Since I'm the Last Person on the Planet.....

to read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (554 pgs, Little, Brown Young Readers, 2006) I'm not even sure if I should review it!! But I guess I will give a try. Actually, the reason I picked it up at this time is because Chad told me I had to read it. His reading teacher at school had all the kids in her 7th grade class read it for AR. When the movie comes out, she's taking the class to see it. THIS was the book Chad couldn't put down!! I even went out yesterday and bought him New Moon, because he is still on the waiting list at school and he was getting frustrated. Can't have that!!

I'd never given much thought to how I would die -- though I'd had reason enough in the last few months -- but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me. Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.

When Bella made the decision to move to Forks, Washington, to live with her father, she really had no idea just how drastically her life would change. Sure, Forks, with all it's rainy darkness, was world's away from the sun of Phoenix. The school was so much smaller than her old school, Bella worried she wouldn't fit in. And yet, in a matter of days, she seems to be the object of obsession for most of the guys in town. And she makes friends quickly. This should be a good thing, right??

But Bella isn't interested in the boys in her school. Except for one. She is unusually drawn to Edward Cullen, one the "beautiful" people. Edward and his "family" are rich, beautiful....and dangerous. You see, they are a family of vampires.

When I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer, I was completely blown away. I still contend it is probably the best book I've read all year. Maybe it's a timing thing. I know a lot of people preferred the Twilight series. And while I highly enjoyed this book, I still think The Host was better.

Meyer has a way of completely sucking you into the stories she writes. I had a hard time putting this book down, even though it was rather slow getting to the "action", so to speak. The majority of this book is spent on getting to know the characters. We learn....slowly....WHAT Edward is. Meyer's gives us a different take of vampire legends. Edward and his family have a conscious. They don't hunt people, even though most of their kind does.

I really liked Edward and his vampire family. I liked learning their history and why they made the choices they did and live the way they do. And when the conflict (FINALLY) presents itself, I like how they band together to resolve it.

My biggest complaint about the book turns out the to be "human" factor....Bella. At first, I liked her. She's different than most teenage girls. She's not scared of Edward...even though she should be. She's curious. But she takes too many chances, and puts people she loves at risk. And she's whiny. EXTREMELY whiny. By the end of the book, I wanted to throttle her. Her "Don't Leave Me" mantra was almost more than I could take. I love a strong female protagonist. And Bella started out that way....but by the end of the book, she was clingy, whiny and so controlled that it almost ruined my enjoyment of the book.

I can see why Twilight is so popular, especially for the younger set. It's the ultimate "forever and ever" love story. It's heartwarming to see soul mates find each other. However, I'm not sure this one will have that fairy tale ending. I don't really see how it can work. But it gives a person hope. And for all my criticisms, I DID enjoy the book. I just hope I want to smack Bella less in the next one! 4/5