Ep. 146 - Real-Time Reactions: Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer | Book 3 in the Twilight Saga

It’s time to jump back into this super popular teen angsty paranormal romance fantasy with Bella, Edward, and Jacob. I’ve had a lot of time to recharge, so I’m ready to read book three and give you my thoughts and reactions in real time. 

You can find the companion blog here.

If you haven't listened to my thoughts on books one and two, you can check out episodes 79 and 102.

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Transcript

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It's time to jump back into this super popular teen angsty paranormal romance fantasy with Bella, Edward, and Jacob. I've had a lot of time to recharge, so I'm ready to read book three and give you my thoughts and reactions in real time. Hey storylov, it's time to unwind, relax, and get comfy cozy. You're listening to the Bookmarks and Blankets podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Matsudira. Each week I discuss my favorite forms of art, which are books, movies, and TV series. I also love talking about cozy living, cozy hobbies, and self-care tips. If you like reviews, recommendations, discussions, and a whole lot more, then you're in the right place. Join me with your favorite blanket, beverage, and snack, and let's get cozy together. Welcome or welcome back, my book friends. I hope everybody is doing well. Oh my gosh, you guys. It has been so, so long since I've read anything in the Twilight series. I started this series back in August of 2024. And now at the time of this recording, it is April 2026, and I have only read two books. So yeah, I did not keep to my word. I apologize for that. I said I was gonna finish it last year and it just did not happen. I'm really, really hoping that I can get it done this year. I feel like I'm jumping back in early enough that I'm giving myself plenty of time to finish and read book three, four, and five because I wanted to read all five. And I was having just a really, really hard time with this story as a woman in her 40s reading this book that is very much angled for teenagers. I just was really struggling in book two. So then I took some time off, and I honestly didn't think it was going to be over a year later, but here we are, and I've kind of gone through it with this series. So I read Twilight in August of 2024, and then it took me seven months to pick up book two, and now here we are. It's over a year later, and now I'm gonna be picking up book three. So that has been my journey with the Twilight saga. It has not turned out to be quite what I thought it was gonna be. I still think it's very much overhyped. I don't understand it. I'm also not a 16-year-old girl, so maybe that's why. But if you want to hear my real-time reaction to the first two books, because I do have those up on the podcast, episode 79 is Twilight, and episode 102 is New Moon. I do want to warn you that these episodes will have spoilers because I'm talking about a book that came out. Well, the first book came out over 20 years ago. The movies have been out forever. I think everybody knows about Twilight, has either read the book andor watched the movies. Also, it's a series, so I think I have to have spoilers when I'm talking about a series. So I just want to make you aware of that. But I felt like it was time to finally get back into the Twilight saga. So I am a streamer of HBO Max, and I saw that the whole Twilight saga, the whole series is available to watch. And so I put it in my playlist and I just left it there for a while because I figured I wanted to watch these to really refresh my memory and to just get myself back in the mindset, in the mood for Twilight. So I let it sit there for a couple months now. And I was looking through my HBO Max playlist the other day, trying to find a movie because I just wanted to veg out and relax and watch a movie. And I saw all of the Twilight movies. So that just kind of sparked the urge to want to get back into all of this. And I will say, this is my third time trying to start Eclipse. I did try to start reading it a couple times before and just could not get into the story. I basically soft DNF'd it. So the first time I had mentioned, if you haven't listened, in the second episode in New Moon, I had mentioned that I was very curious about the audiobook. If you know anything about me, I prefer audiobooks over anything else. I just really get immersed by audiobooks. I have some favorite narrators that I love to listen to, and I feel like I can get through books a lot faster. But I had listened to a sample of Twilight and I did not like the female narrator. So that's why I read the first two books digitally. But then I saw that these last three books are really long, and I didn't know if I wanted to read that long of books. So I thought I would give the audiobook a try. I did start listening to clips via audio and I made it 15% in, and I just could not take the female narrator any longer. She just really was not working out for me. So I stopped and I took quite a bit of a break. I can't remember how long. And then I did come back and I started to read it digitally, and I just still could not get back into the story. So then I put it aside again. Now I'm coming back and I'm starting this book over for the third time. Hopefully, third time's a charm. Now, to get myself prepped and to stick with it this time, I have watched Twilight and New Moon. At the time of this recording, I'm recording on a Sunday in late April, and it has been a very gloomy, rainy weekend of where I'm at. And it's just one of those moods where you just want to curl up on the couch and watch a movie, and it's lightly raining outside. And with Twilight being set for the most part in Washington, it's already a dark, gloomy movie. It was dark and gloomy here, and I thought it was the perfect setting to watch a dark and gloomy movie. So yesterday was Saturday, I watched Twilight, and today I watched New Moon. And gosh, you guys, those movies are not good. I've seen Twilight like three or four times, but then watching New Moon, I think I've only seen that twice. So this was my third time watching it. And gosh, those are just not good movies, first of all, in and of themselves. But second of all, after having read the first two books, I just feel like the cast of actors and actresses was just done so poorly. I don't feel like most of them look anything like the description in the books, especially Edward and Jacob. Edward is supposed to be this beautiful, godlike Adonis. And I'm sorry, but Robert Pattinson, I just don't find him very attractive personally. And he just doesn't come across as that dreamy, gorgeous guy that Bella talks about and that I'm imagining in the books. And then for Jacob, while Taylor Lautner is fine, he's a handsome guy, he's cutie, he doesn't match the description, especially in book two, when Jacob is supposed to have sprouted and become this 6'4, muscular, manly man. I mean, Taylor Lautner is a tiny guy. I do not feel, even though he was kind of ripped in this movie, and of course he took his shirt off a couple times, and we saw that he had muscles. He had a six back, but he wasn't a big guy. He's not a big framed man. He's not very tall. And I just feel like the cast was done so poorly. I remember, I think it was last year or two years ago, somebody was playing around with AI, and they made characters from Twilight based on their descriptions from the book. They made them through AI, and the AI characters looked more like what I thought they would look like than the cast that was chosen for the movies. So actually, I would love to see a remake of the Twilight series with a better cast of characters that look more like the descriptions. But that was just one thing that I noticed when I was watching these movies again. It had been a really, really long time since I watched these movies, but I'm glad that I watched them because it really did get me back into the mindset of Twilight. And oh boy, now I'm gearing up for all the teen angst. And then I also listened to my review of New Moon to help refresh my memory of what I thought about that book and just get me back into it. So I think all of this prepping and planning, hopefully that will help me really get immersed in this third book and not discard it again for a third time. And as I was looking up the description of Eclipse on Goodreads of the original four books, I'm not including Midnight Sun, which is basically Twilight rewritten in Edward's perspective. The original four, Eclipse is the second highest rated book. So that helps my expectations a little bit. I will say my expectations going in are very, very low. And this is a long book, hence why I was trying to listen to the audiobook. I think the audiobook was over 16 hours. I have the digital book, and Amazon is telling me the print length is over 500 pages, 518 to be exact. So that's a long book. And I have a feeling it may take me a while to get through this, but lately I've been reading some slower-paced, slow burn type of stories. So I feel like I'm in the headspace for that. I feel like I could handle that right now. And with getting myself prepped up from watching the movies and listening to my reviews and then just reading some reviews on Goodreads, I think I'm ready to hop back into this and to finally read the third book. It has been a long time coming. Part of my motivation for getting to Twilight right now is because I mentioned this before, I want to read some older YA fantasy series. And I feel like I don't want multiple series going at once. I don't want to be in the middle of two or three different series. I really want to finish one and then begin the other. So right now, the newest Hunger Games movie, Sunrise on the Reaping, that movie is coming out at the end of this year. I think it's coming out in November, December. And Sunrise on the Reaping was all the talk last year in 2025. Everybody loved that book. It won a Goodreads Choice Awards. I really think Hunger Games is the next series I want to tackle. But before I do that, I really want to finish Twilight. I just have this thing in my mind that I have to finish Twilight before I can move on to anything else. So that's how we got here. That's why I'm suddenly a year later, or over a year later, wanting to pick up book three. And I'm just ready to see what happens. So I cannot remember much at all of what happened in the third movie. Again, I haven't