taken by surprise

the whole thing took me by surprise, especially since i had good reason not to do it. chief among them was that i don't care anything for the subject matter, and second, i knew it would bother my children.

i did it anyway and found myself drawn into an engaging story.

i suppose i could blame my writing partner, Miss Java. a few years ago, she mentioned that i might like reading Twilight because of the romance scenes between Bella and Edward. i resisted.

just last week, she mentioned it again. this time i was intrigued, but purely from a research standpoint. i'm getting ready to start the second draft of my Eldala sequel, and i figured i could use all the help i could get at this point. i found the first book at Half Price books and brought it home.

that was last Friday. by the time i got to the end of the first book, i was hooked. i knew i was going to have to read the whole series to find out how the story ended. i called friends to see if i could borrow their copies because i really didn't want to buy the other 3 books. on Sunday, i started the second, and by Wednesday, i'd finished all 4 (2800 pages in 6 days).

i've been known to zoom through a novel before, not thinking about housework or eating or what my children were doing, but this bordered on the obsessive. it bothered me that i would be so engaged in a story that wasn't my 0wn. i tried to figure out why i was compelled to finish so quickly. why couldn't i just savor the stories instead of consuming them like i was starving?

i realized that i cared as much about Bella and Edward as i did about my own characters. i was losing sleep over them. in the middle of the night, i would wake to hear my brain trying to write scenes to find resolutions to their conflicts. i worried about their future. would they get together in the end or would one of them die? what kind of future would they have? would Bella give up her life to be with Edward or would Edward finally abandon her? now that i've finished, i feel the same melancholy that comes over me when i finish a first draft.

in the end, i realized that i was drawn into a good story, a story i didn't expect to find. i thought it was just about vampires. it was so much more than that. good versus evil. self-sacrifice. utter devotion. waiting until marriage for intimacy. true love. (i think that's the main reason i liked it - i'm a sucker for romance.)

it's still a little embarrassing to think that i enjoyed a story about vampires (even if they're "vegetarian" vampires), but i do. i said i wouldn't read it again, but i'm sure i will. i may even buy the rest of the series. i hate to be part of a "following", but i guess i am.

i'm not sure that i want to promote a book that says it's ok for a girl to be so devoted to a guy that she'll give up everything to be with him. i don't really like the idea of an 81 year old immortal dating a 17 year old girl, even if he does *look* like he's 17.

despite my doubts, i highly recommend it. there are very few good stories out there. Twilight is one of them.

(i just found this at Inky Girl and knew i had to add it to my post.)