Finally, the much anticipated book, the fourth in the “Twilight Saga”, Breaking Dawn, is out! It’s taken me about a week to read the entire book. I’d have to check to see just how much longer this book is than the other three in the Twilight Saga, but, one thing I know for sure is that this book was a whole lot heavier than the other ones, and didn’t fit into the bag I carry to and from work nearly as well as the others did. Now that I’m done reading, I’ve decided it was worth the extra effort required to lug this tome around with me.

If you are reading this review hoping to find some “spoilers”, well, then, you will be awfully disappointed. No spoilers here. I greatly enjoyed this series, (or “Saga” as I hear it being refered to as now), and part of that enjoyment came from the fun of not knowing what would happen next. I cannot, in good conscious, destroy that fun for another reader by giving away all the juicy details in a book review. You will just have to pick up a copy, and read it yourself. It’s worth it, I promise!

I will say a few things, though, that will cause no harm. First of all, it is absolutely imperative that you read Twilight, and then go read New Moon , and after that read Eclipse before you crack open Breaking Dawn. This is not a series you can read out of order, at all. Another thing worth mentioning is that although these four books all are part of one big story, and have the same characters in them, they are not all the same. Twilight is, among other things, a love story. New Moon felt like more of a drama to me. Eclipse reads like a thriller, but also has some components of drama and romance.

Breaking Dawn, however, is a book that I feel fits squarely into the Horror genre. True, there’s still a lot of romance, and other parts are full of anticipation, and action, but, this book kind of jumps the hazy line between “Teen/ Young Adult” books, and “Adult” Fiction. There is more blood and gore in this one than the other three combined, and there are many scenes that are incredibly intense and scary. From my viewpoint, as an adult who loves vampire books, and has been reading the work of Stephen King since I was nine, Breaking Dawn is awesome! On the other hand, this is not a book I would readily hand to a twelve year old. There are some concepts in this book that, in my opinion, might be too much for a twelve year old to deal with, especially a particularly innocent, or impressionable one. I’m not saying that only people of high school age or older should read it, just that parents need to know that this one is quite a bit darker than the rest of the books in the saga. Read it before you just hand it off to your kids, and decide for yourselves.

Here is what the author, Stephenie Meyer had to say about Breaking Dawn :

Fans of this Saga have been going nuts, waiting for this last book to come out, so they could find out how it all ends up. A quick browse through YouTube will show more videos of people’s experiences attending the Midnight Parties for Breaking Dawn than I would have expected. Most fans either dressed in costume for these parties, as their favorite character, or, decorated a T-Shirt to show the world what “team” they were on. “Team Edward” is the group that wanted Bella to end up with Edward, and those shirts were often black or white. “Team Jacob”, (vastly outnumbered by “Team Edward”), was the group who wanted Bella to end up with Jacob. There were a lot of creative designs and sayings displayed. (A few people from my store went with the slogan “Bite Me”). The excitement level at these Midnight Parties matched the excitement of the crowds at the Harry Potter Midnight Party last summer, which I didn’t think was possible.

I found a few of the more watch-able videos of these parties to share with my readers here, to give you a little view into what this was all about.

Team Jacob:

Team Edward:

Midnight Release Party Madness: (This store had a band play, and did a “Bella’s Prom” theme.)

Overall, I loved the “Twilight Saga”! This is one of the few “Teen/ Young Adult” books that will appeal to adults as well as teens. I would hesitate to hand this series to anyone younger than fourteen, but that’s just my own, personal, opinion. It’s been a week since the book came out, and every day, I go to work at the bookstore I am employed at, and find a few people who not only love the Twilight Saga, but who are super excited about finally being able to read Breaking Dawn. All of them want to gush over their favorite characters, and discuss what they hope will happen in this last book. Oh, and based on the popularity of this series, we can be sure to see a lot of vampires and werewolves running around on Halloween this year. I may even dress up as one of the characters myself. Few series are as capativating as the Twilight Saga is, and I am so glad I decided to go ahead and “try” this “teen vampire book”.

This is the third book in the incredibly popular Twilight Series. Before you start reading this book, I highly recommend that you go back and start from the beginning. Immerse yourself in Twilight, angst your way through New Moon. Only then will you be able to fully appreciate Eclipse, the third book in a four book series.

Where to begin in describing a book that has so much? How about this video of Meyer talking about the books, which was released right around when Eclipse came out :

Most of the adults who were reading this series at the same time I was told me that they felt that Eclipse was the best book in the series. They amended that statement with the phrase: “so far”, already anticipating that the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, would just blow everything else right out of the water. Now that I have read Eclipse, I have to agree with them. This book, as the author says in the video, takes place in a short span of time, but is just packed full of action, and suspense, anticipation, and mixed emotions. I started to hope that there would, someday, be a movie made based on this book.

It has taken me a little while to be able to write this review, because I could not figure out how to write it without giving out too many “spoilers”. The last thing I would want to do is ruin a book this wonderful, for readers who have not read this far. It just wouldn’t be fair, or right, in my opinion. I finally decided to not list any of the plot at all, and instead give my own personal impressions of the book.

This series has an amazingly high number of “superfans”. I have met quite a few at the bookstore I work at, in the past few weeks, as we were building up to the release of Breaking Dawn. It is important to me to encourage literacy, and what better way to do that then to suggest a book this good to a teen that is just starting to find reading fun? So, out of respect for the superfans, who seem to find everything on the internet that has anything at all to do with the Twilight Series eons before I can find it, I will not give any “spoilers” in this review.

One thing that is no surprise at this point in the series is the existence of a love triangle (of sorts) between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. From the very first book, Edward and Bella are clearly head over heals in love with each other, and most definately an established couple. But then, in the second book, Bella starts to become close to Jacob, while Edward is gone. By the end of that book, readers can see that Jacob loves Bella, and that Bella has very strong feelings for Jacob. Are those feelings love? Jacob seems to think so, but Bella is oblivious to this possibility. In fact, for the most part, she is in denial that Jacob likes her “as more than a friend”, to use a very teenage phrase.

