Wow. They plan to release the THIRD movie in about a year or so? They are really using the recent hype to their advantage. Hopefully they aren't rushing it to much so we get a half assed movie in the end.

They started with a half assed adaptation of Twilight. By the time they get to Eclipse or Breaking Dawn they will have completely run out of ass.

These stories are so low quality (LONG before film adaptatoins) and cliche and I loathe how they seem to promote abusive relationships but... at least it's getting kids to read... I just loathe the excuse that they're supposed to be simple and without depth because they're young adult novels. There are plenty of young adult novels where the monsters are the heroes or love interests that have meaning and depth and don't talk down to the reader with adjectives like 'sparkly.'

I'm twenty seven. I was a teenager less than ten years ago. I have not forgotten what it is to be a teenager. I was reading Anne Rice and Stephen King at age fourteen as well as nineteenth century classics. And yes, it IS fair to call something poor quality when it is. I highly recommend reading The Canterville Ghost, Frankenstein, The Harry Potter books and even The Vampire Lestat. These were intended for younger readers. The hero of The Canterville Ghost is a fifteen-year-old girl. The author of Frankenstein was a seveneen-year-old girl. I cannot condone using 'young adult' as an excuse for poor quality.
I suggest reading other works of literature intended for young adults with monster heroes or love interests that actually have depth and quality.

Even R. L. Stine's Goosebumps had more depth than these things. I loathe when young girls use 'young adult' as a justification for poor quality. I grieve for the literary world...

I loved the first book. The second and third were...meh. The 4th one was necessary, I suppose, to tie everything up in a bloody bow, but it was worse than the previous two.

I didn't care for the movie. Edward Pattinson is cute but he is not Edward Cullen, as described by the author. The emotion of the story didn't translate onto the screen, for me.

Ah well, lots of others love it, so, good for them, I guess!

I loved the first book. The second and third were...meh. The 4th one was necessary, I suppose, to tie everything up in a bloody bow, but it was worse than the previous two.

I didn't care for the movie. edit: ROBERT Pattinson is cute but he is not Edward Cullen, as described by the author. The emotion of the story didn't translate onto the screen, for me.

Ah well, lots of others love it, so, good for them, I guess!

Dear Mandy,
The Vampire Lestat was not intended for a teenage audience. the Vampire Lestat is an adult horror series. The Twilight series is an awesome read and I recommend this series to everyone. I am sorry you are so jaded, but maybe its because you read such a sadistic series by Anne Rice at such a young age.

The THIRD movie!? I thought that the second one already had enough troubles attached to it! Shows the power of franchise

Pan, The Vampire Lestat is not a sadistic book. You just proved you know nothing of the story. Did you think it was the same as the plot of the film Queen of the damned? No. All that film took were a few character names and the title from one of the books (the series is not The Vampire Lestat, by the way. It's The Vampire Chronicles, I just named off the most teen friendly of the lot). The fact is the plot is about a twenty-year-old man who is forcibly turned into a vampire against his will and tries to maintain his sense of right and wrong despite this. Sir Elton John even did a Broadway musical adaptation of the story a few years ago. You honestly think a twenty-year-old rock star vampire was intended for an 'older' audience? There was no sex in the novel or sadism. I think you're confusing The Vampire Lestat for Anne Riec's later novel The Vampire Armand which dealt with those ...unusual S and M issues she started to obsess over before her religious fascination.

Please don't assume I did not read Twilight just because I don't like it. To quote Oscar WIlde: 'There is no such thing as a bad or good book. Just a well written or poorly written book.' Twilight is poorly written. Sparkly is the worst adjective for a luminescent form.

I find it painfully ironic that you would call a character sadistic whom would leap into a burning building to save someone he loves and has allowed those he loves to hurt or restrain him as opposed to fighting back for fear of hurting them and yet Edward Cullen, whom in jealousy, destroys his girlfriend's mode of transportation, has her kidnapped, and later 'hurts' her to the point of unconsciousness while having sex. Bella vows to never ever tell him that he hurt her because it would hurt his feelings, much like an abused house wife's train of thought after an abusive husband loses control. I don't feel this is healthy and fitting for your 'young adults' who you think need to be 'protected' from the likes of Anne Rice. I would never stop someone from reading Twilight, mind you. At least it gets kids to read even if it's views of relationships is more than a little skewed and unleahty for young women.

At least Anne RIce's The Vampire Lestat novel never had a 'good guy' destroy someone's freedom in jealousy or sexually assault anyone. Again, I am not talking about her later writing when her quality started to deteriorate. I was speaking of one specific novel.

Pan, I am SO deeply offended by your referring to Anne Rice's earlier books as sadistic (seriously ironic considering the amoral and abusive content of Twilight: Pot, kettle black.) that all you have done in this statement is increase my disgust at Twilight and you are perpetuating a negative view of Twilight's readers. Stephen King was right about these books.

heh, pWned!

(an ironic, illiterate, short post to follow a well written rebuttal)

Pan, you call Anne Rice's books sadistic, but you fail to mention to those reading your posts about the abusive sex scenes depicted in the Twilight series. Intended for young adults? Perhaps. Appropriate for young adults? Perhaps not. I'd much rather see my 14 year old son reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", or even Anne Rice's "Lestat" books than this.

And come on.... "sparkly"?!?!?!

Maybe we are a little bit jaded. We spent between $10-$25, expecting this great book, and we got... sparkly vampires who render their girlfriends unconscious having sex with them. Ugh.

Dark Blade, I agree completely.

Look Mandy, I appreciate you have your point of view about the books but do you have the post what is basically the same comment in every single article about Twilight?

It's not precisely the same comments. As you can tell from the sudden attack on Anne Rice and my own psychological standing that this one seemed to produce.

I feel the same way hmmmmmmm. I have noticed that certain people seem to have nothing better to do with their time than give basically the same negative comment in every single article about this series. For someone that appears to hate the series so much, this person devotes a lot of theitr personal time to bashing on it.

Zizz, kindly recall the rules of this forum. No personal attacks. Have a little respect when disagreeing with someone. It's hard to view anyone as rational adults when they don't have enough maturity to tolerate views different from their own and attack the expresser of those opposing views as a person.

By the way, I can type over 120 words a minute so my comments here take very little time at all so don't presume to know me based on the fact that I dislike Twilight and actually voice a negative view. Have some maturity and respect.

I'm a fan of the books, although I don't deny the fact that they aren't exactly excellently written. (definitely no where near the same caliber of writing as the Vampire Chronicles, although I can only attest to the writing in the first four, I only ever made it a couple chapters into Memnoch). I do however like the conversations in the Twilight books. They're probably the thing Meyer is best at writing, in my opinion at the very least. Yes, the dialogue is at times rather cheesy, but it can be cute, funny, and just make me smile. The books are definitely overrated, but there's nothing wrong with something that makes some people happy (as long as they don't feel the need to constantly annoy others who don't share these sentiments with it). That being said, I really couldn't stand the movie. My best friend and I, who have both liked the books, saw it at the drive in, and bashed it pretty much the entire way through (although not quite to the extent that we mocked that movie that stole the name of the third Vampire Chronicles book and the names of some characters from it, so I can't quite consider it the worst book-to-movie I've ever seen... side note though, for those who haven't read the two books and seen the movies, my preference of the Twilight movie to the Queen of the Damned one has no connection to the books themselves, because then I'd be saying the opposite). I hope the next ones will be better than the first, but since they once again seem to be rushing ahead, I don't have very high hopes...

