Breaking Dawn

Breaking Dawn

by Stephenie Meyer

768 pages

In keeping with the "fluffy" nature of the Twilight books I've been doing some rather "fluffy" reviews. This one will be no exception! Before I get to my review though, there are a few things I have to say. (This first part is spoiler-free so no worries if you haven't read this book yet.)

First, I have never, in my entire life, felt the NEED to go to the bookstore to buy a book RIGHT NOW. I happily wait for my turn on the long library lists, for my friends to finish their copies and lend them to me, for a book to come out in paperback, etc. I'm not an impatient person.

Along with that, although I do read constantly I don't read obsessively. I like to watch tv, hang out with my family, sleep (!), and in general have a life. Never have I ever felt a burning desire to NOT PUT DOWN THIS BOOK, or at least if I did feel that way I was able to take a deep breath and do it anyway.

The Twilight Saga screwed up my track record on both of those fronts. I did borrow the first book from a friend, but the 2nd book I bought (even though that same friend said she'd buy it for me when she got back from vacation), and the 3rd I got for Christmas (before I had finished book 1). On Dec. 30th on my lunch break I rushed to the store to buy book 4 - I couldn't stand the though of being without it. What's the deal with that?!

That same afternoon I started reading around 4:30pm. I had to put it down to go to a New Year's Eve party but I picked it up again the next morning, Jan. 1st. Luckily kiddo wanted to play outside with his friends most of the day because I couldn't stop reading (almost) all day. I finished it that same night at exactly midnight. That's 768 pages in about 32 hours! Am I crazy?! It's not like the writing is even all that great - it's just that I'm so involved in the story that my heart starts racing if I even try to put it down. That's what you call an addiction, right?!

I told hubby that I would be seriously relieved when I got through this series because I could go back to my normal reading patterns and my LIFE. Now that I AM finished, I'm just waiting for girls night with that same friend who lent me her book so we can discuss the books and I can finally get this out of my system!

Ok, now on to my review. Be forewarned - there are spoilers galore in here! And also, there is nothing chronological about this list at all ...

• So I figured out that Bella would get pregnant, or at the very least that she would get a baby somehow. I really wasn't all that surprised there. I had heard there was a big twist in this last book and I was quite disappointed that I'd figured it out so easily.
  


• HOLY COW!!!!!!!! Jacob imprinted on the baby?!?!?!!!?! Now THAT'S a twist I didn't see coming (although I should have since the hints were everywhere). Hubby and kiddo thought I was nuts because I kept shouting "No WAY!" when I got to that part.
  


• Bella's passion on the island made me smile. I was so glad that Edward finally chilled out a bit, even if he did get all stiff and formal again so quickly.
  


• I loved spending time with Jacob's pack. My 14 year old cousin said she hated that part of the book, but since I'm a huge Jacob fan (and I seem to have a thing for wolves too) I quite enjoyed it.
  


• I got worried for a while that Jacob and Leah would end up together simply because of their similar situations. I was not happy with that potential outcome - it would have just been a sad solution.
  


• I know this is a Young Adult book, but where is all the carnage?! I mean, the Happy Ever After ending IS appealing - and less stressful - than any other ending, but like I said in my review of Eclipse, a BIT more realism would be nice (again, I KNOW that realism and Twilight shouldn't be in the same sentence, but WHATEVER!). I guess I read too much adult sci-fi/fantasy ... the author seemed to take the easy way out here.
  


• I liked Bella much better as I vampire. I liked how she had to be turned in order to save her life, I liked how Jacob was involved, and I liked her personality and behavior MUCH more after the change.
  


• Speaking of that, I liked Bella and Edward's relationship much better after her change as well. They seemed on much more equal footing (duh!) and their relationship felt healthier and more balanced than before. Finally.
  


• And speaking of THAT, I have to give the author credit here. I've been a fan of Jacob since book 2. I loved the passion he and Bella had, their crazy friendship, and the obvious love he had for her. HE is the one I was fantasizing about as I read. But when the relationship between he and Bella changed, my passion unconsciously changed as well. I didn't realize it until the end, but I started thinking of Jacob more as a friend than as a lover (oh, darn, he was MUCH more appealing as a lover too). I'm sure it was in part due to the changing relationship between Edward and Bella (that cold skin thing really turned me off, but now they are the same temperature, so that's a good thing). But my point is that the author was quite deft in manipulating my emotions that way.
  


• And back to the ending, it is really satisfying in a teenage-girl kind of way. She gets her prince, her baby, her best friend, and her daddy, all wrapped up with a bow. *swoon* The tiny part of me that remembers being a teenager is really pleased with that too. The adult part of me wants to yell at the author for the "cop out" but oh well ... I'll just listen to the giggling teenager for a while longer.
  

And now, I can get back to reality. My addiction has just about run its course. I promise to post about my girls night discussion once it happens, but after that I'm back to reading at a normal pace and reading something with MUCH LESS fluff!