SUNSHINE.

SUNSHINE by ROBIN McKINLEY.

There are places in the world where darkness rules, where its unwise to walk. But the lake had been quiet for years ...... She never heard them coming. Of course you don't, when they're vampires.

They took her clothes and her sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to the wall of an abandoned mansion - within easy reach of her fellow prisoner.

She knows he is a vampire. She knows that she's his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet when dawn breaks, she is still alive. And now he needs her to help him survive the day .....

..... From the outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: It was a dumb thing to do but it wasn't that dumb.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: I didn't want to know that the monster that lived under your bed when you were a kid not only really is there but used to have a few beers with your dad.

Where to begin? There were so many things I enjoyed about this book and some (including the lack of chapters, a personal dislike of mine) that I didn't.

A fascinating idea - I loved the thought of a vampire needing a mere mortal to help him survive the day. But then, and I'm hoping I'm not giving too much away here, that mere mortal may need the help of that vampire just as much.

Set in a world post-'voodoo wars' there are so many things similar to our own times and yet so many things different. Populated by both humans and 'others' (some tolerated but most feared and hated, none more so than the vampire) the world is policed by Special Other Forces (SOF).

I loved the mixture of characters in this book - especially Sunshine (Rae Seddon)  and Con (Constantine to give him his full name).

Sunshine I found to be feisty and brave and yet vulnerable all at the same time. Having recently made some discoveries about not only her 'lost' family but also about her powers, I thought she was on a real journey of discovery. As for Con, my favourite character, he was not a typical vampire and yet not quite one of the 'new breed' (I'm thinking Twilight's Edward here), I loved the almost 'human' side of him and the very touching relationship he developed with Sunshine which according to Time Out magazine:-

 'takes everything we have always known about the menacing eroticism of pale men with sharp teeth and throws it up into the air.'

Hmm, eroticism? I suppose so but it was quite understated, bubbling gently away in the background you might say.

The plot? A wonderful idea but not what I expected. Somehow lacking in any real sense of danger and, despite the 'final showdown', totally lacking in any real sense of suspense, to me Sunshine was more of a modern day romance (thankfully without the soppy element).

 A novel with loads of potential BUT to me it was just far too long a story with too much time being spent by Sunshine repeatedly dissecting the events. AND if cinnamon rolls had been mentioned once more (Sunshine was a baker when not in Buffy The Vampire Slayer mode) I would have screamed.

Many thanks to MISHA from whom I received this book as a competition win, it is the first book read as part of the 2011 100+ book challenge.


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