Romance Novels

A quick note to my what like one reader :) I posted a lot at once and no one commented on my short story "What goes down, must come up" so please go back and read it :) Thanks. Also a note to AJ you should read all the Harry Potter novels and I have no idea how you managed to stop after 4 or 5 that's just sad! :)

Book #6: The Hollow By: Nora Roberts

Alright so far I have only been writing about fantasy type books, but I also happen to like romance novels. I was actually planning on reading a different book when I went to the store and realized that this one was out. The Hollow is the second book in Nora Roberts sign of seven trilogy. I like to read her books just because they are quick reads, and while you can usually guess that everyone is going to end up together and live happily ever after, they are still fun to read. Plus she usually has an interesting plot to go along with the story.

The sign of seven trilogy is about three men and three women and their fight with evil. It takes place in town called Hawkins Hollow where every seven years, madness takes over the town for seven days. The men are three best friends that took an oath to be blood brothers when they were ten. They ended up unleashing an evil power on the town. The interesting thing is that these three men were born on the same day, at the same time. They were all born in the seventh month (July) and on the seventh day. (In case you haven’t caught on the whole seven as an evil number thing). Their ancestor was a man named Gill Dents and he left his power to vanquish evil for them to find about 300 years later.

The first book was about Caleb and Quinn. Caleb and her both have the power to see the past. They get flashes from what happened before. The first book also introduced the rest of the characters. Fox and Layla, and Gage and Cybil.

This second book is about Fox and Layla, who both have the power to see the present. They can sense feelings and emotions, and also can read minds to some extent. This book was a fun read and I can’t wait till the end comes out in December. Here are a few quotes I enjoyed:

You’ll layer the rest onto it eventually. You’ll have to. You’re human and you’re female. We have to layer on emotions and concerns, consequences. ~Cybil

(Chapter 4, P. 67)

Perhaps love does not come in an instant, but takes lifetimes. Is this how I knew, in that instant, such love? ~Ann

(Chapter 9, P. 132)

Of course it’s not all right now. None of it’s all right. So I’m just going to hold on to you until I can handle it again. ~Layla

(Chapter 10, P. 155)

Any art, or music that gives you pleasure, or makes you think—or better makes you wonder; it’s—it’s what makes us human. The need to create it, to have it. ~Layla

(Chapter 11, P.176)

Ok so on to my next adventure in reading!

Harry Potter Mania!

Hello all! This past semester I had to read book 5 in the Harry Potter series for my coming of age in fiction class. So I decided that when the semester was over I would re-read the last two books again as well. This is one series I am sad came to an end. So on to my discussion…

Book # 4: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince By: J.K. Rowling

So, the fifth Harry Potter book left us with the wizarding world finally realizing that Voldemort had in fact come back to power. It also had Harry dealing with a lot of loss. In the end Harry loses his godfather Sirius and learns the prophecy about himself and Voldemort.

“THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES…BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES…AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT…AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES…THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES”
(Harry Potter Book 5, p. 841)

The shocking realization that Harry has to be the one to kill Voldemort or be killed by him deeply affects Harry. It is something that he has always suspected, but now he knows it is true. The sixth book opens with Dumbledore coming to fetch Harry from his aunt and uncle’s house. I like when Dumbledore tells off the Dursley’s with a simple statement.

You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you.
(Chapter 3, P.55)

This is amusing because he is so calm about his blunt statement and of course the Dursley’s then turn and look around and get confused. They are confused because Dumbledore is of course talking about their son. Dudley is a fat and mean boy, who always picked on Harry and is very spoiled. After they leave, Dumbledore takes Harry with him to acquire a new teacher, and then on the way to the burrow tells Harry he wants Harry to take private lessons with him this year. These lessons end up being all about going into Dumbledore’s pensive and looking at past memories about Voldemort’s young life.

When Harry gets to school he finds out that Professor Snape will be teaching Defense against the dark arts and that Professor Slughorn will now be teaching potions. This is a shock to many students, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The only good thing is that now Harry can take Potions and continue with his hope of becoming an auror.

