Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I picked up Twilight to see what all the hype was about. This is a novel that rarely seems to be on the shelf, even when multiple copies are owned. I thought reading it would tell me why it's so popular, but I'm left without much of an answer.

The story revolves around Bella who moved to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her slightly estranged father. On her first day of school she spots a table of five angelically beautiful teens, only to find out that they're all related with mystery surrounding them. One teen, Edward Cullen, catches Bella's eye, but he acts rudely towards her, almost as if she's poison. A few days later, though, he's the nicest person and a friendship soon develops. The two quickly fall in love but the mystery of Edward and his siblings deepens when a family friend lets it slip to Bella that his people believes the Cullens to be vampires. Bella suddenly has an explanation for all of her questions and Edward is forced to reveal the truth about his family and the risk it poses for Bella. She, surprisingly, doesn't fear him, but when three new vampires come to town and take an interest in Bella, suddenly everyone she knows is in danger.

The novel was entertaining and held my attention, but just not enough for me to want to recommend it to everyone I know. Maybe my expectations were too high or the vampire/human love story isn't that exciting after watching the short-lived TV show Moonlight. Whatever the case, something in Twilight was missing for me. One thing that did bother me, though, was how easily Bella accepted Edward as a vampire. Not even that, but how willing she was to consider possibly spending eternity with him if she were turned into a vampire. She is just so sickeningly in love with him. Doesn't she realize that teens fall in and out of love at the snap of a finger? Their romance was just too easy for me, if love with a vampire can ever be considered easy.

Twilight, soon to be in a theater near you, was a good book. It just wasn't mind-blowing like its popularity led me to expect.
MMK