seen all the movies that many times. I think I've seen three and four. Well, four was split into two parts. So basically movies three, four, and five. I think I've only seen each of those twice. Now, I can remember a little bit that Bella graduates high school. I think she gets married in this one. And maybe this is the one where they turn her towards the end or she becomes pregnant or something. So I honestly do not know what's going to consist of these 500 pages. I hope it's a little more interesting than the last two, but I don't think it's gonna be. I don't think anything really happens in any of these books. That's why I just don't understand the hype because it's a series of not much really happening at all. Where are the action scenes? Where is the action sequences? We have a lot of drama. There's tons of drama, ton of teen angst, but I want some action scenes. I want some thrilling moments, and I don't get much of that at all. But I really cannot remember the third movie whatsoever. So I really do not know what to expect going into book three, but I'm here for it and I'm ready to just hop into it. Alright, so I think that's it for my intro. It's a little bit long, but I just wanted to let you know why it took me so long to come back to this and where my mind's at right now. But I am ready to read this. So you already know the book that I'm planning on reading. It is a cliffs by Stephanie Meyer. I will read the short summary from Goodreads, and then I am gonna give you my thoughts as I read through the story. So I usually stop around the 25% mark, the halfway mark, and then I finish the book up and give you my final thoughts. As I do with every podcast episode, there is a companion blog. If you go to bookmarksthelter nblankets.com. If you miss anything in the episode, if you want to learn more about these books, if you want to read my written reviews, because I do have all of those up on the website, then you can head over to my website to get more information. And this is the same post as the first two. Because it's all in one series. I just decided to put the podcast episode and all the information in just one post instead of having five separate posts. So it will be the same link, and you can find that link in the description box. Also, on my website is a blog. I post every Tuesday and Thursday. If you are interested in book discussions, reading tips and tricks, book lists, you can find that over there. Also, if you want to know what I'm reading in real time, you can follow me on Goodreads. I'm in there every single day. I also post all of my written reviews over there as well. And then finally, I'd love to know what you thought about this book or any of the other books or just the Twilight series in general. I would love to hear your thoughts. And you can find me on all of the social media: Instagram, Facebook, X or Twitter, Pinterest on all the places. But you can leave me a comment on the post that I make when I announce that this episode is available to you. Okay, so as much as I'm a little nervous to hop back into this, I am ready to see what Bella, Edward, and Jacob are up to in this installment. All right, let's get comfy, let's get cozy, and let's dive in. So Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. This does have a three point seven four on Goodreads. Like I said, this is the second highest rated out of the original four books. So that gives me a little bit of hope. And the description is not very long. It's not gonna tell me too much, but it does say as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her request for revenge. Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of all of it, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob, knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make life or death. But which is which? So I remember from the end of book two, we have two things going on with Bella right now. The first is Victoria is after her. Because in book one, James, her boyfriend, or they called him her mate, was after Bella. And Edward stopped him and killed him. And now Victoria is on a path of vengeance, and she wants revenge for her mate being killed, and she sees it eye for an eye or mate for a mate. So she is after Bella and she wants to kill Bella. But we have the vampires protecting her, we have the werewolves protecting her. So that was one storyline. The other storyline that's going on is that there was a point when Bella was acting very dangerous and doing all these stunts. They thought her cliff diving was her trying to off herself, but she wasn't. She was just doing these daredevil stunts. But Edward thought that she had died. So he wanted to die because oh my gosh, he can't live without his Bella. He can't live in this life without her. So he goes to the Volteri in Italy and wants to die. And they deny him, but he says, Well, I'm gonna expose myself to the humans. And apparently, if you do that, then they can kill you. So now Bella and Alice had to rush after him and stop him, which she did. But in doing so, now the Voltairi know that a human knows about them and they wanted to kill Bella. But Alice jumped in and said, I will turn her. She can become one of us if you just give her some time. So that's the other storyline is now Bella has to make a decision. Does she want to stay human or become a vampire? Of course, she wants to become a vampire to be with Edward forever. And they took a vote at the end of book two. And everyone but Edward and Rosalie wanted her to become a vampire. But Edward still wants her to be human. He doesn't want her to sacrifice her soul. But she's like, dude, I've already made up my mind. And he said, well, at least let's just wait till after graduation. So that's where it ended. I think that's probably where we're gonna pick up in book three, is she graduates and then we'll see how things unravel from there. And we've got these two plot lines. I wouldn't say there's a love triangle anymore because Bella chose Edward at the end of book two. So Jacob's just out on his luck. And at this point, he's just protecting his friend. But I really hope Jacob gets some kind of happy ending. I really cannot remember what happened to him in the movies. As I've mentioned before in other episodes, Jacob is my favorite character. I love Jacob so much. He is the sweetest boy, and he just gets crept on so hard by Bella. She treated him so poorly. And I just am like, dude, move on from her. Find somebody who will treat you better. You can find somebody else who will love you the way that you love her. But I know Jacob's still around. I don't really think there's much of a love triangle in this third installment, but I'm gonna find out. All right, so let me stop blabbering. Let me hop into the book, and then I will stop when I get around the 25-30% mark and let you know my thoughts and how things are going. And I hope to everything holy that I am able to get to that point of the book and not want to stop and throw it out the window. I really hope that this is a bit better of a story than the first two, but we shall see. All right, I will talk with you soon. Wish me luck. So it is a few days later, actually, it's probably about a week later from when I recorded the intro. And it's taken me a little while to get through this first part of the book, but I am close to the 30% mark. And let me tell you, why, why? Just why? Why are these long books so popular because nothing happens? You guys, nothing is happening, and it took me forever to get to this point. I feel like I was reading and reading and reading, and I am reading the digital ebook. I'm not listening to the audiobook because, as I mentioned, I didn't like the female narrator, and I just don't really think that I'll be able to push through and listening to somebody I don't like, it could possibly ruin the story for me. So I am reading with my eyeballs, and I feel like it's taking forever. The chapters are so incredibly long. This book is over 500 pages, and I feel like this is gonna take forever to get through. It's not feeling like a chore. I don't know if I would say I'm enjoying myself, but I'm not hating it right now. I'm definitely in a much better head space, I will say that, than when I started this a couple other times. I think it helped to watch the movies and to get myself in that headspace. I also started watching vampire diaries again. So I have two vampire series going on right now. I'm watching one while I'm reading another, and I think that's kind of helping me to stay in the mood and to read this. But oh my gosh, you guys, this is such a teenager book. This is such a teenage girl book specifically. It reads so YA. And as someone who's in her mid-40s, this just screams teen to me. And that's fine because that's who the target audience is. It's not for someone like me. And I could totally see why these were popular, but at the same time, I'm still so flabbergasted by the hype around these books because again, nothing is really happening. I just wish something would happen. So, again, before I really hop into it, this episode is going to contain spoilers. So if you haven't read the book or you don't want to hear spoilers, now's the time to turn off this episode. You can go back to the first Twilight and hear my thoughts. And then as you get caught up, then you can listen to these episodes as I'm reading through the series. But let's hop into it of where I'm at in the story. So when we come back and meet Bella and Edward, Bella is ground. She's been grounded for quite a while now. I think this is a few months later, after the end of book two. And quite right. I mean, she took off to Italy of all place. She went across the world, and her dad had no idea what was going on. Even though she is 18 and she's an adult. She has every right to do what she wants, but she's living under her dad's roof. And I kind of see where Charlie's coming from, where he's grounding her. But she's been doing so well. And Edward's been coming over. He's been keeping an eye on them. They've been applying to colleges because she's graduating this year. She's doing so well that he's like, All right, why don't you start hanging out with your friends? He's very concerned that she's not talking to Jacob. So that's a really weird thing in the beginning is that Bella and Jacob are kind of on the outs and they're not really speaking to each other. They haven't talked to each other in quite a while. And let me tell you, Edward is so incredibly controlling over Bella. I feel sorry for