((Note, I'm chopping this up a bit in different paragraphs, since some things are directed at different people. If they're directed at someone specifically, I put their name in caps))

I'm a fan of the books, although I don't deny the fact that they aren't exactly excellently written. (definitely no where near the same caliber of writing as the Vampire Chronicles, although I can only attest to the writing in the first four, I only ever made it a couple chapters into Memnoch). I do however like the conversations in the Twilight books. They're probably the thing Meyer is best at writing, in my opinion at the very least. Yes, the dialogue is at times rather cheesy, but it can be cute, funny, and just make me smile. The books are definitely overrated, but there's nothing wrong with something that makes some people happy (as long as they don't feel the need to constantly annoy others who don't share these sentiments with it). That being said, I really couldn't stand the movie. My best friend and I, who have both liked the books, saw it at the drive in, and bashed it pretty much the entire way through (although not quite to the extent that we mocked that movie that stole the name of the third Vampire Chronicles book and the names of some characters from it, so I can't quite consider it the worst book-to-movie I've ever seen... side note though, for those who haven't read the two books and seen the movies, my preference of the Twilight movie to the Queen of the Damned one has no connection to the books themselves, because then I'd be saying the opposite). I hope the next ones will be better than the first, but since they once again seem to be rushing ahead, I don't have very high hopes...

PAN, since when does a book being sold as "adult" make it a bad choice of reading for a teenager or child? That's even more ridiculous than the statement that just because a book is specifically directed at children or teenagers makes it unreadable (as in not good enough, stupid, etc.) for adults. And your description of the Vampire Lestat proves that you haven't read it. They may not exactly be the softcore, sunshine lollipops and rainbows (and sparkly vampires...) of Twilight, but sadistic? The vampires drink blood, sure, but so do the Cullens. They kind of need that to live. And just because they don't avoid human blood like the Cullens doesn't make them any more sadistic.

Granted, I might need to kind of argue with some of MANDY's points over Edward Cullen being sadistic and the overall abusiveness of his relationship with Bella. He certainly is overprotective, to the point that he becomes somewhat controlling, but even some of that is somewhat understandable. He loves her, and feels that because of him she is constantly in very grave danger, so he kind of takes protecting her to an extreme level. Kidnapping her - (Assuming you're referring to when he has Alice force her to stay at their house to keep her away from Jacob) Although Bella feels differently, and is correct in this instance, Edward honestly believes that Jacob is very dangerous. Say a person you love sees a rabid wolf and wants to go play with it (or wants to do some other obviously dangerous activity); even if they argue, you're going to force them to stay away from it for their own safety. So although under normal circumstances a guy forcing a girl to stay away from their friend is completely insane and wrong, that's not really a fair description of this because Edward actually believes that if he lets her do this she'll be badly hurt and/or die. And once he sees that Jacob isn't actually going to hurt her, he agrees to let her spend time with him again. Hurting her during sex - remember that he wasn't even willing at first to having sex with her out of fear of hurting her. It was only because she begged that he was willing to try. And after the first time, he refuses to try again out of fear of having hurt her and refuses to accept that Bella found it enjoyable. Yes, he eventually gives into Bella's begging to do it again, but I don't see that as him abusing her. (Although as far as author writing about somewhat sadistic situations, I do have to give you that one, because yes, they are deriving pleasure from something that is kind of causing pain (even though the person receiving the pain isn't actually aware of any pain from this, only notices the bruising afterwards)) (Also, did she lose consciousness out of pain and/or blows to the head? I have only read this once during the summer, but I don't recall that being said... But I could just be forgetting). "Destruction" (sorry, the word just in my mind painted a picture of him setting fire to it or crashing it on purpose or something to full out destroy it, not just tinkering with it to the point that it wouldn't run) of her car - there's no guarantee that that was him, but even if it was, it was partially once again an extreme attempt at protecting her (with the extent to which he sees her and all humans are fragile beings, he is going to see a weaker car as a danger to her) and also just an attempt to give her a gift. So yes, Edward is overprotective and this has made him somewhat controlling, but given the circumstances and the fact that many of his actions really are done to keep the person that he loves away from things that are dangerous, I don't agree that their relationship is abusive.

And ZIZZ, although I can see you were trying to say that you dislike the "anti-twilight' people who in some cases talk more about the book than those who actually like them (one of my friends...) insinuating that this means that anyone who can defend a point against this book is one of these people and then implying that they have "nothing better to do" shouldn't be done. This is a board about a movie in the series. Obviously the series is going to be what Mandy, and everyone else, writes about here. Just because she writes more than most people does not mean that her entire life is devoted to this. She's giving you proof to support her arguments, and developing points. All this means is that if she says something, she likes to back it up. Yes, perhaps that she came here to comment implies that at the time she may not have had anything overly major to do, but can't the same be said even of those who left just a couple lines? And as Mandy said, some of us write fast. If you write a fair bit rather often, it tends to be that way.

Anyways, sorry if I kind of rambled and wrote more than you really wanted to read. I'm a bit of a wordy person. To anyone who actually did make it through all / any of this, thanks!

Thank you for the semi defense but I am afraid we might have to agree to disagree about Edward. A man who controls a woman he supposedly loves and hurts her carelessly is a person who confuses love with domination and that is a sign of a seriously abusive relationship. It's unhealthy to pretend that anyone who can be 'over protective to the point of controling' is truly loving. Basic psychology tells us that men who behave like that are abusive by the very definition and domination and need to dominate gets mistaken as love and really it's not. This is the first thing you have to teach a battered house wife in therapy, that what he was doing was not an act of love but an act of control and the two are not one and the same. That's a seriously unhealthy view to justify the confusion of domination and love.

Thanks for the response Mandy.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Yes, I recognize that a woman getting beat up or who is controlled to the point where they aren't allowed do what they want or to have anyone in their life outside of the person with whom they are in a relationship is clearly in an abusive relationship and should not believe that these actions are done out of love. But I still disagree that this is the case with Edward and Bella. When she gets hurt, it's mostly because he is unable to say no to her requests for things such as sex, even though he has frequently warned her of the dangers. The things he tries to prevent her from doing are things that, as far as the facts that he has at that instance and time, would very likely result in a severe injury to herself. He isn't trying to dominate her because of a mixed up idea of love. He does love her. He loves her to the point that he's willing to do anything to make her happy and safe - two things which sometimes conflict with each other. And his overprotectiveness always loses to his desire to do exactly what she wants.

But yes, as said, I'm all good for agreeing to disagree. Unless you reply and ask me to reply fully, I'll leave my defense of my opinion at that.

Ah, but Nikki there's the problem. His idea of keeping her safe hindered her happiness. And destroying a person's ability to choose isn't keeping them safe. Someone over a hundred years old should know that. To quote Ben Franklin 'To sacrifice freedom for safety is to have neither.'

The fact is if he truly loved her there shouldn't have been an issue of her having to over come his 'over protectiveness.' Over protectiveness as a term should be reserved for parents who haven't yet accepted that their children have matured, not for lovers that are meant to be supposed 'equals.'

We will have to agree to disagree.

To respectfully support my statement about being basically the same comment, here are some examples...

"By Mandy at 2:48 PM ON 01/31/09

Better stories about reluctant vampires and their lovers are Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dark Shadows, and of course The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.

By Mandy at 2:29 AM ON 01/25/09

Dear God! Whatever happened to vampires with substance? I miss the glory days of Anne Rice

By Mandy at 7:37 PM ON 01/12/09

I don't like Twilight. When I was a teenage girl I read Anne Rice. I was reading The Vampire Lestat and falling in love with her world before I was fifteen. "

The bagging out of the term "sparkly" and the phrase "at least it's getting them to read" and complaints about the nature of the relationship have also popped up multiple times. Rehashing your point into different text versions is still basically making the same comment, IMO.

