Book Review: "Midnight Sun" by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Midnight Sun

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Series: Twilight Saga #5

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Page Length: 818 pages

Publication Date: August 4, 2020

Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

I finally did it. I finally read Twilight from Edward's POV. 

When this book first came out during COVID, I initially thought I'd blow through it rather quickly. Well, that obviously didn't happen. I'd reread the entire series just a few months before and it was too repetitive for me with the original book still so fresh in my mind.

That being said, I've been in the Twilight feels this year and decided it was time to finally read it. Without having the first book fresh in my mind, it was a whole different experience this time around. And let me tell you, I'm fully obsessed with this book. 

First things first, Edward is such a simp and also needs to see a therapist for some of his anxieties. Eddy, the response to being worried your girl is going to be bit by a spider is not to sneak into her room without her knowing for nights on end. But, I get it. Seeing Edward's thoughts in this book was very eye-opening. Are some of his actions still super creepy? Yes. However, seeing the rationalizations made it a little less questionable. 

One thing that surprised me, actually, is how often Edward was around without Bella knowing. And I'm not just talking about in her room at night but scenes where we thought she was just alone but she's actually being watched discreetly by him. It's rather funny, actually. 

My favorite part of this book, however, was all the bonus content Cullen. We get very little time with the Cullens in the first few books, if you actually think about the page time. Yet, their histories and way of life are perhaps the most interesting part of the series. Not only did we get to see a significant number of Cullen interactions, we also got a lot of backstory and history. 

Edward had a habit of going on tangents thinking about something that happened in the past and I loved those. We got to see the darker side of the Cullens. I also think that with being able to read their minds, reading from Edward's perspective was eye-opening for all of the Cullens. We got a glimpse into their motivations, their feelings, their powers...it was fantastic. I'm also incredibly surprised by how much we as a fandom underestimated Jasper's abilities. 

All in all, this was a fantastic read for a long-term Twilight fan. While I've reached a point where I am both equally critical and in love with the series, I must say that it was just fun to be back in this world with a fresh perspective. While we're not going to get the rest of the series from Edward's POV, it would be rather interesting to get future books. Or, alternatively, I wouldn't mind a prequel with the Cullens and each of their stories fleshed out in greater detail. 

This is definitely a must-read for Twilight fans. 

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Previous Reviews

Twilight Review

New Moon Review

Eclipse Review

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Review

Breaking Dawn Review

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Disappointing Books of 2020

Well, we're at the end of 2020. It's been a long year yet somehow this ending snuck up on me. I'm just glad it's over. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about my general feelings about 2020 but, rather, to dive into the first of my yearly wrap-up posts. Every year I do a few fun posts to wrap up my reading year and this year was definitely an interesting one.

Today I'm going to be chatting about my disappointing reads of 2020, but I feel like I need to give a bit of an explanation and disclaimer first. Just because these books are on this list does not mean I didn't like or enjoy them. Also, I am not trying to throw shade at any of these authors or people who like these books because, again, I did enjoy some of these. However, the books on this list are here because I had high or different expectations for the book and ended up disappointed. Let's go ahead and dive in!

The first on this list is actually the only one that I didn't like at all. In fact, I'd go as far to say that I hated it. I've mentioned this book multiple times over the year since I read it at the beginning of isolation but I just...it wasn't good. The book I'm talking about is Crave by Tracy Wolff. I had such high expectations for this book. It seemed right up my alley and I had heard nothing but positive reviews. And then I read it. And hated it. I won't get super in depth here because I have a non-spoiler rant review here but I just was severely disappointed and didn't like this book at all.

The next book is Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. I feel like this might be a bit of a cop-out add since I technically haven't finished it yet but I think that fact warrants addition to this list on its own. I have been a die-hard Twilight fan since I was nine. I started Midnight Sun the day it came out. And I still haven't finished it. I'm over halfway and have been struggling. I'll have more thoughts once I finally finish but, for now, it's been mostly disappointing so far despite some new content I've enjoyed.

