SPOILERS. Twilight fans: Read at your own risk.

Before I am bashed by mindless fangirls of the series, allow me to clarify that I really wanted to like this book. It was recommended to me by an esteemed friend of mine, and I was eager to buy the book at my local WalMart.

I finally bought the book and began reading it; first the front, then the back cover. After taking in the threaded words and the potentially riveting storyline, finally unable to contain my excitement, I cracked open the book and began to read.

Bella Swan was someone I could relate to slightly in the beginning, I thought. I knew it was a series, so I figured I'd grow to love her over time. With the introduction of Edward, I was reading so avidly, waiting to get to the part where he confessed that he was a vampire. After a few mysterious events in which he protects Bella, he finally does.

Now there's where things start to go downhill.

Bella accepted the fact that Edward was a monster, end of story. No questions, no dubious looks or name-calling. It was as though finding out your love interest was in fact a monster that could kill you with a mere flick of his finger was perfectly fine with her. If my love interest told me he was a vampire, the first thing he would hear from me was a laugh, no matter how superpowerful and conveniently "always there" he seemed. I would assume it was steroids or some reasonable explanation.

Apparent hormones start raging and the two decide they're in love in the course of a few pages. No joke. And the main reason he loves her is because her blood smells good. Does anyone else find that mildly disturbing?

"I need to tell you something; I love you because your blood smells delicious."

Gross.

The characters flatten from 2.75 to 2-dimensional within the page. None of the characters afterwards were interesting, even those I deemed interesting in the beginning. [Alice, Mike . . . whom fall off the face of the planet in the next books.] And it continues like this for the next half of the book.

Now I ask you to pardon my French.

Bella made the female half of the species look like the biggest morons on the planet. She walks out ALONE in the city against any rational, SANE woman's better judgment, she lets Edward boss her around, and she gets fooled by a stupid video tape played over the phone by vampire hunters [by the way, that last "twist" seemed to be pulled straight out of the authoress' ass. She never mentioned that vampire hunters even existed!] and she is flattered--FLATTERED--by Edward's obsessive/possessive tendencies. [Watching her at night, allowing her to feel uncomfortable while driving at impossible speeds, and also being swayed simply on his looks. Talk about shallow.]

Edward, also, is completely unbelievable! Who is going to believe that a guy from a century ago had THAT perfect of a physic and NEVER had a girlfriend? What's he been doing up until the story takes place? One would think he was still awkward around girls if he was always girl shy, but, of course, he has no experience but is completely smooth with them, right? He's controlling, obsessive, and 'always right'. Also wise beyond compare and indescribably beautiful [gag]. I think Meyer forgets that vampires are in fact monsters, who only use beauty as a route to get blood. Oh! But he CAN control himself and has chosen to feed on animal blood instead. Okay, talk about stupidly convenient; there's no obstacles to climb over.

I'm sixteen-years-old, and I find this book insulting to my gender and insulting to relationships everywhere. I'm all for a well-written romance novel once in a while; I'll admit I'm new to the genre, but I've seen better romance plots in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series and the shounen manga, "Naruto" [in which both are virtually non-existent]. At least the women in those works, albeit some may be weak in the beginning, know how to take the initiative. They have faults, they have inspiration, and they get stronger for their own sake. Twilight is very much the opposite; more like Rumiko Takahashi's anti-feminist works.

The purple prose and the disgusting shallowness of the characters are well-hidden in the beginning. Introduction usually requires detail, so I dismissed that, but when she goes on and on to describe Edward's perfection, it is blatantly obvious that this character is the figure of her own fantasies. I don't know about the rest of the population, but I would appreciate it if she kept those fantasies in her head and out of our libraries.

Don't get me wrong; as I mentioned before, I'm all for a well-written romance novel. However, I believe that my age group should have something better to read with better heroines than Bella Swan. How about a woman with bigger aspirations than love, that still falls in love with a respectable man? You know, mutual respect where neither of them come off as stupid and ignorant, etc?

Also . . . why are the vampires sparkling? I figure that the species may have adapted to better not be seen rather than look prettier than everyone else in the sun. Oh, right! I forgot! I'm supposed to be /blinded/ by all the pretty people!

"Oh, Edward, your pale, cold, obviously muscular/toned body has me in love with you. I am not worthy. HAVE ME!!!"

Gag me with a broken, muddy spork. PLEASE.

I consider myself a mature teen; I try to make myself a respectable figure and strive for strength and independence, but when a book demonstrates how to be a doormat for your hottie boyfriend and a TOTAL damsel in distress, I can't help but feel sick. If you're a woman and you respect yourself at all, please DON'T pick up this book.