And I'll be honest - I thought the writing in the book was mediocre and the film was a hyped up teenie flick, so my comment has nothing to do with your opinions Mandy. I also respect you for being willing to express your opinions. But there is a difference between expressing your opinion and hammering at a topic because you dislike it, especially when the same nails are being hammered in each time regardless of their relevance to the actual point of the article.

I grew up on anne rices books and i love them. I love the twilight series as well..im upset however that the movie did a poor representation of the book..they changed things around that shouldnt have been..and also the actors can only portray whats in a script so if the script is bad then its not all the actors fault..if they had followed with the book more then robert could have portrayed edward with better accuracy..thats just my thoughts on the subject

I grew up on anne rices books and i love them. I love the twilight series as well..im upset however that the movie did a poor representation of the book..they changed things around that shouldnt have been..and also the actors can only portray whats in a script so if the script is bad then its not all the actors fault..if they had followed with the book more then robert could have portrayed edward with better accuracy..thats just my thoughts on the subject

I'm a 33 year old who read lestat and the queen of the damned as a teenager and loved them. I read recently the meyers books, and after really enjoying the first two books, I found myself loathing the third book and its homage to Wuthering Heights (which I never liked either) I hated ALL the characters at one point or another in that book -- Bella, Edward and Jacob -- and their manipulative, histrionic, and yes, sometimes abusive behaviors. It was only because I was starving for reading material that I even read the fourth book at all, after the third one left such a nasty taste in my mouth.

I would have been much happier if the series had either ended at #2 or somehow skipped to #4 (which as has been pointed out, has its own flaws)

Josh Whedon would be a cool director for Eclipse

Joss Whedon would be a cool director for Eclipse

Oh, good god. I'm older than ALL of you combined and I still read "Twilight". Atrocious writing. Great storyline. Mediocre movie. Anne Rice ~ great books, but yes, a little BLOODY. And I found the dialogue to be ridiculously overwrought, but her descriptive passages enjoyable. So, she's on the right track. I blame her editor. Couldn't they see the failings?

Pup, part of why I don't like Anne Rice's later books is she dropped her editor, feeling she didn't need one anymore and the writing quality went down hill drastically. The style became bland, the plots weak, and the storylines inconsistant (Lestat used to write his stories on computer word processors, hack into computers and send electronic documents. Now he fears computers and doesn't know how to send E-mail. Lost his left eye in Memnoch The Devil and in Blackwood Farm onward it's his right...)

But somehow that's still better than Twilight...

Anyone else here read Let The Right One In? I just finished it. Well written, interesting story, good characters that depending on the perspective you can love and hate at the same time. A bit creepy, and definitely with some things that some people might find disturbing (I think this needs to be said about a book that makes you feel kind of sorry for a pedophile, and a lot of bloodiness and gore). And yet at the same time you have the rather cute relationship between Oskar and Eli. Eli/Oskar might be my favourite vampire/human couple ever. I'd recommend it to any Anne Rice fans, but I'm not going to say the same for all Twilight fans. This is an actual vampire book, whereas I don't really see Twilight as a real vampire book. To me it has always seemed like more of a teen romance where the boy just happens to be a vampire to add a bit of a twist to things and make their relationship more interesting. So obviously kind of different crowds between Let The Right One In and Twilight.

A somewhat obscure vampire novel that I enjoyed and was also a very, very low budget film is Demon Under Glass by D. L. Warner. It's about twelve dollars on amazon. Now that was a unique book. A vampire (Simon Molinar) gets captured by the government and held in a facility for study. One doctor (Dr. Joe McKay) takes pity on him. Shortly after the team is given word to destroy their undead captive Simon escapes but eventually learns that Dr. McKay's own people mean to use him in an experiment using Simon's blood and turn him into their new vampire test subject. So it's up to the vampire to save one of his former captors. The film, besides being very low budget, ends at about half way through the plot of the novel just as the vampire is escaping captivity. None of what happens after that is in the film so I highly recommend the novel. It's actually really good though obscure.

Typo. I meant to say and they plan to turn Dr. Joe McKay into a vampire. The way I worded it implied he already was a vampire, that was a mistake. But yes, though it's somewhat obscure I enjoyed the novel Demon Under Glass. It's a rare truly unique vampire novel.

Guys, IT'S JUST A BOOK! It's meant as a form of entertainment and whether you like it or not, it's entirely up to the reader. I agree that the book did not do justice to the book, so I'm hoping they will make improvements to the next adaptations.

'the book did not do justice to the book'

To me this is not just a typo. It's a fact. Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451) would wince at a book being called 'JUST A BOOK' and 'form of entertainment.' Books are meant to be much much more than that. Books take you into other worlds. Make you see things differently. Books make you question things. They make you think. They make you imagine and they make you wonder. They make you feel. Twilight did none of that. There are plenty of young adult books with depth and meaning. I'm glad that Twilight is getting people to read who otherwise wouldn't but there are so many better works of literature out there being ignored because they are not part of the fad. And please don't whine to me that it's not a fad. I have seen many fads come and go in literature, especially for young adults. In the late eighties The Babysitters' club. In the early nineties Goosebumps. Harry Potter exceeded being a fad and will be remembered as surely as Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles are Narnia are remembered but Twilight's popularity is like a clothing trend. And to quote David Bowie's song, Fashion: 'It's loud and it's tasteless and I've heard it before.'

I have to disagree that Twilight is a book promoting abusive relationships. As someone who was once in an abusive relationship and managed to get out of it. I see someone that is genuinly protective of the one they love. When he realizes that Bella is safe with Jacob and the other wolves he does not stop her from going, and even drives her there himself. She had a vampire out for revenge after her, they were doing what they had to do to keep her safe until they took care of the problem. He even said that if Bella chose Jacob, he would go and let her be happy with him. Once Bella has been turned to a vampire, Edward is no longer so protective of her, because he knows that she can take care of herself. I do agree that the material in Breaking Dawn is a little mature for most teenagers, but I try to remember that it did take a couple years to put out all these books and the readers that originally started reading this series would have been old enough to read the material in Breaking Dawn at the point of when it came out. I believe that the responsibility to determine the appropriateness of the book for the age of the child should be the parents. If the parent feels the material is too mature at the time, then they can prevent their child from reading that particular book until it is time. As for the honeymoon portion of the book, yes he only gives in to what she wants because he does not like to tell her no and wants to give her anything that she wants. Yes maybe there was some bruises and things and she got hurt while they were having sex, but that was the initial reason that he was trying to talk her out of it, and why he refused to do it again after he seen how much it hurt her. There are a lot of people out there that get carried away during sex and maybe get rough with each other, but had he known he was hurting her he would have stopped. It says right in there in the book that even she did not realize that it was hurting her, and that she wished he would have held her tighter, so how could he have known till the bruises shown their ugly faces. I think that there are a lot of people out there that are reading too much into the books and uses psychology classes to anylize these books into something that most kids reading these books would not even think of or begin to understand in these books. To them this is a cute love story and he is what ever girl wants. I am in no way saying these books are better or even as good as Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I have read them and I love them too.....I am just saying that these books in their own right have a place in many peoples hearts, and no reason to tear people down for liking them. I love both series and have talked with many other adults who have loved it to with the exception that they felt the material in Breaking Dawn was too mature for their childs age at this time. Personally, I hope to read more from Stephanie Meyer.

