I’m a reader, I love books, and I love the places various tales take me. I usually stick with political thrillers or drama with just enough action to keep it a page turner. Authors like Vince Flynn and John Grisham are always safe bets for me. I do have an addiction though, when I start a good book it is hard for me to put it down, even to sleep. There are a lot of people out there like me, we’re readers. Then there are people who aren’t like me, they don’t enjoy being engrossed in a book, my husband is one of those. He always says, “Why read about something, when you can do it?” to which I reply,
“I doubt I’ll be a Navy Seal anytime soon, so I’ll let Mitch Rapp handle it.”
But lately a phenomenon has occurred, not only amongst teens but in adults and tweens, the “non readers” are reading, and they are finding that they LOVE the Twilight series. So after so many of my friends told me I HAD to read them, I started and wow was I amazed. I usually hate romance; ugh...gag me with a spoon! I don’t want to hear about other people’s sex lives or how true and deep they’re love is, and all the girly drama, no thanks. I’m a tom boy at heart.
But Twilight is different, and I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s the fact that the main character is so plain, or believes that she is, maybe it’s that you begin to question everything about yourself and what you might do in her situation, or maybe it’s that the author seems to have a time portal and can take the reader back to their high school days.
I didn’t enjoy high school very much, and so in a lot of ways can relate to Bella, it helps that she is a total klutz, is extremely pale, hates the rain, doesn’t know a thing about fashion and would rather be in torn up sweat pants than a prom dress. That is just so me. But the more I talk with my friends about these books the more I see that we all can relate to Bella, and that’s nice because she is the girl you HAVE to love.
Another wonderful aspect of these books is what I like to call “the butterfly effect.” No, not the movie, but the fact that after 10 years of marriage, kids, diapers, lack of sleep, pure exhaustion, and well falling into the “comfort zone” of life, it takes a lot to give me butterflies in my tummy. You know how it is, you don’t have the questions and the excitement that you did in high school with your first kiss, “is he gonna hold my hand,” “should I ask this person to the dance?” all of those high school anxieties that at the time were so obnoxious are now just memories. Twilight brought me back though and gave me butterflies, and it was wonderful. It helps too that while I relate to Bella my husband is the perfect Edward, athletic, hot and well my soul mate.
So thank you Stephanie Meyer, for writing the first romance series that I love, for giving me butterflies, and for showing me that the comfort zone doesn’t have to be boring or a bad thing, especially if “your Edward” is willing to play along.