Bella, kind of sorta. She's being controlled by her dad, who has grounded her. And now Edward wants to completely control her. He doesn't want her talking or seeing Jacob, even though they're still really good friends. And even just the Collins family, they're all being really, really protective. And I get it because they've got some dangerous vampires after Bella. So Victoria is still out there. She's still wanting to get Bella and have her revenge. And then we have the Voltaire, and she has to be turned, or they're gonna take her life. So I get that there's dangerous things going on, but the level that they are being so overprotective, I don't blame Bella when later on, when she finally talks to Jacob and she finally hangs out with him, that she basically has to try to escape Edward, escape Alice, and take off and go over the line because there's that line between vampires and werewolves, and the vampires can't cross that line into the tribal territory where the werewolves are. And it's not till she crosses that line that she's basically safe and she can hang out with Jacob. But I just feel so bad for her. But at the same time, she put herself in this situation. You know, she decided to fall in love with this vampire, and she's in this situation now. I don't know. So I feel bad for her, but at the same time, I don't. I do like that finally she does talk to Jake. He shows up at her school. There's kind of a little tiff between Edward and Jake. We do have more of this love triangle going on, and you can definitely tell there's a lot of animosity between Jacob and Edward, and they have little spats here and there. Bella's caught in the middle. I do feel sorry there because she has her boyfriend and then she's got her best friend and they hate each other. But they do have one thing in common is that they both love Bella and they want to keep her protected from Victoria. And so they both are trying to keep her safe. I am happy that eventually Bella does cross the line. She goes and talks to Jacob. There's this whole long conversation that they have, and she finds out what's been going on with him, and she learns more about him being a werewolf. We also learn about some other werewolf characters, specifically Sam and his whole backstory. So I did like diving into more of the personal stories and learning more about the characters. But again, this is a teenage book for teenagers. I have to keep reminding myself that because I find that all three of them, Edward, Bella, and Jacob, they have their moments and they're being so bratty and so immature and so juvenile. And the way that the dialogue is written, the way that they're interacting at times, it's just like they're children and they're just having these little arguments, these little bickerings, they're fighting and saying nasty things to each other. And I'm just like, oh my gosh. Edward's how old, 100 and whatever, and Bella's 18. And Jacob, he's a little younger. I think he's still 16. Even though they do describe him and he's supposed to be like six, seven, and this huge guy with muscles. I'm just still thinking back to the movies because I just watched them. And I'm just thinking, what were they thinking casting some of these characters? I mean, Taylor Lautner is not a big guy at all. And just reading the descriptions again about how filled out and huge Jacob is in the book, and then he's not like that at all in the movie, it's just it's funny to me because it's not even close to the correct characterization. But anyway, I digress. But I'm happy that Bella and Jake are talking again. I am happy that she does try to sneak away and to see him and to talk to him, but she's still putting Edward first before him. And just the way that everyone is controlling her, it's quite annoying. She ends up going to Florida to visit her mom with Edward because Esme and Carlisle, I think, gave her some plane tickets for her birthday at the end of, I think in the last book, Edward reminds her that she hasn't used them yet. So she tells Charlie, I want to go visit my mom, and he thinks it's a good idea. So they go spend, I guess, a long weekend or something and see her mom. But the whole thing was Edward wanted to get Bella out of Forks because I think because Alice saw something that Victoria was around. And then we do find out that Victoria did show up, and there's this whole showdown between Victoria and the werewolves. Then the vampire showed up, and there was a little spat between the vampires and the werewolves. And so we do have this infighting between the two groups of supernatural creatures. And that was a little interesting, but I mean, not really much is happening. As far as Bella's friend group, we're split now. So all the friends that she had from the first two books are in two groups now. So she only hangs out with Angela and Ben and Mike, and then Jessica and some of the others are in a different group and they don't really talk. So that's kind of weird now. And there is a scene where Alice kind of sort of kidnaps Bella and says, We're gonna have a sleepover at our house because Edward went out hunting with some of the guys, and Alice has to keep an eye on Bella. So Bella stays the night at the Collins, and Rosalie comes into her bedroom at night and explains her story. So I liked getting her backstory and how she was turned and what her life was like. She was 18 in the 1930s. So we learned when she was alive. I think I had calculated she was born in 1915. And then she said that in 1933 she was 18, and then that's when she was turned. And she's talking to Bella because Bella still really wants to be turned into a vampire. But Edward and Rosalie are the two vampires against that. And Rosalie just wanted to share her story and say, this is why I don't think you should become a vampire. And you really, really need to think a lot harder about this choice because you do have a choice. I didn't have a choice because her story was really tragic, and she was attacked by this group of men, and one of them was her fiance, and that's a really sad story. But I liked learning more about Rosalie. It kind of made her softer to me because she's always been this hard, rigid, I guess, kind of snobby character to Bella, but we're learning why now and peeling those layers. I liked learning more about Rosalie. So I liked learning more about the different characters so far in what I'm reading. But as far as any action scene and what's going on, there's really nothing going on. And there's just arguments and bickering, and like I said, Jacob and Edward hate each other, and Bella gets annoyed because the Collins and Edward are being so overprotective, and I don't know, it's kind of weird. I was trying to think about the movie, and I'm gonna watch the movie after I read the book, but I seriously cannot remember anything for the movie. I watched the movie at least twice, and I really don't remember it. I guess it's been that long since I've seen the third movie that I really cannot remember what happens in it. So as I'm even reading through this book, I still can't even picture the movie, and I just don't remember anything. There's a part of me that kind of just wants to watch the movie before I finish the book, but I'm not going to. I am gonna finish the book first. I just wish some more would happen. It's not that I'm bored, but I'm just waiting for something bigger to happen. So those are my thoughts right now. It's reading like a teen book. They're acting like immature teenagers. I don't hate it. I am getting through it. I still don't think I like it right now. I don't think I like it better than the first book. I would say so far out of these three, and I know I'm only like 30% into this third one, but so far the first book, if I had to choose a favorite, would be my favorite right now. It's just reading really slow and it's just taking a lot of time to get to the point. I feel like there's a lot of unnecessary descriptions and exposition, and I am skimming through it because there are some big chunks of paragraphs and just stuff that I just don't care about. I don't need to know every little detail about every little thing. So I am just kind of skimming through some sections to try to get through it quicker, but it is taking a bit of time to get through this. I'm hoping that things start to pick up so it doesn't feel like it's so long. But I mean, it is what it is. There's still no language, no spice. I really enjoy that. And it shouldn't be because it's YA. We shouldn't have to worry about that in young adult books. But I think at this point, I'm not sure what's gonna happen in the next part. I'm guessing we're gonna get closer to prom and graduation, and Bella's still figuring out if she wants to turn or not, which I think she's pretty much made up her mind that she does want to turn. But we'll find out. I'm gonna keep going. So that's my check-in for now. Not much is really going on. And when I get around the halfway mark, I will check in again with my second check-in and let you know my thoughts on what's going on. All right, I will talk to you soon. Hello, hello, my book friends. I am back with my second check-in, and I am about 50% into the book now. I will say I'm getting more intrigued with this third book than the previous book because I'm finding myself wanting to know what's gonna happen next because I don't remember the movie. And even as I'm reading through this, I'm still not really remembering much about the movie. There was a point that I almost was just gonna go ahead and watch the movie as I'm still reading this book, but I really do think I want to finish it before I watch the movie, just so that maybe I can enjoy it a little bit more and not already know or remember what happens at the end. But I am finding myself that I do want to pick this up and I am continuing to read. It's very easy to get through. I will say the chapters are super, super long, and I don't like that. If I just have a little bit of time, if I just want to do like a quick 15 or 20 minute reading sprint, it takes a little bit longer to get through some of these chapters because they are so long. So I'm not really liking that. But as for the story itself, it's still very slow moving. I feel like it is slowly gaining momentum, but it's still a very slow burn of a story. But it is starting to capture my attention a bit more. So I think that's why I'm finding it easier to want to pick up this book and to read it. Where when I was reading book two, I really had to force myself to