Sunshine by: Robin McKinley

Published: 2003

# of pages: 416



I read this in 2007 and it became one of my all time favorite books. I put it on my Christmas list this past year and someone gave it to me. I decided it was about time to re-read it!

Unfortunately, I was disappointed the second time around. I remember the first time I read it it took me awhile to get into it. I was a little confused about the world it was set in since it differs so much from the other books I read by McKinley. But I loved it by the time it was over. The second time I read it it seemed to drag so much. Like Chalice, there was so much rambling and little dialogue. I can't think why I didn't notice that the first time I read it. To be fair, I don't read so much these days and when I do read it's in bits and pieces. I read while I nurse Evan, during commercials, in the bathroom, and maybe (just maybe) I will sit and actually give my attention to a book for awhile in the evenings. So it's really hard to "get into" a novel and I think that Sunshine is one of those that you have to read all at once to really appreciate the characters and story.

What's good about this book??? There's a lot of great stuff! I can still see why I loved this book so much the first time I read it. It's a great story that has flavoring from one of my favorite fairy tales (and, I suspect, one of McKinley's favorites as well), "Beauty and the Beast." It's about a human (well, we think she's human anyway) who meets a vampire, the most feared creature of the Others.

The world is an alternate Earth which has been transformed by the Voodoo Wars and in which magic and "Others" (vampires, weres, demons, etc) exist. Sunshine is the main character and she works at a coffee shop that is owned by her stepfather. She is abducted by vampires at the beginning of the novel and ends up meeting Constantine (Con), a different kind of vampire. The two form an alliance, one that forms a lasting bond between them. Sunshine spends the novel trying to balance her life as a low key baker with her family and boyfriend, Mel, and as a friend to a vampire and a magic handler.

Con and Sunshine form a plan to strike back at the vampire who abducted Sunshine and although she is scared, she makes preparations and strengthens her relationship with Con before they take action. The last part of the novel is my favorite part. Even after not enjoying the book the second time around, I still loved this last part! Con is one of my favorite characters, I just love him! He actually reminds me a lot of the master in Chalice and from what I can remember, the beast in Beauty. I guess I just all around love McKinley's male characters!

Anyway, I definitely recommend this to lovers of fantasy and fans of McKinley! I wish I could say I loved this book just as much as I did before, but that wouldn't be the truth. However, I hope it's because of my bad reading habits these days. There's some bad language and sexual content, but it doesn't overwhelm the novel. However, I wouldn't say it's appropriate for young adults.



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The Historian
by: Elizabeth Kostova

Published: 2005

# of pages: 720


I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I was pleased with what I discovered. This is a great classic vampire book. It isn't filled with sexuality and bad language, it's just a good suspense novel that is also a unique historical fiction book.

The story is crazy with the many different characters and how the time line jumps back and forth. However, the main character and narrator is a 16 year old girl who discovers a strange book in her father's library. After that, her life is never the same as she learns about her father's strange past that includes mystery, love, adventure, and vampires.

The book centers around Dracula and includes a lot of historical facts about the man the character Dracula is based on. The book has several settings - including America, Amsterdam, Britain, Istanbul, Romania, and Bulgaria. I wonder how many of the things mentioned in the book are true (like about the search for Dracula's tomb, historical events, etc). I also wonder how many of the places are real. Maybe they are all real, I'll have to do more research to figure it out.

The book refers to the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker regularly, so that may be worth reading before picking up this novel, but isn't necessary to read first. I also thought it was interesting that the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy was briefly referred to, but once again, it isn't necessary to read that to understand the reference.

This is a very long book, but it mostly held my attention. I have to admit, in the 3rd quarter of the book I became a little bogged down. However, it may have been because I only had time to read it in short spurts. Maybe it wouldn't have dragged if I could have devoted longer periods of time to reading it. It was definitely worth continuing to read it though and I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and/or the vampire genre.


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Daylight by: Elizabeth Knox

Published: 2003

# of pages: 368


I like the idea of vampire stories, but I don't like most vampire books. With the exception of the Twilight sage, Sunshine by Robin McKinley, and Dracula, I have yet to read a vampire book that I really like. Unfortunately Daylight has joined the ranks of bad vampire books.

