Midnight Sun (Twilight #5)

Author: Stephanie Meyers
​Pages: 662
Overall: 4.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Plot and Themes: 4/5
Cheers Factor: 5/5
Pairing: I See Red
I love pomegranates and pomegranate juice so I was utterly excited when I knew I was going to be able to make a pomegranate drink because of the cover of this book. I wanted to do a twist on a traditional cosmo and make a pomegranate version of it and it turned out to be very tasty. It’s a little rich because of the intensity of the pomegranate juice so I have an alternative addition that can be added if it’s a little too heavy in the juice. Overall, this one is very yummy and looks just like the blood a vampire drinks so with that drink up!

Ingredients
3oz Pomegranate Juice
1oz vodka
½ oz triple sec
½ lime 
A few pomegranate seeds
ice
Step one: Cut a pomegranate and take a few seeds and place in bottom of a chilled martini glass
Step two: Measure out pomegranate juice, vodka and triple sec then combine with ice in shaker
Step three: Use a hand juicer to juice half a lime into the shaker
Step four: Shake until shaker is cold to the touch and ingredients are thoroughly mixed
Step five: Strain into the martini glass and serve immediately
​Optional addition: If the pomegranate juice is too strong top with a little bit of club soda to give it a fizzy twist!

Take a Shot: By now Twilight has been a best selling book series, an international blockbuster movie franchise and a cult classic to many. Since the story of Bella and Edward began in 2005 their endeavors have been inspiration for parodies, fan-fiction and memes alike. However, now 15 years later the Twi-hards have a brand new installment with Midnight Sun. This novel follows the events of the first book, Twilight, entirely from Edward’s perspective. After the original version of this story was leaked and Meyers simply published the few chapters on her website, many thought that was the end of our journey into Edward’s head. Meyers thankfully was not done with this story and released the completed novel this year. I don’t want to give too much away especially since most people already know the story anyway, but I will say read all of Twilight before reading Midnight Sun. This is mainly because that’s how we all (I myself am a Twi-hard so that’s who we implies) had to do it and plus it helps with consistency of understanding the perspective of Bella solely in her words and then understanding Edward’s in retrospect. ​

"It made me sad that I couldn't hear enough of her thoughts even to check on her- to make sure she was happy, or safe, at the very least."

With all the lockdowns and craziness of March, April and May of this year it felt like a glib time for many things we thought were quite exciting. Then in early May, Meyers revealed that she indeed would be publishing the entire story of Twilight from Edward’s perspective, titled Midnight Sun, that August. I will not deny that I was thrilled. I habitually reread the Twilight books and my roommates and I watch the movies more frequently than I think any of us would want to admit. 

This is only because I can remember walking through Borders (if you don’t remember Borders book store that’s just gonna make me feel old) and seeing all of the Twilight gear ahead of the release of the first movie and I was absolutely dying to read the book. One of my classmates had started reading the series and I was so jealous because I didn’t have the books to read. Mind you I was in the 4th grade and was apparently an overly ambitious 9 year old. I did however get the books for Christmas that year and literally started reading the first book just after opening them. I finished the first 3 in around 2 weeks and had to wait to read the last novel until my mom had read it. I begged her to read them and once she did I was thrilled. Anyway to make a long story long I have been obsessed with this story for well over 10 years and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. I mean I made my parents take me to Forks (hence the photo evidence)...I kayaked on the Quileute River for crying out loud. However, that was a very fun trip and I was roughly about 10 when we did go and I wore all of my Twilight gear I bought at Hot Topic.
All that said though I was nervous this wouldn’t live up to my expectations and thankfully it completely did. There wasn’t much that was new in the way of plot and theme being that the events were already pretty well detailed in Twilight. We got to see more of what Edward did when he disappeared for a few days or when Bella was unconscious and that was really a great way to have more insight into his character. His self loathing was something I could honestly do without however, because well I’m a little over the whole “I’m an evil vampire trope stay away from me”. You and I both know I would totally be with a vampire regardless of all his scary tendencies just because that sounds like my 9 year old dream come true. 
    Despite all the self loathing though there was such a fantastic amount of character building for other characters. Being that Edward can read minds, it was such a neat way to gain insight into not only his relationships with his family, but their thoughts and feelings towards him and Bella. Emmett and Esme were my two favorites just for the sheer amount of page time they received. Esme was really shown to be the mother that loved and cared for her children. Emmett was shown to be a big bulky guy who loved a fight but was protective and loving. It was such a great way to feel emotionally attached to characters that we got to see with Bella, but we didn’t get to see the dynamic that happened before a human girl joined the mix. 
    I found myself a little sad when the book ended because now I want all the books from Edward’s perspective because I enjoyed it so much. I would love to know what he went through during the events of New Moon when there is an extended period of time that Bella and Edward are not physically together. I am hoping she will write them all from his perspective even though part of me hates myself for even wanting that because it will only make me more Twilight obsessed. However, overall I think this book really made me happy and gave me a Twilight hit that I’ve been craving for a long time.

"You deserve happiness son. Fate owes you that." - Esme