Midnight Sun

I am now and have always been Twilight Trash. Unapologetically so. With that being said I thought I would devour this book. I shocked myself by taking my time with it and just enjoying being back in Forks.

In terms of plot, you aren't going to get anything new. If you're expecting that then you aren't paying attention. What you do get is to see Bella through Edward's eyes. His infatuated, stalkery eyes. With that being said he can crawl through my window whenever he wants (Alexa, play Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge). He doesn't see her the way she sees herself, of course, so it's almost like you're getting a whole new Bella. You also get a lot more of the Cullens, which was absolutely missing from the original series. That would have made the books even better because I was interested in them all and their backstories.

Edward was always intense in the OG Twilight but from his POV he is INTENSE. Make no mistake I am #TeamEdward now and forever but sometimes I just wanted to tell him “You don't need air but breathe, baby. BREATHE.” I'm sure living for eternity with your whole family of couples while being able to hear their every thought would get to us all, so no judgement here. I would probably also fall in love with someone whose thoughts I couldn't hear because OMG WHAT A HORRIBLE POWER. EVERYONE SHUT UP TWICE.

This book is absolutely for die hard fans. And maybe the wait for a book that was never going to come out made it better but I'm happy with it. But I still hate that cover. Ew.

Okay so i will admit if i could rate this book up to the halfway mark i would have given this a one star review. However, now that i'm fully done with this one i can truly give it a 3 star rating.

This book is ginormous for YA and it really didn't need to be...it could have been edited further but here we are in hand. The chapters were too long like i don't need to read/listen to the inner monologues going on and on and on! I kept saying at the beginning damn Edward shut up!? And i know im not the only one thats saying this. This felt like a painful marathon and by the middle to 3/4 it was starting to satisfy me. I am glad i cleared my head and went into this one however i wish this didn't consume so much time to complete. I really spaced this one out over a month and a half cause if i listened to it and or read it every single day i probably would have given it a 1 star review overall.

This book took commitment and Stephanie meyer really put a lot of work into this one i can tell. Edward is a very complex individual and she executes that beautifully. Bella is great love her, love Alice even more thanks to this book and of course Emmett, i wish there was more of jasper and esmay but overall ill settle. Im hoping there is a Jacob perspective coming since there is a love triangle thing going on in the original twilight series. Overall 3 stars and im satisfied now that I've completed it. I personally think this was far too slow paced and it was really hard to motivate because of all the inner monologues but love that we are diving back into one of my favorites not an all time favorite but love the world of twilight.

it took me so long to finish because i can only take so much of edward's inner monologue about killing bella in one sitting

A MASTERPIECE. A MUCH NEEDED ADDITION TO THE SAGA. EDWARD IS MY FAVORITE CREEP. I WISH WE HAD HIS PERSPECTIVE FOR EVERY BOOK.

lehetett volna eduárdosabb, meg kevésbé önismétlő, de én elolvasom a többi könyvet is, ha elkészülnek, úgy éljek!
szarul ír meyer meg minden, de a nosztalgiára adom a pontokat, meg hogy ennyi év után végre befejezte a sztorit.

this book needed more vampire baseball

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-158-midnight-sun/

Apparently this is the year of 5-stars books for me.

Also seems like the word count won't be enough for a bilingual review for this one either. We'll see

There's not much to say about the plot of Midnight Sun since is the same as Twilight. However, the twist here, is that the whole story is now told from Edward's point of view.

I'm not even going to try to do an objective review considering pros and cons, because I absolutely loved this book and I thought it was PERFECT. A true masterpiece. Though I'm going to try to walk you through the factors I usually consider to rate books, for this one in particular.

First, there's the engaging story. Many people with whom I've talked to about Midnight Sun don't get what can possibly be new and different between this book and the first one of the saga: A LOT, actually. Being inside Edward's mind gives the reader a brand new perspective on the story, the characters, even the background story, and brilliantly reflects the growth and experience as an author that Stephenie Meyer has acquired through these last fifteen years. I could clearly see the improvement because, to be honest, I was reading and comparing chapters between both books along the way. There are so many details that add to the narration that previously felt missing and so many more that I couldn't have ever imagined, but that complement and complete the tale so well, it made my heart dance with excitement.