The story is about a man named Bad, a caver and policeman, who is caught up in a complicated web of relationships after he helps retrieve a body from the ocean that is floating below a cliff. All of the characters in this book are related in some way. It's actually neat how Knox ties them all together. I was fascinated by the characters of Father Daniel Octave, Ila, and Martine. Other than that, I didn't like many of the other characters. I think my favorite character was Martine even though she doesn't play a big part in the book. She was a good person and didn't fall into the disgusting habits that her friends were engaged in. That's another reason I liked Ila, he was trying to follow Martine's example. I did not like Dawn whatsoever. She had no self control and I felt like she was really selfish.

The entire story is very vague and there isn't much dialogue. Knox narrates the dialogue. I personally don't like this method of writing. I like to hear things "firsthand" and decide for myself if a character is angry, sarcastic, mysterious, etc. I don't like being told all of that without any evidence. I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear, but I felt like it was hard to really get into the story and understand the characters because they don't have much of a personality, mainly because the reader doesn't "see" them speaking much.

However, I did like the idea of the story. I only wish it had been told a little better. I almost gave this 3 stars because I liked the way vampires and saints were placed side by side, but the narration and vague timeline gave the book an uncomfortable feel which outweighed the story's potential. Overall, I only recommend this book to vampire lovers and people who don't mind bad language and sex scenes. Also, I think people who appreciate and enjoy unconventional writing styles would also appreciate this book.

Marked by: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Series: House of Night (book 1)

Challenges: TBR Challenge

Published: 2007

# of pages: 306


My quest for a vampire book besides Twilight to recommend to my teenage sister continues! The idea behind this book was a great one. However, with all of the bad language and bad attitudes in this book, I won't be telling my sister or any other teenage girl about this one. The writing style was also annoying. The authors included parentheses throughout the narrative with their own opinions. Thankfully these opinions are good (for example, doing drugs is bad, sleeping around is bad, starving yourself is bad, etc). Apparently using the F work repeatedly is not bad though. The authors tried too hard to make this a teenage book and it came off sounding forced.

The only good things about the book is that it had a fairly unique storyline (although they borrowed some parts from the movie "Mean Girls", including a gay guy named Damien and the whole lunchroom scene) and the protagonist does become a little more serious and grown up towards the end of the novel. Thankfully the "Mean Girls" scenes didn't continue throughout the book. I was afraid it would be a retelling of that movie for awhile there.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to young adults because of the bad language and sexual content and I wouldn't recommend it to adults because of the annoying teenage attitudes among other things.

Rises the Night by: Colleen Gleason

Series: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles (Book 2)


This book was pretty bad, so I wouldn't recommend it and don't want to waste too much time talking about it.

My main reason for disliking it was that the series went from being an original romance/adventure in the first book (The Rest Falls Away) to being a typical trashy romance. Victoria's character was disgusting and shallow. How convenient that she is only attracted to handsome men. She has no self control and throws herself at Sebastian the first time she sees him and every other time after that. It was so predictable.

On a positive note, the vampires make it a little more interesting and I still enjoyed the character of Max. Also, Gleason does a surprising plot twist at the end, just like her first book in The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, which was an improvement because it was the only surprise in the whole book.

The Rest Falls Away by: Colleen Gleason

Series: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles (Book 1)

Published: 2007

# of pages: 347

Quote: "Our Heroes Commence with Much Poofing and Slicing" -Chapter 12 title


The Rest Falls Away balances action and romance in a surprisingly addictive story. The first 100 pages were hard for me to enjoy, but after Victoria gets over her whining about the society she lives in and she and Max stop their constant juvenile squabbling, I found myself enjoying the novel much more. Last night and this morning I couldn't put the book down.

It's odd, because it isn't the best writing style and I still found some of the last half of the book forced (mainly the parts that concentrate on Victoria's mother's friends and the fact that those Victoria loves the most "have" to remain ignorant while other normal people know everything), but the story is unique and I found myself surprised throughout. The end has a great plot twist and leaves the reader hanging. I can't wait to read the next book and see what happens!

There is somewhat graphic sex in this book. I had hoped it would be one I could recommend to my younger sister (who loved the Twilight series), but I don't think I will because I don't want to be the one who "corrupts" her. She's probably read worse in school already, but I like to think that she would be a little shocked and I don't want to be the cause of that. I personally didn't mind it, it wasn't really crude, it was just sexual romance that spices up the story. However, it may not be appropriate for younger readers, although everything else in the novel seemed almost more young adult to me. Overall, I recommend this book to people who are looking for an exciting and unique romance that isn't overwhelming in terms of vocabulary, length, or the amount of thought needed for interpretation.