First Impression : Book : Twilight

Quick Info:
"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers, a vampire/human love story for the teens and apparently love lorn adults, relates well to its intended audience (melodramatic youth). It gives the reader an intriguing start full of jealous love triangles and long meaningful stares. "Girl-next-Door" Isabella "Bella" Swan is a high school student who finds herself forced to move in with with her Dad, Charlie (she calls him by his first name in her mind and to her friends) in rainy Forks, Washington. There she meets Edward Cullen, who is brooding and complicated.

First Impression:
Maybe it's because the chapters are really short, and I feel accomplished with little effort.
Maybe it's because I find skinny, pale faced, well dressed people interesting.
Or maybe it's because I have a hidden desire to move to the northwest, but I'm about half way through "Twilight" and I have to say, I'm entertained by the teen drama. I would usually scoff at a book like this (i.e. a teen drama) but I picked it up because of a dare. Two of my friends are complete "Twilight" geeks. They're both dreamy eyed at Edward and all the whimsical romance. I decided to read it to see exactly what they were talking bout and perhaps get some tips from the Dracula Casanova. Edward is indeed very seductive and I can see why Bella is drawn to him. He plays the cliche bad boy the girl next door desires. His eyes are, for lack of a better word, intense and Stephanie Meyers reminds you of this repeatedly. As of yet Bella is somewhat boring and I look forward to finding out what exactly makes her so appealing to Edward. Meyers hints at a specialness Bella has inside her, but as of yet she is just a clumsy high school girl.

I'm a little bugged by one thing. I know this book is geared towards teenagers, but must the kids act so dramatic? If Edward is a vampire and has years of experience, (he is supposed to be "17", but tells Bella he's been 17 for some time) why does he act just as dramatic and naive as the other students? I'm going to let this go for the time being, but I hope Edward beings to show some more of his true age. Also, she says shes "in love" with him very quickly and, in my opinion, without much merit. He continues to insist they must stay apart (which btw is a great move to get the other person to want you more, way to go Edward you dog!) so they have a period when he blows her off, but then out of the blue he decides he can't stay away from her. Then a surprise car trip and conversation later, she's in love with him. I just find it hard to take seriously.

Hopes:
"Twilight" is book one in this series, so I hope the story has more in store besides "girl falls for vampire, it's sexy and dangerous, complication arises, vampire and girl make up, blah blah". I hope Bella grows into a more complicated character and isn't simply swooning over Edward for the entirety of the story. I feel like he hasn't "earned" it enough. The character Jakob Black, obvious warewolf and Edward opponent, doesn't seem developed enough to compete with the vampire. I hope Meyers doesn't throw him in just to mix things up. The warewolf/vampire conflict is a well developed theme in literature and is capable of providing great framework for a story. I hope Meyers takes full advantage of this.

"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers, published by Little, Brown and Company in 2005.