However, as Harry had not planned on taking potions he does not have the book or materials. So he has to borrow them from Slughorn. The copy of the potions book that Harry gets is covered with writing and at first Harry is annoyed, but then he looks at the directions in the book and realizes that all the little side notes help. Harry learns that the book is the property of someone who called himself the half-blood prince. The book has small spells and things that help Harry all year.

This year is an interesting one because romance finally blooms for the characters. It takes a long time, but it is interesting to watch. Ron and Hermione have always had some feelings toward each other, and now they are coming out. They get jealous and snippy at each other, and at first Ron starts dating another girl. Then Hermione dates someone she thinks will bother Ron. It’s amusing because that’s real. Boys can be stupid and not just come out with their feelings. Girls also can date other people just to make the boy they like jealous. It’s funny to read.

Getting back to Harry and Dumbledore’s exploration of Voldemort’s past indiscretions. They learn about Voldemort’ mother, a witch who was in love with a muggle. They also look at Riddle’s time in the orphanage. I love the idea of being able to pour your memories into a bowl and jump into them. It’s described in such a great way, and it makes you wish you could reach up to your temple and pull out your thoughts to relive them.

An amusing thing thrown into the story, from my point of view anyway, is the password for the Hogwarts common room. All the kids are falling in love, and dating, and “snogging” by this time. And the password to get into the common room is abstinence. I just found that funny when I came across that :)

When Harry and Dumbledore look at Professor Slughorn’s memory they discover something that Dumbledore had thought for awhile. They discover that Voldemort wanted to rip his soul into seven pieces, as seven is the most magical number. The have already destroyed two: the diary from the second book and the ring that destroyed Dumbledore’s hand in this book. They believe the other horcruxes are Hufflepuff’s cup, Slytheirn’s locket, the snake Nagini, the piece in Voldemort and something that might have been Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor’s.

The next interesting thing to happen is when Harry and Ginny Weasley finally get together. It is interesting to read as Harry fights with himself about her being Ron’s sister and then finally when he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing and kisses her after the Gryffindor team wins a Quidditch match.

Another thing that Harry discovers in this novel is about Snape. When talking to Professor Trelawney he finds out that the one who told Voldemort the prophecy was none other then Snape. Harry is furious that it is Snape’s fault that his parents are dead, at least in Harry’s mind it is Snape’s fault.

The next thing that happens is that Harry and Dumbledore go to a cave by the sea that is where Voldemort hid one of the horcruxes. It’s dangerous and it takes awhile, and Dumbldore is weakened. They get back to the school and realize the Dark Mark is overhead. When they get up the top tower Dumbledore freezes Harry and throws the invisibility cloak over him. Malfoy is on top of the castle and we discover that it is indeed him who has been trying to kill Dumbledore all year. He was given the order by Voldemort of course. Malfoy cannot seem to get up the courage to kill and in the end Snape kills Dumbledore. At this point Harry is unfrozen and runs after Snape who is escaping with Malfoy and the other death eaters. Harry tries to throw spells at Snape, but then Snape gets angry and yells to Harry that he will not have his own spells thrown at him as he is the half-blood prince. This is a shock for Harry who had thought the prince great and helpful till this time.

In Madame Pomfey’s, which is like a nurse’s office, another interesting thing happens amongst the death and sadness. Bill, Ron’s older brother, has been mauled by a werewolf, but his fiancé Fleur, the gorgeous siren, does not care and still wants to be with him. This is when we find out that Tonks is in love with Remus Lupin, the werewolf. She tells Lupin that Fleur doesn’t care and neither does she. J.K. Rowlings does a great job of showing the differences in species and races here. She shows bigotry and skepticism in a story without throwing it in your face. It’s great.

