampires. But you can get through life pretty well as long as you avoid the dangerous parts of town and have a modicum of good sense and luck. At least, that’s how it should be. It turns out that Sunshine’s life won’t be so simple after she decides to drive out to the lake one summer night.

My friends know about my thing for zombies, but I usually protest that I don’t read about vampires. This is the book that proves me a hypocrite. It’s not that these are seductive vampires. No, they are the utterly alien, terror-in-the-night kind. But as Sunshine discovers, her destiny lies in a gray area, and she won’t get to pick the cut-and-dried human ‘side.’ She’ll have to live with impossibilities. The story that takes her on that journey is fascinating and (as I said) an all-time favorite.

McKinley has created an entire world with unnamed Wars in recent history, a vampire menace, partblood discrimination, and a friendly coffee shop at its center. However, the story’s focus is Sunshine, and her first-person narration is what makes the book work. She’s self-deprecating, funny, afraid, and wants to cling to the normality she knows. At the same time, she finds that unnameable courage and strength needed to face evil, to keep on living, and to choose the right thing, even when it all seems bleak. She’s no perfect heroine, and that, I think, is one of the reasons why readers will fall in love with her.

The thing that resonated most with me this re-read was the juxtaposition of Sunshine’s primal urge to make food and feed it to people (a metaphor for creation and nurture), and her mission/calling to do what she can to destroy evil (killing, getting her hands dirty). Sunshine also grapples with the questions of how to be a good person while doing something that she fundamentally disagrees with, how to keep the balance of light and dark in her life, and if there is such a thing as a visible taint of evil.

I find that the best books will speak different messages to you at different points in time. I felt very adult this time ‘round, reading Sunshine. It was… interesting. In any case, it’s still a wonderful, immediate, funny, dark sort of pleasure, and I’m sure it’ll remain on the favorites shelf for years to come.

Recommended for: anyone interested in paranormal and urban fantasy, fans of Emma Bull, Neil Gaiman and Sharon Shinn, and those who appreciate the full immersion experience in a character and fantastical world.

Goodreads tells me the first time I read Sunshine was the 9th April 2012. I found this beat up, slightly warped copy in a street library at a time when I'm feeling burnt out with literature. I read a lot of fantasy when I was in high school but not a lot since. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed Sunshine this time round, getting through its 400 pages in a few hours. I've forgotten the pleasure of reading a novel just for the story rather than rolling my eyes or relentlessly dissecting how it works as a piece of art.

The world building is so great it seems a shame this is a standalone. It reads like the beginning of a series. It reminds me a little of Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking books. I'm really intrigued by Sunshine's family history and Con. So much is teased but left alone. I would happily read Rae and Con's adventures fighting evil vampires. McKinley's prose is a bit clunky but I feel a strong editor would help. Anyway, this was an enjoyable blast from the past for me.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It took me multiple attempts to finish it, but I'm glad I did. Someone compared this to Buffy and Angel as far as the romance aspects. Do not believe that. This book has some romantic aspects, but it's more of a coming of age story (although Sunshine is an adult when it starts). She's coming into her powers that she never really understood.

The writing is very intricate and quite stream of consciousness. If you made it through The Sound and the Fury, this book shouldn't be a problem. But for genre fiction, I think you have to work too hard to get the enjoyment factor out of it. I'm no literary snob. In fact, I prefer genre fiction. I want to enjoy reading a story and get a message. This one makes it difficult. I am a foodie, so I was salivating at the descriptions of the baked goods that Sunshine makes (she's a talented baker). However, I wanted more of the supernatural aspects and certainly more of the intriguing Constantine. I could have done with about fifty pages more of him.

I think that a reader who enjoys seeing strong women come into their own in a fantasy novel setting would enjoy this, moreso than a fan of vampire romance. There were some geninuely scary moments that gave me a thrill as well. There are also a few gory moments (not too bad, but I feel the need to warn). I'd give Sunshine three stars because it was a good book, but I don't feel the need to reread it. Now if she writes a sequel with more Constantine, sign me up!

What is the definition of insanity for me it is "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley because I have read this book 5 times and I keep expecting things to change.

I love this book so much and every time I read it; I get to the end and remember that there are so many questions left unanswered and  Sunshine and Con's relationship is unclear and left for the reader to decide yet again I go to do research to find Ms. McKinley still has a special notice on her website (due to the extreme amount of requests) that there will be no sequel.

