Midnight Sun

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun was a difficult book for me to read. The beginning is filled with Edward second-guessing himself and overanalyzing situations. While I know being over cautious is necessary for him when he first meets Bella, it still felt like filler. I almost gave up, until it was suggested I switch over to the audiobook. Jake Abel was the perfect narrator for Midnight Sun, and his take on Edward brought me back into the fold.

Once Edward and Bella began to know one another, the plot picked up the pace. The story was less about Edward overanalyzing and more about relationship development and building up the characters. It's been a while since I read Twilight, but I remember wanting to see more involvement from Edward's family. Midnight Sun provided all I needed to know about the rest of the Forks coven. Readers will experience an in depth look at their powers and motivations as Stephenie Meyer reveals their family dynamics and relationships.

Readers will also have the opportunity to learn more about Edward's past. I enjoyed learning about Edward and his faults through his history versus the constant back and forth inside his mind. Granted, in any new relationship, there is a sense of doubt that clouds judgment, but it was taken to an extreme with Edward. Yes, I know he is a vampire and things can turn on a dime, but it could have scaled back and still provided the sense of danger that was required.

Even though this was a struggle, I still recommend Midnight Sun to fans of Twilight. I'm one of those people who loves to see all angles of a situation to better understand it, and Midnight Sun gave me this opportunity.

i finished it! all 26 hours.
this book, or rather, diving back into the twilight franchise after a little over a decade was a whole bunch of fun. I definitely got the most enjoyment out of the first movie, and this book was a nice accompaniment to that.
I think this would be a great buddy read for those who enjoyed the original books. Whether you still think they have literary merit now, or you don't really care and just want a good time.
There are many many effed up things about the twilight series and i'm not going to go into them now, i'm definitely not the right person to discuss them – but they're valid and should be given the appropriate thoughts. Many other reviewers here and elsewhere will have put it much better than I. I will say that many authors write many effed up things in books and don't get nearly as much hate for it. While Bella deserved SO much better, and Edward is an absolute freak, I support Bella's rights to be a dumb ass monster fucker. I too remember the intensity of my relationships and stupid choices made at her age, I'd probably think its cute if a sexy vampire man watched me sleep too.

This book really showed Edward's frightening side well. It was brilliantly read by the narrator - Jake Abel. I'll have to look out for other books read by him. He delivered the lines with such emotion, and I was genuinely taken back when he would gutturally growl Edward's scary lines. He didn't butcher the women's voices either, which was a welcome change. It was a very immersive listen. It was interesting to see Edward's side of things, and get more time spent with the Cullen family. This book was definitely, far, far too long. So many things were happening (which were all quite slice of lifey) but about 30% in I couldn't believe how much story was left to go. As mentioned, I haven't read the first book in at least 13 years, maybe longer. So I didn't really get the little nods to the crazy shit Edward was doing while Bella was watching him and just thinking ‘WTF'. I do remember Edward randomly laughing out loud frequently, so it was cute to see it from his perspective.

I loved the characterisation we got in this book, I definitely had a sunnier view of Bella. I don't remember too much of my feelings about her back in the day but I would say it's only improved from then. Mostly, I really fell in love with Emmett's character in this story, what a sweetheart.

While I don't think this book is necessarily ‘good' I enjoyed reading it, it was a fun ride. If Meyer releases the rest of the series from Edward's perspective, i'd almost definitely put myself through this again. Especially if it's narrated by Jake Abel. It'd be cool if she did it from another Cullen's perspective, or to go with the obvious choice for New Moon - Jacob.

I am now and have always been Twilight Trash. Unapologetically so. With that being said I thought I would devour this book. I shocked myself by taking my time with it and just enjoying being back in Forks.

In terms of plot, you aren't going to get anything new. If you're expecting that then you aren't paying attention. What you do get is to see Bella through Edward's eyes. His infatuated, stalkery eyes. With that being said he can crawl through my window whenever he wants (Alexa, play Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge). He doesn't see her the way she sees herself, of course, so it's almost like you're getting a whole new Bella. You also get a lot more of the Cullens, which was absolutely missing from the original series. That would have made the books even better because I was interested in them all and their backstories.

Edward was always intense in the OG Twilight but from his POV he is INTENSE. Make no mistake I am #TeamEdward now and forever but sometimes I just wanted to tell him “You don't need air but breathe, baby. BREATHE.” I'm sure living for eternity with your whole family of couples while being able to hear their every thought would get to us all, so no judgement here. I would probably also fall in love with someone whose thoughts I couldn't hear because OMG WHAT A HORRIBLE POWER. EVERYONE SHUT UP TWICE.

This book is absolutely for die hard fans. And maybe the wait for a book that was never going to come out made it better but I'm happy with it. But I still hate that cover. Ew.

Edward is the worst.

Somehow this book made him both more sympathetic and more insufferable! I didn't know it was possible to make him more insufferable but I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes about halfway through the first chapter. And the fact that he was already planning on leaving Bella well before the events of New Moon? THE WORST.

Also. There was actually too much vampire baseball, and wayyyyy too much car talk during the race to the ballet studio. Did not care about any of that!