The final event is Dumbledore’s funeral. This is hypocritical to some extent to Harry because he sees many people that he knows don’t care. For example, the evil Umbridge from the ministry. At the funeral Harry decides that he will not be going back to school the next year. He will be finding the Horcruxes and destroying them so that he can eventually kill Voldemort. He breaks up with Ginny and tells Ron and Hermione. They tell Harry that they are coming with him, no arguments.

I love the final line in the book because it ends with a small sense of hope…

…in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione. ~Harry (P. 652).

Ah the power of friendship!

Book #5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows By: J.K. Rowlings

The final book in the Harry Potter series made me so sad when it first came out. It was like the end of an era L. It was an awesome book, but I didn’t want it to end and yet I wanted to know what happened. I’ve re-read it and it still is as great as before. I think it shows true quality when a book is something you want to read again.

This book begins with the Dursleys being spirited off into hiding for their safety. Harry finally comes to terms with his cousin and shakes hands with him. And then Harry himself is spirited to safety through the use of seven polyjuice potion Harry Potters.

As I went through this book I randomly marked places and quotes that I found interesting so hear we go. My first comment is on the wizarding world. Did you ever notice that there is no technology in it? Can you imagine living without a dishwasher, washer, dryer, cell phone, and car? No, it’s very hard, but then again I guess if I had magic then it might be cool. I love the character of Mr. Weasley who is so fascinated with “muggle” things. He is forever taking them apart. After the flight of the seven Potter’s Mr. Weasley tells Harry about having Sirius’s bike and wanting to take it apart to figure it out. Interesting stuff!

Hermione is such an interesting witch and I loved watching her evolve through the series. She is so smart and yet I think Harry and Ron make her more human and bring her down to earth. In this novel when she is telling Harry and Ron about her parents it is very sad. To keep them hidden and safe she has modified their memories, so they believe they are different people, who do not have a daughter. The way she says it matter-a-factly with tears in her eyes is heart wrenching.

“The Takes of Beedle and the Bard” appear to be the wizarding world’s Grimm’s brothers or Hans Christian Anderson.

Oh come on! All the kids’ stories are supposed to be Beedle’s, aren’t they? ‘The Fountain of Fair Fortune’… ‘The Wizard and the Hopping Pot’… ‘Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump’ ~Ron

Ron, you know full well Harry and I were brought up by Muggles! We didn’t hear stories like that when we were little, we heard ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ and ‘Cinderella’—” ~Hermione

What’s that an illness? ~Ron

The idea of the wizarding world being so separate that they have their own fairy tales and Ron, who has never been around muggles thinks the stories are an illness is hilarious.

In the fifth book Harry had to take Occlumency lessons because Dumbledore wanted Harry to block out Voldemort, but now in the seventh book they are so strongly connected. Harry gets flashes all throughout the book of what Voldemort is doing, who he is killing, and when Voldemort is overly emotional.

The Tale of the Three Brothers is an interesting tale that gives them the story of the Hallows. The three brothers who met death. The oldest brother asked for a wand more powerful then any other. The second brother asked for the power to recall others from death, with a stone. The third brother asked for a cloak of invisibility. These three items together make up the hallows. The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility make up the Deathly Hallows. I love how J.K. Rowlings makes stories within the whole.

Ron is always talking about things that are common knowledge in the wizarding world, common sayings, stories, superstitions. He always forgets that Harry and Hermione were raised by muggles and don’t know these things.

‘May-born witches will marry Muggles.’ ‘Jinx by twilight, undone by midnight.’ ‘Wand of elder, never prosper.’ ~Ron (Chapter 21, P. 414)

I absolutely love Luna Lovegood’s ceiling. “Loony Luna” is a slightly crazy character yet she has an uncanny ability to speak the hard truths. Her ceiling is a painting of her friends. I also find her name amusing love-good.

Luna had decorated her room ceiling with five beautifully painted faces: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville…what appeared to be golden chains wove around the pictures…the chains were actually one word, repeated a thousand times in golden ink: friends…friends…friends
(Chapter 21, P. 417)

Harry shows his appreciation and love for friends no matter who they are when he buries Dobby the house elf. He also rescued a goblin just because it was the right thing to do. These are things that many wizard would not have done. The goblin sees that Harry is different.