OK, all you "literary authorities" out there. Get off your high horse and just let the fans enjoy these books and movies. Why do you think your opinion is correct anyway? It's entertainment people! Take the Howard Stern approach. If you don't like what you are reading or viewing; close the book, don't buy the movie ticket. What difference does it make in your lives anyway?

I honestly love the movies!! All the people that play the characters are amazing! They do a great job! I hope they're all in them for all of the next movies!

This is great news as I myself can't wait for the New Moon. I heard it will be better than Twilight.

Did any of you say anything positve about the book or the movie?! I'm a teenager and loved both the movie and the book. I do NOT think that Bella and Edward have an "abusive" realationship. I have read all four books and loved them all. I admit at one point I did hate Jacob but never Bella Or Edward. I think what you people thought was an "abusive" relationship was really Just Edward and Bella caring for each other. This book was ment for teenagers not some person having a mid-life crisis. So go take your freaking retardted opinons and your stiff boring books and go suck your thumb in a corner.

I think that Anon,Valadan,jen,Twighlight Movie Fan,And Twilightfan are right. These books are good so go destroy some other book!

The Twilight Series is so awesome. I cant wait until they come out with all the movies. It'll be so amazing. By the way I know Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson)!!!!!!!

Ok, I just spent close to a half an hour reading through all of the comments and trying to follow everyone's point. I loved all four books in the Twilight series. I really don't think that that Bella and Edward have an abusive relationship. Edward loves her so much and, he would do anything for her. Bella loves Edward too and, she takes risks being with him. But isn't that all part of love? Not knowing whether or not its going to work but still to hoping for the best. Nikki, I loved your defending of Edward and Bella's relationship. Mandy, you make some good points, but I really think you missed what Edward and Bella's relationship was all about. You said earlier, "'There is no such thing as a bad or good book. Just a well written or poorly written book.' Twilight is poorly written." I really don't think that Twilight is poorly written just because of the use of one adjective. (sparkly) An author can choose to use any word he/she wants. I don't think it's fair to judge and author based on an adjective that they choose. It really doesn't matter that you found another adjective to fit its spot. I'm sure anyone could find a book and change and adjective in it. Valadan, I think your comment about the literary authorities was so funny. They should get off their high horses. That made my day. Thank you.

Oh, and anon, you comment was amazing too. Your defense was perfect of Edward and Bella's true (non-abusive) relationship.

well books and movies never coincide - with the exception of Love Story. anyhoo, as far as twilight goes, i love them both, but to me books are always better. i just have a good imagination. i hope they make breaking dawn into a two part movie. i think that one is gonna be interesting because the book is split into two perspectives; bella's and jacob's.

AHH, and for some reason some people seem to think that women in there 20's DON'T enjoy the twilight saga...
WRONG! I am 22 and I did not read so much untill these books came out. I have 2 children of my own and I would not mind (when they're able to read) to lend them my own copies... I think that Meyer is a great writer, and her ablity to change the "commen take" on vampires is awsome ... i am not going to break down any of these books in any way on account of the wonderful writting ( my oppinion you can keep yours) . If some people would rather crack open a stiff dry novel that has the same old tired veiw of vampires they are just in a since blindes by change.... get over it .. it was bound to happen . I don't think that everyone wants to keep reading the same vampire novels that our grandmothers use to read... that would be like not making any further movement foward in technology and science...lol... ! I can come up with any other way to put it .

Any hoo, the generation has spoken ... and i think the "daracula" version SUCKS! LOL. I personaly love the new take on vampires... it is a well deserved change...

Oh , and by the way someone NEEDS to re-read Breaking Dawn ... maybe Bella actually enjoyed her honeymoon?! I don't recall her complaining at all.... just wanting MORE... some women enjoy that...LOL... maybe you would know if you would give your husband..., if anyone would marry a self-centered know-it-all who can bash a book that is LOVED by others , some personal time instead of wasting your breath trying to change everyone elses' opinions...! JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

By the way , I have attempted to read the classics and find them right up there with Stephen King.... Dull and Boring ... that is just my opinion though...

ROCK ON STEPH .... THERE ARE SOME OF US THAT CANT WAIT TO SEE WERE YOU GO NEXT.... !

Well, in response to "mandy", Here are your little mistakes on the Twilight subject. Ok. 1) There is NO sexual abuse/assault in these books. I have read all of them and could tell you EXACTLY what happens. There is no sex at all until the fourth book, and He leaves bruises on her arms, but it does not happen while she is unconscious, DUH. She wanted that to happen, and she is awake the whole time, then BY GOD, as a human she actually falls asleep.
2) The reason they use the adjective sparkly is because he IS sparkly. He actually sparkles in the sunlight, but they also use a variety of other adjectives. Stephenie Meyer is by far one of the most descriptive writers I have ever encountered. That is why these books are much more loved than your "Anne Rice" books.
3) The "Teenie" movie WAS actually made for teens, you know, the MAIN audience. Yes, the movie was a bit off from the book, but what book-based movie isn't??
All i have to say is that everyone has their own opinions, but maybe you should get your facts straight, honey, before you judge other peoples' opinions and put them down. Thats all I'm saying. Thanks &heart;

Nicely put Sarah! Gosh, I was once in an abusive relationship also... and I didn't see these books as ANYTHING like that... Edward is overprotective, yes, a little bit of an over reactor... yes... but abusive??? Come on. And if you read the series, you see how his character evolves after trying to make sure she doesn't do anything to risk her life, he completely does a turn around and tells her he trusts her judgement. As far as brutilizing her to the point of unconsciousness during sex? No, definitely didn't read that anywhere, she fell asleep after sex dude, haven't you ever done that? Or "hurt" yourself during sex completely not on purpose (falling off the bed maybe?) and had a bruise the next day not even realizing you'd hurt yourself? I loved the series for what is is, SCI-FI FANTASY people.... come on. I enjoyed the banter, and the conversations, and the way Edward just loved her completely. Loved your comment Anon.

'1) There is NO sexual abuse/assault in these books.'

If a woman passes out while making love and wakes up with broken bones but won't tell her lover that he hurt her because it might hurt him... yeah, that's a problem.

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'and He leaves bruises on her arms, but it does not happen while she is unconscious, DUH.'

That doesn't suddenly make it good! My god! You're justifying a man bruising the woman he loves!

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'2) The reason they use the adjective sparkly is because he IS sparkly. He actually sparkles in the sunlight, but they also use a variety of other adjectives. Stephenie Meyer is by far one of the most descriptive writers I have ever encountered. That is why these books are much more loved than your "Anne Rice" books.'

Actually, they're not. They're a fashion trend. They have yet to out sell the works of Anne Rice. And there are far better words than 'sparkly' that mean the same thing only... you know require a dictionary for the poorly educated. luminescent comes to mind.

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'3) The "Teenie" movie WAS actually made for teens, you know, the MAIN audience. Yes, the movie was a bit off from the book, but what book-based movie isn't??'

As I said multiple times for people who who CLAIM to like to read, there are MANY books geared toward a younger audience that are just better written. And don't pretend that bruising your girlfriend is okay.

And when a man is 'over protective' enough to kidnap and damage property... that's a crime where I come from, honey.

