I have this compulsion to finish a book once I start it, or at least give it a decent chance to prove itself.

I read a whole 27 pages of Sunshine before I tossed it aside, quite literally.

This book was recommended to me by a friend with the words: "The writing's a bit different, but it's so nice and lyrical."

'Lyrical' is the right description, with words out of context simply for the sake of it, run-on sentences and bizarre tangents.

It read like a sequel, except it isn't; sometimes leaving hints and teasers about how the book's world is different is great. Sometimes, it just doesn't work. McKinley appears to start explaining about the Others and all these different species, except she she just throws in names of a bunch of other creatures but only elaborates on vampires.

I'm sure there would be more explanations further in the book, but for three pages this went on, listing but not explaining, just babbling about creatures with tangents thrown in to disrupt any flow she had going.

As I haven't read that much of the book I realise I'm not totally qualified to review; however, the parts of the book about the bakery worked. If it didn't contain the paranormal I think McKinley's style would have worked for me. Unfortunately, that's her genre.