pick it up and read it because I just was losing a lot of interest. But things are getting more interesting and we are seeing more of the love triangle dynamic. I know that Bella ends up with Edward as much as I love Jacob, as much as I'm Team Jacob, and that's who I would love to see her with. I know that's not gonna happen, but I do love that she is reconnecting with Jacob, and they have kind of sort of picked up where they left off. There's a point where she skips school and she runs off with Jacob. He comes on his motorcycle and he takes her over the line where the vampires can't cross, and they basically spend an afternoon together and they're talking things out and they're holding hands and they're just being best friends, and he even calls her his best friend. So he still sees her as his best friend. They're starting to talk more and they're talking on the phone. And then there is a point where we see Edward and Jacob speak to each other on the phone, and we do see that they have one thing in common. It's Bella. And they both love her, they both want to protect her, and they're kind of calling a truce because they know that Victoria is still after Bella. They know the Volteri is after Bella and they want to protect her. So there is this truce between the two of them because they're on the same team when it comes to Bella. So I do like that. And there is a whole long sequence where Bella goes to LaPush with Jacob and there's a bonfire party because I think there's some new werewolves that have come into themselves. It's a big party, not just with the young kids, but there's the older people of the tribe and there's younger kids there. So it's just this big community bonfire. And we learn the history of their people and how they became werewolves and how this all started. So that's a really, really long chapter, but I really liked that sequence. It was very interesting. I was very captivated, as much as Bella was. She was really captivated by the story. So I really like learning more of the backstory. And I feel like that's what we're getting a lot of in this book is we got Rosalie's backstory. We're getting the werewolves and the tribe backstory. We're learning more about Jacob. Then, if you fast forward a little bit to around the point where I stop, we learn about Jasper's backstory. So, Jasper, one of the vampires, he's from the 1860s. So he joined the Confederate Army, he's from the South, and he talks about how he was turned. We're learning more about him. So I'm liking that I'm learning more about these characters. I'm starting to care more about the characters because I am getting more in-depth information about them. But I really do like that aspect. And again, I like that Bella and Jacob are friends again and they're hanging out together, and Edward is even giving his permission that she can go hang out with him. So he's coming around and we have this truce because at the end of the day, everyone is still just trying to protect Bella. So we have all of that going on. Now, the other thing, we got a couple more things going on. It's almost graduation time. And there was a scene where Alice pointed out, oh my gosh, it's only a week till graduation when they were at school. And Bella kind of freaked out. And then when they were back at Bella's house in her bedroom, Edward called her out on it and is like, what's going on? And she's like, I didn't realize graduation was so soon. Because after she graduates, that's when Carlisle had promised that he's gonna turn her. And she's kind of started having a little bit of doubts about being changed. She still wants to be changed, but I think the reality of it is starting to set in and it is scaring her a little bit. And Edward calls her out on it and is like, what's going on? That point is kind of, I felt really juvenile and immature. One of the big things with her is that she's scared that if she marries Edward, because his whole stance was, I'll turn you instead of Carlisle, but you have to marry me. And she has been really against it. And he's like, Do you have a problem with marriage? Do you have a problem with me? And she's thinking, Well, marriage and eternity are not mutually exclusive in her mind. The biggest thing for her is she is saying, I'm not that kind of girl. I don't graduate from high school and then get married at 18. She's worried of what her actions and behavior will do to the community and what other people will think of her. And it just feels really immature kind of thinking of, oh, I can't marry you, even though you're the love of my life, and I'm going to give away my humanity to be with you for eternity, but I don't want to marry you because I'm afraid of what that's going to look like in our culture, of what people are going to think of me, what others are going to say about me. And it just feels like a really immature teenager kind of thing to say that she's more worried about her reputation. And he's kind of like, Well, who cares? Because you're not going to really see these people anymore. Because they're planning to move up to Alaska. She's going to be done with high school. She's technically an adult. She's going to be a vampire. So she is going to live forever. She'll be 18 forever. And he's just like, Well, who cares? Who cares what other people think? Who cares what they see? It's just as long as we're together. So there's a little bit of a discrepancy there. She's also worried that Edward will not like her when she's changed, that he likes her and loves her now as a human, but she's not sure once she's changed if he's gonna continue to like her. So again, just another kind of teenager mindset thinking when it comes to this stuff. So it made me laugh because it just felt selfish and silly. But we also see why Edward doesn't want her to change. He doesn't want her to become a vampire, even though he wants to be with her forever. He doesn't want to see her lose her humanity. He feels like it's very selfish. Like you have to lose your soul and your humanity to be with me. And I feel like that's very selfish. So I feel like Edward is coming more from a mature standpoint than Bella. And we know that even though he's frozen in time as a 17-year-old, he's been around for over a hundred years, I think. So he is way older than her, more mature than her, and he does think differently than her, where she actually is an 18-year-old teenager thinking like an 18-year-old teenager. So it's interesting to see the discrepancy between the two when it comes to her turning. And you know that they both want her to turn, but there are pros and cons, and there are the drawbacks. And I think they both have their fears of that actually happening. And the closer that they get to graduation, it's just hitting a lot harder and becoming more of a realization for Bella. I'm wondering, is she even ready for this? She doesn't feel like she's quite ready to give up her life and her humanity, even though she loves Edward. So I kind of side with Edward on that point where it's like, do you have to turn right away? Can't you just enjoy being young? Go to college, enjoy yourself. He can still visit her. But then we do have the Voltaire to worry about. And Bella does bring that up. She's like, well, there's a timeline though. The Volteri wants me to change because she knows all their secrets and she's not supposed to be human for very long. I don't think there was ever really a timeline of like she has to turn within this amount of time. So I'm not getting a super big urgency from the Voltaire side that she has to turn right now. So I kind of do side with Edward of yeah, maybe you should take a little bit of time, girl, and just enjoy college, enjoy being young. And then maybe a few years down the road you can think about it. So I am siding with Edward when it comes to that. Then the last bit of the portion that I read is there's this long article about attacks that are happening in Seattle. So we know something is going on and we're not sure what's happening. That's when Edward takes her to the Collins house, and that's when we hear from Jasper. And we haven't really heard from Jasper in these last two books. He's been a very quiet, I feel like a very shy character. But now all of a sudden, he's coming in and he's telling us about what he thinks is going on. And he tells us a little history about new vampires and how volatile and dangerous and wild that these newborn vampires are. And that if you have one newborn vampire, you can train them and control them. But if you've got 10 or 15 together, they can just become chaos and a nightmare. He tells us history about how the north and the south were different. Vampires in the north acted more civilized and were a lot different compared to the covens or the vampires in the south. One guy got an idea of creating this army of new vampires and they wreaked havoc and they slaughtered a ton of people, and the Voltaire had to step in. So we learn all this history, and then we also learn the history of how Jasper was turned and what his whole story was. But he thinks if we go back to the present, that there are new vampires being created. We don't know by who, but they're being created and they're starting to wreak havoc on Seattle and they're starting to attack people. And Jasper's saying it's only a matter of time before the Volteris step in. And what the Volteri do is they kill the new vampires because they're just too reckless and wild and they can't be going around killing all these humans or having humans finding out about them. So they just take them out. He's surprised that they haven't stepped in yet. So he's like, it's a matter of time before the Volteris step in. So then Carlisle comes in and he's like, Well, we have to take out these new vampires. So now they're feeling like they need to protect the city. And the Collins is the biggest coven that they know of. And they are worried that the Voltaire see them as a threat because the Voltery is a huge coven. But the Collins is also a pretty big coven. And I never really saw them as a coven because they do come across as just a family that have a husband and a wife, and then a bunch of children, even though all the children are coupled together. But to me, I never really saw them as a vampire coven, but that's how they would be seen in their world. And they are worried that the Volteri are threatened by them, but they also feel like we should just take care of Seattle on our own before the Volteris step in. So now they're thinking we've got to go kill