Here is where the battle begins, as Edward and Jacob “fight” for Bella’s love. I liked how Meyer had one of them appearing to come out on top in one minute, only to have that suddenly go the other way, all too quickly. Neither one intends to get into a “fight to the death”, (because killing their rival would ultimately hurt Bella). Instead, each guy announces that he will not be “fighting fair”, and both proceed to win Bella’s heart.

I am impressed by how polarized fans are when it comes to the following question : “Who do you think Bella should end up with, Edward, or Jacob?” Despite my expectations, (and my jaded view of romance novels, in general), I found myself not only choosing a side, but cheering for one character over the other. What can I say? Meyer is a great writer. Her books sucked me in, (pun not intended in reference to this series about vampires).

In the video above Meyer mentions that the overwhelming majority of readers want to see Bella end up with Edward. In my own investigations, which I conducted by cornering people who walked through my bookstore with a copy of Eclipse in their hand, and asking them tons of questions, it was clear that most readers prefer Edward. They don’t just like Edward better, they feel very strongly about him, and cannot be swayed in their viewpoint. Same with the few people who wanted to see Bella end up with Jacob. Neither side is going to change their mind, and each is happy to try and talk people who are “undecided” into “voting” their way. With any luck, this enthusiasm will spill over into the election process, when the majority of the readers get a little older, and can vote for president. That would be something!

So, Edward is who the majority want to see “win”. Why? Lots of reasons. The biggest reason seems to be that Edward loves Bella, and has eyes only for her. Bella also loves Edward, so much that I, personally, find it unhealthy. (Bella may be codependant, in my opinion, at least when it comes to Edward). In any case, the two spend lots of time together, and say “I love you” all the time. Add to this how many times Edward saved Bella’s life, (and ignore how often that Bella was in danger because of Edward), and he looks even better. It also doesn’t hurt that Edward is absolutely gorgous, which gives Bella “butterflies” all the time, and the chemistry between the two of them is just fantastic. Edward is the dictionary definition of the perfect boyfriend, if you are between the ages of twelve and seventeen.

Fans of Jacob have just as many reasons, but they are different. From my own informal investigating, it seems that it’s the adult readers who strongly prefer Jacob. Why? In a lot of ways, Jacob is good for Bella. He is much better than Edward could ever be. Jacob was there for her when she was falling apart, because Edward dumped her. He’s a great friend, and Bella is actually really happy when she spends time with Jacob. The two have intense feelings for each other, which Bella defines as “best friend”, and Jacob defines as “love”. He saves Bella’s life, (but isn’t the cause behind why Bella needed saving). The two of them start… let’s say a hobby… together, and have a great time. It also doesn’t hurt that Jacob is stunningly handsome, but in a completely different way than Edward. Jacob is the dictionary definition of the perfect boyfriend if you are over the age of twenty five or so.

In short, adult readers are mature enough to see what the teens aren’t seeing. Adults see Edward’s overprotectiveness of Bella as “he’s a control freak”, while the teens see it as “he really loves her”. Adults see how much Bella will lose if she ends up sticking with her decision to become a vampire, despite the threats she faces if she stays human. Teens seem to see the threats against Bella’s life as bigger than what she will have to give up. I also think that adults are noticing that the relationships (or marriages) that work out the best are the ones between two people who are best friends. Most teens haven’t had enough life experience to realize that the chemistry doesn’t stay that hot forever and ever. It’s been an interesting little sociological experiment for me to find out which character people favored, and the reasons behind them. I don’t think a person can read this far into the series without having a favorite. I started prefering Bella with Jacob as I was reading New Moon, and stuck to my choice all the way through Eclipse. Certainly, there were other readers, the majority of readers, in fact, who prefered Bella with Edward the whole way through.

In addition to the whole love triangle, readers get detailed information about the background of many of the other characters, and it’s all fascinating. There is a build up to a dramatic and tense fight scene, (which entwines with the “battle for Bella’s heart”), that made me reluctant to put the book down and be interrupted by things like the end of my break time at work, or the lateness of the hour before I went to sleep for the night. Readers will get an insight into what it really is like to be a newborn vampire, at the same time Bella learns these things, which is exciting. Will she change her mind about becoming a vampire? Or will she stick with her original intent? This was a very quick read, despite how fat the book is. It’s just packed full of stuff, but I still found it incredibly easy to “digest” all the new information. The moment I read the last sentence on the last page, I found myself hungry for the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn. I am completely impressed with the Twilight Series, and Meyer’s ability as a writer.

New Moon is the second book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series. You absolutely have to read Twilight before you begin reading New Moon, or you are going to get a bit lost, and you will miss out on why certain things that happen are so incredibly important. New Moon is a good book, but it simply does not stand alone. (Click here to read my review of Twilight. )

There is no choice but to read the Twilight Series in order. In my experience working as someone who sells books all day, I have found that for the most part, series that require readers to read them in order don’t sell as well as the ones that allow you to jump around. There is the risk that readers will finish one book, and need the next one, but not be able to find it at their local bookstores, and so, will drop the entire series in frustration. What is saving the Twilight Series is the incredible fan base that has amassed around it. Perhaps it is “the next Harry Potter” after all?

Some of what I am about to write may be considered a “spoiler”, so, if you are one of those fans who has not read New Moon yet, and desperately wants to shield yourself from any and all mentions of what happens in this book, then… proceed with caution. Fear not, however, I won’t give away the best stuff.

