I finished reading the book on August 1^st, but I refrained from writing my review until now so I would be able to have gained some perspective. I picked up Breaking Dawn without any preconceived notions, and I believe this was key in my genuine enjoyment of the book. I steered clear from the spoilers that were leaked onto the Internet; the only knowledge I had of the book was the first chapter that had been released in Eclipse. When I flipped to the first page, I was fully willing to be taken wherever the author wanted me.

There were a few elements of the book that stood out the most to me. First of all, it is clear that Stephenie is a fantastic writer. I witnessed a lot of growth in her writing from when she first wrote Twilight. Stephenie has clearly progressed as a writer, and that makes me eager to open any of the other books she has in store for us! Another key part of the novel that I enjoyed was the positive message about the importance of love and family. Introducing a child into the equation was the logical development of the intense love between Edward and Bella in the first three books and the marriage at the beginning of Breaking Dawn. The fact that Bella’s special gift as a vampire was a shield was perfect for her character; Bella has always wanted to protect those she loved, often in the way of a martyr when she was still human. I also enjoyed Bella being able to sidestep the crazed bloodlust of being a newborn. It was wise of Stephenie to do this because readers probably would not have enjoyed reading a year’s worth of Bella aching to suck the blood of her father!

Overall, Stephenie Meyer did a spectacular job of tying together most of the loose ends and giving all the characters we have grown to love a happy ending. However, the book was not flawless. Firstly (and least importantly), there were a number of grammatical errors that could become distracting at times. It detracted from my reading experience a bit to see that the editing had been sloppy. It is understandable, though, given the time constraints there must have been.

Furthermore, while I was very pleased that the ending was one I could smile about, part of me thought that there were a few too many butterflies and rainbows. After Bella was changed into a vampire, she suffered little, if any, consequences for her final decision. Throughout the previous books in the Twilight saga, Bella struggled with the decision of becoming a vampire versus remaining human. Edward questioned whether or not she would have a soul and if she would go to heaven. Bella also knew that she was going to be bloodthirsty for years as she learned to control her intense craving for human blood.  When Bella made her decision to be changed, she had accepted the fact that she may never be able to see her parents again. Bella also had accepted that she would be severing her friendship with Jacob Black when she was changed. But Stephenie erased all of the suffering and consequences that Bella was supposed to face and this frustrated me a little.

The last thing that bothered me a little in the book was the excessive use of a few choice words. Honestly, I don’t know how many times Edward “chuckled” but it was certainly more than I would have considering the grave circumstances at times. Of course, Edward also chuckled a good deal in Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. There were a few other common words such as flit, bell (referring to either Bella or Renesmee’s voices), and “he raised his eyebrow.” There were a number of other popular words in the book, as well, but I won’t waste any more time talking about them. I’m sure some closer editing would have eliminated the frequency of some of these words. This wasn’t as much of an issue in the previous three books.

All in all, I was very pleased with Breaking Dawn. No, it wasn’t perfect, but there was no way Stephenie Meyer could have pleased everyone. Imagine how many readers she was writing for and the pressure that undoubtedly came with the responsibility to write such a book! Overall, the writing was top notch, the characters were as real as ever, and I was able to close the book with a smile on my face with a feeling of hope.