these newborn vampires first. So that's where I'm at. There's also a point, too, where we know someone has been in Bella's room. So that's another point that Jacob and Edward both want to protect Bella because again, we know Victoria is after her, the Voltaire's after her. Now, Bella said, Someone's been in my room. I'm missing some things. And she's asked Alice because she spent the night and had a girl slumber party. And Alice had grabbed some of her things. Alice said, I didn't take anything. She's asked her dad and he doesn't know where anything is. So Edward kind of sniffs around and he's like, Well, I don't smell the scent of Victoria in here. They're thinking it could be somebody from the Voltaire. And she's like, But you've been around them. Wouldn't you know if it was one of the Voltairians? He goes, Well, it could be somebody that I don't know their scent. It could be another member of that group. So we know someone's been in the house. They didn't attack Charlie when he was around. They didn't do anything to Bella. They just took some of her stuff. So there's also that little bit of mystery of who is in town and who has gone through her things. Who do they have to look out for? So that's why Jacob and Edward kind of teamed up and call this truce because we know someone is around and could be a very dangerous threat to Bella as well as the rest of the humans in Fork. So we have all of that going on. I feel like there's a lot going on between the vampires after Bella, between her needing to be changed after graduation, and now we have these newborn vampires wreaking havoc on the city, and the Collins feel like they need to take them out before the Volteris step in. Then we also have a potential threat of the Voltaire on the Collins family, just because they see them as a large coven. So there's a lot going on. And I think that that's why I'm more interested and excited to pick up the book right now, because it is capturing my attention a bit more. There are definitely some slow parts, but I am liking this a bit more. And at first I was kind of thinking in the first 25%, I was like, uh, this is kind of around a three-star. But as things are kind of picking up, I might be leaning more towards a four-star. I don't know. I think it just depends on what happens in the second half of the book. And it is taking a while to get through, but I'm also taking my time with it, which I can appreciate for myself that I'm not trying to rush through this. I'm picking it up as I'm interested. I'm reading it slowly. I'm trying to absorb the story on what's going on. It's not hard to follow, but it is starting to get a little more complicated with what's going on. We've got multiple subplots going on, multiple storylines, which I really like. So those are my thoughts right now for this first half of the book. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna just go ahead and push through and finish the book, and then I will be back with my final thoughts, and then I will probably also watch the movie and then come back in and let you know my thoughts about the movie as well. Okay, I think that's all I have for right now. I will be back soon. I have finally done it. Gosh, I have finished Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer, and oh my gosh, I literally just finished the book about 15 minutes ago, so my thoughts are very, very fresh. I got on Goodreads and I was reading other people's reviews of this book. They were making me laugh so much. And I'm so glad to know that I'm not alone with my thoughts and feelings, which we're gonna get into. We're gonna talk about it. I have a lot of thoughts about this, and I'm trying not to be too scatterbrained, and I'm trying to be more organized with my thoughts, but oh my gosh, this book, this series, it's garbage. You guys, this is garbage, but it's good garbage, if that makes any sense. I understand why this is popular, but at the same time, I don't get the hype. It is so polarizing. I just I was like wanting to tear my hair out by the end. I can't believe this book. I can't believe this series. I just okay, let's talk about it. First of all, it has taken me over a month to read this book. I started this, it feels like so long ago. And unfortunately, I didn't listen to the audio, which would have made it go by so much faster. But I was taking my time with it. I read the digital ebook, it is over 500 pages. It's probably one of the longest books that I'm reading this year, but it is so long, and then nothing really happens. I don't understand how these books just keep getting longer and longer, and literally nothing happens in these books. Why are they so long? How in the world are teenagers able to keep their attention on these books when they're so long and nothing happens? I'm guessing that they're really invested in this love triangle, which is absolutely ridiculous. We're gonna talk about that in a second, but nothing really happens. I will say the first half of the book was super boring. I mean, the whole book actually was boring, but it was really boring the first half. I will say the second half, it does pick up more, and I feel like there's a little bit more going on. But even when we get to the very end where there's supposed to be the battle between the newborn baby vampires and the Collins and the werewolf pack, even then, we're building up this battle, and we don't even get to see anything. We don't even get to be in the middle of the action. We have all this buildup and we're trying to unite the vampires and the werewolves who are mortal enemies, but we finally get them to come together on a common ground to protect Bella and to protect, I guess, their area, their territory. And then we don't even get to see the battle between our good vampires and werewolves and the bad vampires. We have to witness it from a distance. We have to be with Bella in the middle of this clearing in the forest, and we don't even get to see the action. I'm like, what the heck? I really wanted to see some action. Now we do see Victoria come to the clearing where Bella is, and we see her have it out with Edward, and they have their whole little battle scene. But I swear that build-up was not worth it. It was not worth it at all. I wanted to be in the middle of the bigger battle scene between the vampires and the werewolves, but we had to witness it and hear about it from afar. I could not stand that. I was so mad. Also, we're only getting the perspective of Bella, and this is the third book now, and I'm used to being in her head, but I will say that this would have been much more interesting if we would have gotten multiple POVs, especially because it is such a long book. I would have loved to have some POV of Edward, Alice, heck, even from Carlisle or Jasper. Definitely I would have loved to have from Jacob. Now we do get a little short scene of Jacob's perspective in the epilogue, but I think the book would have been so much better. Well, there's so many things that would have made this book better. But one of them is if it was multiple POVs. The other is if there was just more action and less focus on the romance. I know that this is a book about a love triangle. It is about teenage romance. But if there was more action, if there was just more interesting scenes, because it really feels like this is so long for nothing. I feel like the buildup was not worth it. These 500 pages were not worth it. I mean, you really could have cut this book in half with how much didn't go on. But anyway, that was just very disappointing. So overall, I will say that I did enjoy this book more than the second book. New Moon was very painful to get through. This one, I had my painful moments, but also it was more interesting. And especially, like I said, the second half and more towards that last quarter where we do have the battle scene and they're gearing up for all of that. So I ended up giving this three stars just for the sheer fact that I actually read through the entire thing. It was able to keep my attention. Now, I will say, I think what really helped is that while I'm reading the Twilight saga, I have also gotten back into watching the vampire diaries. I took a long hiatus, but I really wanted to make sure that I kept my attention on Twilight. And the movies are out right now, which at the time of this recording, they're actually expiring by the end of the month. So I'm definitely going to finish watching the movies of Twilight to keep my interest there. But I think it also helped to watch the vampire diaries because again, it's another love triangle with vampires and humans. There's werewolves. I'm in season two now, and it is just so much more interesting with the witches and the werewolf pack, and we have the originals now that are showing up. So I remember season two being my favorite season of vampire diaries. So I think watching that in conjunction with reading this, it's keeping my attention on the whole vampire werewolf human love triangle. So I think that that really helped for me to push through this. And I will say, one of the things that keeps coming up for me, and I know I've seen other people talk about this, but I find it really weird with these love triangles between Twilight and Vampire Diaries, where it's the male vampire is in love with the female human. Now, the female human is a teenager, and I know that in both Vampire Diaries and Twilight, so Stefan and Edward, they both died when they were teenagers. They became vampires when they were teenagers. So they still look like teenagers, but you have to remember that they've been around for what, 150 years plus? So to me, they're more emotionally mature, they're more experienced, they're more intellectual, and they just know more. And they seem like adults to me, even though they look like teenagers, they are adults, and the fact that these adult males are going after these teenager girls feels a little icky. It does. And I have to suspend my belief. I have to not think about that because it really creeps me out. But I'm just like, ew, that's kind of gross that these super old vampires are so infatuated with these 16, 17, 18-year-old girls. It's kind of gross if you really think about it. But I was watching vampire diaries with my husband. He's kind of gotten into it a little bit with me. And he was like, Well, don't think about it that way. Cause he's like, it doesn't seem gross because they are teenagers kind of frozen in time. So you have to think of it that way. And I'm like, I understand