The series is typical, young adult fiction aimed at teenage girls. The books are not particularly well-written (even inspiring several rolls of my eyes regardless of how much I love them), but Meyer’s ability to set the scene with her vivid descriptions of everything from the weather, to the color of the room the characters are standing in, to the expressions on their faces and the modulation of their voices sucks me in to the story and, before I know it, hours have passed and hundreds of pages have been read. Yes, there is an obvious lack of sex, gore, and horror that make vampire stories so exciting, but at the heart of the books, there is an enchanting love story that any young woman can relate to… or at least long for. It has all of the typical elements–a seemingly ordinary main character who finds out she has a special gift, an idealized love interest, a villian out to destroy the main character, and unrequited love. (Remind you of another young adult series that was ridiculously popular?) The story is exhilirating and heart-breaking, and I love it.

So, I’m really looking forward to seeing the film. My friends who have read the series and seen the movie have warned me that it can’t match the books in appeal, but on its own, it’s a fun movie.

Plus, Robert Pattinson is really dreamy. That in itself is worth watching it for.

I’d also wager to say there are much better existing teen vampire novels/franchises than this one. I don’t have any reservations at all criticizing “Twilight” when the author has been quoted as saying she doesn’t like vampire movies and has never watched one all the way through. Then why in the world is she writing novels about them and screwing with all the rules and simply making a screwy tween girl-skewed romance?

But you’re right…Twilight is terrible. When the author of the books freely admits she has never even seen a vampire movie, how in the world can she write a decent book about one? It’s Mormon propaganda, and it stinks.