“I was used to the way that scent made me feel - the dry ache in my throat, the hollow yearn in my stomach, the automatic tightening of my muscles, the excess flow of venom in my mouth. This was all quite normal, usually easy to ignore. It was harder just now, with the reactions stronger, doubled, as I monitored Jasper.”[...]“My eyes locked for half a second with a pair of large, chocolate-brown human eyes set in a pale, heart-shaped face. I knew the face, though I'd never seen it myself before this moment. It had been foremost in every human head today. The new student, Isabella Swan”

Stephenie rises the narrative to a whole new level, with her descriptions of Edward's thoughts, feelings and emotions being so on point and clear that you can now fully understand scenes entirely and make sense of all his and -almost- everyone's actions and reactions; one of the advantages of the fact that your main character can read minds, has excellent hearing, sight, and a sister who can see the future. All the information we get about what is like being a vampire and about the Cullens specifically, is priceless.

“I looked down at the girl again, bemused by the vast range of havoc and upheaval that, despite her ordinary, unthreatening appearance, she was wreaking on my life.”[...]“‘Did you get contacts?' she asked abruptly.What a strange question. ‘No.' I almost smiled at the idea of improving my eyesight.‘Oh,” she mumbled. ‘I thought there was something different about your eyes.'I felt suddenly colder again as I realized that I was not the only one attempting to ferret out secrets today.”Then there is this sea of emotions. I found myself giddy, jumping in excitement, squealing, crying and dazzled (wink wink) more often than not. Getting to see, literally, how and why -really- Edward gets interested in Bella and how his emotions start to become love feelings was a wonderful experience. I truly connected with him many times when he felt anxious, uncertain, hopeful, by being involuntarily thrown under circumstances that made him more human than he could have ever imagined he could be again. There's so much depth to his character and, actually, to all characters, that the reader can discover in this book since their own personal backgrounds, motivations and dreams are displayed in its pages for us to devour. It somehow, at times, becomes kind of an anthology given all the cleverly intertwined stories we can get know: what happened during that time Edward was a “vigilante”, Emmett's encounter with one of i suoi cantanti, Rosalie's integration to the Cullen family, and so on.“I wondered what she would do when she saw me? Blush and walk away? That was my first guess. But maybe she would stare back. Maybe she would come talk to me.I took a deep breath, filling my lungs hopefully, just in case.”[...]“She looked that way sometimes when I smiled at her. Was she... dazzled?I would have loved to believe that.”On an interview with the author in the Remember Twilight? podcast (if you're a fan, this is a must, go check it out), she said something that perfectly resumes what Midnight Sun is all about: “You get to see how, through loving her, he learns to love himself”.I also loved that Stephenie Meyer didn't shy away from addressing all the problematics that have been talked about this saga since its rise to popularity. She did a great job in linking in either explanations that let us see the whys of certain situations or -better yet, in my opinion- acknowledgements by the very characters about these problematics.“I just confessed to stalking her and she sits there smiling?”Needless to say I was head over heels for Edward all over again. Though, surprisingly, I did get to love the entire Cullen family as he portrays them throughout all the other books, from Twilight to Breaking Dawn , and I wasn't able to since now. Again, it really changes your perspective seeing everything through new eyes. I must say: Emmett is, indeed, a brother I would love to have.I think there may be so much more to say and discuss and analyze about this book, but there's nothing more on my mind now. I think I covered the essentials of why this is precious and I also don't wan't to spoil or give anything away, because it was an amazing experience that I would like everyone to enjoy when going into this book. (As a side note: I think, too, that this could be a great standalone for anyone who hasn't read any Twilight saga content and want to just dip their feet a bit).This one goes into my favorites' shelf forever.“She dreamed of me. I wanted to dream of her.”

I do understand that this saga/books may seem problematic and I will be the first to acknowledge that, however that topic has been through fully discussed, so ...

I did really, truly loved this book, I felt like a teenager all over again and this book adds another dimension the whole history and saga, in a certain sense the saga it's not truly completed until you read this one book, It felt as this one book pulls all the saga together.

Overall, this book was enjoyable to read. It was super interesting to get to see everything from Edward's perspective. It was darker and included a lot more of the Cullen's backstories.

However, this book was incredibly too long. I was bored for most of the first 400 pages. Once the baseball game started, things really picked up and got super interesting to read about. The chase to Phoenix was so fun to read, seeing how all of the Cullen's talents created this unbeatable force of nature. This book was at about a 2 star rating until the last 150 or so pages.

All in all, if you were a twilight fan in your teens, definitely worth the read.