that, but it still kind of grosses me out. But anyway, I just wanted to bring that point up. But okay, so nothing really happens in this book, and I'm finding that all of the characters are becoming super annoying, especially now that we're in the third book. So there are frequent references to Wuthering Heights in this book. In the very first book, Romeo and Juliet was the classic that they kept giving nods to. And in this book, it was Wuthering Heights. Now, I read Wuthering Heights when I was in high school, but I absolutely do not remember it. I know it's about Catherine and Heathcliff and it's a toxic love story, but I really don't remember more than that. But I do want to go back and reread that. So those references were a little lost on me. But I swear, if Stephanie Meyer is trying to compare Edward and Bella's love story to Wuthering Heights, I do feel like she's failing there. Because she beats us over the head of how much Edward and Bella love each other. It's this unearthly love, and it's supposed to surmount all restraints and barriers, and there's nothing ever like their love before. And yet we are in the third book now, and I don't understand why they are so in love with each other. I really still don't get it. We're told at nauseam how attractive Edward is. Okay, I get it. He's supposed to be super hot, but she's basing her love off physical attraction. That's supposed to be the solid basis for their love because she does keep telling us over and over and over, Bella does, how attractive that she finds Edward. And it's like, oh my gosh, okay, we know he's supposed to be this Adonis. You don't need to keep telling us about it. I get it. But also, what does Edward and even Jacob for that matter? What do they find attractive about Bella? I don't get what they find is so infatuating with her. Because to me, all she does is whine and complain, and she's just this super weak character. She's boring, she lets people walk all over her. I do not like Bella. I really don't. And I do not know why Jacob and Edward are so in love with her. I just don't get it at all. We're just told so many times of how in love Edward and Bella are with each other, but I don't buy it. I really don't. I don't feel the chemistry between them. I don't get the attachment. I don't get the investment with each other. I'm just not invested in this character's relationship. I'm to the point where I'm just like, I don't really even care what happens. I don't care what happens to Bella. I don't care what happens to Edward and Bella. Now I do still care what happens to Jacob, and we're gonna talk about him in a second because I've got some major issues with him in this book. But this romance between Edward and Bella, I just don't get why they're so in love with each other. I still feel like they hardly know each other. And it's just based off physical attraction, I still don't get it. Three books in, and I do not get the chemistry between them, and it's just beyond me. So there's that as far as that romance. So Bella. She is so obsessed with Edward that it's super annoying at this point and it feels so unhealthy. And she claims to be in so much pain by the end of this book. She's hurting so much because she's choosing Edward and she's gonna turn, she's leaving her life behind, and her parents and her friends, and Jacob. But she says she's in so much pain, but she's still going to do it anyway. She still doesn't care what she's doing to her friends and family, and especially Jacob. I just feel like she's very selfish, she's very self-absorbed, just your typical teenager, full of angst. I will say this book didn't feel as angsty as the last two books, but I still feel like Bella is super, super immature and she's acting like it, and she's just also really boring. I saw somebody else point out that if it weren't for these supernatural creatures coming into her life, her life would just be so boring that these creatures, so Edward and his family and Jacob and the pack actually make her life exciting. If it wasn't for them, she would not have an exciting life. And I totally agree because she's a super boring person. She doesn't have any hobbies, she has alienated all of her friends. We don't even hardly see the friends in this book. She graduates, so we go beyond school, but still, she hangs out with Alice. And I love Alice. Alice is probably one of my favorite characters between her and Jacob. I love Alice. I think she's one of the sweetest characters, but everybody else is just so annoying. And Bella is just the worst of them all. She is just so weak as far as a female character. I know in today's modern literature, we love strong female characters. That's why a lot of those other YA books are super popular, like Sarah J. Mass books, because you've got the female badass and all those types of strong warrior type women. But Bella is so weak. She lets everybody walk all over her, and she needs to grow a backbone and get some self-respect. But she's so whiny about things and she complains so much. And she's gotten to the point where she's becoming insufferable for me. And again, I just don't care what happens to her. Just go off to wherever you want to go off to with Edward and just leave the rest of us alone. I'm just getting over her as a character. And again, I don't see what Jacob and Edward see in her because there's nothing special about her. There's nothing unique about her. She is flat and boring and shallow and just empty. There's no depth to her. So I find her very annoying. Now, Edward, in the first book, he was really charming. The second book, he pissed me off because he just up and left her. It's supposed to be for her own good. But of course, the way he did it was super immature. I couldn't stand what he did to her in that second book. But now he's so boring. Again, another boring character. How many times do we need to hear him confess his love for Bella and she for him again is oh, I'm so in love with you, and all this, that, and the other. And it's like, oh my gosh, dude, we get it. You love the girl. You found your soulmate to be with for eternity, but it's so repetitive and it's so tedious and boring. I didn't find anything compelling about Edward in this book. Nothing really stood out to me. I don't like how he kind of kidnaps her when she doesn't want to go with him and he tells her what to do. He's just this control freak. And I can't stand how much he controls her. He has to be around her 24-7. And if it's not him, if he has to go off hunting with Emmett and Carlisle, then he's sicking Alice on her. It's just like she has to be watched every second of the day. That was really annoying because I understood that Victoria was still after her, the Vault Terrier's still out there. But the fact that the girl could not just live and breathe, I did feel bad for her there. And that everyone was just smothering her. And I'm like, gosh, leave the poor girl alone. She just needs to be left alone sometimes. It was ridiculous. But I just couldn't stand Edward and this. Although I will say, when Bella wanted to get physical with him, and she basically wanted to lose her virginity before she turns, he told her no. He's like, we need to get married first. I know a lot of people may not like that message, but as a more conservative Christian, I do like the message of marriage before sex. So I am happy that he did not give in to Bella and that there was that message in the book. And even at the very end, when he was like, All right, fine, let's just do it. And it really was Bella coming back and saying, No, let's just go through with the marriage. I'll marry you, and then we'll go through everything. So it was kind of a reverse at the very end. But I still like that there was that message of marriage before sex. So I really do appreciate that being in a teenage book. All right, Jacob, my Jacob, what did Stephanie Meyer do to you in this book? I'm mad at Jacob, but I think I'm just angrier at the author. My Jacob, my precious Jacob. I have been Team Jacob since book one. I thought he was the sweetest kid. I have loved him so much until now. I still love him, but he has pissed me off. And I'm mad at Stephanie Meyer for that because she's the writer. She decided to write him this way. And I can't believe what she did to him. So, Jacob, dude, you're forcing yourself on Bella? No, sir. Come on. No, sir. You are better than that. I can't believe that he forced himself onto Bella and kissed her without her consent. And it just felt so icky. I was so turned off. It was very cringy. And then he just continuously tries to manipulate her for the rest of the book. And then even her dad, who is total team Jacob, he's cheering Jacob on for taking what's his kind of mentality, even if it's his own kid. Like, dude, you are happy that Jacob forced himself on your daughter. What is wrong with you? So oh my gosh. Jacob really ticked me off in this book. He was being so immature. He was being so manipulative and forcing himself on her the whole time when she clearly was saying, I'm in love with somebody else, I want to be with somebody else. He just wouldn't get the message. And it's like, dude, she's telling you she's just not that into you. And he wouldn't accept her decision. He wouldn't take no for an answer. That just really, really ticked me off. But at the same time, I am happy that after book two, their relationship was a little rocky. I was happy to see that Bella and Jacob are able to get back to their relationship, back on their friendship. They still consider each other their best friends. And I love that for them. He does bring out the human side of her. And I love how she did come out at the end and say, I am in love with you. She admitted that she was in love with two men. She's in love with Eller, but she was also in love with Jacob. And she's like, I can see my life with you. It would be a very human life. But that's not ultimately what she wanted. And he just would not take no for an answer. And it just really, really upset me of how controlling Jacob was of her. And he was just forcing himself either physically or just emotionally onto her. I just was not happy with seeing the character turn out this way. So I think Stephanie Meyer did him a little dirty. However, I still feel like of the three of our main characters, he is the most compelling character. He's not perfect, but he's still fun. He's honest. He's very human. He does make mistakes, but he is always trying to do what's best. He really is impossible not to love. It