I LOVE to read but I don’t read fiction all that much anymore. When I was younger I used to devour fiction novels but now I prefer non-fiction. Recently though I was reading a blog that had some info on Alex O’Loughlin and in the blogroll I kept seeing links to web sites about Edward and Bella. Well who in the heck are Edward and Bella?!
I did some clicking and found that Edward and Bella are fictional characters in 3 NY Times best selling books by Stephanie Meyer and the main characters in an awesome movie coming out around Christmas. When I found out that these books were actually vampire romances…I had to read them. I am a BIG sucker for vampires…no pun intended. 
I headed out to Borders within minutes and bought all 3 books. The first is Twilight. WARNING!!! If you don’t want to know what happens in these books WITH DETAIL…DO NOT READ!!!!!
In Twilight we meet Bella who has just moved to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state from sunny Arizona. She is moving in with her father, whom she does not know all that well. Her parents split up when she was young and her mother never could get used to the small Washington town of Forks that sees only a few days if sunshine a year and it rains almost constantly. But Bella’s mom wants to travel with her new minor league baseball player boyfriend so Bella decides to relocate to her father’s home.
Bella is anxious about fitting into a small town highschool and she is something of a curiosity, although what peaks her interest is 5 unusual and reclusive students. They are quite simply the 5 most gorgeous people she has ever seen. They also have an unusual story…they are all the adopted teens of the equally gorgeous and young town doctor and his wife. They are Edward, Emmitt, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper Cullen.
Bella’s first real encounter with one of them places her at adds with the Cullen she is the most intrigued by…the stunning Edward. She sits next to him in Biology class and he is anything but friendly. He grips his desk the entire class as if he could snap it in half at any second and he glares at Bella with hatred in his eyes. After class Bella discovers Edward in the office trying to switch Biology classes and once again she is the victim of his death glares. On one hand Bella would like to think there is no possible reason he could have anything against her, but her instincts tell her she is indeed the reason for Edward’s bizarre behavior.
Edward disappears from school after that for many days until finally he returns and this time he is much more friendly to Bella in Biology class although clearly still tense when around her. Their relationship takes and unexpected twist one morning before school when a fellow student loses control of his van on the icy school parking lot. Bella is directly in the path of the van and about to be crushed between it and her own vehicle. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Edward across the parking lot watching in horror as she is about be killed.
The next thing Bella knows Edward has leaped into the path of the on coming van and he shields Bella with his body and uses a single hand to stop the van in its tracks. Wide-eyed Bella knows immediately that Edward is superhuman. Having demonstrated his abilities and powers to Bella, Edward confides in her that he has been seventeen for almost 100 years. He is a vampire. He and his family have chosen to live peaceably with humans and not feed on them. This is especially hard for Edward since he met Bella though as her scent is more powerful and enticing than any he has ever come across.
So begins their love story as they get to know each other…a vampire and a human, inextricably drawn to each other. Both quickly realize that even with all the obstacles between them they can’t bear to be apart and they start spending every waking moment together. Everything hits the fan though when Bella accompanies the Cullens into the woods to watch them play a game of vampire baseball. Unexpectedly a group of 3 unknown vampires (James, Laurent, and Victoria) traveling through the area find them and ask to play the game. Everything is civil at first until James catches Bella’s scent and realizes that she is human. I fight nearly ensues as Edward protects her but unfortunately this intrigues James, who is a true hunter. Alice, who can see the future, sees that James has set his sites irrevocably on Bella as his next kill.
The Cullen family must now figure out how to protect their new human friend as she is stalked by a ruthless vampire. Edward can’t imagine losing the soul mate he has waited almost a century for. The book has many twists and turns but by the end Bella knows that she wants to spend eternity with Edward and she wants him to turn her into a vampire.
I LOVED this book! I was glued to it from page one.
I then quickly dived into book two called New Moon, which opens with Bella being distraught that she is celebrating her 18th birthday, making her forever more “older” than Edward. Edward however is not willing to turn her into a vampire because he cannot be sure if vampires have souls and he is not willing to take Bella’s if in fact, they are soulless and damned.
