Sunshine is a novel by Robin McKinley.
Finished on: 15.4.2023

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.

Sunshine takes place in a rather complicated and elaborate world, and very little unfolds to the readers in a natural way. Instead Rae, who is the narrator, explains it all as we go along. That means that often the book grinds to a halt for some exposition, and that exposition often feels a little incomplete. In fact, the story doesn’t really get started until about 50 pages in (or so, I didn’t count – but it takes a surprisingly long time in any case). It’s a narrative style that just didn’t work for me that well as it always kept me at a distance to Rae and the action.

That emotional distance is especially problematic considering that this is a romance wrapped in a bit of a horror/action package. And romance just works best when you fall in love along with the characters. But I never reached that point, particularly since I found Mel way more interesting than Constantine. That didn’t surprise me all that much – I never was one for the brooding, tragic love interests and that has only gotten stronger the older I get – but it’s still a problem when it comes to the romance.

That being said, I can see myself really falling into the novel – 20 years ago, when it came out. I liked the characters and even if I wish that the info was disseminated differently, I found the world to be engaging and novel. But my vampire heydays are probably over and the book just feels too much like something from my past to relate to it now.

Summarizing: not the right thing at the right time for me.