The Host by Stephenie Myer

Rating: 2.3.2

Category: Sci-Fi, Romance

Review: 4.5/5

Earth has been invaded. Parasite like aliens have taken over humans' bodies, not just a few, but almost the entire population. I really liked this book. I liked it quite a bit better than the vampires. It reminded me of aspects of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine as well as Stargate: SG-1, and that is really cool to me. I don't know if everyone will like the sci-fi nature of this book but I think that most people can still appreciate the characters and their lives. Stephenie Myer seems to have a thing for love triangles because this book has one too. It doesn't really matter because she is a great storyteller and I didn't care that she used the same plot device as she did in the Twilight Series. I've heard some people say that the first hundred pages were pretty slow and hard to get through, but I was hooked from the first page. My husband read it and liked it too. It is a little repetitive at times and it's not perfect but I give it a big thumbs up.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 3.2.2

Recommended audience: Mature teen to adult

Category: YA, fantasy, romance

Review: 4/5

First off, let me say that I really liked this book. It was engrossing, unpredictable (to me, anyway), and a really fun ride. I want to be very careful about spoilers so I'm going to try to not go into too much detail, but I do want to talk a little about some of the problems I had with this book without giving too much away. As a married woman, I can read this book without blushing and I can understand that these relationships are fictional and they don't resemble real relationships in the real world. That may seem very obvious but when I think back to myself as a teenager, I realize that I wasn't always able to make that connection. If you had asked me about it, I would have responded that I was very mature for my age and of course I understood that vampires are not real and that human relationships are not like those of superhuman, immortal vampires. (Duh!) In reality though, I think my perceptions of life and relationships were greatly influenced by the books that I read and, unfortunately, not always in a good way. I'm just a little concerned about the millions of teenage girls that are reading these highly entertaining books. Do they understand that they can't fall asleep every night in their shirtless boyfriend's arms without getting into trouble? Do they understand that they can love someone without being completely obsessed with them? Do they understand that's it's not right to string along a male best friend when you are engaged to another man? Anyway, there's more but I don't want to get into that because it would give away part of the plot, but you probably get my drift. I wouldn't say that teens shouldn't read this, but I think a good conversation about it with a parent is definitely a good idea.

Again, with all that being said, I thought this was a good book. It may be that I'm taking it all way too seriously and my concerns are really not a big deal. What do you think?

Twilight Trailer!

Looks Good!

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

Rating: 3.3.2

Recommended audience: Mature teen to Adult (16+)

Category: Romance, thriller

Another fun read by Stephanie Meyer. Similar concerns as in the first two books. The physical aspect of Edward and Bella's relation gets a little more edgy in this book and I've said before that it concerns me. I know there are books out there that are much worse but I think this one is held to a higher standard because of the religious beliefs of the author. I think morally it gets a little gray in there but most unmarried people (teens or not) come up against these kinds of issues (pre-marital sex). With the standards of today's society, choosing to wait until marriage is not only almost unheard of, it can often be ridiculed. Edward and Bella deal with this issue, if not always in a mature way (Bella), they do at least make the right choice--in my humble opinion. :)

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Rating: 2.3.2

Recommended audience: Mature teen to adult

Category: Romance

Another fun read but I did see it coming. I won't give anything away but this one seemed a little predictable to me because of fore-shadowing. Still, not all of it was predictable and it introduced some interesting characters. Bella drives me a little crazy because she just seems too dumb sometimes but, again, I'm afraid I identify with her stupidity a little too much sometimes, maybe that's why I can't stand it. I know some people who were quite bored with the middle of this book and I understand that opinion but I didn't think it was too boring. My biggest problem with this book though was the poor proofreading. There were so many errors that it really bugged me. I'm pretty nit-picky about that kind of stuff though so hopefully it doesn't bother you. Anyone know how I can get a job as Meyer's proof-reader?

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Rating: 2.3.2

Recommend audience: Adult and teens (16 and up)

Category: Romance, thriller

I really liked this book. It's exciting, romantic, suspenseful and a fun read. I gave it 4 stars because there were a couple of things that bothered me about it. I don't read a whole lot of young adult fiction so maybe this is not a valid point. I just felt like Bella's inferiority complex towards Edward is not a healthy example for teenage girls to be reading. I think it's pretty real because I was very similar as a teenager but I would hate to see that kind of thinking reinforced in teenage girls. Another problem I had with it is that even though there is no sex in the book, it is definitely titillating. I'm just not sure I would want my teenage daughter reading this and thinking that they can behave the way Edward and Bella do and not get too carried away. Their affection is innocent enough but eventually could lead to much more when two normal people are involved instead of a vampire with super-human powers. I know this is a soap box and I'm probably taking this all too seriously but when something is so hugely popular as this book, I think it can have a big influence on people. There's my take on it and I'd love to hear your opinion.