I finished it! I finished it!! I finished the Twilight Series.
All in all, I'd give it 2.5 out of 4 stars. Bella got cool in the last half of the last book (finally). I also found myself not only liking her, but also liking Edward. I'm not sure how that happened, since I despised both at the end of book 3. LOL.
That being said, the series was a letdown. A friend of mine who read the books before me, told me that the story finally picks up in the 4th book and it's a shame you have to read so much drivel to get to the crux of the story.
I have to admit that it felt great reading the 4th book because it seemed like it was finally leading somewhere. Anywhere. LOL.
She even did a fairly decent job of building up some tension right before the big showdown (that never happened) at the end. Then it all just ends abruptly and neatly in a nicely contrived little bow. What a huge letdown.
I hate to compare this series to the Harry Potter series, mainly because they aren't in the same ballpark, but given that they're marketed to the same group of people, have multiple books, and deal with fantasy I think a cursory comparison is fair.
Stephenie Meyer is a wimp compared to JK Rowling. Meyer didn't kill any of the major characters. In fact, they weren't ever in any real danger. WHAT?? Oh yeah, because there was no epic showdown. Boring. Rowling, on the other hand, didn't hold any punches. She killed beloved and main characters and her story (while fantasy) had more of a real feel to it, then the drivel that Meyer wrote. It just felt like Meyer was trying to please all of her fans instead of writing a realistic story based in fantasy.
The series as a whole was just okay. I'm glad I read it and I'm glad I'm finished with it.