The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Summary:

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits.

In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth? (from Goodreads)

Review:

Don't hurt me, but I've decided to read and review The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. The funny thing is, had this book come right out after Breaking Dawn was published, I would have been all over it. I will not deny that I used to be a pretty big Twilight fan. Granted, I started reading this series before there was any mention of a movie (to be specific, it was before Eclipse was even published). Not that there's wrong with bandwagon fans, but you know, they can get a little crazy sometimes. Anyway, had this been two years ago, I would have definitely bought it but this time I got it from my library. Times have changed.

Onto the review. As I've began to read more and more YA, I had the revelation (that many other people have also had), that Stephenie Meyer is not that great of an author, nor are her books anything special (well, actually The Host was pretty good). TSSLoBT read the same way as all the other novels in The Twilight Saga. Also, Bree sounded like a more intelligent version of Bella. Bree was a likable character, but was basically personality-less. Stephenie Meyer says she likes to make her characters open so anyone can relate to them, but this just leaves them sounding pretty boring on page.

TSSLofBT is very very short, and probably would have been a lot better if it was longer. Most the time, it's Bree thinking and trying to figure stuff out. I would have liked to seen more the newborn vampire life, but it was presented minimally in the story. And we still don't get to see the big fight scene at the end of Eclipse, because Bree is off looking for Diego. As for Diego, he was also a likable character, but if you're looking for any type of romance, you won't find it here. There was also a pretty big twist at the end, dealing with the Volturi, which I actually found interesting. So well done there, Mrs. Meyer.

All in all, I didn't hate The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. I read it fast and it wasn't a bad book, but nothing spectacular. Die-hard fans of The Twilight Saga will enjoy this, but don't expect any type of Bella/Edward romance because you won't find it here.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

FTC: I borrowed this from my library.

2010/ Little, Brown/178 pages

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

**SPOILER ALERT**

So this review will not be a traditional review, with a summary and then a short paragraph with my thoughts. No summary is needed, I believe, since so many people have already read the book or at least know what it's about. I'm going to go through the book and just list my opinions on certain key events. This won't be a ten page commentary on everything that happens, but it will be longer than a paragraph. So bear with me, while we journey into Breaking Dawn!

The book begins with Bella thinking that everyone is staring at her new car and the ring on her finger. I love Bella dearly, but sometimes she annoys the crap out of me. There are even times when I wonder what Edward sees in her. But that's for another day. Bella and Edward decide to tell Charlie that they're getting married. His reaction is pretty funny: "What, are you pregnant??!!" But when they tell Renee, I'm disappointed. I thought she would be angry, but instead she's all "Oh Bella even though I complained every day of my life that I got married too young you still can. I know you're ready and all that lecturing was for nothing." I agree with her that Bella has always been mature, but then what was the point of all the complaining?

Anyway, they get married, which was cute because I am definitely Team Edward and I didn't want Jacob lingering in the background, waiting to steal Bella. I thought the wedding was a little rushed, but I guess the book's long enough. Fast-forward to the honeymoon. And Bella gets pregnant?!?! If that isn't a cliff-hanger, I don't know what is.

To keep us in suspense, Stephenie switches to Jacob's point of view. I still think it's funny that Jacob wasn't even going to be a main character and now suddenly all the books are about him. Anyway, werewolf drama, Jacob forms his own pack and Leah is a part of it, along with Seth. Does anyone else want Jacob and Leah to get together? Because I certainly did. Jacob sees Bella almost 9 months pregnant. Now that part was weird. Ok, rant time: I was so so so angry that Bella kept the baby. The baby was killing her and killing Edward at the same time because he knew that it was his fault, and I thought, "How selfish can you be?" Of course Rosalie was protecting Bella which annoyed me. I loved the blonde jokes, though, they were so funny!

Anyway Bella almost dies giving birth and is finally turned into a vampire! And then Jacob imprints on Renesmee (I hate that name by the way), which was really weird. So Bella is a vampire and has this enormous self-control (which I predicted, go me!) and now the Cullen's don't have to worry about training her from drinking human blood. That screams plot device to me. I actually like Bella better as a vampire, I think it suits her well. And now I'm not that mad anymore because Renesmee seems really adorable. Oh and I hate that everyone calls her Nessie, that name is even more ridiculous than Renesmee.

So Alice sees that the Volturi are coming and she and Jasper high-tail it out of there. The whole time everyone's like "Oh, Alice and Jasper deserted us" while I'm thinking that they probably have some trick up their sleeve and will be back to save the day. Which they do. The Cullen's hunt down all their old friends and suddenly like 20 new characters are introduced and every single one of them has a power that I, as the reader, now have to keep track of. I thought that having a power is really, really rare? Because it seems like everyone has one. Anyway the Volturi come and Bella uses her totally awesome mind shield to save everyone. I really wanted a battle, but I love happy endings so I guess you can't have both.

So to re-cap: I feel like one of the few people that actually liked the book. Sure, there were parts I hated and thought were corny, but it seemed to make the book better for me. That's sounds kinda weird. I do understand those who hated it's thoughts and reasons why, but I don't know, I still liked it. But even though I like the series I love to read the commentaries that make fun of it. Sometimes they are so funny. By the way, did anyone figure out what the cover meant? Supposedly it has some kind of symbolism.