Mandy,

Not to go back on my word that I wasn't going to attempt to keep arguing what would quickly become restatements of the same points, but I just have a couple questions. One thing that I wasn't sure on and that others seem to believe not to be true that you keep insisting on is that Edward caused her to pass out during sex (as in by knocking her unconscious). Can you actually confirm that she didn't just fall asleep? To the best of my memory that was the case... And you said broken bones in your last reply... I remember bruises from the sex, but I don't recall any broken bones... And also the not wanting to tell him about these injuries. Wasn't it Edward who noticed them first? She wasn't the least bit aware that she had the slightest mark on herself when she woke up and he had to point out the bruising to her, so there was no case of her not wanting to tell him that he'd accidentally hurt her during the sex...

okay! i have read all of you arguing for about twenty minutes now and honestly its a bit rediculous. i totally agree with Nikki. Bella was the one who wanted to have sex! Edward wanted to wait until she was turned into a vampire! bella wanted it so bad that she made him promise to try while she was still human! When Bella woke up in the morning Edward felt like crap and i know if he had tears in him he would have been crying! He was in no way abusive to Bella! Now as to the Controling factor Mandy, for heck sakes he loves her!!! and to his own knowlege jacob could do the same thing to bella as Sam did to his wife! if you dont want your kids reading the Twilight series....DONT LET THEM!!! But leave the rest of us and Stephenie alone!

okay! i have read all of you arguing for about twenty minutes now and honestly its a bit rediculous. i totally agree with Nikki. Bella was the one who wanted to have sex! Edward wanted to wait until she was turned into a vampire! bella wanted it so bad that she made him promise to try while she was still human! When Bella woke up in the morning Edward felt like crap and i know if he had tears in him he would have been crying! He was in no way abusive to Bella! Now as to the Controling factor Mandy, for heck sakes he loves her!!! and to his own knowlege jacob could do the same thing to bella as Sam did to his wife! if you dont want your kids reading the Twilight series....DONT LET THEM! But stop bashing on twilight and stephenie okay.

oh my gosh!! THANKYOU!!! to all of you who are putting "Mandy" back in her place! you all ROCK!!:)
Mandy, honestly you make yourself sound so childish! haha its pathetic! chill out and step down from your self righteous pedistool and give us all a break! Please and Thankyou!

GO STEPHENIE MEYER YOU ARE AMAZING!

LOOK Mandy,
Whoever you are, if ur gonna crticize Twilight, do it in only ONE comment. And get ur facts rite!! I have read all four of the books and I assure you Bella never gets pregnant until the fourth one. And Bella gets bruised because vampires arent supposed to get people pregnant! But Bella wanted it so he did so it isnt abuse. KEEP UR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF, MANDY.

I love all the books and i cant wait for the 2nd 1 to come out i think that the second one was a slow read, not only because Edward was gone, but because Bella wouldn't shut up about Edward being gone. Oh well... MOVE ON! But think.. Say Edward never came back... Jacob imprinted on Bella and they fall in love... Edward finds a woman and her son dyeing.. He gets Carlisle to help him change them.. Edward gets married to the other chick instead of Bella.. How would everything be different? Would you all still read the seris?? I know that it would be hard for me but i would still read it...

Just think of that :]

I love all the books and i cant wait for the 2nd 1 to come out i think that the second one was a slow read, not only because Edward was gone, but because Bella wouldn't shut up about Edward being gone. Oh well... MOVE ON! But think.. Say Edward never came back... Jacob imprinted on Bella and they fall in love... Edward finds a woman and her son dyeing.. He gets Carlisle to help him change them.. Edward gets married to the other chick instead of Bella.. How would everything be different? Would you all still read the seris?? I know that it would be hard for me but i would still read it...

Just think of that :]

Wow, it's been interesting reading everyone's thoughts regarding 'Twilight'. :-)

Here is my mixed review (I agree with many of the pros and cons written by others) of the series...

The book Twilight irritated me to no end; I felt like banging my head against the wall because I was sick of reading about Bella worrying about getting hurt, getting hurt, and going on and on and on and on about Edward's godlike looks. It drove me insane as did her off-the-wall adjectives. Sometimes they were fitting but at other times it looked as though Meyer pulled out a thesaurus, closed her eyes, pointed to a synonym and threw it in. Like Mandy, I also felt that the relationship between Edward and Bella was abusive.

However, in what a first for me, I enjoyed the movie more than the book. The beginning was a bit choppy and the romance budded to quickly, not allowing for character development, but the back story of Laurent, James and Victoria (not in the book until the baseball game) was a welcome addition that drew me in. I thought the actors/actresses were well chosen for their parts.

After seeing the movie and enjoying it, I went ahead and started 'New Moon.' Unfortunately, I found it a horrible read. Bella's zombie-like state had me once again wanting to bang my head, as did her constant whining about Edward. I speed read through most of it until the middle when the story picked up and actually became interesting...

I'm now reading Eclipse and am finding it to be the best in the Twilight series thus far. Bella starts off with her usual and pathetic behavioral patterns BUT she also starts becoming her own woman (Mandy, I agree with you until this point) and actually develops a backbone. Even though Alice may have "kidnapped" Bella, but because it is known none of the Cullens would hurt her, I felt like she could have left if she wanted. And, the fact that Bella hopped on the bike with Jacob to get away, despite Edward's hatred of her friendship with Jacob, supports my "feelings."

Once Edward realized that Bella didn't care about his feelings towards Jacob and would see him no matter what, he backed off on his efforts to thwart her attempts to see him. In my opinion, Bella's loyalty to Jacob shows strength on her part. In real life, that would be an admirable quality in anyone. It also shows that she doesn't FEAR possible consequences at the hands of Edward--a woman in an abusive relationship would never think of going against her abuser's wishes, let alone follow through with it.

Even though I have yet to read the final book, Mandy, I doubt I'll end up agreeing with you about the supposed sexual abuse during the up coming love making scene. She knows the feel of Edward's body, it is cold, hard and powerful. I gather, from comments here, that Bella's bruising was an accident that Edward feels really bad. Not to mention that Edward has never once tried to push himself on Bella in the sack; on the contrary, she's the one pursuing that avenue while Edward is constantly saying, "No."

"No means no" for a girl but not a guy?

To be fair though, I will should read the last book before commenting further. Who knows, I may end up agreeing with Mandy (like I did at first) and others on the con side, or those on the pro side.

One area I do stand firm on when it comes to Mandy is the call to refrain from personal attacks just because someone has a different opinion...that is very immature.

here are my thoughts, for what they are worth.

I am a 36-year-old mother of 4. My oldest child gave me the first book and 8 days later I finished the 4th. AWESOME READ.

Not a book that alters history, changes the way you conduct your life, or by any means a basis in reality. First and foremost remember that it is a book meant to be read for enjoyments sake. It is not the picture of an abusive situation. The love story is pure, albeit overprotective on Edward's part. If you truly want to complain about one characters behavior, try Bella for being demanding and forcing Edward bend to her will. As for broken bones, the only broken bones she sustains are during the pregnancy of the child that resulted from her one and only AMAZING experience at lovemaking as a human. They are not a result of the sex, they are from the abnormal pregnancy that she endures and that ultimately ends her life - again against Edward's wishes.

As for the bruising, well first of all if you have never completely lost control during sex, you should give it a whirl, nothing compares. But for those people out there who are convinced that he deliberately bruises her I have but one question for you....Have you ever given/gotten a hicky? What precisely do you suppose that is but a bruise that is deliberately given and generally accepted as a sign of a physical, nonabusive relationship. Edward refuses to touch Bella again once he sees the damage he has done to her human body, can you say the same about the boyfriend/girlfriend who left the marks on your body?

Anyway, just bear in mind that the book is meant to be an escape from reality and enjoy it for that reason. Don't read it if you don't want to, there are millions who will take your place. Don't go buy the movie ticket or the DVD if you don't want to, again millions will gladly take your place.

