Review: the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

I miss Brizmus Blogs Books. It's time to get back into book blogging, and what better way to start than with this?

Title: the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Heh, I think this should be pretty obvious. Fans of Twilight, of course!

What I Have to Say:
Maybe as I'm getting older, my book tastes are maturing. . .though given that that seems extremely doubtful, I'm going to have to say that this book just doesn't live up to it's Twilight predecessors. Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulously enjoyable read, but it just didn't elicit that "ohmygod this is an AMAZING story" feeling that the 4 twlight books did. And then the whole - love immediately happens after two people have known each other for, like, 2 seconds. I'm feeling sort of over that lately. I got my fill of that in Twilight. And the Host.
But then, what can you really do in a short 192 pages when you've got SO MUCH going on. I'll grant her that. And the fact is, it really was good. Bree was sort-of awesome. I liked her pretty much immediately (which, let's face it, is more than I can say for Bella, whom I never really started to like), and I was sad when her inevitable end came. Seriously sad. I might have even cried (I can't actually remember, but it does seem cry-worthy).
I could go on about all the positives and negatives of the book, but this is one of those books where, if you're gonna read it you're gonna read it, and if you're not, you're not.
So we'll end here. It was a great read, even if it doesn't have in it all the emotion of Twilight and even if we do see repetitive themes.


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?

Cover Story: Totally loving it! So Twilight, and that hourglass just adds the perfect touch. Perfection! :-)

French Friday (5)

French Friday is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. We both live in France, so it's where we write about Frenchy bookish things.

So I was actually planning on interrupting my regularly scheduled French Friday programming today in favor of my New Moon pseudo-review and all, which I would have posted yesterday when I wrote it, but I had a blog tour to do. :-)

THEN, I saw this, and I decided, well, why not have a Twilight-themed French Friday? It's the trailer for New Moon, Tentation in French, dubbed over by the French voice actors. And it is HILARIOUS! What makes it so hilarious, you ask? Well, that would be the voices. I know that most of you don't speak French so won't be able to understand what is being said, but just LISTEN to Taylor's voice. It is SO not a Jacob voice. AT ALL! And Bella just sounds so overly feminine and dramatic. The dubbed thing really just doesn't work (which isn't a surprise, really, but Jacob's voice is even more hilarious than usual).

So watch and laugh. And I mention again, take special note of Jacob's voice.
And if you haven't already, check out my review of New Moon



And check out Charlotte's French Friday in which she talks about the Twilight books.

HAPPY TWILIGHT DAY!!!!

<3<3**New Moon**<3<3

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the books or seen the movie, I wouldn't read this post!!

New Moon came out in France on Wednesday, and I don't know why I didn't write about it before.
Well, yes, I do. When I got home from the theatre, I was planning on blogging about it immediately, but I was so tired that it just couldn't happen. And then I've just wanted to do nothing other than think about it and how wonderful it was since.
And maybe I just didn't want to make all the Americans jealous that I saw it before them. :-P

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

Okay, here goes. I'm going to try to make some coherent sense talking about what I thought of the movie. I'm so attached to this one, as it was my favorite book, so it's going to be hard. But alas, I will try, and I will start with the bad (agh!), so that I can end with the good, oh yes!
Kristen Stewart is still a terrible actress. Her fake attempts at stuttering, or sputtering out words, I guess I should say, do nothing but annoy me, and the way she breathes all heavily every time something intense is going on - ugh! And how she flutters those ridiculously overly small eyes that always make her look high (maybe she is always high?) - well, let's just say that I wish they would have chosen someone else to play the part of Bella. If Twilight could have been ruined, it would have been because of her. Luckily for us, it couldn't be.

Now, I also think that Bella and Edward have one of the most unhealthy relationships known to man.

It disturbs me a little bit, to see this portrayed as what eternal love looks like, and reading the books, this is why I was always Team Jacob. I have been there, done that (and burnt the t-shirt :-P), and I am SO happy to have escaped that. At the same time, because I know what it feels like to be left by someone with whom you are obsessively in love, I can also see the truth to the books. And in New Moon, Bella's pain over Edward leaving her is just so real. When she was moping around being depressed, it was the only time that I thought she got the acting thing right. Her pain became real for me, for the entire audience. So much so that it dredged up some of my old memories, and I cried at points where no one else was crying. Sure, there relationship is unhealthy, and the fact that, for her "without Edward, there is nothing" makes me want to reach out and shake some sense into her - but it's not entirely unrealistic. At one point in the movie, after she has been moping for about 4 months, Charlie says something like "Bella, it's not normal." And maybe it's not entirely normal, but it does happen. Maybe it's not normal for her to want to hurt herself in order to get to see Edward, but it DOES happen. I know from first-hand experience (I learned my lesson; Bella will never need to).

Enough about that, though. On to bigger, better things. Before this movie, I was sort-of hesitant. All this conversation about Team Edward and Team Jacob - it was hard for me. If I had had to choose, I would have said Team Jacob, if only because New Moon was my favorite book (which I had for some reason forgotten, thinking Twilight was my favorite; now I remember), but it would have been hard. After this movie, I am without a doubt hardcore 100% Team Jacob.
He was cute and sweet in the first movie, for sure. Watching him with Bella in New Moon, though - it just absolutely took my breath away. He's so innocent and sweet and caring, and he's just so good to Bella and good for Bella. Better for her than Edward has ever been. Even with Edward around, she is always "suffering" because of her love for him. With Jacob she's just. . .happy. And there doesn't have to be anything else.

And plus, Jacob is HOT! Edward is cute and pale and broody. Jacob is HOT! Whatever he did to get himself ready for this movie - he should totally keep doing it. (Somehow I feel creepy saying that, since he's 10 years younger than me and all). He's also really the only one that knows how to act.

Okay, a couple last things: the movie was beautifully filmed. The occasional special effect fit in beautifully with the overall theme of the movie. I can't stress enough what a great job the director did of making Bella's pain seem real and making Forks seem beautifuly and dreary and rainy all at the same time. Also, I was thrilled that Edward actually sparkled. He could have sparkled more, but at least it didn't just look like he was sweating (which is what I thought in the first movie).

And there we have it. Before I left for the movie, I realized I had nothing Twilight-themed to wear. So now I'm off to try to buy myself something for the next time I see it (which will probably be this weekend).

I hope this was coherent, and I hope you all love the movie as much as I did!

Disclaimer: with the exception of the stars, all of the photos in this post have been taken from other sites. Please contact me if you would like me to remove them.