! YA Heroines ! discussion

Twilight is famous for it's romance. The love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob can be irresitable to us YA Lovers.

What do you like/love/hate etc. about this romance???

What I like - How Bella wants to be a vampire (view spoiler)[that Edward turns her in Breaking Dawn Part 1 because of how she could have almost died *gasps and starts to sobs* (hide spoiler)]
What I love - The tension between Edward and Jacob's fight for Bella's Love (view spoiler)[eventually Edward wins over Bella's Love and marries her in Breaking Dawn (hide spoiler)]
What I hate - The books were boring to read ! ~unlike watching~ the Twilight Saga movies c:

The concept vampire/werewolf/human concept was good and was popular enough to make everyone go crazy with vampires/werewolf books. And the movies were alright. But the books (or at least Twilight, I couldn't bear to even pick up the second one) are poorly written.

You could say it was a 'smart' book, about the right thing, aimed at the right audience, at the right time. Although I don't really care for the romance.

Jenny wrote: "When I read the Twilight books they were surprisingly very good. Although - as some people say- the writing was bad I didn't really notice that though, unless it was extremely bad. I think the writ..."

I completely agree with you on that.


Twilight isn't my favorite series, but I still liked the books, and part of the reason might be that it has a bit of. . .sentimental value?(I guess that's what I'd call it.)

I wasn't very into reading before I hit middle school (when I was 12), but I read both The Golden Compass and Twilight in 6th grade. After reading those two books, I got really, really into reading. So, now I look at Twilight in a good light because it got me into the fantastic YA paranormal books that have been written.

I really liked the books. They might not be the best books I ever read but I don't understand why everyone hates on them for sport.

I have the boxed set of Twilight in hardcover, and I'm not sure how to explain how I feel about them. They were okay when I first read them, but something about the way Bella hung her happiness solely on Edward bothered me. I'm happily married, but if my husband up and left me, I wouldn't lie catatonic in a forest and then spend several months not bathing. lol I also felt that- spoiler alert!- Renesmee was a bit of a cop-out, like giving Jacob a consolation prize.

On the other hand, I truly appreciated that Edward was drawn to Bella because he couldn't read her mind. In so many YA books, the hero is inexplicably drawn to the heroine for no reason at all. You're left to assume it was a physical attraction. But Edward had a valid reason for being interested in her that wasn't typical.

I was in a writing workshop with Michael Stackpole a few years ago, and when somebody in the workshop made a snide comment about Twilight, Stackpole actually defended the series, saying it was written in the perfect genre in the perfect style for the perfect audience. He said that Stephenie Meyer was wise to make it a YA series, because her writing style and her books' reading levels lean towards that genre anyway.

I hate it when there is a consolation 'prize'. It is just sad.

I also agree with Michael Stackpole about the targeted audience of the books, which makes me so perplexed why so many adults are addicted to it. I was actually recommended the Twilight books by my adult cousin who is an avid reader. We're like the only two in the family and have been recommending books to each other since the fourth grade. After reading them, I couldn't understand why she loved them so much.

I agree with what most of you said, the writing wasn't great, but I can see for a certain audience how the storytelling could pull you in. I get the female desire of transforming the bad boy with her love, but other than Edward constantly saying that he was the bad guy, I didn't really see it.

And, Charity, I agree with you about the exaggeration of her reaction in New Moon and the Renesmee thing kind of creep me out.

btw: I also wished that Bella had some type of motivation outside of Edward. Some hobby or dream or something.

My mom is obsessed with the Twilight books and movies. Obsessed may be putting it mildly. This is a 59-year-old woman who took the day off work so she could sit through the 5-movie marathon last November. She has a framed New Moon poster hanging in her bedroom and an Edward wallpaper on her desktop. I mean, wow. I would tease her about being somewhat older than the intended demographic, but she loves Twilight so much I worry she would take it too hard. lol

You are absolutely right about Bella. To me, Bella did not feel like a well-rounded character. What did she do for fun? Nothing. I know nothing about Bella's hobbies, her interests, her passions. I vaguely recall that she likes music, but that's it. Keep in mind I have only read the books once and it was four years ago, but from what I remember, Bella never did anything for fun. The closest she ever got to a hobby was working on the motorcycles with Jacob, and that was only so she could hear Edward's voice chastising her for being reckless.

Bella is just another depressive person. I just don't like her.

LOL, yep.

I loved reading these books because they were very interesting too read, and I like the mushy romance, but now that look back "Bella made some poor decisions!!! And at the end was it all worth it...???