The first book in the Twilight saga as said by the author in the Amazon interview is about finding true love and is conveniently entitled Twilight. Stephenie Meyer was partial to calling it Forks, the name of the little town Bella goes to live. Her name was chosen because Stephenie Meyer would have named her daughter that if she had one. It fit so nicely with Edward. Bella's full name is Isabella Swan.
Isabella goes to live in Forks, a little town that really does exist on the map on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Forks is full of rain. It never stops raining. It rains so much you never dry out. Isabella is horrified at the idea of returning to her childhood home to live with her father, Charlie, but she is going to go through with it. Bella is like that. Once she has made up her mind she won't change it. The agonizing and worrying and doubting happens during the decision making process only.
Bella moves to Forks so her mother Renee can move around from place to place with her second (new) husband Phil and not feel guilty. She wants her mother to be happy and by going to Forks she'll make Charlie happy. She's going to miss the sunshine and heat of Arizona. But most of all, Bella is going to miss how easily she blended despite her pale skin into the crowds of her large high school. Forks is small and can not hold a secret. Bella is afraid of her first day of sophomore year. She doesn't want to stick out like the clumsy sore thumb she is but knows she will.
At school things were going like she predicted and in ways she wasn't expecting. Boys were paying attention to her, she was the center of attention, and at lunch the most beautiful kids were staring at her. Who were they? Why did suddenly, the most handsome look up and glare at her? At the table sat the Cullens. Each was adopted by Dr. Carlisle and his wife Esme. They didn't hang out with anybody in school. Bella was told they thought themselves better than the rest.
But this did not explain the youngest Cullens' behavior. Why did he act like he couldn't stand her when she had done nothing to him? Why did he try to change out of biology before the school day was over? Why did he skip so much school? Was it to avoid her? Edward Cullens mystified Isabella Swan. That was until she found out he was a vampire. Then it made sense.
The Cullens are different from other vampires. The first of which I can't say since it is fun to hear of it in the third book. The second is because they are in their own terms, ‘vegetarians.' They choose to drink animal blood over human. You can tell when vampires shy from human blood because their irises are gold and not blood red. Bella can tell when Edward is thirsty or mad simply by the color of his irises. At first he is surprised, but then he relaxes. After all she was observant enough to notice he was a vampire when others simply ignored all the signs.
The sentence structure of Twilight is a little choppy and hard to get into. The story picks up, right where the author first dreamed about it. Stephenie Meyer wrote the scene in the meadow first and finished the story before returning to write the beginning. Beginnings are hard, and if you can push past the first one hundred to one-hundred-and-fifty pages then it gets good. That is when the story becomes captivating and hard to put down. Edward and Bella is a classic that only gets better.
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Originally posted 2008-12-01 01:36:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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