Twilight's reviews are probably the most controversal. You either love them, or you hate them. The book begins in Arizona, where Bella is complaining that she doesn't want to move to Forks. By the time she gets to Forks, her overall interaction with her father is awkward. I realize early on, that we don't really know what Bella looks like. Perhaps Meyers did this to make her more...relateable? So if she doesn't look like anything, I guess we could put ourselves into the story? As The Oatmeal put it, "By creating this 'empty shell,' the character becomes less of a person and more of something a female reader can put on and wear. Because I forgot her name (I think it was Barbara or Brando or something like that), I'm going to refer to her as "Pants" from here on out." If you haven't noticed yet, The Oatmeal's review is hilarious and intended to be comical, however he makes some good points.

I'm going to pick up the pace because I'm getting tired of thinking about it. At school, she's automatically swarmed with a group of friends. Some say this is unrealistic, but I come from a small school where this happens to all the new kids. I will say though, her first encounter with Edward is bizarre. He stares at her in the cafeteria, he pretends to be gagging over her in the science classroom. At one point, Bella nearly gets run over by a car, and guess what? Mr. Predictable is there to save the day!

Bella, being oh-so clever gets suspicious and eventually finds out that (gasp!) Edward is a vampire. Throughout the rest of the story, she swoons him and he stalks her. Soon comes the point where her life, and her life only, is threatened by evil vampires, and he sends her back to Arizona, where she's tossed around like a rag doll and wakes up in a hospital. Let's give him the Boyfriend of the Year award, shall we?

The story is bland, the characters predictable, and I kind of had to drag myself through the books in order to finish them. The whole reason I read it was because of the contreversy, and I wanted to form my own opinions on the story. All in all, not one of my favorites. ( )

I've read this book so many times, and I can't believe it's been 15 years since it first came out. I remember being accosted by an employee at Walden Books (RIP) who told me I absolutely HAD to read this book. It was my first vampire book, and honestly the first romance novel I'd ever enjoyed. It changed a lot, and even though it's not perfect, it holds a special place on my bookshelf. My own copy was so worn and used that I don't even have it anymore (pages kept falling out and it was way too beaten up to keep), but I'm glad I can still keep it in my purse whenever I need.

All this to say, I absolutely pre-ordered Midnight Sun and will 10000% read it when it arrives on my doorstep. I've waited too long to read more than a chapter or two of Edward's perspective from the author's website. ( )

I first read this book in 2007/8, before all the hoo hah over this series of books, but did not go on to read the others in the series. Having found them available at my local download library in unabridged audio format decided to listen to them. I have not watched the films so my view is not tainted by having seen the film first. For its genre this book is good, clearly aimed at the teen/young adult market, but enough content to make it enjoyable for those of us who are slightly older :-). I am glad that I have given this another airing - it kept me entertained to the end. Now on to New Moon where I dont know the story already. ( )

Well, I was so disappointed that I didn't like this book more. I wanted to like it. Everyone else liked it. Here's why it just didn't sit right with me: The writing seemed very simplistic to me. No subplots. And minimal character development. The characters didn't grow or change over the course of the story. And honestly, it didn't even seem very suspenseful to me. Bella wants Edward. Bella gets Edward. Nothing really interesting happens until the evil vampire shows up on the scene on page 400 or so. Nothing, nothing like Harry Potter which has such well developed characters and plot complexities by comparison. ( )

Great read.
Loved the characters and I was totally immersed into the story. ( )