Twilight: The Twilight Saga, Book 1

So... the book that started it all. The book that started the saga, the movies, and the arguments over who Bella should wind up with. When I first read this, I loved it. The writing was very descriptive, the characters were developed enough. The length was a little repetitive, but some books are just longer than others. I gave it 4 stars because of the length and how some chapters were too drawn out for me. It is about a teenage girl named Bella Swan who moves to Forks, Washington. She meets Edward Cullen, who surprise, is a vampire. As for the age rating, it was probably the most mild book I've ever read. No swearing, no drinking/drugs/smoking, the romance isn't graphic. In fact, one would argue there is not a lot of actual romance in this book. Violence is limited to one short chapter, which you can skip or not. Parents complain about how Bella's a horrible role model, and the relationship is unhealthy, and how they don't want their daughter to make those decisions. They do have a point, but here's the thing: This is not Moxie. This is not Miss Americana. This is a fun read about a human/vampire relationship. Bella is not supposed to be a role model. I would say that while this book doesn't exactly have "positive messages" it does have plenty of redeeming value. My main point about this is: Does this sound familiar? Beautiful blonde cheerleader and star football player fall in love. They're both rich, have great parents, and are perfect. In Twilight, however, Bella is an outcast. She is neither beautiful or rich or perfect, but her kindness is why people want to be around her. And it shows you, you can have messy hair and not love to wear dresses and not be rich and still be in a relationship with the person at your school everyone wants.

Though many people think that the leading character Bella is uninteresting because shes not like a modern day heroine , I think that's what makes her so relatable to so many people . She's shy , awkward , clumsy and she's a lot like most people she's very human .

I think other people who have rated this and reviewed it did not actually read the book. Edward is not abusive, he doesn't want Bella around young werewolves. He loves her and he doesn't want her put in any danger.

Parents need to know that, while some stuff in this book is very mild for the fantasy genre, this is a vampire romance. There are some scenes with "blood and romantic kissing," according to an expert review.

While there isn’t any sex or described hyper-sexualized/romantic detail in this book, the later books do increase in description of Bella and Edward’s relationship and while not eroticized, there’s a more than subtle hint at their “physical longing” to be together and eventual climax! So JUST BE AWARE that further down the road, the intimacy grows beyond what may be appropriate for girls under 15/16 (and that’s still lowballing it), and I guarantee any young girl reading this one or the next will want to continue to finish the series... I don’t think it’d be fair for any parents to allow their child to read the first book or two and then cut them off, so if you’re not okay with the eventual physical romanticism and borderline sex scenes further down the series, please don’t let your child even begin to read this one. (And I guarantee that even if you “cut them off,” they WILL find a way to secretly read the rest of the series... they do get very addicting!) Also, some of the behavior described is NOT (and wouldn’t be) normal or alright in real life or in real relationships... between Edward very creepily breaking into Bella’s house to “watch her sleep” and his over-the-top protectiveness (that in real life almost ALWAYS accompanies eventual abusive behavior and territorial-ness that can be scary and dangerous if real) A lot of their actions are those that should not be idealized or even understood to be OK in real-life circumstances, and the main worry I would have is that any young girl reading this, may believe certain behaviors are normal or appropriate, or a way a man shows his love and protectiveness of a woman— I just would be worried that Edwards behavior may be deemed as ok or seen as “romantic” whereas a lot of his actions in the book would not be okay at all in real life and in real relationships. Bella also places a higher priority on Edward than on anything else, which also may not be the best role-model: telling young girls that boys should come before school and friends and family. Aside from those few things, the book overall is a fun and entertaining read (as long as the readers understand it’s just a story and not anything that applies to real life... which is why I said I think it’s only appropriate for ages of MAYBE 15/16, depending on the child)

Read it...just because it's so popular? It poses no literary value whatsoever. Centres around this girl called Bella, who has no personality, appearance or anything besides the typical girl insecurities everyone has in middle/high school. Which is probably why the series is so popular among people of that age. The Twilight series sets some very unrealistic relationship goals. Edward's face/body was described far too often, and apparently abusive relationships are okay as long as one side is of some 'beautiful' vampire. Maybe you'll leave this book/book series knowing how not to act? Perhaps thats a good lesson to learn.

I love this book but here’s one thing you need to know: this is for girls. It has no girl things in it necessarily but the perspective is first person and it’s about a girl named Bella. It may gross out or make some boys laugh when she says things such as, “he smelt so nice,” and when she’s pretty much simping for Edward. If you have a kid that wants to read it and you are not ok with it but they’ve already read the first book, sorry. It ends on a cliffhanger that makes you want the next book right then and there and also another thing is that you need to read the little beginning backstory at the end of the book to properly understand the next book. This is up there with my favorite books and for teens it’s a must read. If you are not in middle school, this is a no so sorry you’ll have to wait.

I first read this book when my now teenage daughter begged me to buy it for her. "My friends are all reading this," She begged. So I let her under the condition that I read it first. After reading it, I began to doubt it. First, this book has no actual reading value and is exactly like all other romances: love triangle, kissing, and fights. The main character is shallow, the love interest is stereotypical, and there's a lot of other books out there to be read. So when my second daughter wanted to read it, I knew better than to let her.

Overhyped. Bad role models, poor writing skills.

Yes, I admit it, I read this series. I read it because of the hype, which it didn’t live up to at all. The entire thing is poorly written (which I realize is a common complaint, but still entirely valid), meaning a variety of things. The writing itself is really junky, with huge fancy words that are fantastic to use... if you know how to use them. And what they mean. When you actually look into the mechanics of her writing, you see all kinds of grammatical errors, which you might not notice if you don’t think about it, but it seems a little off. I guess some people can look past that, but you can’t ignore the story; the reason you read a book. It took something like three hundred pages to get to the climax of the book, and the main character never even contributes to the resolution. It is honestly ridiculous. The entire book is fluff upon fluff that simply wastes your time. The characters are some, well, *interesting* people. They are creepy and blank, meaning have no real backstories and are only there to have a ‘romance’ that is actually very abusive and nothing that anybody should be idolizing. All in all, this book isn’t worth your time and energy, because I wasted way too much on them. And if you do choose to read them, well, best of luck to you.