Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) Review

Why is everyone so obsessed with the Twilight series??? I just don't get it! As I'm sitting reading Eclipse, I can't help but think everyone is mental! This whole series SCREAMS abusive relationship!!! Edward treats Bella like garbage, decides he kind of likes her and sucks her in. Then, on his own terms, Edward ditches Bella in the woods and leaves her depressed for practically a year. As soon as he comes back, regardless of how horribly he treated her, Bella goes right back to him. Then, Edward cuts her off from all of her friends, going so far as to take her engine apart and having her abducted to keep her from going to see one of them! And how does Bella respond? With a disgusting level of adoration! Even Jacob commented at one point that they exhibited all the signs of an abusive teen relationship! Why do people love this story?!

It's an intriguing storyline if you're interested in seeing the inner workings of someone who is completely delusional and brainwashed. Bella has been dating Edward for what? A year? She's convinced he's her soul mate and that she will absolutely never love another the way she does Edward. IT'S HER FIRST BOYFRIEND! Bella disproved part of her theory (she'll never love another) by the end of this book. So frankly, if she could clear her mind of her delusions for five seconds, she could probably recognize how over-emotional she's being and possibly be rational for one paragraph in the series.

I think what saddens me the most is how much potential a storyline such as this has. Unfortunately, it's so poorly written that it has ended up being a total disappointment. I'm sorry, but I can only take so much, "I love you!" "I love you more!" "No, I love you more!" before I want to put the book down and go vomit. Bella is the most overemotional and selfish character I've ever had to read about. Between her ridiculous stress levels, raging hormones, and melodramatic tantrums, there's very little room to actually like her character.

It's been said that since I don't like the books by now, the series won't redeem itself. Originally I had been told that book four would recover the series from how bad the other books have been. Of course, my brother makes a valid point in saying, "Who wants to suffer through three books to find a good one?" I'm about 90% certain of how this series is going to end up. It's become painfully predictable at this point in the series. I challenge New Moon to prove me wrong and surprise me. I can only hope.