After reading the above comments I must say that the movie was not all that I had hoped it would be and I certainly hope that the second one goes a step or two farther, but part of the problem is that people develop their own version in their heads and you must reconcile it with what is put on the screen. Of course the adaptation will not always live up to what you have created in your head. Again, enjoy it for what it is.

I have to admit I didn't read everyone's opinion. Some people are just to negative always trying to find the bad, and believe me if you look for it you'll always find it. I personally loved the movie after watching I had to go buy all the books.

I read all of them in four days and it was a great escape. I also have read the leaked copy of Midnight Sun, being told from Edward's point of view. After reading this I have grown to love his character even more. Seeing things from Bella's eyes was a great way to start the story, but Edward's character is so much more compassionate. I think all the books and anymore that Stephanie Meyer writes in the future will be a great success. She is very talented author. I will be looking forward to reading her books in the future.

Okkkkk, we got ALOT of bashing comments here. I would reply to all of the criticisms (especially Mandy's), but I'll just end up repeating what's already been said, and CLEARLY these people who are opposed to the books are extremely stubborn. Notice how the ones who love the books manage to somewhat agree with the ones who criticise it, yet the ones who criticize manage to agree with NOTHING said by the fan, and continue to back their opinions with sarcasm. And this is considered "respect when disagreeing with someone"?? Whatever, it really is a waste of time to change the minds of close-minded people.

And I think some are confused here with the genre of the book. Sure, it has vampires, but this series isn't about vampires. It's a love story, plain and simple. So please, quit comparing Meyer's vampires to Anna Rice's and Steven King's. They're not the same genre.

All that aside, I love all four books in the series. I'm a romance novel fanatic, so I was bound to come across this series. I truly loved it. Best love story I have read (and I have ready MANY). Although, I hated the movie :-/ completely disappointed me. Everyone has their own opinion, and from what I saw, Robert Pattinson (Edward) and Kristen Stewart (Bella) lacked chemistry. There was none. I really didn't mind all the changes they made. Even the fact that Bella and Edward were COMPLETELY different from their true characters in the book, it didn't bug me so much. It was the chemistry I was looking forward to......and they utterly failed : [ Or maybe I just didn't see it.....either way, I didn't like it. Hopefully they'll do better with Chris Weitz in New Moon. I'm especially looking forward to Eclipse, as it is my favorite out of the series :D

these books n movies twilight r awesomew ive reaqd twilight .newmoon..n im almost done reading eclipse...there so cool(kewl)n if u dont like them then u suck

So...I don't actually know how I stumbled upon this, but I feel oddly compelled to comment on a few things. First of all, I want to let you know I'm coming at these novels (and movie) from the perspective of a 28 year old, married, professional writer. I get paid to write. It's what I do – and for the most part, I do it well.
I held out for the longest time before seeing the movie. Finally, a few friends rented and brought it over, so I begrudgingly sat in front of the television to watch it - and I was hooked. I picked up books one and two the next day and finished them in less than 24 hours. One week later and I've already read all four books and the posting of Midnight Sun on Stephanie Meyer's page.
While the books may not have been the best written stores I've ever read, they are certainly on my list of favorite books. There's something very endearing about them. Meyer does an amazing job creating characters you can truly like. I, too, could have done with a few less descriptors of how “godlike” Edward was, but it’s a teen series after all. In the end, however, it’s the strength, and flaws, of the characters that draw you in. I think she's an amazing artist.
Regarding the supposed abusive relationship between Edward and Bella, I must say I completely disagree. Overprotective relationship - perhaps, but abusive - come on!
Yes, he has Alice entertain her for the weekend while he's out of town so she can't sneak of to the Quileute reservation - but the wolves are his enemy! He knows the damage a "young pup" can cause, and as far as he's concerned Bella does quite an outstanding job of putting herself in harms way without tempting fate by having her surrounded by werewolves. If you've read the books and recall correctly, when she was on the res with the wolves, one of them almost did rip her throat out. I believe Edward has reason to worry.
Secondly, the sex thing. Come on people! After sitting here and reading the constant debate for 20 minutes, I felt the need to go back and reread that portion of the text. For all I knew, perhaps I had missed something. But, no, I hadn't and Bella had fallen asleep afterwards (no knocked unconscious) and she didn't notice the bruising in the morning and was actually quite perturbed with Edward for ruining her euphoria with his brooding about her bruises. She was happy. She knew he hadn't meant to hurt her. She knew he would rather stop existing than cause her pain because he loved her.
And, truth be told, who hasn't had moments of sex where you come out a little worse for wear? Who hasn't had scratch marks down their back, bite marks in the shoulders...it's called passion, people! They certainly aren't malicious marks and I can guarantee you that most people I know go around with smiles on their faces for several days after sex that good. I actually feel bad for those who haven't had that experience (once old enough and married of course).
I also thought it was fantastic that Edward wanted to wait until they were married. Now that's chivalry and compassion on a level that isn't found in most modern books and movies. I thought those were the types of morals we wanted to teach our children- I certainly know they're the morals I want my children to learn.

So...I don't actually know how I stumbled upon this, but I feel oddly compelled to comment on a few things. First of all, I want to let you know I'm coming at these novels (and movie) from the perspective of a 28 year old, married, professional writer. I get paid to write. It's what I do – and for the most part, I do it well.
I held out for the longest time before seeing the movie. Finally, a few friends rented and brought it over, so I begrudgingly sat in front of the television to watch it - and I was hooked. I picked up books one and two the next day and finished them in less than 24 hours. One week later and I've already read all four books and the posting of Midnight Sun on Stephanie Meyer's page.
While the books may not have been the best written stores I've ever read, they are certainly on my list of favorite books. There's something very endearing about them. Meyer does an amazing job creating characters you can truly like. I, too, could have done with a few less descriptors of how “godlike” Edward was, but it’s a teen series after all. In the end, however, it’s the strength, and flaws, of the characters that draw you in. I think she's an amazing artist.
Regarding the supposed abusive relationship between Edward and Bella, I must say I completely disagree. Overprotective relationship - perhaps, but abusive - come on!
Yes, he has Alice entertain her for the weekend while he's out of town so she can't sneak of to the Quileute reservation - but the wolves are his enemy! He knows the damage a "young pup" can cause, and as far as he's concerned Bella does quite an outstanding job of putting herself in harms way without tempting fate by having her surrounded by werewolves. If you've read the books and recall correctly, when she was on the res with the wolves, one of them almost did rip her throat out. I believe Edward has reason to worry.
Secondly, the sex thing. Come on people! After sitting here and reading the constant debate for 20 minutes, I felt the need to go back and reread that portion of the text. For all I knew, perhaps I had missed something. But, no, I hadn't and Bella had fallen asleep afterwards (no knocked unconscious) and she didn't notice the bruising in the morning and was actually quite perturbed with Edward for ruining her euphoria with his brooding about her bruises. She was happy. She knew he hadn't meant to hurt her. She knew he would rather stop existing than cause her pain because he loved her.
And, truth be told, who hasn't had moments of sex where you come out a little worse for wear? Who hasn't had scratch marks down their back, bite marks in the shoulders...it's called passion, people! They certainly aren't malicious marks and I can guarantee you that most people I know go around with smiles on their faces for several days after sex that good. I actually feel bad for those who haven't had that experience (once old enough and married of course).
I also thought it was fantastic that Edward wanted to wait until they were married. Now that's chivalry and compassion on a level that isn't found in most modern books and movies. I thought those were the types of morals we wanted to teach our children- I certainly know they're the morals I want my children to learn.