If there were a wizard of whom I would believe that they did not seek personal gain it would be you, Harry Potter. Goblins and house elves are not used to the protection or the respect that you have shown this night.
(Chapter 24, P. 488)

I like how things come full circle in a way for Harry when Lupin asks him to be godfather to baby Ted.

As I said before Rowlings shows Bigotry and horrors without yelling about them. You can see this in the sad story of Dumbledore’s little sister and the three muggle boys that tortured the poor girl at the age of six for being a “little freak.” This story was very sad and realistic because people are tortured just for being different.

When Harry and Luna need to get into Ravenclaw tower we learn that their password isn’t simply a password but a question that requires knowledge and reasoning. I like this. I also enjoyed the question.

Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?
(Chapter 29, P. 587)

This is also the book where Percy finally makes up with his family. At the very end when they are about to fight Voldemort he comes back to help and apologizes for being a git.
A sad note for the Weasley family is Fred’s death. It’s realistic that not everyone will survive, and Lupin and Tonks die to, but it’s still sad to read.

In the end we find out that Snape was good all along. I like that this is found out by the pensive of magical thoughts. Harry discovers that Snape had been in love with his mother forever. Losing Lily Potter killed all feelings Snape had towards Voldemort. This is why Dumbledore knew Snape was a good guy. It’s almost sad to find out at the end how much Snape cared for Lily, and yet he could never be anything but terrible to Harry because of the hate for Harry’s father. It is also through Snape that Harry realizes he must sacrifice himself to save the others.

As Harry is walking to his death he realizes:

Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldmeort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here…
(Chapter 34, P. 697).

As Harry goes to his death he gets the resurrection stone from the snitch and Lily, James, Sirius, and Lupin all walk with him. When Voldemort “kills” Harry and he ends up at a cross-roads, so to speak, he speaks with Dumbledore and realizes what he needs to do.

…perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those, who like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find their own surprise that they wear it well. ~Dumbledore
(Chapter 35, P. 718)

Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love. ~Dumbledore
(Chapter 35, P. 722)

During the final battle I love when Mrs. Weasley yells out “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” (P. 736) as she is about to fight off Bellatrix from Ginny. I just find it funny and I love the character of Mrs. Weasley so it needed a comment.

At the end when Harry calls Voldemort Riddle and is telling him what Harry knows better, it’s just great. You kind of have to cheer Harry on as you read it.

You won’t be able to kill them ever again. Don’t you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people—I meant to and that’s what did it. I’ve done what my mother did…you can’t touch them. You don’t learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you? ~Harry
(Chapter 36, P. 738)

Severus Snape wasn’t yours. Snape was Dumbledore’s, Dumbledore’s from the moment you started hunting down my mother…he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children… ~Harry
(Chapter 36, P. 740)

Harry of course defeats Voldemort, but I like the ending and of course good has to triumph evil. I just enjoy the story behind the why and how it all ties together.

The Last thing Harry says is funny:

And quite honestly, I’ve ha enough trouble for a lifetime. ~Harry
(Chapter 36, P. 749)

Some people have said that the end bothers them because everyone ends up together and that’s just too happily ever after for them. However, I like the epilogue and that it happens. There is nothing wrong with wanting everything to turn out ok and love to triumph. The only thing that makes me sad is that the books are over. Also I will be SO SO angry if they ruin the story with the last movies. The movies progressively piss me off with all they leave out and if they ruin the end I will just take angry to a new level! I’m not going to go into that though so I will leave you with this: if you haven’t read the Harry Potter books and you’ve only watched the movies you are sorely missing out and you need to go READ NOW! :)