Damn you Ms. McKinley


IloveyousoMuch

There are so many things about this book that work, it is n  NOTn your sparkly vampire book. Vampires are horrible monsters in this book and humans are about to lose the war against them. Con is described as having skin the color of dried mushrooms left in the back of fridge in the beginning. How is that sexy, and Sunshine is involved in a relatively healthy relationship with someone else through most of the book. It is a romance without romance I don't know how that makes sense but it does because that mushroomy vamp has my number. It is about two people who don't belong with one another, her name is enough to hurt a vampire. Yet they walked out of Hell and certain death together only to realize you can not just forget that.

The other best part of this book is that Sunshine is a baker and Ms. McKinley describes so many aspects of the decadent desserts she creates I think I gain 5 pounds every time I read it. For the love of Pastry alone you should read the book

Sunshine definitely had potential, and if this was the first book in a trilogy or series, it might have made all of the extra stuff you have to wade through worth it.

Let's start off with what I liked so I don't feel like this is a rant review later...

This is an interesting take on vampires in a post-apocalyptic setting and I would put this firmly in the UF category (definitely NOT PNR, which I was completely fine with based on the description of the vampires and the way they view and interact with humans). These vampires are definitely undead and have very unappealing alien appearances so no insta-lust or immediate attraction happening (YEAH!). There is very little public knowledge about the vampires in this world and most of what they do know is just speculation or myth. The vampires don't seem to develop relationships with any of the Others (this is the general term for all supernatural creatures) or humans and basically only view them as a food source.
I actually really liked that they were not these super attractive or glittery types and once we meet the main vampire character in this story, I appreciated that even when talking and interacting with Sunshine, it was clear that he had a difficult time conversing and finding commonalities with her as a human.

I also liked the idea for Sunshine's character. Her back-story (more on this later), affinity (and counter-affinity), and just generally who she was as a person was at interesting even if it wasn't terribly unique. Sunshine (it's a nickname real name is Rae or Raven - more on this later) has a nice quiet life as the baker for the family restaurant. Her parents separated when she was young and she had no interaction with her father after that point. She was able to spend limited time with her paternal grandmother from time to time after the split, but after the apocalyptic wars/events her grandmother was out of the picture also. Her mother married a restaurant owner and they went on to create the little family that is the center of Sunshine's world. As an adult, Sunshine deeply values her privacy & personal space and has found a circle of friends that she cares about and care for her. This includes a boyfriend that gives her all the space she wants because he is also big on the privacy (again, more on this later).

I also like the world McKinley created for this story in general. There are various levels of magic woven into their everyday life and Others (weres, various types of demons, and vampires), along with the groups of people set aside for policing these Others (called SOFs), that are all incorporated into the scenery like they have always been there and there is no reason to even question their existence. About 10 years before the current timeline in the story there was a big magic war that destroyed large parts of the world. Because of the war, there are magical Bad Spots so towns that might not have been "large dot" map worthy before the big war are now the only dots left on the map.

Based on just these aspects, Sunshine could have been a 4 star read for me. However, here's where it goes downhill.

The writing style nearly turned this into a DNF for me. Sunshine's internal monologue and narration NEVER FREAKING STOPPED. There was so much telling and so very little showing that it felt like very little ever happened in the story plot-wise. There was also SO MUCH UNNECCESARY DETAIL. She spent page after page after page giving us world building details about things that didn't really matter and never came up again. If this was intended to be a stand alone all along, huge cuts could have been made and it would not have deterred from the story or the world at all. At 350 pages this book could have been stellar, instead it is a very bloated 480 pages. At some points during the massive unnecessary info dumps, it felt like words were created and things were renamed just for the sake of trying to make them different from similar UF we've already read.

The book isn't broken up into chapters. Instead it is 4 parts and the pacing is painful. You go long stretches where nothing happens other than Sunshine going to work and waiting for information to be given to her. By the end of Part 2 I had already started skimming all the long off-topic internal monologues because I was so annoyed by them. The split sentences were the WORST and I felt like there was never a good pace with the constant interruption of more explanation.

I think my least favorite thing about the entire story was the time Sunshine spent in "nowheresville" or whatever the hell it was supposed to be. It was such a weird concept to create strictly (I think?) for transportation. McKinley wrote the internal dialogue during Sunshine's travel through noweheresville very choppy and disorienting so it felt right for the moment in the story, but I really feel like too much time was spent on it. It just became something else I started skipping because I am impatient af and kept thinking, we've already waited days/weeks/months for the next interaction to move the plot forward can we just fucking get there already.