just felt like he was a really real character, and he was not some pretty dull, some pretty statue like Edward's supposed to be. He does have his flaws. I still feel like I could really relate to Jacob of where he was coming from. He's still trying to protect Bella and he still brings her into his life. And he brought her to that bonfire night where they talked about the history of the werewolves. So you can clearly see that he is so in love with her. And you can tell that she still loves him. She may be even in love with him. She says she is. I kind of question that because she's just so obsessed with Edward. I'm like, really, girl, you are in love with Jacob, but you're so obsessed with Edward. But I think there is a part of her heart that is in love with Jacob. But I still also think that she sees him as more just a best friend and not someone romantically. But I don't know. He just really ticked me off in this book. And the way he was acting and the things that he was doing, oh, it really crushed my heart because I have just been so fond of Jacob this whole time. And I still love him. I'm still teen Jacob. But I know at this point, it's like, dude, you're out of the running. She has chosen her guy. You did not get the final rose, and you need to move on with life. She even says, I hope you find somebody. But then he's still pining after her. The pining, I swear, this guy can't get a clue. He said, Well, I'll still be waiting for you just in case something happens. So it's like, okay, Bella's gonna turn into a vampire. She's gonna be immortal now. She's with Edward, but he's still gonna be waiting in the wings. Like, I'm still gonna be here, Bella, just in case you change your mind. Dude, she's not gonna change her mind. Get a clue. She's just not that into you that way. So very irritating, very frustrating. And definitely this ends with a cliffhanger-ish, where we know Edward and Bella are gonna get married, and we know the Volteri are still after them. So we do see an appearance of Jane. She's such a creepy little girl. But she shows up after the battle and she's like, hmm, Bella, you're not turned yet. What's going on there? So we know the clock is ticking, and I know the Voltaire is more of the focus in this last book, just from what I remember of the movie. But again, I don't really remember the movies too well. But I am gonna watch eclipse. And if I have any thoughts between the movie and the book, I will come back and give you an update. But as far as this book, as you can tell, I'm going on and on because this book just really, really frustrated me. And it was just too long for its own good. These characters are so ridiculous. This love triangle is super messy. The writing is not even good. I will even say, the writing is not even the best writing that I've ever read. I still don't understand the hype, but yet at the same time, I do understand the hype and the popularity behind it. And maybe 14, 15-year-old teenage Kelly would love this. 46-year-old Kelly is wondering what the heck is all this hype about. And these characters just driving me crazy. But at the same time, I am addicted to this. I understand how bingeable this is that you get invested. I am invested, even though I say I don't care what happens. At this point, I mean, I'm three books in. I am invested in these characters, in this universe, in this world, and in this story, and I am gonna finish it. I'm gonna try to pick up the last book here soon because I don't want to lose momentum. I'm still in the vampire werewolf interest right now. So before I lose my interest and I totally need a break because I'm burned out, I think I'm gonna try to pick up the last book and get through that. But again, I know it's even longer than this. And I'm not gonna listen to the audiobook because I didn't like the female narrator. So it's probably gonna take me a while to get through this, but it is now summertime. It's not really the time of year to be reading these types of books, but I don't know. I think it's a good time for me to settle in with the final book and to get this under my belt and to move on. I really am ready to be done with this series. I have drawn this out for two years, and I think it's just time to be done with it. I need to be done with Edward, Bella, and Jacob Love Triangle, and I'm just so over it at this point, but I do want to read this final book. Someone said that it's very chaotic, it's creepy, it sounds more interesting, especially if the Volterior knell involved. So I am really curious of what's gonna happen next. I'm not expecting anything to happen because nothing happens in these books, but I do want to finish it and to say that I've read the saga. I will never ever come back to this saga again. I will probably re-watch the movies every now and then, but I will never reread these books. I am a one and done kind of gal. I've got it, I've read it, I don't need to revisit this. So those are my thoughts. I'm very frustrated. Another three-star book. I really like the first book. The first book has been my favorite so far, but even then, it wasn't even that great. None of these books are good. Do I recommend them? Absolutely not. If you value your time and you've never read these, don't worry about it. You're not missing out on anything. If you're curious, I'm not gonna stop anybody from reading them. I mean, there are enjoyable parts. It is amusing, it is entertaining, it is bingeable, it is engaging. I do find it kind of cozy here and there. Has these cozy moments. So I get the appeal, but I personally would never recommend these. And I am honestly just ready for this to be over. So that's where I'm at. I'm gonna go ahead and watch the movie, and then if I have any thoughts, I will come back. All right, I will talk with you soon. Wish me luck. So I am back. It is the same day, it is a few hours later. I wasn't really in the mood to watch the movie today, but then I thought, you know, it's a Saturday when I'm recording this, and I do have other things to do, but I just thought, since it's fresh in my mind because I just finished the book and the movie is gonna be expiring off of the streaming platform that I'm able to watch it on, I thought I might as well just go ahead and watch it. And I'm really glad that I did because I have told you guys multiple times I've seen these movies. I own all these movies, which is kind of sad, but these were really big when they came out and they came out between 2008 and 2012, and they came out every year between that range. I remember that they were just massive, massive hits. It was like this worldwide phenomenon with this story back then. I think I have watched this movie twice, so I think this might have been my third time watching this, but I tell you what, I just must have really blocked these movies out because I did not remember this at all. Even while I was reading the book, I could not remember the movie. I remembered bits and pieces of the movie from when I was reading the first two books, but I could not remember this movie at all. I even watched the trailer while I was reading the book and I wasn't remembering anything. So when I watched this again, I think for the third time, I still didn't really remember much about this story at all. I think maybe it felt familiar because I had just read the book and all of that is still fresh in my mind. But I will say, I like the movie way better than the book. And I feel like the movie did what the book didn't do. So they crammed this huge book into two hours, and it still felt like a full story with just everything crammed in. It was just easy to consume, it was nice to watch, and it didn't linger on and on and on like the book. We also get some action scenes, unlike the book, that I just complained about. And at the very end, when we have the new baby vampire battle with the Cullins and the werewolves, we actually got to see that fight scene. I'm like, yes, why couldn't the book show us that fight scene? And then, of course, we have the fight scene between Edward and Victoria, and Riley is there. I actually did like the fact that there are scenes that change the audience's view in the movie because, unlike the book, we're always in Bella's perspective, but we shift away from her perspective in the movie. And so we get to see others, and then we also see Riley, who's the vampire working for Victoria. We get to see him be a more developed character in the movie, which was really nice because we don't really learn much about him at all or really know anything about him in the book. I actually really liked that there were different perspectives used in the movie, and that we did get to see more of what was going on outside of Bella's perspective. So again, I feel like the movie did what the book should have done. This movie was definitely way better than the book. One thing that I did notice is that there was a cast change with Victoria. In the first two movies, she was played by Rachel the Fear. I'm not even sure how you say that last day. I apologize. But now in this one, she was played by Bryce Dallas Howard. I actually kind of liked her a little bit better. And I looked up why they would change the cast. It was cited that there was scheduling conflicts with Rachel. However, she came out and claimed that she was dropped due to salary disputes and that she was not even aware that she was recasted until it was announced publicly. So obviously there was something going on behind the scenes, whether it was scheduling conflict or a salary dispute. But I kind of liked that they brought in Bryce Dallas Howard instead. I thought she did a little bit better, but I noticed that difference. And then we do see Jacob getting hurt in front of Bella, where that whole scene takes place off page in the book, and we don't get to see that. So that was interesting that they showed that. There is also a scene where we see Jane and some of the Volteri members. They're in this parking lot, and Jane tortures Felix into submission during a moment of him being insubordinate to her, and that doesn't happen at all in the book. So that was interesting that we see the Voltaire is already in forks in the movie. They're this overshadowing, looming entity of vampires, but in the book, we don't see them until the very, very end. I liked that we knew they were there watching things. So that brought definitely some more complex issues and layers to the movie. I just thought the movie was just done way better than the book. I don't remember if I liked