Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

At the risk of getting something started, I'm stepping out and asking you to read this review to its ending before you judge:-)

I'm always on the lookout for books my 17 year old daughter will read. She struggles to read, and it takes something extraordinary to catch her attention and entice her to finish.

Harry Potter didn't cut it.

Twilight and its companions did the trick! In fact, I was astonished at how quickly she devoured the books. A child after my own heart.

The story of Bella and Edward is poetic in nature. Isabella Swan has decided, upon her mom's remarriage, that she is in the way there. So she moves in with her father, Police Chief Charlie Swan, in of all places Forks, Washington.

After a rather rocky start, Bella resigns herself to her new, boring existence in Forks. Then, she spots Edward Cullen. From that moment on, she is enraptured by him. He, on the other hand, can't seem to stand her very presence.

Until a fateful accident pushed him to save Bella's life. And then, let the romance begin!

Oh, I forgot something...Edward? He's a vampire. Yeah, it puts a definite crimp in things!

What follows is a heart-pounding and gorgeous saga of love that seeks only the good of the other, and is not self-seeking and is the kind of "lay down my life for you" love that we all long for.






In "New Moon", Edward makes the ultimate choice to protect his beloved Bella, and it leaves her in tatters. I suppose that's what you get when you fall in love with a vampire:-)

Enter her dearest friend, Jacob Black, a sophomore that lives on the LaPush Indian Reservation. He helps put the pieces of Bella back together again, and attempts to keep her heart for himself. Only, Jacob isn't what he appears to be...but I'm not telling you what I mean...except to say...

Can Bella pick'em or what!!






And thanks to my daughter's hounding, I was up until almost midnight finishing up the latest release! "Eclipse" is where Jacob's Bella and Edward's Bella collide. How can she have both of these wonderful, self-sacrificing young men in her life without them killing each other...literally!

Oh, to have that problem, right?? WRONG! This is by far the most heart-pounding and heart-wrenching of the trilogy thus far. I'm almost afraid of what "Breaking Dawn" will bring next Fall!

Now, yes, these are stories about vampires. But don't let that cause you to avoid them. Just like Harry was about magic, but was so much more than that, the Twilight series is about vampires and such...but it is SO much more than that!

The allegory for my faith was found everywhere in this book, which was kind of bizarre considering it was about a vampire, but no less powerful. I told my daughter, "You see how Edward loves Bella? That's how I want someone to love you one day." She agreed, then added, "Just as long as he's not a vampire, Mom!"

Even she sees past the sensational vehicle for this deeply passionate story. Yeah, vampires and company make for unusual reading, but it's the story of the characters that appeals to us both. In fact, I'm SO in love with Edward and his family that I'm praying Stephanie can pull it off in book four to find a way to "humanize" him:-)

And she's pulled off some amazing things so far, so I put nothing past her!

I give "The Twilight Series" five out of five bookmarks for storyline, but an overall four out of five because of some language. Granted, it was mild, but it wasn't necessary and I would have loved the books even more. These are most definitely for mature teens...read them yourself before handing them over. That's what I did.

And I'm SO glad I did!

Happy Reading!

Deena