Two star crossed lovers, a human girl Bella Swan meets a wildly handsome, almost angry young man in her biology class. This gorgeous pale boy is Edward Cullen. Something happens. They fall in love. There's a minor problem. He died in 1917. He is a vampire. But a vegetarian vampire, i.e., his family does not feed from humans, but from animals in the wild.

The scenes between Bella and Edward are nothing short of amazing, and their love scenes, chaste as they were, were some of the most sensual scenes in memory of love stories for the general public.

At the end of Eclipse, the 3rd book of the series, Bella and Edward get engaged. She wants to be turned into a vampire and spend eternity with Edward. Of course there are complications - a young man, an American Indian named Jacob Black, is also in love with Bella. Oh did I mention he is a werewolf? It gets deliciously complicated.

So the fans have been debating will they or won't they? Who will prevail? Vamp or Were? What will this, the FINAL book of the series bring?

I had read 1/2 of the book by bedtime. Breaking Dawn should have been the crown jewel of the series. Instead it seemed crowded with events Meyer wanted us to see.

There are ***SPOILERS*** here (not many) but since the whole book is about new territory one cannot speak about it without revealing some of the plot -

Bella and Edward marry in a lovely ceremony. Their honeymoon, while we know they made love, was not as sensual as the kissing scenes of the previous books. Something strange starts to happen on the honeymoon that causes Bella to call the Cullens - instead of asking her good friend Alice Cullen (her new sister-in-law), she asks the one Cullen who really doesn't like her much, Rosalie (also a new sister-in-law). In fact, Alice is relegated to a more distant role. Albeit Alice plays a vital role in Breaking Dawn, her presense is sorely missed.

The ending of the book resembles more the waiting for the Gunfight at the OK Corral - the Volturi, the ancient Vampire Police from Italy, are coming to the Cullens' to see what is truly going on with the family. It seems Meyer dug up (pardon the expression) every vampire in the Pacific NorthWest and then some to wait for the Volturi.

While it is all's well that ends well, the sweetness, the beauty of the entire family, the love, somehow plays backseat to everything.

I don't think the 'youngsters' (of all ages) who are fans of Edward visiting Bella through an open window to chastely spend the night in her arms will react the same way for Breaking Dawn.

Was it a good book? Yes. As good as the others in the series? No.

As I said it seemed like Meyer was sticking as much as she could to resolve the loose ends in this lengthy book. And that didn't do our friends Bella and Edward justice.

It gave the Twilighters their wishes, but not the sweetness.

***ADDENDUM*** I wanted to add that even though I wasn't as awed by Breaking Dawn there were dazzling and funny moments in the book - again, spoilers, but during the honeymoon Edward tears apart feather pillows instead of getting carried away with Bella - she wakes in a storm of feathers - Rennesmee has the opposite of Edward's gift - she can convey her thoughts to others, rather than Edward being able to hear everyone's thoughts except Bella's.

I posted my true feelings on Breaking Dawn. I was anticipating this book as I did the Harry Potter books - and with Rowling, I was satisfied, but with Meyer, it lacked the lyrical quality of the love story that has touched our hearts. I have reread this book several times, and still feel this way.

ellen george

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, ISBN 10: 031606792X, Little, Brown Young Readers, review by ellen george