the movie the first couple times I watched it, but it wasn't bad watching at this time. I do feel like the characters were way more tolerable than in the book, especially Bella. I don't think Kristen Stewart is the best actress in the world, but she was definitely a lot more tolerable as Bella in the movie than Bella was in the book. I'm really finding Bella insufferable, as I've already mentioned. But I feel like all the characters were not as angsty and immature in the movie. And they didn't focus so much on the love romance triangle, whereas the book, that's all they're talking about. So it's definitely there. And we know that Jacob is in love with Bella, and he says, You'll be better off with me. There are scenes from the book that are in the movie, but I don't feel like the movie dwells like the book does on the romance part. But anyway, I am glad that I was able to watch the movie right after reading the book. So I'm watching this on HBO Max, and they do have the entire Twilight Saga on there. So the two part of Breaking Dawn is on there. But like I said, this is expiring at the end of the month, and I don't know if I'll be able to finish the book by the end of the month, be able to watch it. I do really want to watch the movies before they go away. So I think what I might have to do is start the fourth book. And if I don't get through it, just wherever I'm at, I'm just gonna have to pause and watch the movies before they disappear on me and then come back to the book. I don't really like to do that. I usually like to read the whole book first before I watch the movie, but just depending on how fast I can get through the book, and I do have a lot of other books that I'm reading. I have other projects I'm working on. So I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get through another huge chunker of a book because Eclipse took me over a month and I know Breaking Dawn's even longer. So I'm just thinking, I'll just go ahead and start reading Breaking Dawn, and then wherever I am at, I will just pause and watch the movies before I lose them because I don't know if they're gonna be appearing on any other streaming platforms anytime soon. Usually there's a long waiting period because I think they were on Netflix for a while and then they went away and were gone for months, and then they appeared on HBO Max. So if it sticks to that kind of schedule, then I'm guessing it's gonna be quite a while before the movies appear on a streaming platform again. So, all that to say, I definitely preferred the movie over the book, even though the movie was still to me mediocre. Although I was looking on IMDB and looking at some of the trivia and looking at more information about the movie, and this won a lot of awards. Not anything big like Oscars or Emmys or anything like that, but it won a bunch of MTV movie awards, which of course, because that's a teenage award a show and this was a teenage movie. There were other things that it won awards for, and I was like, really? Because it just felt like a really mediocre movie to me, but it was still entertaining, it was still fun to watch, and it was only two hours, so it's not like I'm losing much of my life watching that. But I was really surprised that I had won all these awards. It was a really big success. I think on opening night at the time that it opened, so 2010, it was the biggest opening night in movie history at that time. And this was the first of the Twilight movies shot in IMAX and played in IMAX theaters. So I know it was really, really popular back then. And I can't believe it was 16 years ago. It's wild. That was so long ago. And now when I watch it, everybody just looks so young and it's like, wow, how everybody has changed. But it is fun to go back and to watch those movies and to just remember the success and the popularity of this from back then. Things are so different now. I even do wonder if Twilight was released now, would it perform as well as it did back then? I don't think it would, to be honest. I think that that was appropriate for its time when it was released back then. So the first book came out in 2005, and then the other books came out, and then the movies started coming out. And I think it was a success due to when it was released. But if it was released now, I really don't know if it would be as successful today as it was 20 years ago. So just something interesting to think about. But I know a lot of people would have a lot of problems with this, and it is fun to go read the reviews of people who read it now and come with the modern lens of today looking at these books. And I'm kind of doing it too, but there are people that are worse than me. I could just see them tearing this apart and having lots and lots of problems with it today, but it worked for when it was released back then. So just something interesting to think about. And then they don't really release movies and books like this anymore. Just the story itself is not something that I wonder if people are even interested in anymore. Teenagers are interested in. I know Vampire Diaries is still really popular. I mean, I'm watching it now and I'm really enjoying it. But again, it's another show that I wonder if it would be as popular now as when it was released about 15, 20 years ago or so, whenever that was released. Actually, I don't think it's that old. I don't think it's as old as Twilight, but at least 15 years ago. So I don't know. It's just really interesting to see that these TV shows and movies and books were so popular back then, but I don't know if they would be today. I think society has changed, culture has changed, teenagers have changed, and the things that they like now, I just don't know if it would work as well for them. So just putting my musings out there, just things that I'm thinking about. All right, so overall, I like the movie better than the book. The book I gave three stars. The movie I'd probably give three, three and a half, four stars. I mean, it was better, so maybe four stars if I had to rate it. But that's my thoughts on Eclipse. You have all of my thoughts now. So, like I said, this is a long series for me that I'm taking a couple years to get through, which is a little ridiculous, but I just have lost interest, and then it was just hard to get through. And just competing with my mood reading can be very, very difficult for me at times. But like I said, I think I have built up my momentum and I'm in a really good place right now. Just finishing this book, watching the movie, watching vampire diaries, which help keep me in that vampire werewolf mindset in that world. So I do feel like I want to pick up Breaking Dawn very soon. I may take a week or two break, but I don't know, maybe a week break because as I said, the movie is gonna be expiring soon, both of the movies. So I don't know. I may just take a week off and read some other books. It's summertime. I'm really in a summer rom-com mood right now. So I think I just want to read some of my summer romances, give myself a break, and then I will come back and read Breaking Dawn. So if you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned because I am going to read Breaking Dawn and I'm also gonna read Midnight Sun to complete the whole five book series. I'm not gonna worry about any of the companion novellas or short stories right now, but I just want to complete the five book series. So check back later on this year. I'm not sure when I'm gonna have it up. Hopefully in the next couple months, I'll be able to get through the book and the movies and get everything recorded for you guys and you can hear my thoughts about the next books. But I really want to finish the series this year. I don't want this lingering. I really want to start another YA fantasy series that I'm behind on. I think the next one I want to do is Hunger Games. So definitely check back if you enjoy this type of episode. If you want to hear my thoughts about the conclusion of this story, come back. I am going to read the final book and then let you know my thoughts as I go through it. If you are here to the very end of this long episode, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I really do appreciate you listening to me. I hope you enjoyed hearing my thoughts. Let me know if you disagree with me, if you agree with me, what you think of the book, the movie, the series as a whole. So you can just follow me on Goodreads or social media. You can give me a comment on my book review or on social media postings. I will have the written review and all the information in the companion blog, which is in the link in the description. That's always included with my podcast episodes. So if you missed anything or want to read my review, you can head over to the website. I put everything over there. But yeah, I got through it. I did it. So two more to go. I hope I can keep up this momentum and I'm just ready for all of this ridiculous drama to be over. But at the same time, I am enjoying it and it is entertaining, and I'm finally seeing what the series is all about. It's one of the biggest YA fantasies, I think, of all time. And the fact that I'm finally reading this just feels good to mark off my list to say that I've read it, that I've experienced it, and here are my thoughts on it. So I am glad that I'm going through this. It's taking me forever, but I am getting through it, and I'm enjoying it, but yet I'm also frustrated and it's cringy, and there's just so many things, but I am having fun. This is a fun experience, and I'm glad that I'm documenting it. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. And yeah, stick around for a lot more reactions to series and movies and all kind of fun stuff. Alright, until next time, my sweet friends. Happy reading. Well, that's all I have for this episode. If you missed anything, you can find the companion blog on my website at bookmarksandblankets.com. That's bookmarksthelternblankets.com. If you enjoyed today's discussion, please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes. Also, if you feel called to do so, please share this podcast with others who you think may be interested in this type of show. Or if you have a few minutes, I'd love for you to write a quick review. This helps me reach more people, and I would greatly appreciate it. If you would like to support the show even more, you can join my Patreon community at patreon.comslash bookmarks and blankets. Until next time, my friends, please remember to take care of yourself and always stay cozy.