Sunshine

By: Robin McKinley

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it's unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and she needed a place to be alone for a while. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. She never heard them coming. Of course you don't, when they're vampires.

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

She knows that he is a vampire. She knows that she's to be his dinner and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, as dawn breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is he who needs her to help him survive the day.

©2003 Robin McKinley (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A gripping, funny, page-turning, pretty much perfect work of magical literature." (Neil Gaiman, New York Times best-selling author of Anansi Boys)
"McKinley knows very well - and makes her [audience] believe - that 'the insides of our own minds are the scariest things there are.'" ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)

Just Love it!

I don't know why but this book just attracted me from the start. I loved it so much that I bought it to listen in my car also. Sunshine's self searching just is the bit of sunshine i needed.

Now this is a vampire story

Vampires can be ugly, terrifying, and at least somewhat evil while still being appealing. I just wish there were a sequel.

Good Story BUT....

The insistent ramblings took away from the story. Books in first-person isn't my favorite but I've enjoyed many; however, this was absolutely horrible. The ramblings were so bad I wouldn't constantly fight to remain focused on what was happening at many sections of the story. My brain automatically wanders when I hear irrelevant ramblings, thus I had to keep going back 2-3 minutes in the audio. Don't get me wrong, the storyline/plot was intriguing but it was virtually impossible to know what the plot was due to ramblings in first-person. Sigh.

really good!

I WAS REALLY CAUGHT UP IN THIS STORY! I wish there were more "SUNSHINE " STORIES .

Wet need the series.

This is a great start to what can very well be a very long series. The story about Ray aka Sunshine takes you to a new world were humans and other not so humans live. It gives you a glimpse of an other works without overwhelming you work to much information. I want to know more about Sunshine world. Please make a series of this book.

Occasionally cheesy, enjoyable in the right mood

Narrator's voice grates: she sounds like she's hopped up on helium and speed. I had to drop speed to 90℅ as she read way too quickly.

I love Robin McKinley, but this isn't a favorite book. I think mainly because she uses made up slang like "sheer" to replace "cool." It sounds super cheesy, I won't lie. Also, it leaves a lot of back story untold: if she ever writes a sequel, I hope there's more info on the wars and magic usage in general.

all in all, a solid 3.5

robin mckinley at her best

if you like urban fantasy novels this is a good one, a great vampire novel with a compelling world and just dash of romance/sexual tension. The only downside is the narrator... she speaks too fast.

Sunshine for Sunshine

I love this book. I have loved this book since I found a beat up paperback copy of it in an old bookstore when I was 16. I feel like I'm in the world she creates with her story. Wish there were more books in her story. I do love Sunshine.

Interesting book, a little twilight, wolves,demons

a little of everything in this book. vampires, goblins, demons, magic, weres, all mixed together.

An original take on a vampire story

Sunshine features a female protagonist whose greatest challenge is to learn about herself and accept what she is.
I’d have rated this higher if it had been less repetitive (going over the same info repeatedly), and if it it had been a tad less predictable. Any child who’s read a Goosebumps book could have told Ray not to go to the lake house all by herself.
It’s possible that I could have liked Sunshine more if it had been read by a different narrator. I just didn’t like her voice. Also, she mispronounced several words, including “fiefdom.”