The third book I have is Losers Reap Her by Hayley Stumbo. This is the long-awaited final book in one of my favorite adult trilogies and I was so excited to finally get to reading it. I will admit that I probably hyped it up way to much in my mind and added unnecessary expectations to it. However, I also feel like this book was way different from the first two. Part of the reason I loved the trilogy so much was because I loved our main narrator, and when the POVs changed in this final book I felt a tad disconnected. Also, the ending was one of my least-favorite tropes of all time so that also didn't help. I won't say that I didn't like this book, because I did. I enjoyed finding the resolution to a trilogy I've loved for so long. However, i was a bit disappointed in it not matching my expectations. 

The last book on this list is Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin. This one hurts probably the most out of every book on this list. The first book, Serpent & Dove, was my number one favorite book of 2019. It still remains one of my top books of all time. I was incredibly excited for the sequel. However, I felt like it let me down. I did try to make my expectations realistic in that a lot of the things I loved about the first book couldn't be replicated. However, it felt like this book dragged a bit and I was quite frustrated by many of the characters throughout a lot of the book. I do think this is a case of second-book syndrome, especially considering this was originally a duology that got stretched to a trilogy. I am still quite excited for the third book, Gods & Monsters, and I did give this book 4 stars, but it didn't live up to the first book or the early hype I'd been reading and, for that, I was disappointed. 

Thankfully, those were the only books I had for this list! There were books that I rated low this year but a lot of those were also ones that I wasn't highly anticipating so they didn't really disappoint me, per se. Hopefully next year I won't even need to do this post! 

What books disappointed you this year? Let me know in the comments! 

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xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Breaking Dawn

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Series: "Twilight Saga" #4

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Page Length: 756 pages

Publication Date: August 2, 2008

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Book 2 Review
Book 3 Review

*Small (and I mean small) spoilers for the series*

So...I finished my reread of the Twilight Saga. Like with the rest of the books in this series, I haven't read Breaking Dawn in years. I do not know when the last time I read it was, but I know that this was probably my most-read book of the entire series. It always used to be my favorite and I was questioning if that would change when I reread it.

I don't know if it's my favorite or if it's tied with Twilight and New Moon for the top spot. I think the one thing is the first half of the book is so long and part of it is told from Jacob's point of view which felt less like Twilight to me. The part where Bella is pregnant just felt a lot longer than it needed to be, honestly. I do absolutely love the rest of it, though, from the honeymoon to her becoming a vampire to the ending. Especially the last half of the book! I have always loved that part of the series the most (for reasons I can't really get into without major spoilers). I'd probably say that this is my favorite book but Twilight and New Moon are close seconds.

That being said, I think one of the reasons why I like this book the most is because the whole love-triangle business is pretty much over. Obviously we still have a bit of those feelings swirling around, but as there's a wedding going on, it's pretty finalized and eventually those angsty feelings from all the characters go away. I really love how the characters in the love triangle overcome those antagonistic feelings and become very tight-knit.

Another reason I like this book more was because a lot of the toxic behavior is much less. We have a very small amount of it, but you can really see the character growth from the first book to this one. Edward, though he disagrees with some of her actions, doesn't force Bella into doing anything. I just like how these characters have developed past the need for control and asshole-ness.

I like how we get to see all the Cullen clan more in this book as well as the Pack. I love each of these sets of characters and seeing them all throughout the entire book was such good time for me. I like big found-family groups in books and these groups are the definition of found-family.

That being said, still not a big fan of a few small things such as how Bella chose Nessie's name, the pregnancy scenes, etc. But overall I still really enjoyed this installment and it's still my number one.

It will be interesting for me after finishing this reread to go back to the beginning in Midnight Sun for Edward's perspective. There's only a year and a half or so between the start of Twilight and Breaking Dawn but it feels so much longer. I can't wait to see Edward's POV, though, and hopefully get even more Cullen family content!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Eclipse

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Series: "Twilight Saga" #3
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Page Length: 629 pages

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Book 2 Review

Like with my reviews for Twilight and New Moon, I'd like to preface this one by saying that I've already read Eclipse. I read it for the first time eleven or twelve years ago and it's been at least eight years since I last read it. That being said, this review will be based off of a reread. I know that I love the story but these are going to be my thoughts as a full-fledged adult. Additionally, most of these comments are addressing problematic aspects even though I enjoyed my reread and gave it 4.5 stars.

