The book Breaking Dawn is the fourth in the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer. These books are highly read by teens all over the United States. They have gotten so popular, that people began to want to make this vampire-romance series into a series of movies as well. Twilight and New Moon are out and available, and Eclipse is ready to show in theatres. Breaking Dawn, I’ve heard, is supposed to be made into two movies, because the book has different parts with different character’s perspectives. This book was the second best of the four, because Twilight was just the introductory one and was my favorite. Breaking Dawn is exhilarating, and it jerked a few of the strings on my heart, too.

Breaking Dawn is broken down into three individual books. During part one, you read about Bella and Edward getting married. They spend their honeymoon on a remote island. During their stay, Bella and Edward make love. Shortly after, Bella becomes aware of her pregnancy. She contacts Carlisle, Edward’s father, who confirms her suspicions, and the lovebirds make plans to return home, soon after. The fetus begins developing rapidly, much more rapidly than a normal mortal fetus would. This occurrence prompted Edward to request she get an abortion. Stubborn Bella resists his request and contacts her friend Rosalie, Edward’s older sister, who has wanted children for a long time.

Part two of Breaking Dawn is written from Jacob Black’s perspective, her childhood friend, and Edward’s enemy, a werewolf. It documents the pregnancy of Bella, right through to the birth of her baby. The werewolves in the novel are unsure of the child, and fear the danger it possesses, and they begin to make plans to kill Bella to prevent the half-human half-vampire’s birth. Naturally, Jacob strongly opposes to this and revolts. He cuts all ties to the pack and forms his own, alongside his other friends, Leah Clearwater and Seth. Four weeks after conception, Bella gives a violent birth to the mutant child. In the process, she loses a great deal of blood and suffers multiple broken bones, from the child’s immensely strong kicks to her ribs. To save her life, Edward is forced to give into Bella’s never-ending pleas that have been constant since they began dating, and turn her into a vampire. The baby is then given the name, Renesmee, named after Bella’s mother, Renee, and Edward’s mother, Esme.

The third and final part of Breaking Dawn goes back to Bella’s point of view, continuing her story as an excited vampire who enjoys all the abilities it brings. Irina, another Vampire, mistakenly identifies the baby, and believes Renesmee is an “immortal child”, one that has been changed to a vampire, an act the Volturi vampires had previously outlawed. Irina then informs the Volturi of the act, and they then decide to destroy the Edward’s family and baby Renesmee based on Irina’s allegations. To prove their innocence and save the life of their baby daughter, the Cullen family gathers vampires to stand up as witnesses and help prove to the Volturi the child wasn’t made into an immortal child. The ploy works, and the Volturi realize they have been lied to by Irina and immediately sentence her to execution for the mistake. She is killed shortly after. Despite the news of the child’s true nature being revealed, they are still unsure as to the threat the child’s existence brings to the secret lives of vampires. Soon after, the arrival of Jasper and Alice, (Edward’s brother and sister, who are married), who too had a human-vampire child, return. They prove the child presents no threat with Nahuel, their 150 year old crossbreed son. The Volturi see the truth in these words and promptly leave, safe in the knowledge that vampire-human crossbreeds can co-exist without bringing any unneeded attention on the vampire’s existence. Bella, Edward, and their daughter Renesmee then return safely to their home.

Stephenie Meyer has become quite a successful author. When she was interviewed for CNN, they asked her, “what do you think makes your writing attract the attention that it gets?” Her answer was short, but I found it quite inspirational to other authors out there. She stated, “All I can guess is that when I write, I forget that it’s not real. I’m living the story, and I think people can read the sincerity about the characters. They are real to me when I’m writing them, and I think that makes them real to the readers as well.”

This book was a great closing to the four-book series. All of her books that I’ve read are inspirational, even though they’re about a fictional vampire family that lives in a tiny town named Forks. Meyer’s writing skills are fantastic, and it’s hard for me to ever put down one of her books. She makes me want to be an author one day, and I hope to do as well as she’s done.