Here comes what I guess no one expected....a book I didn't love!

Sunshine by Robin McKinley - Not what I was hoping for, especially from someone who enjoys quite a bit of fame for her stories and her writing abilities. This book takes place in a modern society quite like one any of us live in today - except here supernatural and fantastical beings are part of the everyday, and vampires are no longer a myth but a very real threat, one that roams the streets at night. The story is told from the perspective of Sunshine, a young, average woman, barely older than a girl, who lives a seemingly ordinary life. One night Sunshine is visiting a lake she frequented during her childhood and is kidnapped by vampires and subsequently taken prisoner. During her incarceration she meets Constantine, a fellow prisoner, but also another vampire. Sunshine soon rediscovers a secret ability she's had since she was a little girl that was buried in her subconscious, now utilized in her time of greatest need. Sounds pretty awesome right? Wrong - at least I thought so. This should have been an excellent read, the premise of the story sounded so promising, but there was very little to keep my attention riveted. McKinley is a beautiful writer, and I'll give her credit for her prose, but it's this exact thing that caused the story to lag - too much description and tangents of Sunshine's thoughts slowed down the plot for what should have been an exciting ride. One other thing I found quite annoying was McKinley's tendency to jump from scene to scene without much transition and / or setting the stage, so to speak, so I found myself pretty confused at different points throughout the story. I will say there were a couple of sexy moments between Sunshine and Con, but the relationship between the two was barely touched upon until nearly the end of the book, and even then there was no real resolution. To give McKinley the benefit of the doubt, she may have intended to leave this part of the story vague to imply the possibilities of such an unusual and taboo relationship. All in all, I didn't think this was worth my time and it took me forever to finish which is always a bad sign with me as I'm a super fast reader. Part of the reason I picked this up was the great reviews it got from other novelists and magazines (Neil Gaiman: "Pretty much perfect"). If you're a die hard McKinley fan, check it out at your risk, you may like it, you may not, but from what I hear this is certainly not her best.

** 2 Stars