Hi. My name is Amy. And I have a problem.

I had never even heard of Twilight before November last year. I cruised over to Brandy's blog at some point and saw she wrote a movie review of something that wasn't even advertised here yet. I briefly skimmed the first paragraph and understood it was based on a book.

So when I had to pop into hospital (routine boring stuff) at the end of November last year, and was desperate for reading material, the name stuck in my head. I was traversing the aisles of Kmart and came across the series at the end of one row. I bought the first novel only just in case I didn't like it.

Two days later I'd finished the book and was as hungry as Edward for Bella for the rest of the story. I bought the next two books that night and spent an entire Sunday in Forks with Edward, Bella and Jacob and demolished New Moon in one day. Eclipse was finished a few days after that. Thankfully I got into the series after all books had been released so it was only a matter of days before I had my mitts on Breaking Dawn.


By then I realised that I had sped through the books so quickly that a reread was in order to ensure I fully appreciated all aspects of it. At about the same time I watched the movie and fell in love with the characters all over again. I've also downloaded most of the soundtrack onto my ipod and made my work colleague have Edward as her screen saver. Stepheniemeyer.com is one of my most visited websites and I find myself babbling about the outtakes and extra info they put on there for geeks like me. I found Team Edward t-shirts online and it was only through severe lack of funds that I didn't indulge. I can say the same for the Borders calendars which sold out world wide and are now available on Amazon for $100.

My partner pointed out to me that I may have a problem. And I can see his point. I mean, I'm in my mid-twenties now. This is teenage fiction. No one else I know is obsessed with the world of a school aged girl and her vampire love interest. So why this book, this series? What is it in there that intrigues me so and keeps me reaching for those books 3 months on, rather than expanding my literary horizons?

I ask myself that constantly. I've read all of that stuff about anti-heroine ism and a female's latent love of dominance. But I don't really buy into all that. I like to think that I'm a simple creature; I read for the enjoyment of it. I love being entertained and I do that by entering fantasy worlds in my books and therefore in my head. I've always loved make believe; it was my favourite game as a kid. The fact that you could be anything you wanted was a heady thing for a 9 year old.
I think what's most attractive to me are the characters. They're all flawed but beautiful. They're not intensely complex or difficult to understand, there's no excuses for this either. I felt connected to them, not in a weird way, but in that I understood them. I know what Bella meant when she had to hold her arms across herself to keep from falling apart. I get Edward's aching desire to have something but injure himself in order to do what's right. I feel Jacob's ability to brighten the lives of others.

In the end, it just comes down to the fact that I resonated with this book. I love the romance of it, the incredibly heightened emotions that emanate from all characters and the way it makes me feel. I'm sucked in and I don't mind admitting it.

Pics from www.imdb.com.