To Rayne, I say...Amen. I am 33 years old and I still enjoyed these books.

I actually thought the movie took out some of the downright bone-headed false ideals about romance BS that was in these books. The film studio tried to make a semi-decent stab at it using some of the original material.

I know I heard the audience laughing at scenes when I watched it in the theater. I did like the movie better than the book, just FYI--and please leave the personal attacks behind, teen girls... I am not bashing the movie here. It's my opinion. I AM NOT TRYING to change anyone else's. Respect mine, I'll do likewise with yours. We can agree to disagree.

A good debate backs up points using examples and facts; not personal attacks on the poster. Remember that before you write a bash reply to an adult or other person who has a criticism of these books or films. Thank you.

Please read on if you care to, or not. It makes no difference to me because I don't know you and you don't know me.

My favorite scene in the film was the part where Bella tells her dad that Eddie the Vampy Boy wants to meet him, and he snaps his shotgun shut and says, "Bring him in." That got a huge laugh from the audience. :) My sister is a cop, so it's doubly funny to me when I thought about her doing this, or her husband. They live in TX. ;)

I read all of these books because my sister said how great they were. They ARE NOT the best written pieces of Fantasy I have ever read. However, I did get caught up in the story, although there were many things in it I found bugged the ever-lovin' crud out of me to NO END.

I will say the parts narrated by Jacob had me howling in stitches. He was the best developed character, and unfortunately he got the shaft in the end and was thrown on the rubbish heap by the author--sad waste! Too bad... I DID enjoy SOME aspects of the story, so it wasn't a total loss...

I'm even re-reading the first one to see what changed for the film. I had only read book one before the film came out, but I READ ALL OF THEM after I saw the film. So don't SAY I didn't read them if you disagree with my post.

Meyer's writing style in first person is too limiting, for one thing. I thought the story would have worked better using 3rd person, or at least have been more interesting from Edward's perspective (yes, I read the chapter on her website).

Bella is too MARY SUE for another. She has NO life other than Edward. She ditches practically ALL her friends for him. In fact, her father got on her case about it in book 2. (Except for Jake, who she uses as the Rebound Guy, and he's technically JAIL BAIT because of his age... ever hear of the sex offender list, folks? Bella would be on it in book 2 if she and Jake DID IT and the parents objected IF THEY WERE REAL PEOPLE, I might add... WA state has this law, and I know because I live in WA.)

I think the character Edward was a control freak, obsessive, jealous, and a little bit nuts. Taking pieces out of Bella's truck to keep her from seeing Jacob is a red flag to me, and I am a woman in my 30's who has been in an abusive relationship with a man who DID take a swing at me. These are POTENTIAL warning signs of an abuser. HOWEVER, let me finish before you blas me, I will ADD that he DID back down when Bella kept defying him. He DID quit... he is after all a teen boy trapped in an 80 yr old body, no matter how much Bella THINKS he's perfect, he's not. (I got tired of her going on about how perfect his face was all the time. I GOT IT THE FIRST TIME, MEYER!!!)

For lack of a better term, I will say he DISPLAYED the QUALITIES of a BORDERLINE abuser. I am not saying he WAS one, but close... that was what I interpreted when I read it the FIRST time. However, he did not quite get there...

_Public service announcement interruption_
BUT in real life, girls, BEWARE OF BOYS THAT TRY TO CONTROL WHERE YOU GO, WHO YOU SPEND TIME WITH, WHAT YOU THINK, FEEL, ECT. IT'S A VERY BAD IDEA TO THINK THIS TYPE OF PERSON LOVES YOU. YOU DON'T WANT REAL BRUISES, AND IF HE HITS YOU, I DON'T CARE WHAT HIS EXCUSE IS- RUN, AND RUN FAST!!

IF YOU HAVE A REAL STALKER, THEY ARE DANGEROUS AND NOT FUNNY, EITHER. My sister's EX boyfriend stalked her, and he WAS SCARY, NOT FUNNY!!

_End of public service announcement_

Now, back to the book...

It did annoy me to bashing my head on a wall in frustration that she was only THINKING about defending herself instead of DOING IT when she was cornered and harassed by four guys, instead of using her wits. Instead Edward hops in his car and rides to the rescue. (roll eyes) The Damsel in Distress is pretty dated...

I disagree with Mandy that Edward beat her up during sex. I remember the author mainly COPPED out on writing the sex scene altogether.

We only get the MORNING AFTER details. Again, annoying... I was hoping for a tastefully written PG 13 type of scene, very reminiscent of the love scene in the Tristan and Isolde film, for example. Their love scene is tastefully shot and shows VERY little of anything. (It is a LOVE STORY even older than Romeo and Juliet to boot! The viewer can see that the characters love each other, and it is NOT porn or even close. Kudos to the makers of that film for touching on a subject that's hard to do (your first love and marital fidelity) without sounding preachy about it.)

My biggest issue with the story is that Bella wasn't mature enough to want to get married, and Edward kept refusing her for sex. She kept saying she flat out did NOT WANT TO GET MARRIED... Shouldn't HER feelings count, too? Come on, she ripped her clothes off and practically threw herself on him to seduce him and he said no, which he has a right to say, BUT HE still gets HIS WAY instead?! WHAT?!!

How is THAT fair and equitable or a loving relationship built on partnership and trust? She caves in to his wishes and gets married, and she still had COLD feet about it in the book.

She should have had enough of a brain to tell him that he hurt her so they could TALK about it and figure out how to TRY again without the added discomfort for her. Anyone in a relationship would agree with me that you need an open dialogue about these things, otherwise it comes back to bite you later. Lying or withholding just makes it worse. If you learn anything from this book (yes, it's fiction), please learn to be honest with your partner (future if you don't have one).

I thought it would have been better for them to have a compromise, let her go to college, date a few other guys, see if she still feels all madly in love, and then get married after COLLEGE graduation. Obviously that would have been better than only one person getting their way, ignoring the others' feelings. Besides, who was technically older and should know better? Gimme a break already!

She gets pregnant on the HONEYMOON-HOW TRITE IS THAT? (roll eyes)

And WHY was EDWARD trying to pick HER college FOR HER? Doesn't SHE get a say in where she wanted to go to school? Again, controlling and manipulative... NOT equal, NOT LOVE... NOT RESPECT.

I have issue with anyone who thinks it would be OK for girls to emulate Bella's behavior in any way. Her cliff jumping almost-suicide, for example, NOT a good idea for anyone to THINK about copycatting.

I disliked how she purposely USED Jake after Eddie dumped her and left. It would have been better if Eddie had not come back at all. (Yeah, I'll admit I was Pro-Jake's side, provided they WAIT a few years and see how it went! He was too young for them to have a relationship other than good friends yet, IMHO.)

Why am I saying this about copycatting and stuff? Probably because I've seen OBSESSED teen girls screaming at Rob Pattison (he's a 22 year old English ACTOR, girls!!) to marry them--some of them CALL him Edward... wait, do they REALIZE it's a story, a work of fiction? I think parents need to pay attention if they have teen girls getting too obessed with this stuff.

Yes, it's just a story, but DID YOU learn anything from it? Don't let your daughters date stalkers, control freaks, manipulators, or borderline abusers, and don't turn your kids into quasi-pedophiles. (Yeah, don't encourage them to fall in love with toddlers or babies!)

Getting married just to have SEX is not a good enough reason to get married. There needs to be a little more going on than just physical attraction to make a relationship work. I hope young girls realize that this is a Cinderella story and they do not EMULATE the actions of these characters.