No cap, nostalgia is a powerful influence. Just like every other teenage girl in 2009, I had pirated the first 12 chapters and was upset that they weren't going to be published. So naturally, as a rapidly approaching 30 year old adult, I pre-ordered this book as soon as it was announced. I know people like to pretend they have never fw Twilight, but I am not that person. I've read the series several times. Usually I pick it up when I don't feel inspired to read, and need that motivation to come back. Are the plot lines and characters amazing? No. Is the writing style of Stephenie Meyer delightful and addictive? Yes. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself while reading this book, even if I can't credit much to the merit of the actual story. Going in already knowing what would happen wasn't a deterrent. I liked learning a little bit more about the inner thoughts of the characters I've known for a decade. I wish Stephenie would write more individual books like The Host. It's still one of my favorite Sci-Fi romances. She has a knack for making 600 pages feel like 250 and I would like some more please. Also, the movies never happened, I've never seen them, nor will I ever.

We're given an absurd retcon for Edward's creeptastic behaviour: he knows he's being a stalkerish incel, so surely his actions should be forgiven.

Still, it helps - there's no escaping how toxic the “romance” is when you have to sit through 658 pages of Edward's internal monologues. Do I love Bella more or want to kill her more?: it's clear the coin could flip either way. The book casts this “love story” in an appropriately darker light.

Hot take: Midnight Sun is a better read than Twilight because we dislike apologists more than fundamentalists. The apologist's mental gymnastics to defend the indefensible (“yes, this 104 old virgin has fallen in love with me, a milquetoast teenager, but that's not downright ephebophilic because he was frozen at 17...never mind the decades of life experience between us”) grates on us more than the fundamentalist's shameless championing of their doctrine. Midnight Sun is at least not as intellectually dishonest...Edward knows what he's doing is wrong, but that won't stop him.

My highlights:

Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer (Highlight: 49)

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◆ 1. FIRST SIGHT

▪ It was hard to imagine surviving with senses so incredibly dull.

▪ I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I'd smelled in more than eighty years.

▪ I knew what had to happen now. The girl would have to come sit beside me, and I would have to kill her.

▪ I had never killed innocents. And now I planned to slaughter twenty of them at once.

▪ it would take me, at most, five seconds to end every life in this room.

▪ It was sophistry to think that by saving the nineteen humans in this room with effort and patience, I would be less of a monster when I killed this innocent girl.

▪ I didn't have to go to her home. I didn't have to kill her. Obviously, I was a rational, thinking creature, and I had a choice. There was always a choice.

◆ 5. INVITATIONS

▪ I would not destroy Bella's future. If I was destined to love her, then wasn't avoiding her the very least I could do?

▪ My life was an unending, unchanging midnight. It must, by necessity, always be midnight for me. So how was it possible that the sun was rising now, in the middle of my midnight?

◆ 6. BLOOD TYPE

▪ I didn't know how to do this. How to court her as a normal, human, modern man in the year two thousand and five.

◆ 7. MELODY

▪ Love doesn't always come in convenient packages.

◆ 8. GHOST

▪ I accidentally uprooted the young spruce tree my hand was resting on when he pinched a strand of her hair between his fingers.

▪ I felt an uncomfortable spasm of guilt. Because what I was doing now was not precisely good, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as my nightly pursuits. I wasn't technically even trespassing now—the base of this tree grew from the next lot over—let alone doing something more felonious. But I knew that when night came, I would continue to do wrong.

◆ 9. PORT ANGELES

▪ “More theories?”
“Mm-hm.” She chewed on another bite, entirely nonchalant. As if she weren't discussing the aspects of a demon with the demon himself.

▪ Suddenly, as she ate, a strange comparison entered my head. For just a second, I saw Persephone, pomegranate in hand. Dooming herself to the underworld.

▪ My skin would disgust her. She would run away.

◆ 10. THEORY

▪ There, at the top of the stairs, was a promising-looking cupboard. I opened it hopefully and found what I was looking for. I selected the thickest blanket from the tiny linen closet and took it back into her room. I would return it before she woke, and no one would be the wiser.
Holding my breath, I cautiously spread the blanket over her. She didn't react to the added weight. I returned to the rocking chair.

◆ 12. COMPLICATIONS

▪ It was oddly consoling to know that I wasn't the only one living out a tragic love story. Heartbreak was everywhere.

▪ Bella was like a soap bubble—fragile and ephemeral. Temporary.

▪ How silly humans were, to let a six-inch height difference confound their happiness.

▪ Why would she laugh at the suggestion that I could kill her, when she knew that it was entirely true?
What was wrong with her?

