Stephenie Meyer - The Twilight Saga Collection

What can I say?  This 34 year old mom fell for the bait that her middle school daughter fed her - hook, line, and sinker!  Stephanie Meyer managed to take a blushing dream and warp it into an amazingly intricate, edge-of-your-seat love story.  I've read much criticism concerning Meyer's writing style, yet in all my years of avid reading, I couldn't disagree with these statements more.  In 3 days time I devoured all 4 books in the saga, thus far published; day 4 found me dissecting Meyer's website to discover an unfinished draft of book 5 available...I couldn't stop reading.  4 days, 4 books and one draft.  I am thoroughly convinced that any woman (of all appropriate ages) would be so completely absorbed by this mesmerizing love story.

Meyer's manages to take the teenage crush to an entirely different level.  This fairytale romance carefully guides readers through crusade of principles, true love, selflessness and selfishness, honor, family, and friends.  Each character presented in this dreamlike saga is carefully and colorfully portrayed, making sure that you 'get' and 'understand' each of them; each setting is crisply and precisely detailed to where you can 'feel' the wet of the rain or its smell.  Each pain is expressed to be felt by the reader, invoking a slew of emotions from the greedy page-turner.  The entire saga flows, intertwines, and envelopes both its purpose, and its effect on those who share it.

I made it a point to read the saga before viewing the first movie, Twilight, based on book one of the series.  The film left me highly disappointed.  Relationships in the film seemed forced, didn't make much sense at times because no time was spent on developing ANY relationship in the film, and it was robustly 'off-the-mark' from the book.  The story is a delicate and passionate one; the movie completely stripped the story of its essence.  If perchance you hit the box office FIRST, without having the truly wonderful experience of the saga behind you, I highly recommend you give the saga a try.  The movie does absolutely NO justice to the books. 

You will meet the lovable characters of Jacob Black and Bella Swann, grow to love the nonhuman Cullen family, with Edward being the only 'single' male teen-aged vampire in the family without a soul mate, and a close look at normal teens in daily action, oblivious to anything outside themselves.  However, luck (usually bad luck for Bella) puts Bella and Edward (and sometimes Jacob) into an against-all-odds dance where emotions run at peak, heartache serves as background music, and somehow, Meyer's has you utterly engulfed in this original creation of her one night's sleep!  My hat comes off to you Meyers...keep the saga rolling, I would definitely like to see many more books grow from the Twilight Saga!!!!!!  In my feeble attempt to share my passion for the series, I may have failed with as little eloquence a racing mind possesses.  Happy reading everyone!

******Parents should read these books BEFORE they allow their teen-aged girls to run amok with the whole saga.  The story does has plenty of kissing and touching in it (and desires that stem from those activities).  There is a part in New Moon (book 2) that brings up the topics of sex (including a daddy-daughter conversation on the matter).  A few other steamy scenes may not be appropriate for younger teens (especially in book 4,Breaking Dawn) as they detail repeated sexual appetites (with bruising), an unintentional honeymoon pregnancy episode, and ultimately a gruesome birthing episode.  If your teens aren't ready for that mom and dad, buy a package of sharpies and please edit their books!!!!!