Midnight Sun (Twilight, 5) Paperback – 19 Aug. 2021

‘Her scent hit me like a battering ram, like an exploding grenade. There was no image violent enough to encompass the force of what happened to me in that moment. Instantly, I was transformed. I was nothing close to the human I’d once been. No shreds of humanity I’d managed to cloak myself in over the years remained. I was a predator. She was my prey. There was nothing else in the whole world but that truth. I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I’d smelled in more than eighty years.’Like everyone else, we have been waiting and hoping that Midnight Sun would one day land in our eager hands after all the debacle. It’s only been like FOREVER and we worried the day would never get here. And then it did, and FOREVER was worth it. Oh was it worth it! Midnight Sun was everything we could have wished for and more, it was beyond what we could’ve dreamed of or even expected. Stephenie Meyer did an amazing thing here because, in our hearts, Midnight Sun is on a whole other level to Twilight. Gasp, yes we said that out loud, we ended up loving it so much more. It wasn’t just the fact that this was Edward’s story, it was also the emotional intensity and the quality of writing which has improved immensely.‘My life was an unending, unchanging midnight. It must, by necessity, always be midnight for me. So how was it possible that the sun was rising now, in the middle of my midnight?’‘Everything was wrong with this picture – a killer and an innocent leaning close, each basking in the presence of the other, totally at peace. It was as if we’d somehow ascended to a better world, where such impossibilities could exist.’Edward, our first vampire love, brought all the feelings back that we experienced the first time around, but it was like falling in love all over again, falling in love with someone new. Do not go into Midnight Sun thinking it will be akin to a re-read, it is not a copy-paste or just a story rewritten. Yes, it is fundamentally Twilight, but moreover, it’s Edward’s story and the story of the Cullen’s; Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmet.“Give me something that will work!” I exploded. Alice cringed away from the volume. “Tell me another path! Show me how to stay away – where to go!”‘The decades I had endured would not have been so difficult had I known what was waiting for me, that my existence was advancing toward something better than I could have imagined.’Edwards and Bella’s love story is iconic, and whether you’ve read the books or seen the movies, you know how Twilight plays out in Bella’s words. Now, hearing their love story in Edward’s words, being in his head and feeling his inner turmoil, well it was incredibly emotional. It was everything. Sure, we felt a deep sense of nostalgia, after all, we were back where it all began, however, we experienced it with new eyes and experienced new feelings and sensations.‘She couldn’t love me the way I loved her – such overpowering, all consuming, crushing love would probably break her fragile body.’‘A ridiculously potent scent to demand my attention, a silent mind to enflame my curiosity, a quiet beauty to hold my eyes, a self-less soul to earn my awe.’Our hearts ached when Edward reminisced, when his inner conflict reared its snarling head, it was heart-breaking. Edward is the eternal gentleman, the intelligent scholar, the voice of reasoning. However, as we all know, he must battle his instincts when faced with a soul mate love powerful beyond anything he could have envisaged for himself. Reliving those epically memorable moments with Bella and Edward became so much more poignant and agonisingly heartfelt. Edward always was a bit of an enigma despite everything, well now that is definitely not the case and we were in awe at the way in which Stephenie Meyer wrote his story. Midnight Sun was worth every penny we paid for it, it was a journey in familiar territory where we experienced the beauty with new eyes. A love story that transcends the passing of time it will stay with us forever.“Do you swear you won’t leave me?” she whispered.I took her face in my hands again, let the consuming love I felt for her fill my eyes, and lied with all the experience of a hundred years of daily deception“I swear.”

