Chain Reading

I was totally surprised and knocked off my feet by this book. It was like a bit of classic Christopher Pike to me, an author I devoured in my teens and I loved it. I loved it so much I wanted to turn to page one and start again; which rarely happens. The author managed to take an unlikely premise and make it utterly believable and surprisingly human. This is in my top 10 for the year.

Star-crossed lovers rarely have such obstacles to face as these two young lovers, Edward Cullen, 100-year-old vampire who has renounced human prey and 17-year-old Isabella Swann. For Bella is human. Bella can’t stay away from Edward and, despite his best intentions; he can’t stay away from her either. And so the two of them burn for each other, even though by necessity they must remain chaste, for the intensity of their passion could lead Edward to kill her and he agonizes over the danger. But Bella will not part from Edward alive and he will do anything to keep her alive.

Favorite quote: "Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."

This was an interesting book to say the least. It was definitely not within the normal spectrum of books that I would normally read, and I can quite easily say that I'm not in the demographic of those individuals that the author had in mind when she was writing the book. So, take this as you will from an outsider's perspective.

For a debut novel, this book is quite well written. I came across very few errors, and only a handful of awkwardness spread throughout the prose. My favorite goof by far was the line that went something like "the numerous dust moats that floated around the room". I laughed for quite some time after reading it. Meyer paints some fairly realistic characters. I found the male protagonist, Edward, to be somewhat jumpy concerning his moods and reasoning. The author has made note of this fact through her fan's comments, and, to explain it all, has gone so far as to start re-writing Twilight from his perspective. It would definitely be interesting to see this, as his emotions seemed quite erratic throughout the book. Most of the flow of the story makes sense.

There really is, however, no plot in this book. That is, sadly, one of its major downfalls. There is really no overarching storyline to pull everything together other than the "romance" of the two main characters "Bella" and "Edward" (the vampire). There are a few sub-plots that don't really add to the storyline significantly, and the book as a whole pretty much just moves from one point to the next without any real impetus from a given direction. The author chose to format this book in a manner similar to another that I didn't much care for. The prologue described briefly the "final encounter" between Bella and the "bad guy" in the book. This intro is the only tension buildier throughout the book. You know that at the end, Bella will have a run-in with the bad guy.

On the whole, I think that this book was worth reading. I think that if you're in this author's demographic (young adult girls) that you would most likely enjoy reading this book quite a bit. Additionally, I just went to listen to the author speak recently, and she mentioned having outlines for books seven and eight. So, if you jump into this series, it will more than likely be able to keep you in books for quite some time. Bottom line, if you like young adult romance novels, and can dig on the vampire romance thing, then I'd suggest you pick up this book. For all you worried mothers out there, you don't need to -- this book is quite clean. Actually, it's VERY clean, for a vampire book, and even clean when considering the book in general. Happy reading.

Isabella Swan move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabellas life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knifebetween desire and danger.