And So The Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb....

Welcome back to our EPIC read-along of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.  When we last left our two love birds, well, they were just starting to become love birds.  In this section, Edward declares his undying/immortal love for Bella.  Wait, that didn't happen.  HE NEVER TELLS HER HE LOVES HER!  This bothered me so much the first time I read Twilight that I kept having to re-read the meadow scene.  He just talks about lions and lambs and insinuates that he loves her.  Why can't he say the words?!!  Is it because he's a teenage boy?  Albeit, he's lived longer than I have, but vampires don't change, right? 

Seriously, though, I think SM really did cover that uncertainty of first love, especially if it blossoms during those teen years. 

This section flew by for me.  I tried NOT to take too many notes because I wanted to get through to some pivotal falling-head-over-heels-in-love scenes.  Just like the first time around, I was reminded just how much expository is involved in this novel as Bella discovers various 'backstories' of the characters.  Yes, it's in dialogue form, but it's also quite lengthy.   It made me wonder what talent I would bring with me if I was turned into a vampire--my humble guess is compassion.  Like Carlisle, I have a lot of compassion.  Maybe that's why we have the same chosen profession?

One thing I noted is that the Cullens (or maybe just Edward?) keep saying how perceptive Bella is , but really Jacob just basically TOLD her what was up, right? So which vampire myths are your favorite?  I've done a bit of research for one of my 5-6 forgotten novels that I need to get back to.  I still adore the campiness of The Lost Boys as they go through all the vampire myths.  Yay for Kiefer Sutherland and the two Coreys. 

Both Edward and Bella are anxious when they are away from each other.  I don't remember feeling like that with Mr. Bookworm.  But then I didn't feel like my number was up with him either.  :D And we were together '24/7', which was a new phrase back then.  Man, we're getting old....

On p. 195, we get to one of the most quoted parts of the novel:

Excerpt from the back cover of the White Collection edition of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

And this time, perhaps like the first time I read Twlight, I still wondered exactly WHEN did Bella fall in love with Edward?!  They had limited interaction up until now as he was avoiding her, but she's been thinking about him a lot.  My thought is that we're still in the INFATUATION stage here.  Except Bella is an 'old soul' just like Edward so we're supposed to buy that they fell in love so quickly.  Okay, it's fiction, maybe I buy it in this story.  :D Even though this old soul is also 'stuck' in high school as some of Jessica's comments are downright catty.  And a bit like middle school/high school. 

"It's twilight," Edward murmured, looking at the western horizon, obscured as it was with clouds.  His voice was thoughtful, as if his mind were somewhere far away.  I stared at him as he gazed unseeingly out the windshield. 

I was still staring when his eyes suddenly shifted back to mine.

"It's the safest time of day for us," he said, answering the unspoken question in my eyes.  "The easiest time.  But also the saddest, in a way...the end of another day, the return of the night.  Darkness is so predictable, don't you think?" He smiled wistfully.

"I like the night.  Without the dark, we'd never see the stars."

This is also a oft-quoted section of Twilight (p. 232-233).  And I have to hand it to her, SM definitely chose the right name for her novel and series.  In fact, I'm a fan of all the titles, except for the last one but I think Breaking Dawn just holds so much weight in its name for me due to the disappointing nature of the novel.  And, I much prefer these titles to some other series/trilogies out there. 

The meadow scene is what prompted Stephenie Meyer to write Twilight in the first place--she had a dream about the meadow scene and then her story was written around it.  I can definitely relate to starting a creative endeavor after I've had a dream. 

I've marked out a few notable parts (i.e. the parts you want to re-read):

• p. 273/274 Edward and Bella declare themselves to each other.  Sort of.
• p. 283 First Kiss--ha, ha, I think I read this part on loop the first time and every time I read Twilight.  Bella's reaction makes me simultaneously laugh/scoff/smile. 
• p. 298 Sneaking in/out of rooms as high-schoolers. Yes, technically Edward is a high-schooler even though he's 104 (107?) years old at the start of the series.  Maybe because I just read Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, I started to wonder, do all high school kids do this?  Or just the ones in YA novels?
• p. 311 Do you buy Edward's excuses for why they can't have sex?  I think I did at first. 
• p. 324 B meets the family.  That's a stressful meet-and-greet.

And that takes us to the end.  Not many notes this time because I was just enjoying reading it all.  We are now to the section right before THE baseball game.  I loved how they filmed that in the movie and all the behind-the-scenes extras. 

My sister-in-law's Twilight collection.  Why is Jake the only one out of the box, K?  Is he not worth as much?  Also, I didn't realize that the last one was Victoria.  Her hair isn't red enough.  I thought it was supposed to be Esme.

*** Thanks once again to HL for letting me read her copy of Twilight because I didn't want to mess up the spine of my White Collection edition.  :D Also, a big, huge thank you to my work colleagues for joining in on the read-along!  Thanks J and J!

***And, of course, thanks to my awesome SIL, K.  Her comments to follow. 

Tell Dr. Bookworm:

Was your first love this awkward?  But still gave you butterflies?

What 20 questions would you ask Edward?

Do you have a special place like Edward's meadow?

What special talent would you bring into your vampire life?

Let me know what you thought about this section of Twilight in the comments!

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