I Have a Confession to Make

Hi, I’m Kristy, and I’m a closet Twilight fan. (hangs head, sighing) Yes, it’s true. Please don’t throw rotten tomatoes…or other decaying produce…at me.

For the past four years or so I’ve tried to pretend it’s all because of my daughter. Standing in line at midnight at the theater – and in Blockbuster when the DVDs were released. Reading until my eyes were so blurry I could barely see the pages, but just wanting to get to the end of this chapter (and then the next, and next, and next).

I knew I’d read better stories, seen movies that might actually win an award here and there, but I’m a sucker for romance…even if it involves vampires and werewolves. Well, as long as they’re not scary. I don’t ‘do’ scary because I prefer to not ‘do’ nightmares (and if I read or watch scary, nightmares will follow).

Apparently I live in a bubble. Several weeks ago, an author friend suggested I read a book called The Host. I had never heard of it – and wasn’t remotely close to interested in checking it out. Then I start reading Facebook posts from people wanting to know who was going to see the movie this past weekend. Surprise! I didn’t even know it had been made into a movie. A bubble, remember? A bubble.

So anyway… I was open to a lazy, relaxing couple of days and thought…why not? Loaded the book on my Kindle, kicked back…and realized this tome was six-hundred and fifty-six pages long?!?!?! I hadn’t intended to relax quite that much, but figured I could read part of it through Sunday, then finish it as I had time.

Yeah, right.

I got sucked in so fast it almost made my head spin, and every spare second I had found me with Kindle in hand (and trying to ignore silly things like the need to make supper or do a load of laundry).

I’m not going to write a book review here, but I did want to say three things. First… Team Ian! Second…Stephenie Meyer really can write! And third…I think it’s time to pop the bubble.

When I watch so little television that I miss trailers for movies like The Host, it might be time to take a break from 3D Mah Jongg, writing, Facebook, plotting, spider solitaire, and editing, and see if I can find a series or two I can tolerate during the long months when the few I do watch are on hiatus.

Now I’m hoping our little small-town theater gets the movie in so I don’t have to go traveling, or wait until it’s out on DVD. Given the length and details in the story though, I doubt the movie will do it justice.

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12 Responses to I Have a Confession to Make

  1. Understand that there are a ton of us twilight fans. Read the entire series, including Bree ‘s story and Midnight sun, 18 (yes eighteen) times. Sick, I know but there you have it. My bestie and I have 3 teen girls and used them as an excuse to go to Forks. Visited the high school, shops, spent the day reading Twilight on First Beach, went to Port Angeles to watch New Moon at the theatre. Neither one of us adore the movies but have seen everyone of them at the midnight premiers. Saw Eclipse in Port Angeles on our second trip to Forks. Yes we drug our teens back for a second trip just so we could see the premier in the Port Angeles theatre. And yes, we both own the entire movie set on Blue Ray/DVD/Digital.
    I LOVED The Host (read it 6 times) but she had to make herself finish it. I’m totally team Ian right along with you. That is a whole lot of yum. Haven’t seen the movie yet but it’s on the must do list.
    See, now don’t you feel better? Here’s proof that there someone more twisted that you.

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hi, Shelley. It’s nice to meet you. 🙂

      How cool that you went to Forks, Port Angeles and First Beach! I’d love to visit there someday. LOL about Midnight Sun. I’ve read it several times, too, and wish she’d finish it.

      I’ll be seeing The Host this week…it finally arrived at the only theater I go to, so I’m hoping it lives up to the book. That’s a whole lot of story to pack into two hours and five minutes.

      I DO feel better. But I don’t like to think of us as ‘twisted.’ More like avid fans on steroids. 🙂

  2. Debra Kristi says:

    First off, I was in that bubble during the whole Twilight thing. My friend pushed me to read the book. She talked me into going to see the premier with her and I though, “Well, damn. If I’m going to see the movie and she wants me to read the book I had better do it before I see the movie or I never will. Because, you see, that’s how I operate when it comes to movies and books. The book had been sitting on my night stand for a month. I read the damn thing in a day. LOVED it!

