SchlegelRock

Wow.  Does that even cover it?  I am so wrapped up in Breaking Dawn and the emotions that it put me through that I can barely get my thoughts together.  I just finished it about an hour ago so this is still really fresh and raw in some places.

I guess I’ll start at the beginning.  The wedding went off with only a little Jacob hitch and that was such a nice surprise.  What a really refreshing, beautiful moment that we got to share with Bella and Edward.  I also loved it that she finally came around.  She actually wanted to be his wife and see him as her husband.  And then the honeymoon.  Started out pretty magical.  Except for the bruising of course but Bella seemed to think it was worth it so it’s OK with me.

Then my world fell apart when Bella got pregnant.  I was pissed off.  Beyond pissed off.  I called Julianne and told her I couldn’t read anymore and she talked me into finishing.  You want to know why?  Because I felt it was totally sexist.  Why should the women be infertile and the men be able to spread their demon spawn all over the earth.  It just wasn’t fair.  I could picture Esme and Rosalie dying for kids of their own and not able to have them because their “perfect” female bodies were deficient.  Augh, it still makes me mad to think about it but I just talked to Laura L. and she gave me a little medical information care of her sister.  Apparently a man’s sperm can live through pretty much anything.  She said men can even ejaculate after they are dead.  How do like that mental picture?  So anyway, OK, fine.  Male vampires can father children.  Got it.  I’ll try to calm down.

Then the child started killing Bella.  And you know what.  I was happy.  I totally pictured the baby as a monster.  Not like the Cullens.  An actual monster.  Like what I pictured the newborn vampires like when they attacked in Eclipse only never able to grow out of it.  Always a monster.  And I was mad because she was pregnant.  How dare she (mostly meaning Stephenie right now).  I was totally on Jacob and Edwards side.  I wanted her to get rid of the demon baby.  I saw no good in it.  And then, Edward heard her thoughts.  And literally in that instant I flipped.  It was human and I loved it.  I wanted it to come into their world.  I wanted it to survive.  And of course I knew that Bella would turn into a vamp.  There was half a book left.

And Jacob imprinted on Nessie!!!! (Don’t even get me started on the name.  Renesmee?  Really?  Everyone else has great names.  What would possess her to name the baby that?) Didn’t see that one coming.  At all.  Totally blindsided.  I knew he wasn’t going to get away with killing her but that was awesome.  And it brought everyone together.  The wolves and the vampires.  What a perfect match.  A happy ending for Jacob and a place for him in the family too.  Couldn’t have tied that one up neater.

Then my favorite part.  When she wakes up.  I love it.  I love how she can hear everything and see clearly.  I think Stephenie and I might have similar view of the afterlife because she describes the vampires the way I imagine myself when I get the good place hereafter.  Never tiring.  Just running till your heart explodes with joy but your body never falters.  Not needing to stop to eat or sleep.  Being sturdy.  Having your mind free of unnecessary thoughts.  No one being able to influence you.  Beautiful perfect, fit bodies.  Scott has his own theory on that.  He thinks that our minds will be so perfect that we wont care what our bodies look like.  I’m holding out for the perfect body and mind.  I want it all!!  Anyway, sorry to digress.  I love Stephenie’s vampires.  I think they’re written spectacularly.  My favorite super heroes.

And just a shout out to the Ferrari.  Nice work Edward!  Although I like that she prefers to run.  I think I would too if I was a super vamp.  Stephenie hasn’t posted a picture of the one she’s chosen on her website so until she does and I bow to the Queen this is the one I choose.

I love when all the witnesses show up and after some talking to fall in love with Nessie.  Can’t you just picture that beautiful child in your head.  Mine is a perfect mix of my Edward and Bella.  I’ve even accepted the glittering skin.  I love it now.

So when Alice left I knew it was for a good reason.  I knew she wasn’t abandoning them.  That’s just not Alice’s way.  I figured she was looking for answers but certainly didn’t expect to see her show up with another half-n-half.  I figured it would be witnesses of other children but not an actual grown human-vamp.

And then all the planning for Bella’s death totally made me think she was going to survive.  Stephenie laid it on so thick that I saw right past it.  It’s Stephenie for Pete’s sake.  She’s not going to leave us broken hearted like that.  Look at her other four books.  Seriously happy endings (except for Jacob, of course).  She wasn’t fooling me.  Of course I had no idea how they were going to get away but I knew they were.

I really like Aro.  He makes things fun.  He has such an interesting calm manner about him.  I love that he wants to kill them but he’s sincerely interested in Nessie once he figures out what she is.  Then he goes right back into evil mode and wants to kill them again.  Good villain.  The one that cracks me up is Marcus.  Poor guy.  Bored to death with life and sort of dying inside of himself.  A good battle and the prospect of carnage can’t even get him aroused anymore.  I almost feel sorry for him.  Caius drives me nuts.  He’s the one that gets on my nerves.  They kind of have a good cop, bad cop, indifferent cop thing going on.

I’m sorry that Irina died but for goodness sake someone had to die.  Nice of Stephenie to make it someone we’re not even slightly attached to.  I wasn’t anyway.

I like Bella’s super power.  It fits her really well.  I like that she could extend her shield past herself.  To me it’s a little corny that she saved the day but it couldn’t have been any other way.  It was her time to shine and really feel competent.  And plus, she was protecting Nessie, of course she would get all amped up.

I love the ending scene where she lets Edward into her head.  How drop dead romantic is that?  My heart just about exploded when he kept interrupting her with kisses.  There couldn’t have been a more perfect way to end their story together.  Totally satisfying.  What a perfect little family.

So here’s my guess.  I think when Stephenie writes again it will be from Nessie’s perspective.  There’s just a few years until she has fully matured and then she can be with Jacob and the Volturi can launch an attack again or new foes can come their way.  I’m freaking out just thinking about it.  I would love to get inside that girl’s head.  Thank goodness she’s got Jacob to be with for eternity.  Gotta love those never aging werewolves (shape-shifter as I guess I’m now supposed to call them).

There’s so much about this book that I absolutely loved that I just can’t write everything and I know I left out key points.  Now that I have this out of me I feel so content and happy.  If you couldn’t tell, I love this book.  An almost perfect end to a perfect series.  I would love to hear what you have to say about it.  Love to hear.  Even if you didn’t like it; tell me why.  What was your favorite part?  What caught you by surprise?

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