Breaking Dawn

By Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown, August 2008
Reviewed by Heather F.

I’ve been sitting here for several minutes trying to wrap my brain around just what I want to say about this book and to do it without giving too much away. I hope to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but I am pretty sure spoilers will leak into my review. So, without further ado…

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First off, I want to say I loved this book.

Flat. Out. Loved. It.

I’ve been looking around at Amazon and different blogs at reader reactions and I am mystified. I do not understand why so many readers have their panties in a twist about Breaking Dawn. What the heck were they expecting? What Stephenie Meyer has done here is give us one heck of a wild ride and tied up everything nice and neat with a nifty little bow and it’s all ready for a sequel.

So much happened in these 750+ pages! The romantic in me is satisfied. Bella got her Edward and Jacob is still in her life in a totally unconventional but satisfying way. The feminist in me is reasonably happy as well. Bella grew a backbone! Although, I never had as big a problem with Bella as some, I knew she had a backbone. She was just a little misguided about what it took to make her a complete and happy woman.

So, I loved the sappy romance, the new and improved Bella, the surprise that she was made a vampire, the neat resolution to the end and the possibilities of more to come. Yes, I totally did not expect Bella to become a vampire. I really, really did not expect the new character we were introduced to. I did not expect the resolution of Jacob, but I am not as bothered by it as so many others are.

I’m thinking that since my expectations were not as HIGH as some peoples and that I already EXPECTED the way women and men and relationships and all that would be portrayed the way they WERE, I was able to just enjoy the book for what it was. It’s not destined to be a classic. I am sorry, but Meyer is NOT the next JK Rowling. But it was what it was. A sweet, vampire, love story. Nothing more, nothing less. I was glad that Bella got her happily ever after. So, as an adult reader of the Twilight Saga, I am immensely satisfied with Breaking Dawn. For those who hated it, I strongly recommend bringing Meyer down off her pedestal and do a reread. And don’t hate me for loving it either.