so I was wondering...

[seperis]

So this is the thing about Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - the more sporkings and reviews I read, the more I want to read it. You see, that angsty obsessive vampire thing is something I never got over. Plus, sparkly.

Now, to what I'm actually looking at thoughtfully.

Master: An Erotic Novel of the Count of Monte Cristo (Paperback) by Colette Gale, who also wrote Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of The Phantom of The Opera, which I am also looking at thoughtfully. Mostly because I have this suspicion this is going to be very, very bad.

And also, despite the fact it's called Master, apparently this is not going to be about Edmund taking it and liking it from the prison guards.

...this could be sleep deprivation. Anyone read either one and give me a yes/no?

Also.

Phantom by Susan Kay, which my favorite extensions of Gaston Leroux's original. It's really good. And it's really fun. And it builds a *lot* on the history of the Phantom.

ETA: Huh. I forgot she also wrote Legacy about Elizabeth I and I really liked that one too.

Comments

[tropes.livejournal.com]

I have friends who loved Twilight so much, so I read it. I srsly wanted to burn that book. It's so bad it's almost good, but in reality it's just bad. D:

[vic-ramsey.livejournal.com]

*whitles innocently* Hello, you might be interested in this. (http://www.mediafire.com/?70zggmyyde3)

[northern]

I *adored* Twilight. The most erotic novel I read that year, that wasn't fanfic, and it's a Young Adult one! Definitely read it.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

I keep having vivid dreams where I read Twilight.

They always end with me waking up screaming.

(Seriously. Last night, I dreamed that I got to page 173 and I was totally drawn in and at the same time SO ASHAMED OF MYSELF I COULD NOT SPEAK. Even my subconscious feels shame at the idea of me reading it! AND I READ YA LIT UNIRONICALLY, OKAY?)

[delle.livejournal.com]

OMG You've read Legacy? I still have my old, old copy around here somewhere - I didn't think anyone but me had ever read it!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I was surprised too when I looked for her other work! And she's freaking *good*.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

You will never be clean again. *solemn*

[flambeau.livejournal.com]

And also, despite the fact it's called Master, apparently this is not going to be about Edmund taking it and liking it from the prison guards.

See, that I would read, but...

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Wow. I love you a *lot*. And by that, I mean, fear.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That is what I was hoping! Titled Master? What was I supposed to think?

But no. Though apparently, there is BDSM. Of a kind. The reviewers seem to have pretty fragile sensibilities.

[vic-ramsey.livejournal.com]

Good luck, because I only made it a couple of chapters before my brain exploded. May you be stronger than that!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*makes note*

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I'm not certain, but I think that the target age for Twilight has to be about fourteen. My younger daughter is nineteen, and her reaction (http://skyfyre.livejournal.com/156340.html) was decidedly mixed.

[kitestringer.livejournal.com]

So this is the thing about Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - the more sporkings and reviews I read, the more I want to read it.

See, yeah, I got really curious, so I sent a free sample of it to my Kindle. So far...well, I think I had *such* high expectations for it that it had no chance of meeting them. I thought it was going to be the most hilariously awful thing I'd read in ages, and I've been kind of disappointed so far. I'm pretty sure I've read worse! Maybe I'd need more than just the sample excerpt to really appreciate it. *g*

[sorrelchestnut.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. The thing with Twilight, for me at least, was that it totally captured the sense of wonder, and... newness is I think the word I'm looking for? Of falling in love for the first time, and having that person fall right back. It's fantastic in that sense, it kept me spellbound, I sighed happily when I closed the book. (Incidentally, my mother, who is turning sixty-two this summer, felt *exactly the same way.*)

And then I read the second book, which had them breaking up, her spending all of her time with her best male friend who was in love with her, and basically leading him on and screwing with his feelings, and being passively suicidal and incapable of functioning like a human being without her ONE TRUE LOVE. I think there was this whole bit near the end where she went cliff diving, because she just didn't care if she lived anymore without him. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.

So what it boils down to is that the main character's (and, it is very clear, the *author's*) favorite story EVAR is Romeo and Juliet. Which, personally, I despise, for exactly the same reasons as I despised this book, but I know a lot of people like it. That's fair. But you shouldn't use it as a template for your YA romance, because that is dumb, dumb, dumb. Romeo and Juliet should not be your model of romantic behavior. Because they ended up dead of their own idiocy.

So essentially, I loved the first book, and if you stop there you're probably okay, though I have to admit, the sparkly vampire bit, in retrospect, was pretty fucking hilarious. (All I can say is, it made sense at the time?) The second book, which made me froth at the mouth, retroactively ruined the first one for me. I'm still going to see the movie, mostly because I think my mother will eviscerate me if I don't go with her, but I'm going to try my hardest to approach the movie as if I don't know what happens after the credits roll, and how much it sucks.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

You have to read Evernight so I can make happy squeaky noises at you. I need to load an EN icon, so for the moment, you get Mitchell. Yay Mitchell! He's very Byronic and goes invisible when he turns sidewise.

[ex-muj135.livejournal.com]

Oh I definitely think you should read Twilight. It is hilarious in a completely unintentional way (I hope it's unintentional), and when I was thirteen everyone was reading The Clan of the Cave Bear and Lace and watching The Thorn Birds and we all loved it. Anyone who claims they had anything even resembling literary taste when they were in their early teen is either in denial or a freak.

(Which doesn't change the fact that the underlying message of Twilight, that if your boyfriend orders you around and stalks you it's okay because he loves you or that there should be no sex vamping before marriage, creeps me out.)

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

You're only allowed to read "Twilight" if you get it out of the public library. Otherwise you're just encouraging her.

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in Twilight, you should totally check out Evernight by Claudia Gray (if you haven't already.)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Evernight? Author?

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's pretty much exactly the way it happened for me, too! I thought the first book went a little off the rails in the meadow scene (zzzzzzzzzstillgoingzzzzzzz), but on the whole, for what it was, it was good! And I loved Jacob. A LOT. And then the second book came out, and the whole "I will DIE! I must DIE! I will FIND A WAY TO DIE IF IT KILLS ME" thing made me want to shriek and tear my hair out because who WRITES like that for a target audience of EMO TEENAGE GIRLS!??!?!?! She romanticized that self-destructive behavior, IMHO, and just. NO.

And so I never read the third one, though I heard it treats Jacob even worse than the second one...the fourth comes out in August.

BUT! Then I saw the teaser trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBvOhfL4mYw), and I knew that I'd be seeing the movie, probably several times. Because I'm EASY that way.

They found the perfect Edward, I'll give them that!

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

Claudia Gray. Just came out this week. So. Awesome.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

...dammit, that trailer.

*whimpers*

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

*holds your hand*