Twilight (Twilight #1)

Reader reviewed by Shardaye

This "thrilling" tale of vampire romance captured the hearts of readers (or rather screaming girls) the world over. When Bella Swan moves to the town of perpetual rain, also known as Forks, Washington her life is suddenly changed. She falls unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen; a pale skinned, topaz eyed, 108 year old virgin vampire. After several strange encounters- one of which includes Edward stopping a van from crushing Bella (damn!) with his bare-albeit supernaturally strong- hands, our protagonist finally concludes that Edward Cullen may not be what he appears.

The events that follow are sure to shock and awe you, or at least intrigue you enough to read on, as Meyer takes you on a journey of sparkling vegetarian vampires, supernatural baseball and abnormally pale faces.

 While Stephenie Meyer may have been transformed from housewife to household name in a proverbial heartbeat, this reader remains unconvinced that her calibre of writing should or even can be compared to that of JK Rowling. Meyer lacks the intricate details and the masterfully woven plot lines that would place her in the upper echelon among authors.

 I found Twilight to be an entertaining read, but upon closer reading quickly tired of hearing Bella rambling on about Edward's grace and beauty in between tripping over her own feet.

 This book is mostly character driven which is what has inspired such an enthusiastic fandom. The novel is written in a simple prose-which may explain why so many people can read it and relate and the plot is predictable. Boy meets girl. Boy thirsts for girl's blood. Boy defends girls from murderous vampire.  Just the usual...

 So in the words of Edward's own personal brand of heroin (aka Bella- it's an inside joke, read the book) 'This is not the end but the beginning...' of the Twilight Saga and there are many more hysterical screams of fan girls to come.  

Great book good plot line stays the same way. It might get a little confusing but it is a very amazing book. It is a very good start to a good book nice hook will make the readers think good book.

I know people, that some of you are probably banging their heads on the table thinking "why?" However the question is.... have any of you actually READ the book or watched the "FILM"? Because its (mostly) true that books are better then the film.
Let's be honest here, I for one have never even heard of the book twilight; until the film came out. Even if i did see the title of the actual book (a person holding a freaking apple! i know don't judge a book by it cover) wouldn't come across my mind thats its related to vampires , not one bit.....

It all starts off in a rainy, wet, town called forks (which actually does exist.) a town i'm sure is a great place for vamps to live, but not so much for Bella, who thinks its the worst move ever; I mean who could blame her? Moving from sunny phoenix, to wet folks to live with her dad (charlie) because she wanted to let her mom and her new hubby travel because he's a baseball player. So..... she doesn't have a problemo with her step dad, let me just clarify that.

The timid Bella (which is short for Isabella) starts Forks high school! Yey!! We all know how staring a new school is like. No friends.... bullies...... nobody cares.... BUT she befriends several other characters and even gains a crush- ow how cute! Edward Cullen is a sexey vampire who is attacted to bella because he cant read her mind, which drives him crazy and he also craves her blood, and despises her which then turns to love...

i'm not going to gone on about the book because i'm all sure we know what happens next. I think why people miss judge this novel is because its kinda of diffrent from all the other vamps stories. Meyer created a knew view on vampires, which is pretty cool, it different.

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…" he murmured. I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word.
"What a stupid lamb," I sighed.
"What a sick, masochistic lion.” THIS is my favorite quote in the howl book. Its a love that's impossible, that can never work; but it did. i think thats one of the reasons why people hate the book, maybe because people think vampires should be labeled as soulless, miserable things that are only capable of making great horror series.

"Edward in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn't get used to it, though I'd been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface."
I think we all should that traditionally vampires don't go out in the sun, because they will simply be destroyed. However Meyer creates a new label for the creatures....they sparkle, and of course to (mainly at men) find it kind of weak that these super beings sparkle and give up.

For all those Buffy fans, or Dracula fans out there know that vampires crave on human blood as the price of there immortality, but Meyer brings vampires to the 21st century because the Cullen's (Edwards family.) are vegetarians. No people they don't eat vegetables, they drink animals blood.

I like Meyers mix of romance and vampires its different, like a breath of fresh air. If people kept sticking to traditional vampires without twisting the myth into there own creation people will then get bored because the story will end up predictable.

An amazing book, the beginning of one of my favorite series ever.

Honestly I was a little worried what I would think after so many years and books between me and my first read(s). I gave it five stars then because of how it captured my attention. I was luckily the whole series was out, and I couldn't stop until I read every last word of the series, including the partial draft of Midnight Sun. The story telling still swept me away, the romance made me feel bubbly and made me imagine myself as Bella. I loved the family aspect on both ends. Charlie and Renee, her mom and dad, and then Edwards' vampire family. Carlisle is so compassionate, Esme motherly, and then there is Alice. She is so happy, and I love how she just accepts Bella in and loves her as a friend.

It made me happy, transported me to a different place entirely, where the words flew by but I tried to savor each one. I loved the character development in this one, and can't wait to go even further with these awesome characters.


I really loved the storytelling and the characters, and the romance. It all made me have that drive to read more and find out what happened next. Twilight rekindled my love for reading, getting transported to another place. Giving me new characters to love, new settings to imagine myself a part of, and a romance to swoon over. It also led me to blogging, because I found some awesome blogs that had lists of books to read after Twilight, and though I dealt with Post-Awesome-Book-Depression because the Twilight series gave me all the feels, eventually I found others that tickled my fancy with the help of my library and book bloggers with awesome recs and reviews.


Bottom Line: I give it 5 stars again. Twilight is my own personal brand of heroin.

The first book in the Twiight series starring Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Bella moved to the rainy town of Forks, thinking her life was just gonna get really boring. But while at school she meets Edward, a beautiful, pale-faced boy. But Edward is not what Bella thinks he his, a vampire.

Sometimes this book got slightly boring as nothing was really happening. There wasn't enough action for a vampire book. I didn't fins this book as the review said it was but I guess it was written pretty well.

loved, loved, loved this book. I was so stoked when they turned it into a movie. I really liked the budding romance between Edward and Bella... brought me right back to my high school days! And Edward Cullen seems like the perfect boyfriend, might I add. Who wouldn't want a vampire to love and protect you?! Who better!?

I must admit, when I first time I read this, I found it exhilirating. I read in two days and just had to go and buy the other 3 books. I loved the chemistry between Edward and bella, albeit a tad cliché. It's a good read.

I don't think I've ever been so glad to be wrong about something.

I have to admit, I started out reading this because I was convinced I'd hate it. After all, it's fans were driving me crazy, and as far as I could tell from the overview it was just another gothic/urban fantasy romance novel. But as I like to know what I'm talking about when I decry something, I decided to read as far into the book as I could stand. At first I skimmed, convinced in my bias that I was already wasting my time. And then...I started reading. And I couldn't stop. I went back and re-read what I'd skimmed, and by the time I finished I was bewildered that I'd actually enjoyed myself. The story, the setting, the structuring, and the writing style were all very much up my alley.

I didn't stop there, oh no. So maybe the first book was pretty good, but surely the author would disappoint me in the next book or two by progressing the tactfully sensual into the irreverently sexual. But by the time I got to the fourth book I finally accepted that she had somehow been candid and true to the teenage hormone-driven emotional overload without skipping down the easy, predictable route that some callously do. Ultimately, I'm glad it's become such an icon for the current generation. It's nice to know there is something of influence in the culture that doesn't encourage the prevailing confusion over the difference between sex and love.

I know I have referenced my experience with Twilight in some of my other reviews, so I decided I would write it out for you all. Twilight and I have a complicated relationship. I first read the series in 2008 the summer after that I graduated high school. I was coaching at a soccer camp for two weeks and all the kids were talking about this book. FYI They were talking about Breaking Dawn so I was an entire series behind. Still, it caught my interest. So I asked what books they were talking about and alas, Twilight came into my life.

I didn't even know at this time, that the film was about to be released in November of the same year. So, when we had our coaches weekend off. I bought Twilight in town (Since I'd already finished the other 4 books I'd brought with me) and began my journey.

Let me break it down for you on my first experience.

Things I Liked:

Edward Cullen: If we take away the creepy stalker portion. Which, I was admittedly oblivious to when I first read the book. He is first and foremost the modern gentleman. Except, that he's only a gentleman because he was raised in an era where it was expected of him to be. In contrast to the Erics and Mike Newton's of their world, it was refreshing. It was the true fantasy. For me, it wasn't that he was this sparkly vampire, it was that he was a gentleman, with standards and morals and respect. He obviously had his flaws (overprotective much?) but at the time, he was what the Jane Austen fan in me was dying for. (Still is admittedly. Where is Mr. Darcy?)

Jacob Black: Not Jacob necessarily, but his whole story, his family, his life. The whole reservation. It's really interesting the way it was all brought together with the legends, why the 'cold people' aren't allowed on their land. This was a well thought out portion of the book that continued for me.

Things I Didn't' Like:

Bella Swan: I know she is supposed to be there every girl. Average, not too pretty, but I just can't stand her. This makes the book particularly difficult because if you can't stand your narrator there's a problem. She just makes a lot of dumb decisions and doesn't really redeem herself. (Unfortunate to say this continues through the series). She bleeds too easily, and I understand being clumsy but if I returned back from a trip with my boyfriend all beat to hell after having 'accidentally fallen down the stairs and through a window' I'm pretty sure my parents would have had him arrested. Particularly if one of my parents was a law enforcement official.

Jacob Black: I know he's also under my likes but come on. People complain about Edward being possessive, but my God, Jacob never even dates Bella, ever, and he behaves like he has some sort of monopoly over her time and attention. Even in this book when he's a year young than her, barely ever sees her because they go to different schools. He somehow still manages to behave with some sort of right to her.


NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO ANYBODY. This is what particularly bothered me about the series. Both Jacob and Edward are emotionally abusive in their own right. Luckily Bella can make her own decisions (Even if those decisions are always terrible, ridiculously awful decisions)


I binge read this series. Once I returned home I bought the next three and finished them all in one week at the beach. After I was done, I felt obsessed. I was a Twihard. It wasn't until the film came out, and I saw some of my favorite moments played out visual I started to second guess myself. So I went back. When I re-read it, I found that the content I had so eagerly sucked up, was now bothering me. Don't know if it's because I'm older now, or because I wasn't a fan of the casting. I don't know but I can definitely now scratch Twihard off my list of Fandom Titles. I still give it three stars because I cannot deny the fact that I was swept up in this series.