Now, remember when I said I liked the IDEA of Sunshine. I do/did because she had this really interesting backstory about a sorcerer father and some potential mixed blood on her mother's side, but McKinley really never explored this. I wish we could have learned something more about her father. We know his name was a big deal, but why? And what happened to him during the magic wars? Her grandma too? We never find anything out and it was incredibly annoying. Also... WHY THE HELL did she never bother to ask what her mother may have passed on to her??? What an easy solution to a question that bothered Sunshine for a huge chunk of the book. Majorly frustrating unresolved story line.

I kind of loved Con's character as the captive vampire. But, I can only say KIND OF because he wasn't fully developed. At one point he states that there are "different ways of being a vampire" but he never goes into detail so we are left to make our own assumptions. He admits to still feeding from humans so that's not it. And the BigBad vampire, Bo, is set up as the type of vampire that Con is not, but there is nothing physical on page that happens that would tell us how one actually IS vs the other. Con doesn't seem as cruel to his victims, but they're still VICTIMS (as in they die after being fed from) so I feel like in the grand scheme maybe that distinction isn't that great. I do think that it would have been interesting to see what Con & Sunshine's unique relationship would have developed into when not under stressed circumstances. And I don't even mean in a romantic way, despite their one close encounter, I just mean how might Sunshine's powers have continued to grow with him helping to direct her? And could they have become a badass evil vampire killing combo? Another annoying Unresolved Story Line.

Sunshine's boyfriend Mel was obviously not what he presented himself to be based on some sort of Otherness, but we'll never find out what, because ANOTHER UNRESOLVED STORY LINE. And I feel like their relationship was entirely based on convenience. He worked in the same restaurant she did, didn't ask a bunch of questions, and he gave her all the space she wanted. But they bang it out a couple of times in the book off page so I guess that is supposed to tell us that they have deeper feelings for each other?

Oh, and I'm not even going to go into the entire SOF situation because it just pissed me off. So much corruption, buuut we don't get to see anything more than a very surface look at it. Why even bother? The "Goddess of Pain" could have just been a hardass without needing to create this potentially evil deeper level if we were never going to explore it GIANT SWINGING UNRESOLVED STORY LINE.

I feel like I'm totally ranting against this book and it wasn't terrible, I just wanted to take the framework of this and make it a different book. And answer some of the questions that totally left us hanging.

Honestly, out of the entire story, my favorite scenes had Sunshine's landlady, Yolande. These scenes seemed like the most cohesive and thought out. The info dumps with her seemed to actually have a purpose and her character seemed fully utilized. I would have liked to know more about her but as a side character what was given to us was sufficient. Now that I think about it, she was my favorite character... Badass elderly wardsmith that just likes to hang out in her garden with her nieces and nephews.... yeah, she seems like my jam.

Overall, this just felt very unfinished or like it was intended to be the introduction to a trilogy. I ended the book with far more questions than were answered. This was my first McKinley book, and if they are all like this I will never be picking one up again.

I read this one with a couple of ladies from the always awesome MacHalo Crew. Feel free to check out some of their reviews here:
Elena's Review
Kandice's Review

This is probably a 4 stat book, but damnit it deserves the extra star imo

I don't generally go seeking urban fantasy or vampires, i don't mind it, but it's not my genre of choice. About ten years ago a really good friend (who calls me her personal Librarian and it's the greatest honour ever bestowed upon me) recommended me Sunshine. The audiobooks has been on three phones without me listening to it because i didn't like the cover (insert facepalm here). Driving home alone on a long drive last weekend i started it, and bascially never put it off except while sleeping. The story sucked me right in, the POV is wonderful, I LOVE Sunshine, she's a great character. The world building is seamless and it's a fascinating world after some apocalyptic OTHER event. Honestly, if you even remotely like urban fantasy and vampires and such, just read it, dont' even read the blurb.

n  What this world doesn’t have is the three-wishes, go-to-the-ball-and-meet-your-prince, happily-ever-after kind of magic. We have all the mangling and malevolent kinds. Who invented this system?n

This is my kind of book reading wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea and salty and goey snacks sort. I enjoyed it and I'm not sorry. Pity I'm short of cinnamon rolls, as in they are not around in the town bad.