The Cullens throw Bella a birthday party innocently enough but when Bella accidentally cuts her finger while opening presents, Edward’s vampire brother, Jasper is overcome with thirst and he tries to attack her. Bella is thrown into a glass table where she is severely cut on the arm. Only Carlisle, the head of the family and a doctor can stand to be in the same room with her while she is bleeding. He quickly stitched her up but the damage has been done. The Cullens realize that a vampire family isn’t safe for the very human and fragile Bella.
The Cullens decide to leave Forks and start over somewhere else. Edward tells Bella he is leaving her for her own protection and they can’t ever be together again. He makes Bella promise that she will never put her life in danger and when Bella insinuates that she might do exactly that to end her misery Edward promises her that if she were to die he would soon follow by provoking a fight with a large vampire clan in Italy.
A large portion of the book from here after follows Bella for months as she sinks into depression. Only after 4-5 months of depression does she attempt to get back to normal, when her father threatens to send her back to her mom, who is now living in Florida. Unwilling to leave Forks, just in case Edward comes back, she does her best to put on a show that she is getting better. She starts visiting one of her oldest friends named Jacob, who lives on an Indian reservation nearby. Jacob is the one who initially told Bella superstitious stories about vampires and werewolves who lived in area.
Bella discovers accidentally that when she engages in some sort of reckless or dangerous behavior he “hears” Edward in her head speaking to her. In an attempt to keep him nearby…even if it is just his voice, Bella starts engaging in risky activities. She buys two motorcycles and convinces Jacob to get them running for her, one he can keep as payment. She also asks Jacob to take her cliff diving. All the while they work on the bikes together they get closer and Jacob really does help her to tackle her depression. She comes to rely on him like someone relies on the sun for warmth. He becomes her very best friend, although she is soon to discover that he is a werewolf and the mortal enemy of the vampire.
The vampire Victoria is back in the area and hunting Bella in vengeance after Edward killed her mate, James. Jacob and his wolf pack become busy hunting for her most days and Bella decides to attempt cliff diving on her own. When Alice, who has still been monitoring Bella from afar, sees a vision of Bella jumping from a cliff she assumes Bella has commit suicide. She tells Rosalie she must go back to Forks to be sure and she boards a plane. While Alice is in flight Edward calls home to check in and Rosalie tells him that Bella is dead.
Edward calls Bella’s home to speak to Bella’s father (Charlie) but Jacob answers the phone and tells him that Charlie is at a funeral (family friend). Edward believes that Bella is dead and he boards a plane for Italy.
When Alice gets to Forks she quickly “sees” what has happened and where Edward is going. She and Bella take off for Italy to try and save Edward’s life.
The book ends with the Cullens realizing that Bella is family and that they can’t leave her. They decide by vote that Bella will be turned into a vampire if she wants to, without Edward’s consent.
Then we move on to book three, Eclipse. In this book the vampire clan and the werewolf pack are still trying to stop Victoria in her hunt for Bella. She has formed a small army and Alice sees they will attack within days.
Bella is torn between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob as both are consumed with jealousy. They have to join forces though as Victoria’s army grows large and dangerous and a truce between these mortal enemies is reached. Bella also comes to realize that what she feels for Jacob is more than friendship…she is in love with him too. He is like the sun for her but Edward is an Eclipse and she can never leave him. She and Jacob are heartbroken as Bella makes preparations to marry Edward and be turned into a vampire shortly thereafter.
I can totally see the imagery used. Jacob is the sun…light, relaxing, centering, stable. Edward is the moon, seductive, dangerous, exotic, erotic, and ever changing. How can you not love both?
There is a 4th book coming out in August that is being anxiously awaited. Will Bella and Edward get married? Will he turn her into a vampire as promised? What will happen between Bella and her other love, Jacob? Will Bella be able to handle leaving all her mortal friends and family members? I need some answers!!!
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My two favorite ways to save are to buy in bulk for a discount and to order from co-ops. This week I really stocked up on my bulk purchases at Costco and through a Frontier co-op. I have lots of storage space and two refrigerators and two freezers so this works well for me. At Costco some of my best finds were:
