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Description edit
“Sunshine” is what everyone calls her. She works long hours in her family’s coffeehouse, making her famous “Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head,” Bitter Chocolate Death, Caramel Cataclysm, and other sugar-shock specials that keep the customers coming. She’s happy in her bakery—which her... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The story is set in an alternate universe, taking place after the “Voodoo Wars”, a conflict between humans and the “Others”. The Others mainly consist of vampires, werewolves, and demons, though the main conflict occurs between humans and vampires. As a result of this war, “bad spots”, or... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Rae "Sunshine" Seddon: A young woman who works as the baker at a coffee shop called Charlie's Coffeehouse.
- Constantine: A vampire held in captivity by the same vampires that captured Sunshine.
- Beauregard: aka Bo. Sunshine and Constantine's mutual enemy. He is a vampire and Constantine's contemporary, and runs a large gang, which is how he captured Sunshine.
- Sadie Seddon: Sunshine's mother. She is married to Charlie and also works at the coffeehouse.
- Charlie Seddon: Sunshine's stepfather and owner of bakery.
- Mel: The chef at Charlie's and Sunshine's boyfriend. He has a mysterious past about which much is implied, but nothing explained. He is heavily tattooed with wards, which can be dangerous, and used to be part of a motorcycle gang. He and Sunshine have a comfortable "don't ask-don't tell" policy.
- Miss Yolande: Sunshine's landlady
- Pat Velasquez: an SOF agent
- Aimil: librarian, long-time friend of Sunshine's.
- Onyx Blaise: Sunshine's father/sorcerer
- Jack Demetrios: the boss of SOF.
Quotes edit
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“This bucked him up so much he started humming while he worked. Gah. It was bad enough having someone in the bakery with me some of the time, so I could teach him what to do and keep an eye on him while he did it, humming so pushing it. Was it absolutely necessary to have a cheerful apprentice?”
Sunshine -
“As a romantic fantasy I don't think it's going to make it into the top ten- most women pining for the presence of their lovers aren't worrying about needing their homicidal tendencies foiled- but it did mean I felt a little safer with Mel around.”
Sunshine -
“There are stories about “good” vampires like there are stories about theloathly lady <...>”
Sunshine -
“May I have your tears?”
Constantine -
“I dreamed. I dreamed as if the dream was waiting for me, waiting forthe moment I fell asleep.”
Sunshine -
“I don’t like bullies. Honor among thieves. Take your pick.”
Sunshine -
“What increation are you? That is no small stuff-changer trick. It is notpossible. It is not possible. I have been standing in sunlight and I know itis not possible.”
Constantine -
“Sherlock Holmes—do young people stillread him, I wonder?—made the famous statement that once you haveeliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, mustbe the truth.”
Yolande -
“My sunshine-self, my tree-self, my deer-self. Didn’t we outnumber thedark self?”
Sunshine -
“I don’t think it’s my so-called power that’s the problem. It’s the trouble it gets me into.”
Sunshine -
“But to those of us who soak ourselves deeplyin a magical source, it can have profound consequences. This is not achosen thing, you know. Or it chooses you, not the other way around.”
Yolande -
“Someone wants to eat my food, they’reautomatically my friend. Someone who doesn’t want to eat my food, theyautomatically aren’t.”
Sunshine -
“The hierarchies of magic handling are noparticular study of mine. But your principal affinity is for sunlight: yourelement, as it were. It is usually one of the standard four: earth, air, water,fire. Sometimes it is metal, sometimes wood. I have never heard of one forsunlight before, but there are—are tests for these things. Yours is neitherfire nor air, but a bit of both, and something else.”
Yolande -
“Okay. Names are power. We’d had that back at the lake. Big deal. Fangsare more power. We’d had that at the lake too. Con had chosen to let mego. Bo wasn’t going to.”
Sunshine -
“I think I must have gone into some kind of berserker furymyself. There are things you don’t want to know you can do, aren’t there?But if you’re lucky you never find them out.”
Sunshine -
“If we ever got to the end of all this, ha ha and so on, and wanted tofind our way back out of the maze, it wasn’t a thread we would have tofollow but a path paved with undead body parts.”
Sunshine -
“Oh yes, I am here, waiting for you. Do keep coming on. After all, youhave worked quite hard to progress so far, have you not? It would be apity to waste all that effort. And I really don’t feel I could let you go nowwithout paying your respects to me personally. It would be so rude.”
Bo -
“I saidthat monster doesn’t cover it. There is no word for aseveral-hundred-year-old vampire who has performed every availablewickedness over and over till he has to invent unavailable ones becausehe’d worn the others out.”
Sunshine -
“The sky was falling. Ah. Okay. Skies don’t fall; therefore I was dead. I’dkind of expected to be dead. I felt rather comfortable, really.”
Sunshine -
“I’ve been getting reports from No Town right along, you know and I want to know what you guys did. And I want it intriplicate, you got that? But I’m a patient man and I’ll wait. I won’t eventell the goddess I took you home together.”
Pat -
“I was being lectured in morality by a vampire.”
Sunshine -
“I will do anything it is in my power to do for you. Commandme.”
Constantine -
“You could come with me. Tonight. I wouldreturn you here in time for your leaving to go to the preparation ofcinnamon rolls. If you are sufficiently rested. If you…wished to come.”
Constantine -
“I didn't hear them coming. But you don't, when they're vampires.”
Sunshine
Setting & Locations edit
- New Arcadia: Sunshine's home town
- No Town
- Charlie's Coffeehouse: where Sunshine works
- The Lake: A mostly abandoned part of town.
First Sentence edit
It was a dumb thing to do but it wasn't that dumb.
Table of Contents edit
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Series & Lists edit
This is book 92 of 99 in National Public Radio's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Robin McKinley (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 30, 2003
ISBN: 978-0425191781
Page Count: 389
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 30, 2003
ISBN: 978-0425191781
Page Count: 389
Awards edit
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (2004: Adult Literature, #1)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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