So I always enjoyed Eclipse when I was watching the movies over the years. I figured I would like reading  Eclipse more than I liked reading New Moon. I was wrong. While I still massively enjoyed Eclipse and it was such a nostalgic time, there were way more problematic things in this book.

For one, the love triangle was dumb. I always thought it was dumb because it was obvious who Bella was going to end up with but after reading through the book where it was most prevalent, I was just rolling my eyes over it most of the time. To be fair, I never feel super connected to Edward more than Jacob and I like them both equally. However, I am vehemently Team Bella and there's a reason why I support Edward more in this relationship.

At the beginning of the book, both Edward and Jacob annoyed me. Edward was being possessive and controlling (even going as far to disable her truck and have his sister kidnap her for a weekend so she couldn't see Jacob). However, after a conversation with Bella (aka her telling him off), he begins to change and actually becomes so much better. Jacob on the other hand doesn't understand consent. He kisses Bella and when she couldn't get him to stop, she just went limp and waited for him to be done. He constantly insults Edward and, at the end of the book, manipulates Bella into kissing him again in a very mean way.

It seems to me that the movie definitely made these two characters a lot better. Edward is slightly less possessive and controlling and Jacob is way less of an ass. However, I am glad to see Edward's development in this book and even some of Jacob's minuscule development. I will say that I like Jacob in every other book and even part of this book, but then he turned into a douche.

There were also a few things with the representation of the Quileute tribe. I am not a part of this community so I cannot comment fairly on how good the representation was, but I felt that there were a few times when a non-Quileute character would say something about a member of the Quileute tribe and it seemed a bit problematic. This book is obviously quite old but yikes.

Other than these issues, I did enjoy my reread. I definitely thought these issues made me like it a bit less, but I still had the nostalgic feelings and strong connection to the characters to make me enjoy it.  If I'd read this for the first time this year, I probably would have given it such a lower rating. But as it stands, I love this series and story too much to be able to give it an unbiased rating. I will say that after this reread, I do expect it to be my least favorite book in the series just because of the problems I mentioned above (though I do think the movie did a much better job of not being problematic).

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer

Title: New Moon

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Series: "Twilight Saga" #2

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Page Length: 563 pages

Publication Date: September 6, 2006

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Book 1 Review

Like with the first book, it has been years since I've read this installment of the Twilight Saga. I can't pinpoint the exact time I read it last, but it's been over eight years. However, I have watched the movie multiple times since then. In the past, I always said I enjoyed the movie more (simply because I didn't remember much of the differences from the book) but that has now changed.

I don't remember much from when I first read this book but I can tell you that for many years I thought of it as my least favorite in the series. I sometimes thought that it was boring and a waste of an installment when the big events could have been incorporated elsewhere. After rereading, I can now say that I was wrong.

Maybe it's just because I've grown older and can relate more to Bella or maybe it's just because I know the story so well that finding details I'd forgotten was so fun. Either way, I really enjoyed this reread. Whereas with Twilight I tried rereading slowly to make it last, I couldn't put New Moon down. I read half of it one night and then finished the rest in the morning.

I definitely think that my personal growth has impacted how I relate to Bella and view these books. I've grown as a person through reading other books and my own personal life experiences. I cannot speak for everyone, but I really thought that how Bella's struggles were portrayed made them actually very relatable (not all of her struggles, of course, but the healing process especially).

I can't make unbiased comments on this book since it's a series that I've loved so much for so long. This story is so well-ingrained into my mind from reading the books, browsing fanfiction, and watching the movies that I can't objectively discuss things like setting, characters, and plot. I think the movies definitely impact how I see the characters because I'm just vividly picturing the settings, scenes, and actors from the movie (which, let me tell you, is actually refreshing because my brain didn't have to work as hard).

One thing that continues to be refreshing on this reread is just Bella's character voice. In the movies, we don't get a lot of her inner thoughts, struggles, or snark but the books let us see into Bella's head. She really isn't that boring of a character and while she's not perfect and definitely has some issues, she is a lot more realistic to me after rereading these books.