When I think of the book New Moon, in my head, it’s really called “Bella goes Emo”. As I was reading this book, I found that there were a lot of other adults who, to my complete surprise, were not only reading this series, but loving it as much as I was. And, for the vast majority of them, New Moon was their least favorite of the three. The adults had not been teenagers for many years, and so, just couldn’t relate to how Bella reacts to the stressful event that takes place at the beginning of the book. (more on that later). Their main reaction was : “Oh, Please! Get over it, already!” I didn’t have quite the same response, because, for whatever reason, I can think of events in my own life where I reacted in the same overly dramatic way that Bella is doing. I realize that I am in the minority on this view, at least when it comes to readers who are over age… twenty five, or so.

For the most part, New Moon seems to have an “expiration date”, much like the book The Catcher In the Rye does. Read The Catcher In The Rye when you are in high school, and you think Holden Caufield is a genius, and can’t believe that right here in print, is a person who “gets” you, (even if his slang is archaic). Read that same book when you are in college, or older, and you fight the urge to just smack Holden upside the head, he’s so damned annoying! In New Moon, most adult readers just want to grab Bella, and shake her, and scream “Just snap out of it already!” I think teen readers, however, will find a kindred soul in what Bella is thinking.

Why does Bella go “emo”? Lots of reasons, actually. She has a birthday, and is now eighteen years old. This makes her “older” than Edward, (who stays seventeen forever), and starts Bella having nightmares of someday looking like Edward’s Grandmother, instead of his girlfriend. Bella become determined that she will become a vampire, but, Edward is not sure this is the best choice, and is making Bella wait before she is changed into one. The two lovers want to spend the rest of their lives together, but there is much tension, arguments, and negotiation about when Bella can become a vampire. She wants to do it right now. Edward doesn’t want her to lose out on “human experiences”, and is putting things off. Later on, you find the deeper reason why Edward is so hesitant.

So, at the beginning of the book, the irrepressible Alice, who is not only Edward’s “sister”, but also now Bella’s closest female friend, throws Bella a birthday party. This is despite Bella’s protests, because she doesn’t want to celebrate being older, and also is uncomfortable being the center of attention. The party is held at Edward’s house, and his entire vampire family are in attendance, giving presents. Tragedy strikes when Bella, klutz that she is, accidently gives herself a paper cut while opening a gift. This one small drop of blood throws one of Edward’s siblings into a frenzy. Bella nearly gets attacked and eaten by a vampire, more blood spills as she falls over the table, bad things happen.

What becomes crystal clear is that there is danger in being the only human around all these vampires, despite everyone’s good intentions. Without going into too many details… let’s just say that in one dramatic and devastating conversation… Edward leaves Bella. He doesn’t do much explaining about his reasons, and Bella thinks the worst. She believes he doesn’t love her after all, and basically curls up into a ball, and becomes nearly catatonic for about three months. Yeah, three months of Bella just going through the motions, but not really living, convinced that her life really is over.

Meyer, fortunately, spares the readers three months of this new moody, emo, Bella, and instead gives us three blank chapters in between when she freaks out, and when she starts to come back. Not expecting this, I was convinced I had picked up a damaged copy of New Moon. I even went to the bookstore I work at, and flipped through several other copies of the book, both in paperback and hard cover, trying to figure that out. All of the copies had the same three blank chapters, which should have clued me in that the book was supposed to be printed that way. However, it took me asking several other book sellers who had already read the book to convince me that yes, all copies should have three blank chapters. I found this to be confusing and frustrating, because I spent all this time trying to figure out what was wrong with my copy of New Moon, when all I wanted to do was sit down and read what happened next.

It’s hard to explain how devastated Bella is by Edward leaving her. This fan video does a pretty good job of setting the mood. It shows the actor that will be playing Jacob in the Twilight movie.

Eventually, Bella’s dad, Charlie, is beyond frustrated with Bella, who won’t snap out of it. He starts hating Edward. He threatens to send Bella back to live with her mother, not knowing what else to do, unless she starts hanging out with her school friends again, and, well, basically gets a life. He suggests she go see Jacob, knowing that the two are good friends. Bella agrees, but only because she is holding on to a tiny little hope that someday, Edward will come back to her. If she moves away, will he be able to find her? So, Bella fakes it for a while, and appeases her father.

This is where Bella starts going crazy. She finds, quite by accident, that when she does something dangerous, she can hear Edward’s voice in her head. She starts doing crazier and crazier things, just to hear that voice, even though later on, it makes her feel so much pain. Most of this book, Bella is both figuratively and literally “holding herself together”. One day, Bella comes across some free motorcycles, and she decides to bring them to Jacob, who she knows can fix them up and also teach her to ride.

She and Jacob spend nearly all their time together, becoming closer and closer. It’s clear that Jacob likes Bella as “more than a friend”, but Bella just isn’t over Edward yet. Jacob knows this, and is patiently waiting, being everything Bella needs right now. She finds herself becoming happy again, when she is around Jacob, and thinks of him as her own, personal, “sun”. They seem to be on the path to romance, eventually. It was at this point in the series that I started to like Jacob with Bella better than Edward with Bella. Jacob is warm, and happy, truly does want the best for Bella, and, now that he has hit this amazing growth spirt, is also a very strikingly handsome guy. What’s not to like?

Of course, this is when tragedy strikes, once again. Bella does something incredibly stupid, that should have gotten her killed, because she’s still broken, and somewhat suicidal, without Edward. This time, Jacob becomes her Knight in Shining Armor, and saves her life. Considering that Bella first fell for Edward when he saved her life, this should be enough for Bella to finally fall for Jacob. It might have worked if the vampires didn’t decide to come back, at that moment.

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! What happens is that Alice, who sees the future, has a vision of Bella nearly dying, but doesn’t see the result of that action. Why not? Because Jacob saved her, and, it turns out Jacob is a Werewolf, and Alice can’t “see” anything that has to do with the werewolves. Remember that tribal story Jacob told Bella in the first book? This is what it all meant. There is a whole pack of werewolves in his tribe, and, of course, werewolves and vampires are enemies, so… more tension to come. Meyer gives the reader lots of back story on all of that, and it’s fascinating.

