Midnight Sun

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.