One of these stars is for Jake Abel and Jake Abel alone, because his narration of the audiobook is honestly what kept me going through some of the more infuriating moments of Edward being the worst! Good job, Jake Abel!

Oof. I liked this like I like the rest of the saga, which is begrudgingly and with a healthy dose of eye-rolling.

Overall, this book was enjoyable to read. It was super interesting to get to see everything from Edward's perspective. It was darker and included a lot more of the Cullen's backstories.

However, this book was incredibly too long. I was bored for most of the first 400 pages. Once the baseball game started, things really picked up and got super interesting to read about. The chase to Phoenix was so fun to read, seeing how all of the Cullen's talents created this unbeatable force of nature. This book was at about a 2 star rating until the last 150 or so pages.

All in all, if you were a twilight fan in your teens, definitely worth the read.

I do understand that this saga/books may seem problematic and I will be the first to acknowledge that, however that topic has been through fully discussed, so ...

I did really, truly loved this book, I felt like a teenager all over again and this book adds another dimension the whole history and saga, in a certain sense the saga it's not truly completed until you read this one book, It felt as this one book pulls all the saga together.

No cap, nostalgia is a powerful influence. Just like every other teenage girl in 2009, I had pirated the first 12 chapters and was upset that they weren't going to be published. So naturally, as a rapidly approaching 30 year old adult, I pre-ordered this book as soon as it was announced. I know people like to pretend they have never fw Twilight, but I am not that person. I've read the series several times. Usually I pick it up when I don't feel inspired to read, and need that motivation to come back. Are the plot lines and characters amazing? No. Is the writing style of Stephenie Meyer delightful and addictive? Yes. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself while reading this book, even if I can't credit much to the merit of the actual story. Going in already knowing what would happen wasn't a deterrent. I liked learning a little bit more about the inner thoughts of the characters I've known for a decade. I wish Stephenie would write more individual books like The Host. It's still one of my favorite Sci-Fi romances. She has a knack for making 600 pages feel like 250 and I would like some more please. Also, the movies never happened, I've never seen them, nor will I ever.

i would've never thought that in 2020 i would spend 25+ hrs reading a twilight book, but then again, i never would've thought i'd be inside for 8+ months during a global pandemic.

the magical nostalgia of the twilight world is unparalleled for me. i was so captivated as a teen that i literally associate it with a smell and a certain feeling that is still really magical.

however, as my sister camille told me recently, “for someone who is over 100 years old, edward is pretty immature.” not going to lie, i 100% read this book for the nostalgia, rosalie, and alice!

I was worried this book would be repetitive… and it was.

Same plot as twilight but Edwards POV and obviously he thinks too much about everything so it’s double as long and double as boring and I really didn’t enjoy it. Multiple times I wished I could DNF it gets this rating because it is still the plot that I found kind of interesting in twilight so if I didn’t read it so close I might have found it more interesting. I really don’t know I think it was too dragged out and Edward thinks about the same things over and over.

Okay so i will admit if i could rate this book up to the halfway mark i would have given this a one star review. However, now that i'm fully done with this one i can truly give it a 3 star rating.

This book is ginormous for YA and it really didn't need to be...it could have been edited further but here we are in hand. The chapters were too long like i don't need to read/listen to the inner monologues going on and on and on! I kept saying at the beginning damn Edward shut up!? And i know im not the only one thats saying this. This felt like a painful marathon and by the middle to 3/4 it was starting to satisfy me. I am glad i cleared my head and went into this one however i wish this didn't consume so much time to complete. I really spaced this one out over a month and a half cause if i listened to it and or read it every single day i probably would have given it a 1 star review overall.

This book took commitment and Stephanie meyer really put a lot of work into this one i can tell. Edward is a very complex individual and she executes that beautifully. Bella is great love her, love Alice even more thanks to this book and of course Emmett, i wish there was more of jasper and esmay but overall ill settle. Im hoping there is a Jacob perspective coming since there is a love triangle thing going on in the original twilight series. Overall 3 stars and im satisfied now that I've completed it. I personally think this was far too slow paced and it was really hard to motivate because of all the inner monologues but love that we are diving back into one of my favorites not an all time favorite but love the world of twilight.

We're given an absurd retcon for Edward's creeptastic behaviour: he knows he's being a stalkerish incel, so surely his actions should be forgiven.

Still, it helps - there's no escaping how toxic the “romance” is when you have to sit through 658 pages of Edward's internal monologues. Do I love Bella more or want to kill her more?: it's clear the coin could flip either way. The book casts this “love story” in an appropriately darker light.

Hot take: Midnight Sun is a better read than Twilight because we dislike apologists more than fundamentalists. The apologist's mental gymnastics to defend the indefensible (“yes, this 104 old virgin has fallen in love with me, a milquetoast teenager, but that's not downright ephebophilic because he was frozen at 17...never mind the decades of life experience between us”) grates on us more than the fundamentalist's shameless championing of their doctrine. Midnight Sun is at least not as intellectually dishonest...Edward knows what he's doing is wrong, but that won't stop him.