WARNING: Spoilers ahead!
I first came across this book on an advertisement on vampirefreaks.com. After seeing the novel in Target, on sale, I figured, "Eh, what the hell...." and snagged a copy.
Not my shining moment.
Before I'd finished the first couple of chapters, it became very obvious that this was definitely a piece of fiction meant for young adults. It's a shame Target does not have clearly divided categories for their literature (or at least, the one here doesnt) or else I probably would have steered clear from it. Oh well.
The main problem I had with "Twilight" was that the characters were very, very bland, not to mention confusing! I've read several articles on naming your characters that states you should only have ONE sexy, heroic name per book, and never name your characters epithets that begin with the same letter. Emmett, Edward, Esma... Stop.
The characters themselves were "Mary Sues", no real originality to behold. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find much of that at all in this book. Beautiful, ethereal, gothic beings, living in a mansion, they're so strong and amazing and mysterious and talented and blah blah blah. Of course. Where are their flaws? By this, I am not referring to a traumatic life, making them hurt and reclusive and such (though I'm pretty sure that was incorporated. Too many characters who were stereotypes to boot. Moving on!
The whole time I was reading this book, I wasn't thinking, "I just need to find out what happens next! Just one more chapter before bed, I swear!" My thoughts were more along the lines of, "... I can't wait to start that Steven King novel. Just finish this thing and get it over with." A real teeth gritter of a task. I suppose the highlight of my boredom was when they were playing baseball in the field... nothing interesting there at all. You may as well just skim that part if you must bother. I bothered, and felt cheated. You've been forewarned.
The good points of this book? ...
I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Give me a moment. Oh yeah! The cover design was pretty, and the product itself doubles wonderfully as a clipboard. Don't forget the fact that if someone ever tries to break into your house, you have a couple hundred pages of vampiric firepower to beat them over the head with.
However I did think what the villain did to trick Bella into going to the ballet studio was crafty. Thumbs up, Stephanie! That wasn't so bad. I'm pretty sure most people would have known the difference between a home video and their own mother - the sound quality is a factor, not to mention that she's probably seen the footage half a million times and would recognize it - but that's forgivable.
Bella's relationship with her father was nicely portrayed, as well as her homesickness. I was glad to see there was at least that much there. Unfortunately, nostalgic depression is a very passed around emotion. Every one has written a character with that burden at some point, so no innovation there.
The fact that the author threw in standard, high school characters that were interested in Bella was a good touch; it reminded us that she had a life outside of fang-boy. Gave a good opportunity for jealousy, too.
However I can't stress how much I truly DID NOT enjoy vampires, in themselves, in this story. They SHINE in the sunlight instead of combusting, can't be harmed by crucifix's, and could just as well take a bubble bath in holy water as they could tap?
Don't mess with a classic.
Or, if you must, please make your characters less bland than a baked potato so we have a chance at believing these attributes.
Overall, this author DOES have potential to write well. The plot was there, it wasn't so bad. The use of similes and what nots are minimal, the words rambling, and so forth... but she did get published, right? There has to be some kind of talent there.
If you liked this book, you're bound to like "Vampire Kisses 2: Kissing Coffins" by Ellen Schreiber. If not, congratulations, you'll save a lot of money on straight jackets.
