Confessions of a Twilight Mom

I have to admit that I am a "Twilight Mom". I am 34 years old and the mother of two and I absolutely loved the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer.

If you haven't heard about this series, it consists of four books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. The story revolves around a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire.

Synopsis from the book cover:

About three things I was absolutely positive:

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

I first heard about this book while reading a local magazine when living in Phoenix, AZ in 2007. (Stephenie Meyer, the author, lives in the Phoenix area.) I don't remember there being any mention of the fact that the book was geared toward "young adults". In fact, when I bought the book, it was displayed on a stand in the front area of the book store - not in the teen fiction section. I'm glad that I discovered it this way, though, because had I known that it was a "teen fiction" book, I might not have read it and would have missed out on this captivating story.

And I truly mean captivating. I could not put this book down. I had such a hard time thinking about anything else. I had to make excuses to not go to lunch with friends because I needed to find a quiet place where I could read. I found myself thinking about these characters all the time. I was so infatuated with this book. I love to read, and I've read lots of different types of books from John Grisham and James Patterson to Danielle Steele and Sherrilyn Kenyon. But this was the first time that my world seemed to revolve around a book. As soon as I finished Twilight, I had to rush out and get New Moon, and then Eclipse. And was then left hanging for a year waiting for the final book, Breaking Dawn.

There were a lot of mixed feelings about Breaking Dawn. I, too, was very surprised at the direction the story went. I felt as though it was a bit rushed. I think if the series had been expanded to five books instead of four, the story could have been told better. But overall, after I got over the initial shock, I do still love this story and highly recommend it to other women my age. I've even heard that men enjoy the books as well.

Also, unless you've been living under a rock, you should know that Twilight has been made into a major motion picture that comes out on Friday, November 21, 2008. The film stars Robert Pattinson as Edward (the vampire) and Kristen Stewart as Bella. At first, I was not convinced that these were the right actors to play the parts of Edward and Bella, but after seeing the trailers and other clips from the movie, the actors have really grown on me. I have re-read Twilight recently and could totally picture Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the parts. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie and hope that it lives up to the book.