Before There Was Twilight...

...there was Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Known for her award-winning fantasy books, McKinley creates a familiar-feeling world where vampires and magic are very real, but so are coffee and cinnamon rolls.

Rae lives in the small town of New Arcadia, where she wakes up at 4am everyday to bake Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head for a coffee shop in Town. She doesn't really mind getting up early, since she loves the warm morning light, and the feel of soft dough between her fingers. Sounds kind of cozy, huh? Well, then, let me tell you a little more about New Arcadia. One branch of the police force there is called SOF: Special Other Forces. They deal with the Others, the most dangerous of these being the Suckers. That is, vampires. There are Others that aren't really legislated against, like Weres, Demons, and Sprites...I mean, everyone knows someone with a little sprite or peri blood in them. But it's the Darkest Others, the vampires, that you really want to avoid.

So when Rae takes a nighttime drive out to her parents' cabin by the lake, she's not really surprised when she gets kidnapped by a gang of suckers, tied hand and foot, and left in an abandoned house...but not alone. She's been put there as supper for Constantine, the gang's rival, who does end up surprising her, in more ways than one.

This refreshing fantasy presents a world where the supernatural is normal, but so are friends, family, and fragrant baked goods.<