But more too bad is the author never did a second book.

The story? Rae 'Sunshine' Seddon is a 25 year old woman working in the family cafe/diner as the main baker. (why this book is labeled as Y.A. by some ppl? baffled me). Her speciality are cinnamon rolls and others pastries, she works from 4 am til night. She has a biker cook boyfriend, a sort of friend with benefits.

The setting is an alternative reality where every knows, and fear, the Others: vampires, weres, demons and alike. Everybody use charms and wards, and fear other heavy magic handlers - sorcerers. This is New Arcadia after the Voodoo Wars where vampires converted a lot of people atempting dominate the world, and exterminating a lot of humans. The only protection is the sunlight, and really really onerous heavy wards. Oh, and apple wood wth mistletoe stakes (hello Sabina Kane)

The action start when Sunshine goes to her old house by the Lake, and is abducted by vampires. She thinks is her last day. But instead she is throw into a vampire power struggle where allied with the most unlikely part is the only way to survive.

Refreshing thing: These vampires are totally evil and bad, are not good looking , gray and gross, and everybody fear them and hate them with good reason.

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One of the first stories that any teenager just waking up to carnal possibilities hears about male vampires is that they can keep it up indefinitely. I personally stopped blushing after I had my first lover, and discovered that absolutely the last thing I would want in a boyfriend is a permanent hard-on.)
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Well, the story of the baker would have ended there, if it was not the case that she had something special, right?

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

I knew that one of the reasons my mom had left my dad was because he wouldn’t stop doing spellworking, and doing business with other spellworkers. I knew he came from a big magic-handling family, but not everybody in it did magic. I had never done any.

It turns out that fear and stress are great motivations.

It's not romance, but have a sort of alliance. And moreover explained but almost-death situations. And the enemy of my enemy is my... not-enemy? kind of the thing.

That there was a vampire—a master vampire, and his gang—after me. Specifically the ones I’d got away from two months ago, and it turns out suckers are poor losers. And persistent bastards.
That maybe I was the first bad-magic wuss in history.

Sunshine is not a kickass heroine, is human, has fears, and yeah the mentality of better head-in-the-sand it throwns out a little (but all the population kind of think like that to keep functioning) ; however there are enough talk of PSTD to soft that. She prefers to forgot all the bad things. I think every wants that after a really nasty situation. You try and try to pretend you don't remember and don't want to remember, and yeah maybe it was a nighmare kind of the thing. That made her very human to me.

I wish I could forget how it feels, your hair stuck to your skull with blood, foul blood running gummily down inside your clothes, invading your privacy, your decency, your humanity, till it chafes you with every breath

And I think that Constantine change her as she change him.

“My kind does not surprise easily,” he said. “You surprised me, this morning. I have thus used up my full quota of shock and consternation for some interval.”
I stared at him. “You made a joke.”
“I have heard this kind of thing may happen, to vampires who linger in the company of humans,” he said, looking and sounding particularly vampirish. “It is not a situation that has provoked much interest. And… I am not myself after a day spent in daylight.”

There are many inner struggle of genetics over nurture. She blame/congraluted her mother for raise her a boring baker gal. Because the thing that fear most is herself, what she can do with power.

A very good thing is Sunshine is a reader, of ... vampire fiction horror books. lol. I think is like popl reading about sycho murderers in our world.

And kudos to the peculiar thing of tribute to Star Trek fans, with a Sisko travel agent, lol.

The bad thing of the book is that is like an introductiory book, author think in nifty worldbuilding specially with the way of travel of vampires  the wormhole magic, teleportation thingie reminds a bit of Morganville vampires . So vampires knew about four dimension?, about other dimensions? have inner magic? so many questions

...and keep wandering about the other fears of the protagonist about inheritance and if there are still magical paternal family left.

It’s pretty amazing what you can not think about. To the extent that I thought about it at all, I missed my gran, but it was a lot simpler to be Charlie Seddon’s stepdaughter.
Outcrosses in a magic-handling family on the decline… like me… are viewed with mixed feelings. We may be salvation. We may be catastrophe. It depends on the bloodline on the other side.

n  It does not matter if it is them or us, after a certain point. It does not matter. There are some things you cannot live with: with having done. Even to survive. n

Hey, Robin, still waiting for the next book here.