Totally misread

I guess I wasn't clear in my last blog. I don't feel that Edward and Bella would truly last, because I don't feel that deeper connection that she seems to have with Jacob. To me, the connection is deeper when you can laugh at yourselves and each other, have a great time, relax, be yourself and, at the same time, be electrified by each other.

Bella, to me, is so much more relaxed and herself with Jacob. Besides, I still can't stand it how much control Edward has over her life. Couched in the fact that he's trying to protect her, but I've heard about relationships like that and they can be bad. Maybe I'm too modern, I don't feel I need a man to protect me and that's what I don't like about the story.

So, I still don't believe Edward is the right one, because, I believe the connection to Jacob is stronger. Yes, he's less "dangerous," and, maybe on the surface, the "safe" choice, but personally, I cannot see anything that tells me she is connected to Edward in a deeper way. Maybe the author just did a better job of describing the relationship between Bella and Jacob. I think a relationship born of friendship or developing into a strong friendship is stronger, deeper, and, if she had let Jacob actually into her life as a suitor, more passionate. But she's never going to know, is she?

That's just how I see it, so I find it to be tragic.

So, nyah. I'm still all for Team Jacob. Stinking bloodsuckers.

Defending Passion

Oh girl come on, passion not lasting? And I can not let you describe motherhood that way, or being over thirty that way. I find it hard to believe you really think that. I get that you like Jacob better but the safe choice is not always the right choice, it can also be the boring choice. Lack of passion can result in lack of interest. And no offense to all you parents but my personal experience is that parents do not know what life partner will most make their child happy. They may like a safe option but safety does not always equal marital felicity. I know from your feelings on Jane Austen you are no Charlotte Lucas.

Now Bella does love Jacob but she is just in love with Edward more. Way more. There is some passion with Jacob too but Edward sings to her heart in a way no one else can. They ultimately complete each other. Both are lost without the other. She may say she doesn't like flashy things but if she didn't like them a little she would not have been attracted to Edward in the first place. Like all interesting characters she is a self contradiction. Also Bella and Edward have mutual taste in music and art and literature that will sustain them if they ever get tired of making out.

And lets face it passion is everything-from the thirty something mother of three. Passion built the Taj Mahal, wrote the most gripping and most disturbing stories, destroyed lives and saved others. Passion is what makes your heart stop with a glance. Passion is what carries you through premarital hell and post children exhaustion (oh and D&D obsessions). Passion is what fucks people up for sure, and yes many passionate beginnings burn out but many burn bright and smolder forever.

And don't even pretend you and Mr Wild were/are not passionate. I've heard your "when you first meet" story many times and it is told with passion. You were not just friends that became lovers, the spark was there at the beginning.

No I'm all for passion, definitely makes a good read. What I am not for is being told Edward is gorgeous constantly. Once per book really is enough for me.

Eclipse

Ok, I've jumped on the Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse bandwagon. It was tough going at first. I didn't think Stephenie Meyer's first couple of books and plot pacing was going to hold me. But, at the end of Twilight, she threw in some exciting sci-fi fantasy action (yeah, a girl can like that stuff, too) and started New Moon with the same kind of excitement and danger. (Clever Stephenie to put the first chapter of the next book at the end of Twilight, I might not have kept going.) But Stephenie's writing has definitely gotten better, and I think Eclipse is when she finally got a good mix of high level excitement and low level description. She threw in a little mystery, too. I can tell she really has matured at the plot pacing in this third book.

I just still can't believe Bella is in love with Edward. I couldn't feel it in the first book, and he left in the second one. I've decided I'm not a passionate romantic, and I don't think relationships can last on that passion. Edward's a gentleman, blah, blah and he's protective, blah, blah, but their relationship is too intense and I don't see them just having fun. (Ok, and I know the fans are going to say, but when are they going to have fun, they just keep getting tangled in all this danger?)

You know what I'm going to say, but I have to say it. Jacob is the better boy for her. Edward, yes, protective, but he orders her around. And she doesn't like it, but she gives him excuses for his behavior. Hmmmm...sounds like a controlling relationship to me. I don't ever feel that she's relaxed and comfortable with him. Her dad hates him, so that makes them tense, she could be attacked by Victoria anytime, so that makes them tense. She's exhausted when he's laying in bed with her and she's either trying very hard to stay awake, or falls exhausted to sleep. Even Edward's family embarrasses her with making a big deal out of everything and being flamboyant and dressy and she's not that kind of girl. I feel totally stressed when reading about her and Edward and their interaction. It just does not feel like something that any girl like Bella would stick around with if it kept being that intense.

Jacob and Bella hang out doing things. They work on the bikes, they walk to the beach, they ride the bikes. They laugh and go to a movie. They are playful, friendly, and sweet. And they don't need to do a ton of cuddling and kissing just yet. He pulls her together when Edward leaves her, and to me, that should count for a lot more. Because Jacob is there for her and will continue to be there for her. That's the impression I get. I kept hoping Jacob would imprint on her, but I knew he wouldn't.

And maybe that's just indicative of my own relationship. My husband was my friend, before I realized it could be passionate, too. He was a friend through all the different guys I dated before I figured out that he was the one. If I had been Bella and finally realized that I was in love with Jacob, I would have had to tell Edward I was sorry, but it wasn't going to work anymore.

So maybe the teenagers all like the passion and how Edward can supress his need to be with her, because he's "so in love," but me, being a thirty something wife and mother of two children, maybe I appreciate that "best friend" more because to me that connection is worth more than a thousand passions. The "best friend" under the passions is what keeps you giggling, feeling young and silly and playful and still passionate about each other.

I'm not sure how Breaking Dawn ends it, but I guess I will read and find out.

Poor Jacob.