So, Alice “sees” Bella nearly die, and nothing more, and this leads Edward to believe that Bella is, in fact, dead. In true overly dramatic emo-teen fashion, Edward has run off to Italy to provoke the group of the oldest and and most powerful vampires in existance, in the hopes that they will kill him. He doesn’t want to exist in a world if Bella is not there. It’s Romeo and Juliet for the modern age, um, if Romeo was a vampire.

Bella immediately drops Jacob, and rushes off with Alice, in the hopes of saving Edward. She breaks Jacob’s heart in the process, and I think that sucks. What follows is a really high speed and intense chase, followed by a very suspenseful outcome. Does Bella get there in time to save Edward? You have to read the book to find out. (However, unless you are living under a rock, you already know that two more books follow this one… so there’s a clue). By the end, Bella is in more danger than she started out the book in, which can only lead to more problems in the next book.

New Moon is not my favorite book in the Twilight Series, but I did enjoy it enough to want to get a copy of the next book, Eclipse. Despite the heaping pile of teenage angst, I really want to find out who Bella ends up with. Does she stick with Edward, her first love, despite the constant drama? Or go with Jacob, who makes her happy and makes life easier, but whom she doesn’t love the way she loves Edward? I know who I want her to pick.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard some of the hype about the Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer. There is talk of this series being “the next Harry Potter”, believe it or not. There are even midnight parties set to happen in just a few days time, at bookstores across the country, to celebrate the release of the fourth, and final, book in the series.

It’s not too surprising that there is a movie about the first book, Twilight, coming in December of this year. Type “Twilight” into YouTube, and you can watch trailers for the movie, and dozens of handmade fan videos, celebrating everything from the choice of cast, to the love between Edward and Bella, to just plain excitement about the series itself. Here are a few examples:

This is an official trailer:

Here is one of the less “OMG! OMG! OMG!” style videos of the cast:

And there are more videos than I can stand to look at that are lovely photos of Bella and Edward, looking all dreamy, while insipid music plays. You’re on your own searching those out on YouTube, because I find myself getting nauseous after viewing more than a couple of them. Most are sickly sweet, and overly emotional, and all that is teenage passion and idealism. Bleah!

From all of this, you can gather that the Twilight Series is, in fact, a huge deal right now. But is this book any good? I decided to jump in with both feet, read the book myself, and see if the writing lived up to the hype. Here are my discoveries, insights, and opinions about this super popular book.

In short, Twilight is a romance/horror/suspense book that can be found in the “Teen”, or “Young Adult” section of bookstores everywhere. Many books aimed at teens are a mixture of genres, and this one is no exception. I knew before I picked up the book that somewhere, somehow, there would be vampires involved, and my hope was that this fact alone would make the book interesting enough for me to read the whole thing, even if I hated it. I’m thirty-five, and I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to relate to a Teen “Romance” book. I don’t even read much regular Romance, and when I do, I’m usually greatly disappointed. It’s just not my thing at all.

When I first picked it up, I didn’t know of anyone who was reading this book who wasn’t (A) a teenager, or (B) the parent of a teenager, who got talked into reading it because their teenager loved the book so much, or (C) someone who works with or teaches teens. I am none of the above. Who else was reading Twilight? People who work at bookstores. I now had a handy excuse, in case the book sucked. “Oh, this? Yeah, I have to read it, for work.”

Bella is a seventeen year old girl, who moves from living with her mom, (someplace sunny, I forget exactly where. California?) to living with her dad in… Washington, I believe, where it’s cold and rainy, and sometimes snowy, much to Bella’s disapointment. Her dad, Charlie, is the police chief in the small town of Forks, where everyone knows everyone else. Bella becomes something like a minor celebrity when she starts her new school, and lots of boys have obvious crushes on her, but Bella isn’t the least bit interested.

Sitting away from all the other students in the lunch room are a small group of beautiful people. Amazingly, they are not the popular crowd. Quite the opposite, actually. These are the adopted children of the doctor in town, and most of the teens see them as just plain strange, and want nothing to do with them. Among this group is Edward, a boy with a beautiful face, golden eyes, and a crooked smile. Bella becomes instantly fascinated with him.

Then, of course, is the whole “does he like me, or does he hate me, or what?” scenario, as Edward runs hot and cold. Some days he glares at her, and refuses to talk to her, and other days he smiles and is friendly. But mostly, Edward is a mystery, and what could be more intriguing than that? He doesn’t seem to eat anything. He is absent from school on sunny days. His hands are always cold. Even readers who have managed to shield themselves from all information about this series will figure out pretty quickly that Edward, (and his “siblings”) are vampires. It takes Bella a pretty long time to piece it all together, however.

Bella has a friend that she knew before she moved to Forks, who goes to a different school. Jacob lives with his father, Billy, on the nearby Native American Reservation. Bella’s dad and Jacob’s dad have been friends forever, and Jacob and Bella have spent lots of time hanging out when they were little kids. For this book, Jacob is mostly a minor character, who relays some tribal stories that he only half believes in. (Jacob doesn’t really come into the story until the second book in the series). Later on, this particular conversation between Bella and Jacob turns out to hold more meaning than it seemed.

Ok.. so… eventually, Edward and Bella start talking. Then one day, he invites her to sit with him, just him, at lunch, and Bella does. The two quickly become enamored with each other, in the intense and amazingly fast way that high school aged people do. After Edward saves Bella’s life from a… let’s say “traffic accident”, Edward confirms that yes, he is a vampire, and Bella decides this does not scare her, which scares Edward. In a lot of ways, the emotions these two feel are exactly what most people feel when they date their first “real” boyfriend/ girlfriend. I was impressed how well Meyer captured the essence of what it is like to be that young.

The difference is that with these two young lovers, when Edward says it may be “too dangerous” for Bella to be around him, he’s not exaggerating. The scent of Bella’s blood intoxicates Edward, so much that he is terrified that he will lose control, and, well… kill her and drink her blood. Even Edward’s “sister”, Alice (who is a fascinating, quirky, pint sized vampire), notes how great Bella smells. Big foreshadowing, here, of danger to come.

Meyer has created the perfect boyfriend in Edward. Here is an impossibly beautiful boy, who only has eyes for one girl, and is hopelessly devoted. He is a knight in shining armor, who actually can and will save your life from certain doom. He is patient, and a perfect gentleman, who never goes farther than kissing with closed lips (for fear of accidently turning Bella into a vampire). By the end of the book, I wanted an Edward. Teenage girls everywhere will just adore him, of this I am certain.

The main problem these two star crossed lovers have is that Edward is a vampire, (and so is the rest of his family), and Bella is not. This is a new twist on dating “the boy from the wrong side of the tracks”. Humans are not allowed to know that vampires exist, and this forces Bella to keep a big, fat, secret from her parents, her school friends, and her good friend, Jacob. Bella wants to become a vampire herself, but Edward refuses to allow this. Tension, tension, dramarama… but in a good way.

One quick note about the vampires in this book. Yes, they drink blood. But, it doesn’t have to be human blood. They are faster than humans, and some of them have special powers, not shared by all vampires. Religion and crosses are not really a factor in this book. What about the sun? Meyer has created the absolute best interpretation of the reason why vampires stay out of the sun that I have ever seen. No other book includes this particular factor. You will just have to read it to see what happens. (Or, wait until December when the movie is supposed to come out).

The book ends with a chase scene. Bella is in danger, from vampires, but not Edward or his family. I found myself taking a few extra minutes of break time at work, and staying up for just one more chapter before I went to sleep at night, to find out just how this all got resolved. Even if you simply cannot stand anything resembling a romance novel, you will love the ending. Tons of action, very suspenseful, and all the loose ends are tied up when the book closes.

So, to my great surprise, I found that I enjoyed Twilight much more than I ever though possible. Meyer is a fantastic writer. I could see the scenes she described, and the faces of her diverse characters, without feeling slowed down by too much description. She captures exactly what it is to be teenage, and involved with a first love, and also the “no, you can’t date that boy, (and now you want him more)” concept. Very real characters, and a plot where the reader is mostly blind-sided by what comes next.

I rushed to get my hands on the second book in the series, New Moon, to find out what happened after the first book was over. But, that’s a review for another day.

This may not be “the next Harry Potter”, because I don’t see the Twilight Series appealing to young children like the Harry Potter books do. However, I do feel that a ten year old could read Twilight without too many problems. There is no sexuality, other than some sweet and tame kisses. There is some violence, but no worse than some of what happens in the later books in the Harry Potter Series. I will be interested to see how long the books stay popular, after the movie comes out, and after we all read the fourth book, and find out the ending.

Did you love the story in the book Dracula by Bram Stroker? (Click here to read my review of that book.). Did you also enjoy the style of the book The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova? (Read my review of that book here.) If so, then Hambly’s book is your next read.

Readers who are familiar with the story line and characters in Stoker’s book, will have no trouble falling right into Hambly’s book. Much of the action that takes place in Dracula happens in this book too, but, from the point of view of the character Renfield, (who is Dracula’s slave in both books). Renfield is “connected” to Dracula, and also to his three wives, and as a result, is able to “watch” the events that are going on that involved the other characters, despite the fact that he, himself, is locked in a mental hospital for a big chunk of the book. It was a nice treat to “visit with” many of the characters from Stoker’s book, once again, and the viewpoint from inside Renfield’s head was an interesting twist.

Hambly includes some passages from Stoker’s book, mostly in the form of letters or journal entries that were written by one of the main characters. The inclusion of letters and journals was something that was done very well in Kostova’s book, so, if you enjoy that form of narrative, you can get a little of that here.

I would strongly advise reading Stoker’s book before you try reading Hambly’s, so you have a good idea of who all the characters are before you jump into this book. Also, it’s more fun if you know the original story, so you can see where Hambly played around with it, in my opinion. If you happen to like stories about vampires, this book will interest you. I found Hambly’s book to be easier to read than Stoker’s was, in part because I already knew the characters and had a good guess about many of the events that were going to take place. Hambly’s book is more recent, so, you don’t end up reading confusing chapters about a ship trying to navigate a storm told by three or more minor characters, all of whom are speaking with a different accent and using different slang, (which you do find in Stoker’s book). This book ends in a completely different way than Dracula does, as Renfield attempts to gain his freedom. Dracula fans will love this book.

I found this book in the Romance section, but decided to not hold that classification against it, and read it despite it being from my least favorite genre. I generally enjoy books that include characters who are vampires, and this one promised to include a vampire, so, I gave it a chance. Overall, I am glad that I picked this one up. I found parts of this book to be hysterically funny, and I liked the overall story line, despite it being the typical “girl meets guy, girl hates guy, girl falls in love with guy anyway” romance novel concept. MacAlister’s wonderful, dark, sarcastic, sense of humor made this book entertaining for me.

I thought when I first picked up the book that the main character would be a vampire. Instead, Allie Telford is a Summoner. The company she works for has sent her to London to hopefully go find some proof that ghosts exist. Any ghost will do, as it seem that Allie is about to lose her job due to the fact that so far, she hasn’t summoned even one ghost to work with. She’s smart, and jaded, (due to her past with an abusive husband), and, what with her psychic powers and her mismatched, freaky looking eyes, I found her to be very interesting.

