Twilight

I just recently realized that I never did a real review on the Twilight Saga books. I talk about them often enough that anybody should realize that I loved every last one of them, but seeing as how I have a book review site, it only seems appropriate to do reviews. When I first read the Twilight books, Breaking Dawn had not been released yet, and I read through all three (Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse) in less than 4 days. When I did talk about them on my other blog, it was a quick overview of all three, and how I was completely crazy and read them all without stopping. Since then I've read each of them 2 more times, except Breaking Dawn, and Midnight Sun's draft - which I have only read through twice. So here it goes...

Twilight (& Midnight Sun) by Stephenie Meyer
Young Adult Fantasy

(A short synopsis from Amazon.com)

Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

Twilight is probably one of my favorite books of all. It's not perfect. It's not the most eloquent book of all time. But the story is absolutely wonderful, captivating to say the least. I just recently finished reading Midnight Sun again and I really, really hope that Stephenie Meyer will finish it in time. I believe that the strongest aspects of all of the Twilight books are the characters, and that what I consider the most important aspect of any book I read. If the characters are strong and believable. With the Twilight books, I honestly felt like they were alive, they were real. When I was done reading the books, I felt like I was missing a bunch of my "friends."

Bella feels that she is so plain and ordinary, that Edward's beauty and character is not much less than God himself. She is nothing compared to him. And yet, she cannot help but fall in love...

About three things I was absolutely positive:
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him–and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be–that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Edward views himself as a monster. He has been living for over 80 years in a state of complacency and just numbness. The only reason he's living is because he can't die. He views Bella as a beautiful, and horribly breakable being. He wants nothing more than to love her forever - except maybe taste her blood which literally calls to him. Yet wants to do nothing to harm her or effect her what-so-ever, including damning her to life forever as a vampire. He struggles constantly with his feelings for her, positive that it is very wrong for him to love her, but finding impossible not to.

Oh, and also, I'm wretchedly in love with you.
And, by the way, I adore you...in frightening, dangerous ways.

I think my favorite part (of Midnight Sun) is how he refers to Bella as "the girl" for a good portion of the first part of the book, basically distinguishing the "age" difference between them. But he is frozen at 17, and that includes emotionally - no matter how much Edward would like to deny that. He over analyzes every move Bella makes, and exults at her simple "yes" when he asks to take her to Seattle. He is most certainly still a teenager, with teenager-like emotions.

And all of this is just the beginning. I remember the first time I read Twilight, I was reading until the wee-hours of the morning just because I could not bare to put it down for too long. I was happy with the internal struggle. I was happy with just Bella and Edward, but what kind of book would that make? It all intensified with the addition of the nomads! The struggle and conflict, setting up Edwards ultimate decision for New Moon, perfectly, his worst fears are coming true. Humans hanging out with vampires just can't be good for their health... This conflict just topped the book of with a nice cherry for me making it one of my all time favorite books. I can almost feel myself wanting to go upstairs and pull off the shelf....again.