I will say that the problematic aspects seemed a lot less in this book. There were definitely still some parts I cringed at or rolled my eyes at, but overall they seemed a lot less. Honestly it was probably because Edward was gone for most of the book (which makes him sound like a bad person, oops). I'm interested to see how my reread of Eclipse goes because I know the love-triangle aspect and possessiveness really ramps up in that one.

Overall, I just have to say that I can't objectively review these books so please take this review as commentary from a die-hard Twilight fan of 12 years. But I absolutely loved this reread and have a new appreciation for New Moon. Now onto Eclipse!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer 

Series: "Twilight Saga" #1

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Page Length: 501 pages

Publication Date: October 5, 2005

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

So I haven't re-read this in at least 8 years, if not longer, and I was quite excited about it. When Stephenie announced Midnight Sun a little while ago, my inner Twilight fan reared to the surface and I pulled my beat-up copy off the shelf because I couldn't resist revisiting the books.

I've watched the movies over the years quite often. I've read dozens of fanfictions. But it's been years since I actually read the books and, because of Midnight Sun, I've decided that now is the time to reread them. It was actually really interesting because I realized some of the things from the movie that I never remembered being different in the book. Some iconic lines and scenes from the movie are completely different or missing from the book, so I just enjoyed getting to note those differences.

That being said, on this time around I definitely noticed a lot more of the problematic aspects of this book as well as some general craft-related things that were a bit iffy. As I've grown up, I've definitely had more discussions about how this series can be problematic, but when I was rereading this book there were definitely things that made me cringe when I originally was in love with them. I could probably write a whole paper on the issues of just this book alone, let alone the whole series. But I digress. Additionally, as a writing student who's almost finished with a degree focused on creative writing, there were just some craft-related things that I noticed weren't the best.

I don't think I would have liked Twilight as much if I'd read it for the first time now. But I read this book when I was 8. I fell in love with it and this series has done so much for me and been such an important part of my life for many years. I've visited Forks, I've made so many friends, and I fell in love with YA because of this series. Even rereading this book and knowing that it's not a literary masterpiece of any kind, I still loved it.

I loved being reuinted with this story in this form and these characters. This book really did feel like I was slipping into a piece of my childhood...a familiar place that felt like home. I know it's not perfect and there are a lot of issues, but I loved rereading it and I'm excited to continue on rereading the series since I haven't read them in years.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Villains

Hello everyone! We're back with another Top 5 Wednesday and I'm so excited about this one. The topics this month are pretty awesome and this week is no exception. For this wonderful day of October the 10th, we're discussing our top 5 favorite villains.

At number five, I decided to go with Corien from Furyborn by Claire Legrand. We don't see as much of him as some of the other characters in this first book, but I love him already. He's like that villain that you hate to love.

For number four, I picked the Volturi from the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. For me, there's something just so timeless about the Volturi and this series. It's been such a staple of my life for so long that the Volturi have always been a set of villains at the back of my mind.

Number 3 I'm going with Voldemort from Harry Potter. He's just a classic villain that I had to go with, and, as opposed to Umbridge, I don't hate hate him. I enjoy him as a villain even if I don't particularly love him. I still think he's an asshole with a weird obsession with Harry, but I also find him to be an enjoyable antagonist. 

For number 2, I'm choosing Sebastian Morgentstern from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. Another staple of my middle school years, this series was so amazing to me and I always loved Sebastian no matter how many terrible things he did. (Also cue me being behind on the Shadowhunters show and not realizing that this gorgeous person was playing Sebastian)

And, at number 1, we have AIDAN from the Illuminae Files trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. How can I not love AIDAN? It's a killer monster AI yet it develops feelings and I just love AIDAN, ok? Its character development is just on point and I only wish we were getting more books set in this universe so that I could get more AIDAN in my life! 

Who are your top 5 favorite villains? Do we have any of the same ones? Let me know down below! Also, feel free to join the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday Group to keep up to date on the latest topics and see everyone's posts! 

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xoxo

Lauren

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