◆ 13. ANOTHER COMPLICATION

▪ Cursing my curiosity, I returned to my questions.

▪ Perhaps my obvious fascination with every detail of her personality would convince her of the obsessive level of my interest.

▪ if I could have kept it tidy enough to be able to actually walk into it. My room here is bigger and less of a disaster, but that's because I haven't been here long enough make a serious mess.”
I made my face smooth, hiding the fact that I knew very well what her room was like here, and also my surprise that her room in Phoenix had been more cluttered.

▪ “It's twilight,” I said. The time when vampires came out to play—when we never had to fear that a shifting cloud might cause us trouble—when we could enjoy the last remnants of light in the sky without worrying that we would be exposed.

▪ I thought of the stars she'd described in Phoenix and wondered if they were like the stars in Alaska—so bright and clear and close. I wished that I could take her there tonight so we could make the comparison. But she had a normal life to lead.

▪ I felt suddenly sorry that this particular boy was born my enemy. His was the rare kind of mind that was easy to be inside. Restful, almost.

▪ She causes you pain.
I shook my head. “I cause my own pain. It's not her fault.”
It's not your fault, either.
“I am what I am.”
And that's not your fault.

◆ 15. PROBABILITY

▪ Her mind raced through a flipbook of futures. Bella's face from a thousand different angles, always tinted gray, sunless. She was thinner, unfamiliar hollows beneath her cheekbones, deep circles under her eyes, her expression empty. One could call it lifeless—but it would only be a metaphor. Not like the other visions.

▪ I let my head fall into my hands. I felt sick—like a damaged human, a victim of disease.

▪ For a few moments, I thought seriously about killing myself. It was the only way I knew to be sure that the monster didn't survive.

▪ Maybe I was wrong. But if I was right... how exasperating! How endearing! Her life had never been in deeper peril, but she still cared that I, the very menace threatening her life, liked her appearance.

▪ What I was doing was basking, drowning, wallowing in my love for Bella. I didn't think it would be difficult to keep doing that.

◆ 17. CONFESSIONS

▪ And like a fool, I fell back into my immature efforts to be amusing. “I'm not thirsty today, honestly.”
I actually winked at her. One would think I was thirteen instead of a hundred and four.

▪ “I'm here... which, roughly translated, means I would rather die than stay away from you.”

▪ The electricity ricocheted around the inside of my stomach and I wondered why humans had thought to name such a wild sensation butterflies.

◆ 18. MIND OVER MATTER

▪ Tooth and Claw

◆ 23. GOODBYES

▪ Could a dead heart break?

◆ 25. RACE

▪ Edward, it's impossible.
The image of myself astride the sleek black motorcycle was so appealing that for a second I ignored her.

▪ For a tenth of a second, I was back in my Volvo in Forks, thinking of ways to kill myself.

▪ Emmett would never... but maybe Jasper. He alone could feel what I felt. Maybe he would want to end my life, just to escape that pain. But probably he would run away instead. He wouldn't want to hurt Alice. So that left the longer trip to Italy.

◆ 28. THREE CONVERSATIONS

▪ But this wasn't life or death for either of them the way it was for me. That was my life on the gurney. My life, pale and unresponsive, covered in tubes and tape and plaster. I kept myself together as best I could.

▪ Pomegranate seeds and my underworld.

▪ And then I did something I hadn't done in a century.
Curled there in a ball on the floor, motionless with agony... I prayed.

◆ 29. INEVITABILITY

▪ Her eyes focused on the machine beeping out her heart's excesses, and narrowed. “That's going to be embarrassing.”

▪ “I won't,” I told her, while I mentally qualified my answer. Not until you're whole again. Not until you're ready. Not until I find the strength.

▪ Until you're healthy, until you're ready. Until I find the strength I need.

◆ EPILOGUE: AN OCCASION

▪ there were actual tears brimming in her eyes and she had one hand clenched around the door handle as though she wanted to throw herself from the car rather than face the horror of a high school dance.

▪ “So ready for this to be the end,” I sighed, stroking my finger down the side of her face. “For this to be the twilight of your life, though your life has barely started. You're ready to give up everything.”
“It's not the end, it's the beginning,” she whispered.
“I'm not worth it.”

I truly don't have words. I don't think I can ever express how much I love this book, and this series. This gave me everything I wanted in understanding Edward. My heart is full. ❤

I feel like if I read Twilight now, I probably wouldn't like it at all and I'd definitely be Team Jacob.

So........the amount of red flags in this book: