Breaking Dawn

version 1.1 (updated)

Spoilers? Absolutely!

Finally it’s time to find out how it all ends.
I must admit it is rare for me to get hooked into any type of book series, let alone one written for and read by mostly young girls, but the first Twilight book (thanks Krissy) got me completely absorbed into Bella and Edward’s (notice I didn’t include the Jword) story and after finishing it I had no choice but to continue reading from there. I just had to know how the story would unfold and how it would end.

Eclipse ends with Bella and Edward getting engaged and that Jared or John-Boy or whatever his name is finally getting a clue and taking off running like Forrest Gump; yet another passive aggressive stunt to try to make Bella sorry and love him more than Edward if you ask me. We all remember his ultimate manipulation “kiss me or I’ll kill myself” right?

Breaking Dawn starts out well. Edward and Bella are getting ready for their wedding and J-dog is still out jogging or whatever. The happy day arrives and everything is looking like it will go off without a hitch but wouldn’t you know it Mr. Homewrecker his own self shows up at the wedding and manages to upset Bella within seconds, he’s truly talented that way you know. It’s not just Jcub though. Even after she is married to Edward, Bella continues to call the Jword her best friend in the whole wide world and is constantly bringing him up in conversations, telling him she loves him and is basically so not over him the way she ought to be. Edward suffers quietly through all this of course because he just wants her to be happy.

Bella somehow gets pregnant but the baby is killing her from the inside. This turns Edward and Jelly donut into allies with the common goal of getting the little monster out of Bella and killing it before it’s too late but she’s not having any of that thank you very much.
Bella starts her blood diet, gets a little better, and baby is um… born. (In case you haven’t seen the movie "Alien" yet, don’t bother now. It’s like an episode of Dora compared to this scene.)
Edward then has no choice except to immediately turn Bella into a vampire to save her.

Turns out the new family of three is all hugs and kisses and Justin feels betrayed, angry and is now suddenly all set to destroy the newborn baby. (Yet another shining example of his unselfish nature, showing that he, like Edward, only wants to make Bella happy. OOPS! Maybe not.) However, just as he moves in for the kill he conveniently “imprints” on Bella’s newborn girl, yup that same baby she herself hasn’t even held yet .
If I may now take this opportunity to quote any random teenage girl and say “EWWW” that’s just not right. Although I am so happy that Jason has finally given up on Bella, having him obsessed with her baby is exactly the next worse thing to me. I truly wanted him out of their lives but it is just never going to be. Baby Renesmee does call Edward Daddy once in the book but other than that she is pretty much J and Bella’s kid now. Yuck! Other than this unrelentingly disappointing but unfortunately not unexpected portion of the story the rest is excellent and finishes up nicely.

The other Cullens all play significant roles and my personal favorite, sweet little Alice does disappear at one point and has seemingly run off with Jasper to escape the horrible fate of the others. I wasn’t worried for a second, the Alice I know would never abandon the ones she loves and I knew she would be back in the end and help save the day (which she does) even if some of her own family had doubts.

There is no down time in this book. It kept my interest throughout with lots of twists and things going on. The ending, was definitely happy. After I finished reading I went on the internet to see what others thought of it. I was surprised to see many negative reviews. People complaining that vampires can’t make babies or that not enough people died, the ending was too happy etc.

Of course I can and do appreciate bitter sweet or sad endings as well. Even now after reading the complete story I must admit that my favorite or maybe I should say most memorable part, the one that affected me most was the description of Bella's realization that Edward had truly and completely abandoned her in New Moon.

Overall though it was so nice to be able to escape into Ms. Meyer’s world for a few hours and experience a beautiful story and a genuinely happy ending for a change. It is a world easy to get lost in, which makes it all that much sweeter.