Review: The Twilight Series

In less than a week, I've read all four of the books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series.

That alone tells you how much I enjoyed the books. We're talking about 3,000 pages in less than a week. I was reading every chance I got, taking advantage of a little time off this week for the holidays.

I reviewed the first book, Twilight, right after I read it. But then I read the second, third and fourth books in quick succession, and they've all kind of blurred together now.

**Spoiler Alert: Do not continue if you don't want to know anything about the stories.**

I love that I can never predict what's going to happen, even when I have a vague idea of what's coming. For instance, I knew Jacob would become a werewolf, but didn't foresee the alliance with the vampires. And I knew as soon as Bella started feeling nauseous that she was pregnant, but didn't guess that Jacob would imprint on Nessie.

But the best thing was that I was euphoric while I was reading the books. I could hardly bear to put them down, and I couldn't wait to pick them back up. But during those times that I wasn't reading, I was happy because of the stories. I felt so blessed to have Marc, who is my Edward. The book reminded me that I have that kind of love in my life, and so my emotions were soaring even when I wasn't reading.

I do wonder how I would have felt reading this book as a child, rather than a gloriously happily married woman. In fact, even in reading the first book, I was a little bothered by the fact that there was a 100-year old man/vampire falling in love with a 17-year-old girl. I mean, Edward may have become a vampire when he was 17, but it doesn't change the fact that he's much older than Bella. And while it was sweet that he apparently was a virgin until they consummated their marriage, I can't help but think that it might not be appropriate for young girls. But then again, I read wildly inappropriate books when I was young and ended up okay. Although I think that if I had a daughter who was into the series, I would read the books and discuss these issues with her.

Incidentally, I'm glad I read Midnight Sun before I read the second book, New Moon.Because of that, I had Edward's perspective in my mind as I read from Bella's and Jake's points of view. I was, for instance, extremely fond of Emmett in the subsequent stories, even though he is a peripheral character, because Edward is so fond of Emmett in Midnight Sun.

As a final aside, I don't plan on seeing the movie version of Twilight. The characters don't look anything like what I've envisioned in my mind, especially Edward, and I've heard such bad things about the movie that I don't want to risk ruining all of the lovely images in my head. But one of the funniest thing I've seen recently is a jar of Edward Shimmer Powder - which I'm guessing is a lot like the shimmer body powders that were oh-so-popular about ten years ago. (I think I might still have a jar lying around!)