Caution, possible spoilers (I don’t know, I haven’t written the blog yet, Duh!)

Okay, so I’m late jumping on the Twilight bandwagon, whatever! I didn’t read Tolkien until The Two Towers movie was released, I didn’t read Harry Potter until book 5 was released, and I didn’t read the Twilight series until every female (and most male) student in all six of my classes started talking about them like the world was falling…Again, What-E-Ver!

So, I read book 1, Twilight, and thought that unlike Tolkien and Rowling, Meyer wasn’t as concerned that you believe her world existed. You’re in the Pacific Northwest, paint a cloudy bleary picture with lots of green and you’re good to go. Meyer draws you in on emotion. I’ve never felt what every character in a book is feeling like I did in Twilight. It was amazing. Being a guy, let’s just say I’m not always in touch with all of the range of emotions. I’m much more of the Ronald Weasley sort of person, give me the straight dope and I’ll try to keep the subtleties out of sight. But Stephanie won’t have any of that. You can say that she’s writing to a Young Adult (or younger) audience but I’m not buying it. Experiencing that much emotion without drama, pomp and circumstance would never go over in the young adult world of today. So, I think that how I was drawn in. I loved getting into everyone’s emotions (not their minds) and feeling what they felt. I don’t know this but I’d be willing to bet that Stephanie relates best with Jasper from the books. Very in tune with what everyone is feeling and less concerned with what they think or do unless you know the emotion behind it. I was enthralled. It took me two sittings to finish the book but that’s my fault, I’m a slow reader to begin with and I had to go back several times to understand the feelings (my feelings) as I was reading.

Luckily, my daughter brought book 2, New Moon, with her on our cruise. Debbie and Becka were both reading the book but neither of them really seemed interested at the time so I casually picked it up and started reading on about day 4. I finished it in the airport prior to our planes taking off for our separate destinations (me to San Antonio, them to NOVA). We had about 6 hours of wait time and I only needed about 2.5 so I was good to go. Again, very good book and I was so in.

I purchased book 3, Eclipse, at the airport upon arrival in San Antonio. I realize this is weird, I should have bought it in Orlando and read it on the way but the two bookstores in my terminal did not have Eclipse on their shelves so I had to settle for when I got home. Probably my least favorite of the 4 but I don’t mean it any discredit, I just guessed early on what was happening in Seattle and so the plot didn’t surprise me as it unfolded. I’m sure that many of you who are very good at that sort of thing, picked up the plot early as well but like me, you enjoy a good read so you decided to go ahead and stay on Mrs. Meyer’s train anyway.

The day after I finished book 3, I was at a friends house and her daughter had the series sitting on her shelf. I asked if I could borrow book 4, Breaking Dawn and was pleased that she had finished the series and was willing to loan it out. Unlike others who’ve said this book was too long, I loved it all the way through but I was initially disappointed with the last 3 chapters. I was expecting something completely different and was almost mad when I didn’t get it. If I had written this post 3 days ago, you’d have heard a whole lot about that. But after reading a few reviews and thinking through it, I’ve decided that the issue was just with my expectation and not with Stephanie’s writing. She wrote a fairytale ending and I wanted the WWE, ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’ ending. Of course, it’s not MY story, it’s hers and she did a great job with it. I highly recommend this series…Unfortunately for the movies, we’ll never feel what Bella and the rest feel from that medium and that really is a shame because to me, that’s the diamond in these books…