Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Twilight begins with Isabella “Bella” Swan leaving sunny Phoenix, Arizona to go live with her father, Charlie, in rainy Forks, Washington.  Bella sees this as a type of punishment due to the small-town gossip, grey weather and awkward encounters until she sees Edward Cullen. At first Edward seems to be just a mysterious teenaged boy until he makes an impossible rescue of Bella in the school parking lot. From then on, Bella’s life takes a turn towards the supernatural as she realizes that she is “unconditionally and irrevocably in love” with Edward and that humans are not the only population in Forks.

            The appeal of Twilight for me is that, as a librarian, it is important to read what is currently popular with teens and, having not read Twilight before this class, I knew it was something I needed to do.  That being said, I did not particularly enjoy Twilight, although I do see its appeal factors.  Young teenaged girls become enthralled with the relationship between the ordinary, awkward girl and the beautiful vampire.  I am sure many girls finished this book with hopes of meeting their “real life” Edward Cullen.  What I did not like about this book, however, was how Bella’s happiness was so dependent on Edward – it seemed as if every thought was consumed by him and I think this gives teens an unrealistic and unhealthy expectation of what falling in love is like.  I found Bella to be a whiny damsel in distress, which I am sure many teen girls are, but I did not think she is a good, strong role model for young adult girls.

I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in supernatural stories involving vampires and werewolves, especially if they read and enjoyed reading the Sookie Stackhouse series or watch the HBO series “True Blood.”  I would also recommend this book to someone who enjoys popular series that are heavy with romance – this book somewhat reminded me of Matched by Ally Condie in that the central aspect of the story is the love triangle between Edward, Bella and Jacob (similar to the characters Cassia, Ky and Xander).