    The Host was a whole other story. I forced myself to finish it because I hate leaving a book unfinished and there are very few I’ve left uncompleted. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get into the story. I thought the trailer made it look like a better story than the book. I will still wait till I don’t have to pay theater prices. Sorry. 🙁

    Pop that bubble, though and get involved with the Mortal Instruments series. The first movie from that line of books is coming out soon and it looks really cool. You saw it on my FB page the other night.

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Wow…I’m not sure how it happened, but I KNOW I responded to this…and it’s gone. All I can imagine is that I closed the window before it actually posted…in one of my many airhead, sleep-deprived moments. 🙂

      I have to admit I was surprised I got into The Host, given where most of it was set, but I couldn’t stop reading it. Of course the same was true with Twilight. And The Morganville Vampires, at least until Bitter Blood, and I still haven’t been able to finish that. I’m wondering if it might not have been better to tie up loose ends and end it with Black Dawn.

      I’ll have to check out Mortal…as long as it’s not scary. 🙂

  3. Emma says:

    I’m Emma and I’m a big Twilight fan, and I’m not ashamed! I adore the books and even the films, even if a few of the latter are a load of crap.
    I read The Host and couldn’t get in to it, though I did make myself finish it. The film looks a lot better.

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hi, Emma…
      I think more Twilight fans need to come out of the closet. 🙂

      I’m sorry you didn’t like The Host. Maybe I was just in the right mood for something different (and a reason to procrastinate about starting on the fourth book in my series!), but I was really impressed. The first few chapters were kind of boring, until Melanie and Wanda became friends. Or sort of friends. I’m looking forward to watching the movie, although I can see by the trailers that they did the same thing we saw with the Twilight movies…too much stuff that wasn’t in the book used to replace what actually was in it. Oh well. Such is Hollywood, I guess. 🙂

  4. Diana Beebe says:

    I can’t wait to see the movie, either. My best friend and I loved the books, and now we have the guilty pleasure of watching the movies every chance we get. Granted, we mostly make fun of the earlier movies, because they don’t match the books we read. 🙂 We still have fun with them. I loved reading The Host even more.

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hi, Diana…

      Oh I know! I saw Twilight before I read any of the stories…and couldn’t believe what they’d done with the movie. It still irks me that they added the greenhouse scene instead of something that was actually IN the book.

      But yes, for as much as I enjoyed Twilight (and the rest), The Host was SO much better. I do wonder when she’s going to release the next in the series though. As near as I can determine, this one was published in 2008. Five years is a long time between books. 🙂

      • I love the Twilight series, both books and movies. I’ve been open about it. I didn’t read the books because my writer friends said the writing was awful. Then one of my daughters who never loved reading (she’s an adult) raved about it and loaned me the first in the series. I loved it, found the story compelling, even if the writing had common newbie mistakes. Just goes to show if a story is compelling, your average reader won’t even notice problems with the writing, or if they do, they’re very forgiving.

        You’re the first one I’ve heard anything about the host from. Now I want to read it. Thanks, Kristy!

        • Diana Beebe says:

          I just saw the movie yesterday. Wow. They stayed really true to the book. I was impressed. I liked the cast, too. I honestly didn’t care for most of the Twilight cast (I’m sure they’re good people).

          Lynn, The Host is science fiction, not fantasy, so it has a different feel. 🙂

          Kristy–I agree with you about the greenhouse scene. Seriously, she doesn’t have to write another book ever, if she didn’t want to. I read her short book The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, based on the young vampire girl that the family tries to save. Very interesting perspective. I enjoyed it, too.

          • Kristy K. James says:

            I can’t wait to see the movie, Diana. So far they haven’t gotten it at our little theater. Sure hope they do, or I’ll be waiting until I can rent it (AFTER I pick up a bag of popcorn from the theater).

            I haven’t read the Bree Tanner short yet. I’ll have to remember to hunt it up. Thanks for reminding me. 🙂

        • Kristy K. James says:

          You’re right about a compelling story making up for mistakes, Lynn. I’ve loved many stories with newbie mistakes. 🙂 Good for your non-reading daughter. The Twilight series sucked me in from the first word. I can’t say the same thing about The Host though. It took a chapter or two before I was hooked. 🙂

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