After the 34th time my daughter said, "I L O V E THIS BOOK!" it occurred to me I might enjoy reading it myself. Even if it was about mythical creatures. In spite of its intended "young adult" audience (I hardly qualify–I’m the PARENT of a young adult!).
Understatement.
In her inaugural at-bat, author Stephanie Meyer didn’t just hit it out of the ballpark, she blew another hole in the ozone.
Twilight is a delicious feast that teases, tantalizes and ultimately satisfies a ravenous appetite of the heart. Meyer’s ability to write love and longing and heartbreak and desire coupled with mystery, thriller, suspense and intrigue kept me flipping pages until my own eyes were as blood-red as a hungry vampire’s.
Bella and Edward are so well fleshed out, you can see them; even supporting characters are drawn in three-dimensional technicolor. A romance between a vampire and a vampire-wannabe–and it’s believable...and you care??!
I skated through New Moon, the second in the series; right now, I’m savoring Eclipse (book three), and Breaking Dawn is waiting on me as soon as I’m finished. I’m glad I only recently discovered the series–I don’t have to wait years for the conclusion.
Of note:
Follow your dreams! The genesis of Twilight was a vivid dream; Meyer had to write the character’s story. Had! To!
Burnin’ the midnight oil. Clearly, Meyer is gifted, but talk about the Belle of the Ball–she’s churned out five novels in five years (The Host is an adult novel, not part of the Twilight series) and the movie adaptation is due in theaters in December.
They have no idea what they’re reading. Written for young adults, this book maintains a PG rating (at least through the first two books; my daughter has hinted a steamy progression, but I’ve yet to get that far). As I read Twilight, I kept thinking "[Teens] can’t possibly understand the depth of Bella’s and Edward’s longing…", it’s almost wasted effort. In the end, though, the book’s popularity is due to a) compelling writing, b) romance, c) fairy tales, d) good guys/bad guys, e) adventure, f) the forbidden, g) Average girl gets the model-y guy, h) danger, i) cliffhangers…
Good gravy! I could write six alphabets of why the series is a success! If you’ve read any or all, add to my list in comments– WHY has the Twilight series hit a nerve for the young and not-so-young?
It takes one to know one. Hat’s off to Marmite and Tea, the first of several (Alison, Shelly and Sarah) who KNEW in an instant what I was talkin’ about. They, too, must have tasted this ambrosial fruit.
Want a bite? I just skimmed through the pages of New Moon, and this jumped out at me. Swooning…commences…NOW!
"His mouth was on mine then, and I couldn’t fight him. Not because he was so many thousand times stronger than me, but because my will crumbled into dust the second our lips met. This kiss was not quite as careful as others I remembered, which suited me just fine. If I was going to rip myself up further, I might as well get as much in trade as possible.
"So I kissed him back, my heart pounding out a jagged, disjointed rhythm while my breathing turned to panting and my fingers moved greedily to his face. I could feel his marble body against every line of mine, and I was so glad he hadn’t listened to me–there was no pain in the world that would have justified missing this. His hands memorized my face, the same way mine were tracing his, and in the brief seconds when his lips were free, he whispered my name." New Moon, p. 512.
S i g h…xo
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books!! Aren’t they just beyond fantastic?? I’m reading Breaking Dawn as I write this… well, I’m taking a quick break. Surprising, I know.
I have found many books intended for young adults to be quite captivating… and educational! I have read the entire series of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; the first one I read before giving it to my then-13-year old niece. I found a maturity of content that was surprising, but I think I understood some of the suggested situations better than she did — then. I also love the young adult fantasy: Eragon (because of the dragon), The Golden Compass et. al., and others my young nephew suggests. Of course there is the whole Harry Potter series. Reading their stuff keeps me in touch — and they think I am a really cooool aunt!
we will have to talk after you finish “breaking dawn.”
I agree with Barb the YA books I’ve read are excellent(The Golden Compass is wonderful) but Twilight is particularly good probably because of the whole swoon factor of Edward (although I do love Jacob to). Let us know what you think of Breaking Dawn.
I refuse to get entrapped into this series. lol It also helps that I’m not a “reader”.
I have not read the books . . . yet . . . but I’m taking “Twilight” with me to Switzerland tomorrow to read on the plane. My oldest daughter just got into the series and read all four books in like two weekends. She’s crazy!
My daughter has read them all. She finished the latest one on Sunday after buying it at target early Saturday morning. She plans a road trip to Forks with a friend here soon :0)
She describes them like chic flicks being a type of emotional addiction. She used a different word for addiction but I hesitate to type it in comments.
This author has really found a successful niche for sure!
I found you via Pioneer Woman and since we share the same very cool name i figured i would check out your site. I was so excited when i saw you had written about “Twilight”. My 12 yo daughter is reading it now. I just read/finished the 3rd book yesterday. I started Twilight last Monday and I can’t stop readiing them! I must hold out on the 4th as I am in the middle of a physics class and I have finals next week…but I can’t wait! i am glad I am not the only Robin obsessed! :O) Enjoy and thanks for sharing your voice!
I never thought I would like a vampire series, but the peer pressure on the blogosphere made me check it out. I am so glad that I did. I am waiting for my friend to finish her copy of Breaking Dawn. She is very close to being done. I am also waiting for the CD copy of The Host to listen to as I knit – must multi-task 😉
When I saw your Twitter this morning I did not realize that THIS was reason for no sleep. Yours is much better than mine. Happy reading!
You’ve convinced me. I’m going to buy them all for my kids (and me!) 🙂
Sounds like fun. We’re going to the beach next week, might be good for the trip.
okay, i don’t know you, but i just got done reading new moon…i am in love with these books….so much so that my husband made a comment to me about how much time i had spent reading them…..3 1/2 hours flew by! haha!!! she really did a wonderful job with these books..i can literally feel the emotion!
I spent the earlier part of my summer reading all three books prior to Breaking Dawn. They were addicting & I love the characters, and of course, the storyline!!!
I want to meet each and every character & am already making plans for the release of Twilight in theaters this December.
Now, we just received Breaking Dawn from Amazon and it arrived with a damaged binding, so we have to send it back, but that’s next on my list of books to read.
I just read Twilight, almost done with New Moon and then on to the others. I was very surprised, (pleasantly) how much I love these books! The depth that Meyers writes is at times gut wretching, I have felt my heart ache in ways that has surprised me. I never expected this in a “young adult” book series.
This book series has been all the talk recently on blogs AND even in Plurk. Everyone was talking about it – but never actually explaining what it was about. Thank You for letting me know. Not having any teen-ish youth in my house I was not in the know.
Yours is the second post I’ve read this week written by the mother of a teen, who has been swept away by these books. As a lover of all things vampire, I KNOW these are going on my list for sure!
I’m currently reading “The Hollows” series by Kim Harrison, and they are like the “grown up” version of Meyer’s books…you should look into them. 😉