More Love for Twilight

Ok So I already professed my deep love for the series Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. I was just perusing her website and came across an article that was put out by Time that does a great job pf explaining certain parts of her novels. You should definitely read it! Her new novel The Host, just came out today and I of course now want to go and buy it. Just another book to add to the many I want to read. But anyway go check out this awesome review it had some things that I never thought about and some facts on Stephenie that I did not know. Quick comments on the books I'm not sure I mentioned in my own reviews. The books are great because of how they sell the ideas of vampire and humans and choosing “different path." Also they are great because they are designed for young adults but their is no sex! Edward and Bella have a deep connection, but never do more then kiss. It's a great way for teenagers to relate to and to realize that they can wait. Anyway I love these books and I loved this article. Also I found it amusing because my next post is going to be on the final two Harry Potter novels and this article is called "Stephenie Meyer: A New J. K. Rowling?" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734838,00.html This is the link for the article. Check it out!

My Summer Reading List

My Summer Reading List

Hello! So, as I stated in my first blog entry, I love to read! It’s a passion, and obsession, and it usually ends up being a distraction. :) However, finally my semester is over and I can read for fun. It is not that I do not enjoy the books that I read for school, because usually I do, but I love to read for fun and if I try to during the semester then I get caught up in it and tend to ignore all else. So, now that the semester is over I am going to read as much as I can. As I mentioned before, for me, reading is totally an obsession. When I read I get lost in worlds of fantasy, adventure, reality, make believe, and nothing else is important. I’m one of those people who will always have a book with them just in case there is an opportunity to read it. I’ve actually been known to read at red lights in my car when I’m really into a book. :) As I said it’s a sickness. :) So why the heck am I rambling on about my reading obsession? Well I have decided to post a blog about every book I read this summer to try and keep track of them all. Hopefully I will keep up with myself as I have already read four since I made the decision. (As I said I get really caught up and I read really fast). If you decide to be one of the few people that read my blog :) then you will be going on a tour of literature (and other genres) over the summer. So to start the journey I begin with a book I already said a little bit about.

Book #1: Twilight By: Stephenie Meyer
Alright so in my first blog I described how much I enjoy the twilight books. At that point it was the very end of my semester and I was supposed to be reading school books. Both of which ended up being very good, I may read the one books sequel for fun. But getting back to Twilight, I won’t overly discuss the first one since I started to already. I totally suggest checking out Stephenie Meyer’s website at http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ also check out http://www.twilightnovel.com/

First I would like to share a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Do I dazzle you?” ~Edward
(Chapter 8, p. 168)

About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him— and I didn’t know how potent that part might be—that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. ~Bella
(Chapter 9, p.195)

Edward in the sunlight was shocking…His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface. ~Bella
(Chapter 13, p. 260)

“Bella, I couldn’t live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don’t know how it’s tortured me. The thought of you, still, white, cold…to never see you blush scarlet again, to never see that flash of intuition in your eyes when you see through my pretenses...it would be unendurable.” ~Edward
(Chapter 13, p. 273)

“I’m betting on Alice.” ~Bella
(Chapter 24, p. 480)

Ok, so enough quotes, that just gives you a taste of the book. As I’ve said previously the Twilight books are about a girl named Bella and a vampire named Edward. I love what Stephenie Meyer does with the story and how she changes all previous notions on vampires, but again check out my first blog to read further into those thoughts. Alright moving on…

Book 2: New Moon By: Stephenie Meyer

As you probably guessed this is the second book in the twilight series. New moon introduces us to some new characters and takes a few minor characters and brings them front and center. He opening of the novel has Bella dreading her birthday. She turns eighteen and hat makes her a year older then Edward. Her worst fear is that she will grow old and decrepit while he remains young and beautiful. The Cullen family throws her a birthday party almost entirely designed by Alice, Edward’s “sister.” However, well meaning the party was meant to be it ends with Bella being hurt and Jasper, Edward’s “brother,” wanting to kill Bella.

Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm—into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires. ~Bella
(Chapter 1, p. 29)

So, everything works itself out for Bella being safe and whole, b the incident leaves Edward once again worried for her life. He decides that it would be better for her if he leaves and so he does just that. He has to lie to Bella and tell her he doesn’t love her, and because she always felt inferior she believes him. When he leaves it is like a part of Bella dies. For four months she is like the walking dead. She is an empty shell. When her father, Charlie calls her lifeless she decides to appease him to go out with a friends. They go to a zombie movie and while watching it she realizes that she resembles the zombie, a lifeless shell. This is when she starts taking notice of the things around her. She realizes how much she is missing and how people have given up on her. She starts to take notice of new people and observes how others act like she isn’t there. When she is at lunch and she makes a comment, her whole table is stunned into silence for a few seconds because she hasn’t spoken in so long.
What really brings Bella out of her depression? Jacob Black. Jacob was in the first book as a minor character. He is from the Quillette tribe and he is Billy Black’s son. In the first book Jacob had a bit of a crush on Bella. His father Billy is one of the tribe elders and believes all the legends of the “cold ones.” Up till now Jacob though all the legends were just stories and ridiculous. The reason that Jacob becomes a huge player in this novel begins with a simple choice by Bella. She wants to do something reckless and dangerous and so she picks up two broken down motorcycles. She knows Jacob works on cars and decides to take the bikes to him. To make a long story short Jacob works on the bikes and him and Bella hang out all the time. Jacob’s happiness and general qualities bring out a new side to Bella. The whole in her heart still aches and she still has times where she can’t breathe from the pain, but when she is with Jacob she can be close to happy. Of course this is Bella we’re talking about so there has to be a twist. The twist is that Jacob turns into a werewolf. As with many of the young men in the tribe Jacob becomes a werewolf. It is then that he finds out all the legends are true. The werewolf is the naturally enemy of the vampire and so there are many problems with this new found identity of his that prove to be problems later on.
Moving on to a bit farther in the book, Bella is still hoping for recklessness and so she goes cliff diving. She almost dies, but then is saved by Jacob. However, Alice Cullen so in one of her visions Bella jumping from the cliff. She then saw Bella’s future disappear, which of course is disconcerting. Later on we find out this is because Alice cannot see the future of the werewolves. So, why is this such a big deal? Alice saw Bella jump and possibly die so of course she comes to check on her. In the mean time Rosalie tracks down Edward and tells him that Bella has killed herself. At this point Edward decides to go to Italy to Voltera to ask the century old Volturi vampires to kill him. This is another aspect of the story I enjoy because of course there have to be bad evil vampires. And to have a whole city of the “royalty” of their kind is jut another ingenious aspect I enjoy. But moving on Bella and Alice fly to Italy to try to save Edward.
So they do in fact find him and after many other problems in Voltera (I don’t want to give away the whole book after all) they had back to Forks. When they go back and Edward explains all to Bella and expains that he was dying without her and would have come back soon enough. She at first does not believe him but finally the realization that he does truly love her hits.

I thought I’d explained it clearly before. Bella, I can’t live in a world where you don’t exist. ~Edward
(Chapter 23, p. 509)

How can I put this so you’ll believe me? You’re not asleep and you’re not dead. I’m here, and I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away. When I told you that I didn’t want you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy. ~Edward
(Chapter 23, p. 510)

Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars—points of light and reason…And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for everything. ~Edward
(Chapter 23, p. 514)

Ok, so yes it might just be a female thing, but I am definitely a sucker for love stories. I don’t know how you can’t be even if reality proves to us that real life is not a fairy tale and there aren’t always happy endings, I think you still have to have hope. So of course the idea of soul mates and there being only one person to complete you out there is appealing to read.
As I’m sitting here typing it occurs to me that I forgot a few interesting points on Edward’s family. Carlisle, his “father,” has an interesting outlook on the world and the life he has been dealt. Interestingly he is actually about 363 years old, as he was born in the 1640’s in London, but of course still looks eternally 23. But anyway Carlisle’s father was an Anglican pastor in a vicarage. So Carlisle was raised in a rather religious background. (This background is in the first book, woven into the story). The point of that short amount of detail into Carlisle’s history leads to my point that Carlisle still believes in a heaven and a hell and that they have souls. Edward’s huge problem with changing Bella is that he does not believe they have a soul. But what I had forgot to mention was that when Edward thought Bella had died and he thought he was being killed as well he said, “Amazing, Carlisle was right” (Chapter 20, p. 452) He says this because he believes that he has died and Bella is dead and therefore they are both in heaven. This whole thing later comes to the point that Bella tells him that he must have hope in him because of what he said. Ok those are my last thoughts on the second book. Finally on to book three.

