in a nutshell... what are the 3 twilight books about?

Reality, keeps her away from her friends and family, hurts her physically? When and where? If the latter refers to Breaking Dawn, the gory bit, there were extenuating circumstances ie she was dying.

What royalty said.

Also, stalking and threatened suicide.

It really worries me that any of this is seen as desirable things to have in a relationship or, even worse, manifestations of 'true love'.

The fact that it's between a vampire and a human is neither here nor there; the problem is definitely in that it idealises extremely unhealthy types of relationship.

I'm Team Edward btw. Very much so. Very much not Team Rob Pattinson though. Terrible miscasting. He doesn't look right for the part and he's not a great actor.

Monkeyfeathers, abusive?

Oh I loved these books. No way are New Moon and Eclipse 'filler'. Eclipse is the best of the lot.
And all those of you who complain that the love story is unhealthy and don't want their DDs influenced, it's a story of love between a vampire and a human. Hardly a situation any of your DDs will find themselves in.

That's very true. On all counts.

Also agree that new moon and eclipse are filler. I'm surprised that the publishers weren't so cynical they split breaking dawn into two and told her to pad it out further. I'm sure you can figure out where I think it could've been split.

You only have issues with imprinting? I have gazillions of issues with pretty much everything. I bet imprinting never makes it to cinema screens though.

I'm pretty sure that I would believe what kinds of fanfic there are out there. I don't write fanfic, but I do know a lot about it. The amount and variety of fanfic on pretty much everything is just staggering.

My problem with the relationships is that they aren't just angsty. That'd be fine. It's that they are abusive and dangerous.

I also despair at the fact that Bella has absolutely no ambition for herself whatsoever. As an aside, who would want to spend eternity with someone with no interests or ambitions beyond being with you?

And I agree, the relationships in it are very unhealthy but I think it's trying to tap into teenage angst ..... it's been quite a while since I was a teenager though so it's hard to relate!

She does seem to like to use the word 'absurd' quite a lot, which I find quite odd!

I recently read all 4, not exactly sure why. The quality of storytelling definitely deteriorates throughout the series. The first 3 are ok, for what they are but I had to force myself to finish breaking dawn and found myself genuinely annoyed by stephenie meyers complete refusal to deal with any of the interesting issues that arise and focuses on brushing aside any possible problems (in incredibly frustrating ways). It all turns out so conveniently for Bella. I'd say more but it'd give the plot away.

Bella is possibly the worst example of a Mary sue character I've ever come across. In fact, all the characters are very under-characterised and too bloody perfect. The whole series is extremely superficial and bella's relationships are all extremely unhealthy. The language is also tediously repetitive.

To be honest, having actually read the books, the success of the series baffles me.

I haven't looked to check, but I'd be willing to bet that there is a lot of twilight fan fic that's of higher literary quality than the series itself.

Sandy - That Youtube is hilarious!!! Yes ok I take it back, he is fit! He looks a lot more like I imagine EC to look like in those pics than he does in the film though, at the start of the first one I think he looks a bit rotten tbh, but as I said, at the end he's hotting up nicely and I haven't seen the 2nd yet so I can't comment on that. I imagine Jacob to be seriously hot too though ..... is he in the films??

Schilke, I did the same! I loved the first two so much that I delayed reading the third. Now I am waiting for the fourth on paperback, can't wait!

I can't decide if I like Edward or Jacob best though

My sister got me the first one for Christmas and I am part way through. Still feels a bit Sweet Dreams (or whatever those American teenage romances were called) but am willing to have to keep turning the pages

The books message is one of abstinence, primarily, and Bellas character is a basic Mary Sue (to use a fanfiction term).
Very simple story, very simple writing, definatly not gonna win any awards for amazing writing skills.

BUT they do make very good escapism (once you get past te ridiculous sparkly vamps thing ) and they're easy to read and re-read.

I wish they weren't aimed at teens as the story revolves around a very unhealthy love story and I would hate for my DD to hold it up as a paragon for the perfect love story. Much better to be a nice treat for older readers!

Lollipop have a look at this www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsN74wuwaFk&feature=PlayList&p=FE5E36ADAE82E478&index=1. I too am in love with Edward but also love RP as well

I will join the Twi-sluts when I've read the last book and the bit on her webpage, I don't want to see any spoilers hence why I've not taken a proper look at this thread. I hear that the last book is a bit bizarre and not as good as the others, I hope I'm not too disappointed.

Sandy22 - No, he was definitely awful! I got into it though and I did start to quite fancy him by the end, but that could just be the character he plays, I am desperately in love with Edward in the books, makes my heart ache and reminds me of when I was young! I have to say that RPatt did look rather fetching when he was all sparkly!!!

Oooh lollipop - soooo harsh - RP dire - come now you must be mistaken.

Oh, I saw the first film before I read any of the books, it's pretty pants. Ok, so RPatt grows on you in the end but I don't think it's casted brilliantly, I'm sure there are better looking people they could've gone for . Oh, and his acting is DIRE at the start, I thought he was having a heart attack when he first saw Bella and I didn't get it at all until I read the book which makes it perfectly clear what his problem is, poor poor poor.