Especially cliff jumping if your boyfriend dumps you-come on. Yes, it is FANTASY, and a story, but as a concerned adult, if I were letting my daughter or nieces read this, I'd want to discuss what is wrong with the behavior in these books... DO NOT copy them.

Boys, please don't control your girlfriends, girls, please don't use your friends for the "rebound guy" if your other boyfriend dumps you. What Bella did to Jake was inexcusable. He was idiot enough that he liked it, but I think he wanted her to change her mind about Edward, so he was willing to wait and see...

I can see why there is an appeal by girls to like this sort of story, but reality is much different. I hope they have the wisdom to understand the difference and do not fall into Cinderella Syndrome.

It concerns me when I see packs of teen girls holding signs and screaming for a 22 year old English actor to "marry me"--where's the separation between reality and fantasy?

Oops... sorry for the double statement... this teeny weeny box is hard to scroll through. (sheepish grin)

A preview option would be nice... oh well...

Read this if you think I'm making up that some are not capable of separating reality from fiction...

http://www.crystalair.com/content.php?id=32200811011

Actually April Fools is a little late... but the above link is a joke, thank someone upstairs. :) BUT it does leave room to wonder if there's a few exceptions... enjoy a laugh and don't take Twilight too seriously, girls!

I LOVE TWILIGHT!!!! Icant get enough!!! I own two shirts and I wear Team Edward bracelet everyday!!! I'm ecsatic about the New Moon movie and can't wait for Ecclipse. I think the story about forbidden love is sooooo romantic. Every one is looking for thier Edward...I know I am. Stephenie Meyer is a brillant author and since I'm in the process of writing my own book.... i hope to be as good as her!!!! GO TEAM EDWARD ;D

i love this movie i am a really big big fan i like edward bella jacob rosalie jasper emmet all of them and alice

OMG!!! I just saw that they cast real indians for the roles of the werewolf pack for New Moon. I cant wait to see it....!!! I just love the books and jazz I agree 100% with wat u said I love Edward, Bella, Jacob,Rosalie, Jasper, Emmet, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, and Alice!!! And dont forget Renesme!!!! Team Edward all the way!!

I LOVE Twilight! I drive my parents nuts with it! I just finished reading the 3rd book. I love the movie! i watched it 5 times yesterday. Team Edward all the way, defo!

I just saw on the nternet that Rob and Nikki are seeing each other!!! Wow and Kristen is spending time , too much time, with Taylor!!! New Moon Drama!!! But I cant wait and Eclipse, the movies are going o be great!! Even if Catherine isnt directing it. But I cant get enough of Twilight!! It's something you really want to sink your teeth into..hahahaha!!! Team Edward ALL THE WAY!!!! ;D

so i think that they should hurry! because i will be 14 ten days before eclipse comes out and i want to see it soon! along with new moon but i am not so excited about new moon because edward leaves =[

I am neutral, a peaceful country,switzerland.

I personally think these books are great. I have always hated reading. I only finished books that i was forsed to read in high school. (only when i couldn't find cliff notes) But these book caught my attention and I've read the whole serious in only 3 weeks. Any book that gets so many young adult to read is great. Also parents are read these books too. It's awesome that parents and young adult are reading together for some kids this is the only time that they have really had a confersion with there parents. This allows them to finally open up the comunication lines with there parents. As far as mandy's comments I think she need to get her head out of here butt and think of the young adults of today. Some kids don't have a great of life as well as she must have had it. To all the twilight fans keep reading and chatting about these great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved twilight. I watch it with my kids every day. I can't wait till new moon comes to theaters. My whole family cann't wait to see it. The 3rd and 4th movie I think will be the best. I'm not a big Jacob fan.

I loved twilight. I watch it with my kids every day. I can't wait till new moon comes to theaters. My whole family cann't wait to see it. The 3rd and 4th movie I think will be the best. I'm not a big Jacob fan. cullen team all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved Edward in twilight. Iook forward to seeing the next three movies. Of course they have to make one after each book.Iove the twilight saga!!!!!!

Wow, this is a little bashing comment board isn't it?

I have to say that all the people on hear accusing Edward of being abusive or even borderline abusive need to take a step back and think about the story again. Edward kept Bella away from the dangers of herself and anyone who could/would hurt her. The Quileutes were enemies of the Cullens family and wether Edward knew, that Jacob would never hurt Bella, or not there was still the possibility of Bella getting hurt by one of the Quileutes, because of her knowing and being around the Cullens.

Edward is not controlling or abusive but a boy in love with a girl and the girl loving him in return, even if he is different and a monster in his own eyes. Give the man a break he is doing what he was taught to do in his time. Remember he was 17 in the year 1918, a time of chivalry and compassion for women, back then all women were treated as beauties. Bella played Edwards love card quite often when it came to things she wanted and he didnt. His love for her gave into her quite often as well. I honestly believe that this is the best love story I have read in a long time. The love is not between two people who's "families" dont get along but between the mortal and the immortal . How could you ever find a love that is so much more forbidden?

Well, that is my opinion as I feel everyone is entitled to. Sorry if anyone is upset with what I had to say but I have read the whole series four times now and everytime I pick up something new, something I missed the last time.

If everyone would slow down on being judgemental and enjoy the books for what they are, away to experience true, passionate love and adventure then things would probably be a lot nicer on here. Twilight is an escape to go to places that would never be in our world and expericence the pureness of Edward and Bellas love, for true love like theirs is not found often anymore.

I loved the books and the movie. I believe the people they chose in the movie are excellent.
Rob Pattison is excellent. He might of been what you expected from the book but he plays the part well. I enjoy all the individual chosen to play the Cullens.

I think in twilight, i was watching the movie and they were kissing..and then they didn't do anything..and i'm like "what' they were totally teasing us weren't they..lol......excuse me for wanting a lil action in a vampire movie

the best movie nd book i love this ...i love it ...waitin for 11/20/09

i wantbto watch twilight over& over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Mandy..GET A LIFE ...!!!!SERIOUSLY

Mandy:
Okay, sorry I did not have the patience nor the time to read the entire list of postings but I felt the need to respond. Forgive me if my point has previously been posted by someone else.

To me everyone seems to have forgotten why Edward is so against Bella hanging out with Jacob. Jacob afterall is a wolf whos alpha (Sam) had destroyed half the face of the one he loved/imprinted on.

What sane man would be cool with letting the one true love, in which he's waited over a century for, hang out with that same pack of wolves.

Jacob tries to keep bella from the bloodsuckers just as much as Edward tries to keep her from the pups. Jacob and Edward share the same fear and it is all in Bella's best interest.

I think the book sets a good example to young readers. All my young years, I have been preached to about not having sex until marriage. It is because of Edward that she married prior to having sex. Sex is what people normally do when they are in their honeymoon.

I loved all the books and I loved the movie. Because of the movie, I began to read the entire Twilight series including Twilight itself.

Strangely, this was the fist instance where I enjoyed the movie more than the book. Somehow, the pacing emphasized the emotions of the characters more than in written form.
I have to agree with some of the comments made above that this story seems to cater to the Cinderella Complex from where many women (sheepishly admit I am one of them) engender dreams of being rescued by a tall dark and handsome stranger, who will sweep them off their feet and with whom they could live happily ever after.
So long as the reader and/or viewer understands this and equally understands that in no way is this applicable in real life, there is nothing wrong with exploring that fantasy.

you all are dumb. . get over yourselves, it's ENTERTAINMENT!