Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
As a dedicated Twilight fan yearrrrrs ago, I have been looking forward to this book for awhile.
Yes, I was a GROWN ASS ADULT when I read that series…and I ate that mess up with DELIGHT, yall.
Judge me as you will, book friends.
IDGAF.😄
I was a young mom and my first kiddo was a toddler…it was the mindless escape I needed back in the early 2000s.
This was before streaming apps so indulging in bingeing many mindless TV shows and movies was SO MUCH harder to do in those days.
Yall remember when Netflix started and you got DVDs mailed to you? Remember how that whole deal worked in the beginning????
You had your little wish list online and you got all excited when you mailed one back because THEN you had to wait to see if your top choice would be available. A viewing surprise would await you in your mailbox in just a couple of days. 🤣
Getting thru an entire series was a MUCH more difficult thing to do…unless you were hella fancier than we were and had money growing on trees and did like the three disc at a time membership.🤣 Or it was still on TV and you could DVR episodes (remember when THAT technology came out??? Life changing)
Anywho….I digress as usual….
Point is, I loved the books in my late 20s /teeny kiddo momhood SO VERY MUCH.
And now… in my beginning 40s/ mom of older kids era, I am SERIOUSLY questioning what the HELL I was thinking.
Yall….this book was TRASH.
For those of you who were never ever Twihards like me are probably TOTALLY unsurprised right now by this statement.
You are like “Ummmmm….DUH. What did you expect?!?”
Well…lissen….as a previous fan I expected the same fascination and delight in this book as I had with the others.
But that was NOT to be had.
NOT ONE BIT.
Here is official summary of this nonsense:
“When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella’s side of the story. At last, readers can experience Edward’s version in the long-awaited companion novel, Midnight Sun.
This unforgettable tale as told through Edward’s eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting Bella is both the most unnerving and intriguing event he has experienced in all his years as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward’s past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he justify following his heart if it means leading Bella into danger?
In Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer transports us back to a world that has captivated millions of readers and brings us an epic novel about the profound pleasures and devastating consequences of immortal love.”
If you were never a fan of these books, there is absolutely NO POINT in you reading this one.
It does NOT stand alone on it’s own accord….and really, even IN the series it’s struggling to be upright.
This story is SO MUCH CHEESIER than I remembered it to be!
Yes, I KNOW it’s a YA romance series and levels of cheese are to be expected and required….but THIS shit was just over the top.
The ridiculous dialogue. The awful descriptive writing.
And OMG.
Edward Cullen.
I seriously loathe his character now.
It was preposterous how he seems to instantly go from wanting to KILL Bella kind of desire to wanting to LOVE Bella kind of desire.
There isn’t really a build up or progression.
They *barely* talk a few times and he saves her ass from getting run over by a car and then BOOM…it’s done. Switched. He decides he is in love with her.
AND THEN he goes into this uber creepy stalker mode where he watches her ALL THE TIME…even sneaking into her room every night to stare at her the whole damn time she sleeps while she is COMPLETELY unaware.
Ewwww.
That ain’t romantic, yall. That is fucking SCARY.
And it doesn’t even creep her OUT when she eventually finds out he has been doing this for A LONG TIME.
Ummmm NO. That would be INSTANT “I want your vampire ass as far away from me as possible” for me NOT “I want you to be my undead boyfriend immediately.”
The way he *constantly* says he has to “take care” of her and “protect” her annoyed the ever living SHIT out of me. No kidding…. he says it at least every 5 pages. And this book is 672 pages so do THAT math.
The fact that he is mainly attracted to her fragility and meekness is soooooo patriarchal and soooo sexist…uggggh. 🤮
I really do not remember the story being SO irritating with the “I have to watch you every second” nonsense…but maybe it’s always been a thing. Maybe I’m only noticing now because I have grown and changed a whole hell of a lot since my late 20s (and let’s all say a HALLELUJAH for that!) and I can now see problematic shit where I did not see it before.
Whatever the reasons are, Edward freaking annoys me.
Also, his whole “How does she love me when all I am is a monster?” pitiful, low self esteem inner dialogue that he did NONSTOP also grated on my nerves. I mean, I get it. Inner struggle and undealt with trauma and all. But STILL…it bothered me.
PLUS….
I realized that while Edward APPEARS to only be 17 years old, in reality he’s just over 100.
And he falls in love with a naiive 17 YEAR OLD TEENAGER. Who really IS only 17.
Why the weirdness of that never sunk in with me in the past I have NO CLUE…I mean, he calls ALL her peers CHILDREN, but not HER.
How was I never bothered by THIS before?!? Some 100 year old undead man all hot and bothered by a young and beautiful 17 year old GIRL….that is a big ol’ NO WAY for me.
Here is the strange thing, fellow book lovers….
Even though this book was IRRITATING AF, I just kept RIGHT ON LISTENING TO IT!
Why???
It was 26 hours long, yall.
I DID listen to it at double speed to get thru it faster but like….why did I do that to myself?
This book was ridiculous trash literature and I just kept right on putting myself in the dumpster alongside it every damn chapter.
I think I just was holding on that this shit HAD to get better…that my inner Twihard would reemerge and find SOMETHING redemptive about this mess.
(And also…I REALLLLY don’t like quitting books. )
I was hoping that the narrator of this book would be Robert Pattinson because he is forever Edward Cullen in my brain now because of the movies (he is also is forever Cedric Diggory for me so he does carry dual identities in my head depending on the situation 😁).
That would have given this a smidge more of enjoyment for me.
But that was not the case unfortunately.
While the narrator did not sound anything at all like him, I will say he did try to imitate the voices of the actors who played Carlye and Emmett… and he did quite well on those! (although…Peter Facinelli will always remain Mike Dexter in my brain…..I can hear him now….”AmanDUHHHH” 🤣)
Edward’s point of view of the Twilight saga….NOT GOOD AT ALL.
If she writes any more of these, I will NOT be indulging.
I think my Twihard days are dead and buried for good.
Although…..
I was always on Team Jacob anyways so *maybe* a book written from HIS perspective I would read. 😁
But shit…maybe not….because I just remembered that whole weird imprinting thing he does with Bella and Edward’s daughter….🤢
So yep.
That finalizes it.
I am a Twihard NO MORE.
Look at me being all adult and stuff.
Everyone should just NOT read this book….whether you are a Twilight fan or not….just DO NOT READ THIS MESS.