Twilight Takes Me By Surprise

This is one review that I never thought I would be writing, mostly because I never expected to read Stephenie Myers’ vampire/romance saga. I guess it’s true what they say, “never says never.”

When I began reading Twilight I was convinced I would not like the book at all. I had pretty much grouped it into the same category as the Gossip Girl novels or one of those other teen novels that I see as a waste of time to read. There are so many other books on my reading list that seemed so much more worthwhile. However, as the release of Breaking Dawn got closer, I began to get more and more curious. When the schedule came out and I realized I would be working the night of the release I decided I would give Twilight a shot, just so I would have some idea what was going on. Once I started reading I could not stop. I started Twilight Sunday night; four days and three books later I am now hooked on the Twilight saga.

I have a lot of favorite books and even more books that I love though I may not consider them favorites. But very few books draw me in entirely – completely consume my time and thoughts. Rarely am I so hooked that I spend every available waking moment caught up in the book. However, since I started Twilight Sunday night, until I finished Eclipse last night I could not put the books down. The only time I spent more than five minutes away from the books was to sleep, work or watch The Dark Knight (which was amazing, by the way). This is the first time I’ve been on the computer for more than a few minutes since Sunday. Even when I wasn’t reading all I could think about were the characters in the books, and what was going on. I haven’t felt that way about a book since Harry Potter.

This series was about 200% better than I anticipated. Bella is an amazing character, well written, developed and her thoughts and emotions are real. I could really identify with her, which I think is part of the reason I became so engrossed in these books. I could understand Bella, sympathize with her, feel her excitement and pain. And of course, as every girl before me who has read these books, I fell too fell in love with Edward.

I think what impressed me most about these books was that they are not like the usual books, tv shows and music that are popular with teens these days. These books didn’t glamorize underage drinking or sex and these teenagers seemed to have a decent taste in music and literature; they also realized there were more important things in life than clothes, who’s dating who, etc. I think that must be why I liked these books so much, why they took me by surprise. I was expecting Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill with vampires and what I found was more like a cross between Buffy and Moonlight.

In a way I’m kind of glad I just discovered these novels, because I don’t think I could have waited the year between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. As it is, it’s going to be really hard waiting until next Friday, especially since the books will be arriving in the store any day now and I’ll have to wait until after we close Friday night (actually early Saturday) to start reading.

So I guess the moral of the story is, never judge a book by its cover. You just may be surprised. I was.