Twilight: Ten Years Later

Hi everyone! This is my first book review, and I'm very excited about this one. I recently was thinking about Twilight, and remembered that it had been ten years since I had read them. TEN. YEARS. This was right around the time I was thinking about starting a book review blog, and I figured this would be the perfect first post! You see, ten years ago (2008), I was in 8th grade. I was reading mystery novels like they were going out of style. But then in school, we got a catalog for Scholastic. You remember those, right? It was the best thing! Twilight was in that catalog. The little blurb sounded interesting, so I asked my parents if I could get it and they said yes. I remember inhaling it, and immediately needing the second book. So my step-mom ordered New Moon online and I devoured that one in a day. Then I tore threw Eclipse and I finished that one right before Breaking Dawn was coming out. I went to the midnight release of Breaking Dawn at my local Barnes and Noble with my step-mom and my best friend. And thus, Twilight was my intro to the young adult section. I want to go one by one, but I wanted to give a general overview of the series before I individualize them.

I realize now that Twilight was my security blanket. It has always held a soft spot in my heart, and I will always be a Twi-Hard. Re-reading Twilight was like taking a bath in nostalgia. I was 14 again and falling in love with vampires. And now that I'm older, I picked up on a lot more things that I didn't the first time. I've read a lot of reviews from people who have re-read Twilight and said they hated it the second time. Not me, I fell in love all over again and I'm wondering where all of my merch went from ten years ago. I reminisced about the midnight releases for the movies, and the long discussions with my friends over Team Edward or Team Jacob. Twilight is my happy place, and I'm very happy that I took the time to rediscover this world.

All the positive stuff aside, I will say that there is a lot of Romeo & Juliet-esque drama in these books. I never realized how.. angsty they were. I swear, everyone was willing to offer up themselves as sacrifices WAY too often in these books. Bella was constantly thinking of ways she could slice herself open and let the blood-thirsty vampires get her instead of Edward or Jacob. That was my only real complain through this series. There was an insane amount of people trying to die to save others. Which at first was noble, but it got a little old by the end. But if that was my only complaint, I think that's a good thing.

Twilight. My security blanket. My safe haven. I really loved re-reading this. I loved watching Bella and Edward meet and fall in love. All of those huge lines: "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb." "You're my own personal brand of heroin." Ugh. Fangirl feels. I have seen the movies a million times, but I forgot how much of a personality Bella actually has, despite what everyone else says. Guys, Bella is funny. She's sarcastic, and witty, and I love her. I remembered how alike we are in some aspects. I'm clumsy, I have brown hair and brown eyes and I'm also five foot four. I remember how it felt to read this right before I went into high school, and how excited I was to maybe meet my own Edward. All the fangirl feels for this book. 

Ahh New Moon. This was always my least favorite book in the series. This is the one book I'll complain about more than any of the other ones. When I first read this, I really sympathized with Bella when Edward left. Now, though, I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. I understand heart break. I've been dumped, I've been there. I haven't been dumped by a vampire, obviously, but still. I do remember the dark days of heartbreak. But I also remember trying to move on. Bella didn't do that. She just accepted that her life was over and she was bound to be a shell of a person. That irritated me, I won't lie. When I first read the series, I was so strongly Team Edward that Jacob just annoyed me. I never understood why Bella was so torn between them, until I re-read this. I understand better now that I'm older why Jacob was such a big part of her life. It made me sympathize more with him, and it also put me more in the middle when it came to the two of then. Now, I'll always be Team Edward, but I felt more for Jacob than I originally had.

My other gripe, and this is my last point for this book, is how quickly she takes Edward back. There was no hesitation. She was just like "Yep okay cool let's get back together!" Like, did you not remember the MONTHS of pain you went through? I would have at least made him grovel a little bit, sheesh.

Re-reading Eclipse felt like reading it for the first time. This was the book I remembered the least, even though a crap ton happens in this one! It was probably because the first time I read it, I didn't understand why Bella was having such a hard time letting Jacob go. This time, however, I found this to be a very interesting read. She had Edward back, but she was still torn between him and Jacob. Now that I understand better, I can sympathize a lot better with her. Jacob acted immature a lot during this book, but I also understand why. He's a sixteen year old kid who had his heart broken. And I'm sorry  but that whole scene by the tent when he convinces her to ask him to kiss her? That was just cruel. I was actually quite mad at him there. 

Another thing that was sort of odd to me was that for as much as Bella loved Edward and wanted to be with him, it struck me a little odd that she was so repulsed by the idea of marriage. But, that's a whole other discussion. I absolutely adored the part where they're spending the night at the house all alone and he proposes. Fangirl alert! Team Edward all the way! Another thing that surprised me that I didn't really realize the first time I read through these books was how little physical contact is between Edward and Bella. I remember squealing anytime they kissed or got a little too carried away. Now, it's like how do you even be in a relationship with someone you can't even properly make out with? I know, there's more to love than the physical, but still! 

Breaking Dawn is easily tied for first place with Twilight. I really loved Breaking Dawn. I think my list goes Twilight/Breaking Dawn, Eclipse, New Moon. I loved everything about this one. For one, Bella and Edward finally do it (yay!) and I loved the rediscovering of everything as a vampire. Not going to lie, as much as I enjoyed Jacob's perspective, I wish I could have read more about Bella while she was pregnant. I was just glad that Stephenie came up with a good idea to give Jacob his happy ending too. I mean, really, how else could they have kept Jacob involved? 

I think my favorite part of this was that there was a whole big chunk about how everyone was just simply happy. For once, they could just be a happy family for a little while where everyone was content with everything. 

In comparing with the movie, I do kind of wish there had been more of an action scene with the Volturi. I wanted to see Bella finally be able to do something other than hide in the corner while the supernatural characters did their thing. I think it ended perfectly, though. However I did find myself wishing for more when I finally got to the last page. I think it was a wonderful way to end, with Bella finally able to share her thoughts with Edward. 

All in all, I was really very glad that I re-read this series. It was my intro to YA, and my intro to fantasy/supernatural. It was such a huge part of my life when I was a teenager, and it was very awesome to rediscover all of this as an older person. I changed my mind on Jacob and realized that he was actually a bigger part of this than I realized. I have a few small complaints, but overall I still absolutely adore the Twilight series. I know this was sort of a long post, but I wanted to cover the whole series at once. I tried to keep it short! 

Also, #TeamEdward! 

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