I really wanted to love this book like everyone else seems to adore it but I can only give it a 3.5 stars and for the life of me I can't understand whI really wanted to love this book like everyone else seems to adore it but I can only give it a 3.5 stars and for the life of me I can't understand why there's so much hoopla over what seems to be a very average story. This is no second-coming of Harry Potter that's for sure. The writing is ok but far from great, I barely felt the "love story" between Edward and Bella and as for Bella well she’s just plain annoying --very stereotypical of the raging hormone teenager who goes from highs to lows in the blink of an eye.
When Edward claimed he loved her and she loved him I thought that was really out of left field –there was not enough “believability” build up for me anyway. The non-stop "he's so beautiful/they're so beautiful” talk got on my nerves. It seemed to be like filler when the author had nothing else to say. For a 17 year old and a "mature" guy who's seen a lot even though he hasn't done a lot, not even getting into some heavy "fooling around" was soooo unbelievable. I'm not saying they have to be horndogs or anything but what are the odds of him sleeping with her in her bed and he doesn't even try to cop the ol’ feel, or her for that matter :-/ I also didn't like that he was always cold to the touch and described as marble --it was hard for me to really like him the way you should like a hero -- not that I disliked him though, I just didn’t really feel anything for him.
What I did like was the whispering when he spoke to her quietly --very intimate :)
I think that the media has done a fabulous job with publicity/marketing and that's what's certainly helped make this book the massive success that it is, but for me anyway it's just an average read and an ok story ---I'll probably still pick up the other 3 though because I want to know what happens but the whole frenzy over the story in my opinion is overblown. ...more