Sunshine

Robin Mckinley was introduced to me in the 90's during my elementary literature class. We had to read the Hero and the Crown. I remember being uncertain of the book. It was within my beloved fantasy genre, yet it read differently than I was used to reading. I've decided that I have grown fond of her writing style. Last summer I read Chalice. It was mesmerizing. Mirasol the Beekeeper was beautifully created. My only sadness was the shortness of the book. I could have read pages and pages more about Mirasol.

Now onto the book Sunshine.

"Rae, nicknamed Sunshine by her stepfather, is the baker at her family’s coffeehouse. She’s happy getting up at 4 am to make cinnamon rolls for the breakfast rush, and dealing with people and food all day. But one evening she needed somewhere she could be alone for a little while, and there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years.
She never thought of vampires.

Until they found her." -This is written much better than my attempts. I kept including spoilers. It was at Robine McKinley's Website.

I had a bit of a time getting into the book, but about part way through I realized it was because my mind had been dulled by all the books centered around a romance I had read lately. If you are tired of Girl meets unusual boy and falls in love, this book may be just the book to cure you. While I don't claim it is free of relationships, it is refreshinginly centered around a plot that does not involve pining, Robin McKinley has a beautiful way to create worlds. I certainly would love to see her revisit this one. There were plenty of peripheral characters that would be lovely to flesh out.

Sunshine was delcious. The people and placed were all described through Rae's eyes. I followed her as she struggled with instense fear, hidden potentials, and long standing belief systems. Each time she struggled through a new opportunity, she was changed. She would make choices that would alter to fabric of her existence and the way she understood the world around her.

4 out of 5 stars. Difficult to dig into and hard to let go of.

Included are both book covers, the one on the top was mine, the one on the bottom I like better.

 Speculative Fiction Challenge 2010

Fantasy Fiction Challenge 2010