Book #3: Eclipse By: Stephenie Meyer

Yea my final book for this installment. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to limit myself to one or maybe two books per post. I was actually going to make this post on four books but since typing have changed my mind :) Alright so when this book begins Bella is very upset from having to choose between her best friend (Jacob) and the love of her life (Edward). At first Edward does not want her to go anywhere with Jacob because after all Jacob is a young werewolf and therefore not in full control of himself and dangerous. This is of course amusing because to Edward Bella is safer at his house, a home full of vampires. :) After a time though Edward realizes that he does not want to make Bella choose and it hurts her to do so. Therefore he tells her that she can go to see Jacob. The only thing that he does want is for her to allow him to drive her to the border of La Push and Jacob picks her up there. Bella agrees to this, but says she feels like a child being passed off between divorced parents. There is also trouble brewing in this book, of course. The trouble is that it appears a newborn vampire is rampaging through Seattle. As time goes on the death toll in Seattle gets higher and higher. Finally the Cullens realize that if they do not want the Volturi coming in they will have to do something. They also realize that it is not just one vampire but what appears to be an army of newborn vampires. It as at this point that we learn a little bit about Jasper’s history. Jasper was in the army in the south in the early 1900s and he was changed for the sole purpose of the vampire wars. He was made by a female named Maria and together they made armies to fight for territory in the south. Because of Jasper’s ability to control emotions their army is able to fight together like no army has before. However, after time the emotions are getting to Jasper and he becomes depressed. While he can control the emotions of others he also feels emotions all the time. Therefore he is always in a constant state of emotional upheaval. Eventually he leaves the south and that is when Alice finds him and together they find the Cullens. After learning about Jasper’s history Bella better understands him. The threat of a vampire army doesn’t entirely make sense until they realize it is connected to Victoria. Victoria is the mate of a vampire that tried to kill Bella in the first book. In that book Edward kills the vampire, and of course a lot else happens, but you should read it to find out! Victoria has decided to kill Bella, “a mate for a mate.” So she has made the army to fight the Cullens and to get to Bella. Anyway the vampires and werewolves ban together to fight and lots of things happen. I don’t want to go into all of it so I’m only going to speak on two more things.
The first is that Bella decides to marry Edward. Bella wants to spend eternity with Edward and to so she wants to become a vampire. Carlisle agrees to do it for her after graduation, but really Bella wants Edward to be the one to change her. Edwards tells her he will if she marries him first. This is difficult for Bella because marriage has always been a bad thing for her. Her mother’s relationships have made her feel this way. She tells Edward that she is not that girl that gets knocked up and married right out of high school. But of course Edward is that boy that would have proposed and had a big wedding because he was born in the early 1900s. Anyway long story short Bella agrees to marry him. Its not that she has any bad feelings of being with him for eternity, because that’s what she wants. He is the other half of her soul and she can’t live without him. But the idea of marriage is what she’s against.
The final thing that happens is that Bella has a request for Edward before she becomes a vampire. Something she says she wants to experience as a human. She wants to be with Edward even though he tells her it is too dangerous. (Another part of the novels I like is that since they are meant for teenagers, it’s a good example, no one ever does more then kiss, a lot.) Edward agrees to try but he does not wish to try until after they are married :) This is an interesting part as well.
Ok if I type anymore I am going to go cross eyed. I will simply state once again that I love this series and I can’t wait for the fourth one to come out in August!