I've Been Sucked In!

I presume that anyone who's known me for any length of time is aware of my vampire fetish.  I still remember in the 7th Grade when "The Lost Boys" came out.  I stayed up all night reading the book in one sitting.  I cut out the full color ads for the movie from the Sunday paper and hung them on my wall.  I wanted to be Jami Gertz. I was torn between Jason Patric as Michael or Kiefer Sutherland as David.  David!  (And I still love me some velvety voiced Kiefer!)

Not sure what it is about the bloodsucker that I love so much - I was just as obsessive about "The Vampire Chronicles" by Anne Rice.  One of my all-time favorite movies is "Bram Stoker's Dracula," with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder - oh, I swoon when I hear "Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox during the closing credits!

So I guess it should be no surprise that I was intrigued by the hubhub of the "Twilight" series.  I was still unsure about a teen novel series, and even Costco lists them as Juvenile Fiction!  But it's been all the talk in my FitMommas group for quite awhile now, and when Melissa B. made it our book club selection, I thought I better check it out.   

Holy Crap!  I cannot put these books down!  I read "Twilight" in two days.  I read the next book, "New Moon," in a day and a half.  I'm waiting for either the boys to wake up or Trey to get home so I can run over to my friend Mandy's house for "Eclipse."  Someone better have "Breaking Dawn" on hold for me now!  :-)  

"Twilight" is basically a very well-written Harlequin romance, except here, boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy has to resist drinking girl's blood.  And, as an almost 35-year-old woman, I keep expecting it to get dirty, as in when are Edward and Bella going to get to bumpin' uglies?  They don't.  (Well, at least not yet, no one tell me!)  I see now why teenage girls and their mothers can bond over these books!  

I keep asking my friends who have also read it "But why?"  We all agree we can't put them down, but the larger question is why?  What makes this story about obsessive love so intriguing to grown women?  Really, it's not a healthy relationship.  Is this what we really want to teach our girls - don't bother with the nice-guy-Mikes of the world, wait for the domineering Adonis-like hottie with a temper to boot.  And let's not even talk about her back-up choice  - I don't want to give that away!

Alas, these books will in fact suck you in, no pun intended.  They are easy reading, don't require lots of brain power.  You'll overlook the questionable obsession between Bella and Edward, and instead wonder just what it feels like to fly on a vampire's back, to see a Greek statue shimmering in the sunlight.  Who else giggled at the thought of Edward sneaking into Bella's room to sleep with her (literally let her sleep) while Charlie was just down the hall?  **Sigh** 

Hey, who wants to do a movie night at the Latta's on the 21st!?  "Twilight" on DVD!!  WooHoo!