Her best friend, who didn’t come with her on this trip, made her promise to go to a book signing that would take place in London while she is there. Allie has no interest in these vampire romance books, and knows nothing about them or the writer, (named Christian Dante, of all things!), but, for her friend, she reluctantly decides to go. The night before she gets there, she has this bizarre experience while investigation a haunted house, where she meets what what she is certain is the ghost of a man who is in pain. What really is going on is much more confusing that she first suspects. The man turns out to be the writer her friend was so interested in. And then things get really weird.

Turns out, he’s a vampire, (but prefers to be referred to as a “Dark One”), and he is convinced that Allie is his Beloved. Allie, of course, needs lots of convincing, especially since she finds him equally arrogant and attractive. So, part of this book is the simple story line of how these two unlikely partners fall in love. Only, it gets a bit more flavor than usual, because he’s a vampire and she’s a summoner. There are some love scenes, some of which are laced with humor as the two argue back and forth, and all of which are “romantic” without crossing the line into porn. Some parts of those scenes were just to saccharine for my tastes. This is why I don’t generally enjoy reading romance novels!

What really made me decide to finish reading this story is the wicked sense of humor that Allie has, and the odd little things that pop up. She manages to summon a ghost, but, it’s the ghost of a three legged cat, and it won’t sit still and let her gather data. All of the ghosts she interacts with are quirky, and full of very distinctive personalities. They provide comic relief in what could have turned out to be a much darker story without their distractions. What until you read what happens when she tries to summon a demon! You will never guess the form this demon decides to take, and the explanation of why that form was selected will make you laugh.

A big part of this book is about trust. Does Allie trust Christian enough to fall in love? Is Christian sure she is really his “Beloved”? What exactly does that mean, anyway? (Turns out there are specific steps to becoming a Dark One’s Beloved, and not just any woman will do). The two do team up to find out what is going on with a new psychic group that is fishing around for more recruits, and in doing so get involved in a huge mess that includes hell, mind control, and true love. If you enjoy the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, you might just want to give this book a read!

If the Lifetime Channel made a vampire movie, this is the book it would have to be based on. The book actually has the label “Romance” printed on the spine, which should have been a clue for me, had I noticed it before I was halfway through the story. Romance is not my genre of choice. But hey, I like vampires, so I gave it a shot anyway.

The first part of this book was confusing enough that I thought perhaps I had accidentally picked up a book that belonged in the middle of a series. Ashley introduces several characters almost simultaneously, and has many of them remembering a very important event that happened…. sometime before this story began. Was I supposed to already know about that part? I wasn’t sure. It didn’t help that characters in this book are sometimes referred to by their first name, and sometimes by their last name, but rarely by both. It took a while for me to piece together just what was going on, and who was involved. If you keep reading long enough to unscramble this first part, it gets easier to follow.

Edward Ramsey is a vampire hunter, who comes from a long, long, line of vampire hunters. He sort of inherited the family business. Until one day, when he is trying to kill off a very powerful vampire, things go horribly wrong. Marisa, the girl Edward is in love with, urges her husband Grigori Chiavari to save Edwards life. He does so by turning Edward Ramsey into a vampire, which he can do, because he is a vampire himself.

So, Edward has become the thing he hates the most, and he spends a lot of time depressed. He yells at Chiavari a lot, about how Chiavari should have just let him die instead. He craves blood, but at the same time, can’t drink it without feeling really guilty. He makes a half-assed suicide attempt, but then crawls out of the sun and into a basement, where he stays in the dark for a while.

Edward is very, very “emo”.

One day, Edward finds Kelly, as she throws herself off a pier. They have that whole “I want to die” thing in common. Edward takes Kelly home, and basically holds her prisoner there for a while, drinking her blood. She gets away, but then returns to Edward, because she’s in love with him. Stockholm syndrome, anyone? So, Kelly moves in with Edward, and they start a relationship. Right away, Kelly wants Edward to make her into a vampire too, so they can spend forever and ever together.

Kelly is very, very, codependent.

Then you have Marisa and her vampire husband, Grigori Chiavari. Marisa can’t quite decide if she wants to eventually become a vampire or not, mostly because it means she won’t be able to have kids. Chiavari spends part of the book super concerned that Marisa and Edward have feelings for each other, and that Edward will make a play for Marisa if given the chance. Their marriage has trust issues.

Then this super powerful vampire named Khira comes to town, (Los Angeles), and she starts by kicking out or killing off most of the vampires who “live” there. Khira is violent, narcissistic, and gets off on being the most powerful. She and Chiavari used to be lovers, and now that Chiavari is married, Khira of course wants him back again. Demands it, in fact, and threatens to do bad things to Marisa if Chiavari doesn’t agree to spend a year with Khira. Oh, and he can’t communicate with Marisa the whole time. Chiavari, being a wonderfully devoted husband, unhesitatingly goes right back to Khira, telling Marisa that he doesn’t want to, but its for her protection. Marisa is left alone, lonely, scared, and wondering just what Chiavari really feels about his former lover. Chiavari then asks Edward to “watch” Marisa in his absence. Edward, who he so recently was nervous about even talking with Marisa. Its a fresh batch of trouble cooking up, but its not quite out of the oven yet.

Through the entire book, no one ever swears. They “utter and oath”. Over and over again. There are some “sex scenes”, but they leave most things to the imagination. Its the kind of book where two characters kiss, and then later one wakes up in the other’s bed and gathers up discarded clothing. You could easily throw commercial breaks right in between!

Anyhow, towards the end, a whole bunch of characters band together and decide that Khira has to be stopped. It all happens pretty quickly, and I won’t give away here exactly what goes down. I will say that you can probably guess how it ends, just like all the movies on the Lifetime Channel.

If you kind of like vampire stories, but really, really enjoy romantic stories involving psychologically damaged characters, then this is the book for you! It was kind of a fun read, even though its not usually what I look for.

This book was a challenging read. It took a whole lot longer to finish reading than I ever expected it would. Parts of this book were so good that I was willing to overlook the parts that were boring, or confusing. I would not recommend attempting to read this book while on your break at work, while talking to coworkers, (which is what I did, in part). It requires way more concentration than that.

I knew from the moment I picked up The Historian that it was basically a vampire story. From there, the plot gets complicated. The main character is a woman, who I think is named Helen,(but Im not really sure), after her mother, who is dead. She starts out with a note to the readers, basically telling us she never intended to tell her story, but decided to now. The next page jumps back in time to when “Helen” was sixteen. She finds a note addressed to her father many years ago, the begins with “My dear and unfortunate successor…”.

She of course, asks her father, Paul, about this letter. He tells her, reluctantly, in bits and pieces about its significance. So now, we are reading a story told by Paul to “Helen”, through the eyes of the 16 year old “Helen”. At the same time, Paul and “Helen” are traveling around the world, because Paul is some sort of diplomat, and he is working. So, right away, the story is jumping around from “Helen’s” past, (and her memory of her father telling these stories), to Paul’s past, (and his memory of what happened), and, in between, the…. present time…. of Helen and Paul traveling, and what they see, and eat, and where they visit, (which, we know from the first few pages of the story, is also in the past).

Confused yet? I was. I found myself having to flip back pages, and read some parts over again, trying to figure out who said what to who, and whose memory it all came from. I ended up needing to do this, again and again, for most of the book. Much of the book is presented in the form of letters that one character wrote to another, or pages from the historical documents and books the characters are studying. Some of it, at first, was interesting. It reminded me of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where much of the story was also in letters and diary entries. So I continued reading.

Paul tells about events from his college days, where he was working with an advisor named Rossi, who he was good friends with. One day, Paul finds this strange old book that has a dragon printed in the center of it, and blank pages. He brings it to Rossi, who freaks out, and shows Paul an identical book. This is the part where The Historian starts to mention Dracula. Rossi was, at one point, studying him. In this book, Dracula is tied to the legends and history of Vlad Tepes, also known as “Vlad the Impaler”, which is an interesting take.

Then, bad things start to happen. (Some of this may be a bit of a spoiler, so be warned before you read on.) Rossi’s disappears, and Paul takes up his notes and letters, trying to find him. He is joined by a woman named Helen, who claims to be Rossi’s daughter. She is from Romania, and has never met her father. The two are also in search of Dracula’s tomb, hoping to find Rossi there, and save him.

Sometime before Paul finished telling his story to “Helen”, he disappears. Well, he leaves a note behind, saying he was looking for “Helen’s” mother, who was said to be dead. Without permission, “Helen” tries to follow her father, taking with her a new friend named Barley. On the way, she reads a packet of letter’s and notes her father has left behind. So, again, we have layers of story going on. We have the “Helen” of the past, reading about Paul’s past, as if it were the present, and traveling by train, once again, in the “present”. To add to the confusion, these letters go into much more detail about the historical books that Helen and Paul find. There is an entire chapter that consists entirely of research about certain monks who traveled from one monastery to another, possibly with a relic. This, for me, was the most boring part of the book. I couldn’t understand, until after I had read the whole chapter, how that related to the main story. Also, there are a whole lot more characters added. By the end, the reader does get to meet Dracula, more than once, and finds the answers to all the mysteries that all the characters set out in search of finding answers to. It just takes a while to get there.

Now that I am finished reading, I’m not really sure what I think about this book. It’s long. Parts are really scary and action packed, but they are in between much longer parts of history and letters. It was confusing much of the time, as I struggled to keep track of which character was “speaking”, and which one wrote the letter being read, and where the reader of the letter was at in the world while reading it. This book has more layers than an onion! On the other hand, it was pieced together like a quilt. All the parts, no matter how disjointed they seemed at first, fit together beautifully by the end.

I think this book will appeal mostly to readers who enjoy a good mystery, and especially to readers who find research itself fascinating. (So much of this book described old libraries, and the books found within them). If you are looking for an action packed vampire story, this is not the book for you.

Oh, and it just came out in paperback recently. I would advise that you carry around the paperback while you are reading, instead of hauling around the much heavier hard cover, like I did!

Do yourself a favor, and just skip this series.

I read the first two books, and was largely unimpressed. (From the little bit of research I have done, it seems the the third book in the series does not yet exist. Who knows if it ever will?) This was a series aimed at Teens, which, I find can be hit or miss. Some teen books are wonderful. Some, like these, are not so well written. It seemed to be about vampires, and so, it got my attention. I gave it a shot.

The first book in the series is called Bloodlust. Jason a high-school senior, and his sister, who might be a sophomore, just moved to California with their mom and dad. They move into a very exclusive, very rich, gated community, (an opportunity they have thanks to the connections from their Aunt).

Part of the book is about Jason noticing the differences between California and Michigan, where they came from. I only found that interesting because I just moved to California from the Midwest, and noticed some of the same things that the main character did. But, would anyone who has always lived in California find this interesting? Would someone who never lived in, or visited, California relate to this? I doubt it.

There used to be a popular tv show called “Beverly Hills 90210″. Ever seen it? I think Alex Duval has seen the show, because the basic story line is similar. Kid from Midwest moves to rich California area, and adjusts. This is not a new idea. Duval might have also watched the currently popular teen series “The OC”, because he gives Jason a offbeat geeky sidekick named Adam, who is not a part of the In Crowd, to hang around with, (only Adam is a film geek, whereas Seth in the OC is a comic book geek).

I had two major problems with this book. First of all, you know from just glancing at the cover that there are vampires involved somewhere in this book. Its a given. But, instead of going with that, Duval takes us slowly through the book as Adam and Jason go from noticing that something is odd with the popular kids, to finally figuring out that they are vampires. What was the point of dragging that out?

I had another problem with this book. Early on, Jason goes to a big party, and there is a lot of underage drinking going on. Not a big surprise, we all know that this goes on, so, I’m not faulting the author by showing some of that. At the first party, Jason doesn’t drink. He is on the swim team, and is trying to stay healthy, so he doesn’t have an interest in drinking. He also thinks that some of the way the other kids are acting when they drink is pretty stupid, and doesn’t want to be like that.

I thought it was kind of cool of Duval to introduce a main character who wasn’t a drinker, without doing it in an “After School Special” kind of way. He’s not drinking because he is an athlete. But then, at the second party, Jason gets upset because he’s not getting the attention he wants from the popular girl he has a crush on, and so, immediately starts drinking. After that, Jason drinks at every party, but doesn’t get out of hand with it or anything, as if that somehow makes him just as responsible as he was before. How disappointing.

I read the second book in the series, called Initiation, hoping it would be a better book. It wasn’t.

Duval seemed to be stuck on the word “ass” in this book. Characters are always calling each other an “ass”. In one case, the word “asshat” is used. They worry about “looking like an ass”, and warn each other not to “act like an ass”. The word “asinine” appears once, just for some variety, I guess. I am someone who uses swear words on a daily basis, and even to me, the swearing seemed excessive. Especially when you consider that this book is aimed at teens, and, since most of the characters are high schoolers, it means that in reality the eleven and twelve year olds are the ones who will pick up this book to read. Did you really need that word, and all its varieties, that many times?

Part of this story involves a friend of Jason’s from Michigan, Tyler, who just spontaneously decides to visit him in California. Duval attempts a story line directly from an “After School Special” with this book, giving Tyler a drug problem. Tyler is addicted to Ritalin, a prescription drug that Tyler has not been prescribed, and has run into trouble back in Michigan because he owes his dealer a bunch of money. Duval might have been going for the trite “drugs are bad” story line, but if so, fails miserably. He still has teens drinking at parties, which none of the characters see as either “bad” or in any way related to being addicted to drugs. I don’t like the mixed message it sends to the young readers the book is marketed to.

Neither one of these books had much to do with the vampires in the story. You know they are there, you know who they are, but that’s all you get. Both books involve Jason trying to stop a vampire from killing people, but not even in a cool “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” kind of way.

Like I said, save yourself the bother, and skip this series. I wish I did.

I know, because I work in a bookstore, that there were people who were extremely excited to get their hands on a copy of this book. But, was the book really something to get excited about? I decided to find out.

From the title alone, I already knew that this was book was likely to fall into the Romance genre, which is my least favorite category of books. I read the back cover, and found out that this book is made up of four short stories, by four different authors, which made it a bit more interesting. There were a lot of pages here, and I figured that since it was split into four different stories, maybe I could manage to read it. After all, if I didn’t like one story, there were three more to try! Two things made me decide I would read this book. One, it sounded like there would be at least one vampire in it, and hinted at demons and werewolves as well. That’s usually a good thing. Two, I got it for free, because I work at a bookstore. Can’t go wrong there!

By the time I was done, I got about what I expected. I asked someone I work with who also has read this book what she thought of it. She summed it up quite nicely. “Eh.”

The first story is by Kim Harrison, and is called “Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil”. I had high hopes for this one, thinking it would be something like the book by a similar name. I ended up liking this story the best out of the four. Ivy is a vampire, but a “living” vampire. She works in a CSI type place, that is run by vampires who aren’t alive anymore. Her boss is attractive, but is hitting on her, and so, she’s not interested. She knows he only wants her for her blood. The Vampire boss isn’t allowed to just take it though, without her permission, so he tries to change her mind. There are some pretty well written scenes of the two of them trying to tease the other one into giving in first. The best part of the story is the “universe” it is set in. It had witches, banshees, werewolves, and a whole hierarchy of vampires. I would like to have read more about all of that.

The second story was by Lynsay Sands, and is called “The Claire Switch Project”. Claire works in a lab with two guys she has known since high school. One has asked her out, but she declined. The other one is the twin brother of her best friend, and she is damned near in love with him. The three are working on zapping animals with some kind of laser, to make them be able to change their appearance like chameleons. Its pretty obvious where this is going. Some of it might have been a little funny, if it wasn’t so telegraphed before hand. No surprises here. I almost quit reading this story when Claire and her best friend are talking about a glamorous, sexy, popular, actor, who is in all the movies, who Sands named “Brad Cruise”! C’mon!

Kelley Armstrong wrote the third story, called “Chaotic”. Hope is a half demon who is working by day for a tabloid, and by night as a spy of sorts for some secret group. She goes on a blind date with this guy her mom set her up with to a museum for a benefit. Within seconds, its clear that two things are going on here. One, the blind date guy is boring. Two, there is someone trying to steal jewels from the museum, which Claire finds out about because she’s a half-demon who can sense chaos. The story takes some interesting twists and turns. There are a few sex scenes in the story, which seemed kind of thrown into the story, and not really essential. I would have liked to know more about the half-demons and all their weird powers instead.

The last story in the book was called “Dead Man Dating” and was written by Lori Handeland. Kit is a frumpy, chubby, studious type, who goes on a date with some guy she met on the internet. He turns out to be dead, but does show up for the date. Things go from there. Kit is rescued by a demon hunter who sounds a lot like Antonio Banderas. This story was had too much “romance novel” and not enough “action/sci-fi” for my taste. This story is practically made to order for women who are fourty-something, living at home with mom, and not dating anyone. A lot of emphasis was put on how the main character is a virgin, and things go much as you would expect. The parts about the demons were very interesting though. I might have liked the ending more if this was a longer book. As it was, it seemed kind of early for what happened to happen.