I'M SO HAPPY I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH TWIHARDS ARE THRIVING IT'S EVERYTHING WE NEEDED AND MORE IT'S TWICE THE LENGTH OF TWILIGHT AND GIVES US MORE DEPTH TO ALL THE CHARACTERS AND YOU GET TO SEE HOW EDWARD THINKS AND SEES THE WORLD AND YOU KNOW EVERYONE'S THOUGHTS AND BACKSTORIES AND AHHHHHEDIT AFTER I READ THE BOOK: FULL REVIEW:I JUST READ SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY PAGES OF THIRSTY EDWARD CULLEN AND IT WAS MORE THAN WORTH THE TWELVE YEAR WAIT.I AM SO GLAD THIS BOOK CAME OUT NOW, BECAUSE IT'S EVERYTHING THE WORLD NEEDED. STEPHENIE MEYER WROTE SEVEN BOOKS BETWEEN TWILIGHT AND THE FINAL DRAFT OF MIDNIGHT SUN, AND YOU CAN SEE SO CLEARLY HOW WELL HER WRITING HAS DEVELOPED. I'M SO PROUD OF HER. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER.LET'S TALK ABOUT MY ELATION WHEN THIS BOOK WAS ANNOUNCED. I WEPT. I TWEETED SO MUCH. I TEXTED ALL MY TWILIGHTY FRIENDS, ECSTATIC. I PRE-ORDERED THIS BOOK THE MOMENT I COULD.RECEIVING THE BOOK. MUM SEES AMAZON MAN WALK UP THE DRIVEWAY. SHE HANDS ME A BIG FAT PARCEL. I OPEN IT. I SCREAM. I JUMP ABOUT. I TAKE PHOTOS. I SCREAM SOME MORE. I START READING. I SCREAM.IT WAS INCREDIBLE SEEING ALL THESE ICONIC LINES ALL OVER AGAIN. I NEEDED THIS SO MUCH.UNLIKE F*FTY SH*DES *F GR*Y, THE ALTERNATE P.O.V. OF THIS STORY HOLDS SO MUCH IMPORTANCE. THERE WERE SO MANY TIMES EDWARD WAS AWAY AND WE SO DESPERATELY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING, AND THIS BOOK GAVE US THAT. SO MANY TIMES WE THOUGHT BELLA WAS ALONE BUT EDWARD WAS THEEEEEEEEEEERE, WATCHING OVER HER LIKE THE ANGEL HE IS.AT PAGE 161 I WAS YELLING THAT THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ. I DIDN'T THINK IT GOT BETTER. CHRIST, IT GOT BETTER.THIS DEVELOPS EVERY. DAMN. CHARACTER. SO DEEPLY WHEN WE CAN FINALLY HEAR THEIR THOUGHTS IN CONTRAST TO WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAY. IT DEVELOPS RELATIONSHIPS LIKE RENEE AND BELLA, AND OH MY GOD THE MOTHER AND SON DYNAMIC OF EDWARD AND ESME IS SO PURE AND REAL AND NOT JUST A COVER, CARLISLE IS A DAD AND A DADDY AND I LOVE HIM.EDWARD'S BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTION OF BELLA'S SKIN: "SILK OVER GLASS" PUNCHED ME AND MADE ME HUG TREES, I LOVE THAT SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!THIS EVEN CHANGED MY PERSPECTIVE ON MY MOST HATED CHARACTER - JACOB. HE'S JUST AN INNOCENT LITTLE BOI HERE AND WE CAN SEE THAT TRUTHFULLY.I LOVE SEEING ALICE'S VISIONS FOR MYSELF, AND IUWWGRWGWRW JUST THE WAY BELLA SAW EVERYONE IN CONTRAST TO THEIR THOUGHTS IS JUST IFUIFUGQG27GU2ALSOOOO, EDWARD TALKING ABOUT TEMPTATION AND FASCINATION AND HOLDING HIMSELF BACK AND CONTROL SIT S O WELL WITH THE FACT THAT THE FRENCH EDITIONS OF TWILIGHT, NEW MOON AND ECLIPSE ARE TITLED: FASCINATION, TEMPTATION, AND HESITATION.AT PAGE 500 MY LOVE FOR ESME WAS EXPLODING. THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH OF HER IN THE ORIGINAL SAGA. SUCH AN UNDERRATED CHARACTER.AT PAGE 665, I ACTUALLY CRIED. I WAS MORBIDLY CURIOUS FOR EDWARD'S DESCRIPTION OF THE TASTE OF BELLA'S BLOOD AND STEPHENIE MEYER DID N O T DISAPPOINT IN THE SLIGHTEST.PAGE 666, THE LINE "RIGHT HERE KILLING YOU" WILL BECOME ICONIC, I ASSURE YOU.PAGE 676, ALICE SETTING UP THE ACCIDENT, OH MY GOD I CANNOT EVEN I LOVE IT SO MUCH I LOVE THE CULLENS' LOVE FOR BELLA THERE IS SO SO SO SO SO MUCH LOVE.ON PAGE 685, I L I V E D FOR THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CARLISLE AND CHARLIE, IT WAS SO IMPORTANT FOR THEIR CHARACTERS, LITERALLY BEST FATHERS EVER. I CANNOT EVEN.PAGE 738, I FORGOT ABOUT TYLER??? THAT WAS SO JARRINGTHIS WAS THE BEST BOOK EVER. THANK YOU SO MUCH STEPHENIE, AND EVERYONE AND THING THAT MORMONS WORSHIP. THIS WAS EVERYTHING I NEEDED. IN THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS STEPHENIE ASKED US TO WRITE OUR NAME DOWN AND I AM WEEPING SO HARD.PLEASE READ THIS YOU WON'T REGRET IT AT ALL.THANK YOU.TWILIGHT FOREVER.

I liked following the story from Edward's point of view, you could see his struggle between his vampire nature and the human characteristics he fought to bring to the fore. His inner battle between loving Bella and not wanting to be selfish and result in any harm to her. You see how he falls well and truly in love, and has insight into Bella's nature and her positive character traits which he admires. I loved the insights into the other members of the Cullen family, they are truly a family in their relationships, some difficult at times, and very loving to each other. I was looking forward to Alice meeting Bella as she had already foreseen how their friendship would develop.Please don't shoot me for this next comment - I love books and reading is my guilty pleasure whenever I get the chance - this hardback volume was so big and heavy that I couldn't hold it with one hand, or read for as long as I would like to in one go as it got tiring. (especially lying on my side in bed) I'm not arthritis-ridden and don't have any health conditions that affect me, but it was genuinely big and heavy to handle, and I would actually have got through it much quicker if I had bought the Kindle version. I asked my husband to buy me the print edition as it looked so appealing, and I liked the cover; it's not a complaint, more of an observation.I would like to see another book in this format, perhaps what Edward did when he went away and Bella suffered. Where Edward went, how he coped, and what he felt when he came back etc. Enjoyed the book very much, I still might get it on my Kindle for re-reading it.