Breaking Dawn

There, it's done. We know what happens to Bella and Edward, and our love-sick vampires live happily ever after. There was a lot of bad press about this book, which concludes the series that began with Twilight, but I actually thought it was one of the strongest. If you haven't read it and intend to, skip this review because it contains SPOILERS.

First off, I've always felt that these books had a strong pro-abstinence/anti-premarital sex slant to them. It was fun when it created this sexual tension in the first book or two, but then it started getting wearisome. On the one hand I just wanted Bella and Edward to get it done and over with and stop making such a big deal about it; on the other hand I couldn't imagine what would support the story if they did. Breaking Dawn answers the dilemma, but not exactly in the way I envisioned. Yes, Bella and Edward wait until they marry (at 19). Yes, they have sex soon after at Bella's request since she wants to still be human. They conceive a weird half-vampire baby which has to be chewed out of Bella's womb by Edward in a very Rosmary's Baby kind of way. Bella becomes vampire, Jacob falls in love with baby, blah blah blah. By the way, the way Bella treats Jacob is totally sick. She leads him on and acts so pious about it. It's mean. Anyway, all ends well. Against all odds these books are absolute page turners.

So now we have the MOVIE coming out soon! All of us up here in the Pacific Northwest are particularly excited, being as this series is set in Forks, Washington. Parts of the film are filmed up here in our neck of the woods (and in Portland, OR, mainly). What do you think of the casting? I'm not sure what to make of the gigantic pompadour sported by Edward . Despite the Conan hair, all the previews I've seen so far look really promising and I'm going to make absolutely sure to do my YA bibliophile duty and get a babysitter so I can see this in the theaters.
Author: Stephanie Meyer