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 … 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).
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A gripping, funny, page-turning, pretty much perfect work of magical literature.
Smart, dark, and riveting. Sunshine is quite possibly the best vampire book published in my lifetime.
Sunshine is one of my all time favorite books, and my favorite by Robin McKinley. It has the most unique take on vampires and urban fantasy worldbuilding that I have ever read. I absolutely love the dynamic between the protagonist (Sunshine) and the main vampire (Con). Sunshine is so realistically vulnerable and weak, and yet finds her own strength and doesn’t back down before evil. Con is so delightfully alluring, otherworldly, frightening, and completely NOT human. And yet he retains a conscience, almost unheard of for a vampire. His struggle is real, and despite his power he has his own vulnerabilities and he needs Sunshine. A must read this summer!
Vampires & chocolate make a potent combination. I reread this book every year or so.
Vampires were outside of my comfort zone, but I love Robin McKinley’s writing, so got really brave and read this book. And then my world was changed. It is gorgeous and, I think, this is the book that started Urban Fantasy. It is one of my favorite comfort reads and I go back to Sunshine again and again.
Sunshine showed up in my BookBub email today and I immediately went to my Kindle app to make sure that I already owned it. I do. No surprise, because it’s one of my favorite all-time books. I’m not sure how many times I’ve read it — a dozen, easily, maybe more. I love the writing, I love the language, I love the world-building, but mostly I love the characters.
I loved this book, which I read years ago. Everything about it – the bakery, the vampires, the intrigue and romance – is really well done and just draws you in. As I write this I am picturing the first time the main character saw the vampire. It’s still so vivid in my imagination because the writing was so good that it made reading this book effortless.
One of my all time favourite books!
Haunting is a great way to describe this book that I read again every few years. It’s a fantastic vampire story with good characters and world building. I highly recommend it if you like paranormal mystery with a little romance.
I am not a Sci-fi/urban fantasy fan (says the Star Wars Nerd/Trekker–but that’s celluloid, not print) but (BUT) I gobbled up this book. I enjoy the author’s fantasy folklore and am glad I was talked into trying this one despite it being a major departure both setting and genre-wise. However, it is not a departure when it comes to being smart, witty, clever, and romantic. It is also narrated by Sunshine herself, which I love. Mostly I adore the Byronic Constantine which I think is at the core for this Regency romance author. The book has plenty of other virtues, as well. For example, Sunshine is just the kind of gal to help a moody vampire survive a contemporary world. I highly recommend.
1.5 out of 5 stars. Okay … I LOVED the plot, the main characters, and the world that the author created!! All very good and just for that I would recommend it for all to read too! However, the reason I have given this book such a low score was because the narrator (Sunshine) rambled like there was no tomorrow! I could have screamed sometimes with how it went from the present situation she would be in, then the next minute she would be talking about things that really had nothing to do with what was going on at the time, and some didn’t even make since with the plot. In truth I’m surprised I even finished the book, especially since I liked the book (for the most part) when I was reading it, but as soon as I put it down I had to convince myself to pick it back up again …. since I did want to find out how the book would turn out and end. Also, even though I liked the ending, there was too many loose strings so it felt a little incomplete. *shrug* But that may be just me.
Review By: From Me to You … Video, Photography, & Book Reviews
Read more of this review and a TEASER here: https://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-was-i-thinking-sunshine-by-robin.html
Love love love this book! I just re-read it and I have to say it really is a worthy vampire novel that stands out. So entertaining and the characters are so well developed.
i have read this book at least a dozen times and will continue from time to time. just love it.
She is one of my favorite writers. I think this book was inspiration for the Twilight Series but was better written! I would recommend it highly!
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.
Other than that Robin McKinley is a favorite of mine, I love her and once you get past the long winded explanations, this book is a classic!
It is also not a TEEN book, unless your teen is into some stuff, I would recommend over 18 for this book
Written in Robin McKinley’s classic en media res style, Sunshine starts off full of action with story elements filled in as you need them. I love the mystery of who Con & Beau are, who Sunshine really is. This book is even better the second time around.
It was pretty good but sometimes meandered and I had a hard time deciphering what was actually happening – I would read her other books and have several on standby
This is one of my all time favorite books, that I have reread multiple times and given as a gift to friends and family. This is an urban fantasy where magic and monsters are real. Robin McKinley is a fantastic writer and I was immersed in the world that she created in Sunshine.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley – Are you looking for a better vampire book? Don’t get me wrong, I actually am very fond of Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, Anne Rice, Dracula, and a host of other vampy novels. But this one is something special. Though I have to tell you that you will crave baked goods if you read this. I bought cinnamon rolls, zebra cakes, bagels, so so so many carbs. All Sunshine’s fault! The sarcasm. The snark. The ambiguous, but somehow deeply satisfying ending. Its magical ya’ll! Happy Reading!
Won me over! For me, it was slow to start and very “wordy”, but that’s on me, as I realized it’s the writing style. But Sunshine/Rae won me over. Lots of action, lots of wondering, and lots of growth and change.