Plot:
Years after the Voodoo Wars that left the world riddled with Bad Spots, vampires, werewolves and demons, Rae, also called Sunshine, works at her family’s bakery and divides her time mostly between the kitchen there and the apartment she rents from Miss Yolande. Sometimes she even spends time with her boyfriend Mel. When she decides to get some alone-time at her family’s cottage next to the lake, Rae is taken prisoner by vampires and locked into a house with one – who also seems to be a prisoner. That vampire, Constantine, desperately tries to stay away from Rae but hunger might get the better of him. Rae and Constantine have to figure out whether they can work together and what that could mean for both of them.

Sunshine is one of those books that has been sitting on my shelf for many years, probably decades, waiting to be read. And I’m afraid that the best time to read it, for me, has passed by now. I struggled a bit with it, especially regarding the information management.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2023/06/23/sunshine-robin-mckinley/ ( )

This lives on in my head rent free. It's been decades since I read it, and I can still feel each and every word. ( )

It’s been several years since I read this, but the title came across my feed this morning, and I smiled as I thought of it. The thing I remember most about it is the warm feeling McKinley built around the main character as she described her job in the bakery. I loved the atmosphere I encountered at the start, and although I don’t remember a whole lot of details besides that, I would definitely recommend this to vampire fans who are looking for something original. ( )

Pandemic read. Normally not a vampire book fan, but this appealed to me. I guess I like my vampires with a touch of dystopia. ( )

The writing is erratic and hard to follow and it seems as if there is a lot of information you're missing out on. However, the plot and characters themselves make this is worthwhile read.
There were many instances when I was throughly confused about what exactly was happening, between the main characters all-over-the-place thought patterns and actual narrative. I wish there had been more dialog between characters to act as a sort of anchor to events, but no such luck. The sex instances in the book also seemed forced, as if she used it to try to keep the reader pulled in to the relationship between Sunshine and Constantine - but it was written in a sort of different voice, was unnecessary, and slightly took from the events at hand.
Overall, I'm not exactly sure what to think of this book. I wouldn't read it again but I finished it without having to force myself and I did like the storyline... I can say for sure that it is overrated.

Original: 9/2007
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updated: 4/2010
It's weird how three years ago, my thoughts on this book were so different. But people change and tastes in books change along with us. I picked up this book for a steal at a used book store not remembering if I liked it or not, but wanted to try it again anyway. I'm just about finished with the second read-through and am really enjoying it. While Sunshine is still a little erratic, I don't find her thought processes too difficult to follow - like I mentioned in my first review - though there are a lot of random side-thoughts in parenthesis that you have to read and then re-read the sentence without them to sometimes remember what the original thought was. However, this is how people really think and speak so it is just a normal conversation instead of a more unnatural way of thought that most books use just to keep the reader on the same page, pardon the expression. I've added another 2 stars to my review this time around. I really enjoyed it. ( )