Review: Sunshine by Nikki Rae

 

What they say: 18 year old Sophie Jean is pretty good at acting normal. Sure, she’s not exactly happy, but happiness is nothing compared to being like everyone else. She can pretend she’s not allergic to the sun. She can hide what her ex-boyfriend did to her. She can cover up the scars she’s made for herself. Ignore anything. Forget anything. Then Myles enters her life, and he has more than a few secrets of his own. When accident after accident keeps happening to Sophie, she can’t help noticing that he’s everywhere. That he knows too much. That she’s remembering too much.

It’s one thing covering up her own dark past, but does she really need to worry about people finding out just how much Myles likes her? Or that despite how much she doesn’t want to repeat past mistakes, she kind of likes him back? Not to mention the fact that she now has to conceal that Myles drinks blood-that he says he’s about four hundred years old. She almost forgot about that part.

But Sophie has no plans to ruin the normal life she has created for herself. She can deal with this little glitch, no problem. Even if word has gotten around to the wrong vampire about Sophie and Myles, even if she’s putting the few people she loves at risk. Suddenly, those who were monsters before are just people, and the monsters? They’re real. Now being a normal human being is the least of her problems. Now she has to stay alive.

 

I received a copy of Sunshine in exchange for an honest review!

 

What I say: Sunshine is an interesting sort of paranormal book, because, for the most part I almost forgot it was a paranormal story. I think this is partly to do with all the other stuff the characters have going on in their lives and also because the fantasy aspect isn't a major plot point until the later stages of Sunshine. The vampire thing is sidelined by Sophie's other issues.

 

There are a lot of dark areas to Sunshine and poor Sophie really suffers. If you're squeamish about issues including violence, self harm and depression then be warned Sunshine has a lot of them. Nikki Rae has done a wonderful job of covering these topics and it never feels like she's belittling the suffering or including such issues just to get a response - Rae has obviously done her research! Sophie is a funny mix of being both really strong (when you think about everything she has endured) and then also very vulnerable (and extremely unlucky).

 

Sophie is allergic to the Sun and has a somewhat tempestuous home life, her mother is awful! She has a good support group even before Myles arrives. At times I did think hasn't Sophie suffered enough?!

 

I have to say Myles is very different to your average vampire; he's uncomfortable in his own skin, ashamed of drinking blood and has plenty of his own problems. I kept forgetting that he's 400 years old because as Sophie herself even points out, he's really normal. Myles is very sweet with Sophie and comes with an endless supply of patience it seems. At times I wanted to smack some sense into her when she kept pushing him away.

 

I didn't like that Myles kept a lot from Sophie, and I felt that the book in general has left many questions unanswered. This is both intriguing and annoying. I wanted to see Sophie's allergy explained (I have my suspicions, I'm thinking it has something to do with her Dad. So it'll be good to see in the next book whether I'm correct). I also want to know why Myles moved to their town in particular. Also what about Sophie's memories? When you've read Sunshine you'll understand what I mean.

 

I enjoyed Sunshine and will definitely read the next book. It was nice to see the characters evolve throughout the book, although I would like to see a stronger side to Myles next time (he is a vampire after all)!

 

3.5 Stars in my Sky!

 

My fav non-spoilery quotes:

• "Evolve? Like a Pokemon?" I have no idea why I say this. I think I'm kind of going into shock, and the first thing that pops into my head when he says evolve is Charmander evolving into Charizard.
• Monsters can live inside a person. Sometimes they know about it. More often they don't.
• I hate that smile. It's like he's saying oh yeah. I'm awesome and you really should be my girlfriend.
• "I'll try not to be so crazy, and you keep your hands to yourself, hotlips."