I first read Twilight in middle school (and loved it) and still vividly remember my mom taking my friends and me to see the movie in theaters. My mom was completely baffled after the movie that we loved this book and story so much. I can only imagine how horrifying it would be to watch this bonkers story unfold with a bunch of tweens completely in rapture. In this book, the author, Sarah Gallagher, completely captures how bewitching the Twilight saga is while breaking down the harmful and ridiculous aspects in a very fun and funny way.

By the end of this book, I became convinced that Gallagher likely knows and appreciates these characters and this world even more than Stephenie herself. Back in the day, I preferred Bella to end up with Edward over Jacob, but Gallagher really made me appreciate Jacob as a character despite the deeply unfortunate imprinting situation. I did not know all the back story of how the Jacob character evolved. The most interesting parts to me were the harm to the Quileute tribe from the Twilight portrayal, the inherent sexism is all the female vampire characters' back stories, and the colorism and racism issues of Stephenie Meyer's vampire lore. Gallagher seems to be very careful to not examine Meyer too closely, with relatively little discussion of Stephenie and her personally, like the Mormon influences and Stephenie's brother being named Jacob(!!!)

The storyline of Twilight and its subsequent books, adaptations, and Stephenie Meyer lore additions are all detailed in this book, so a reader does not need to have read Twilight to appreciate this book, but I can't imagine many folks who haven't engaged with this media would want to read a whole book on the subject. I haven't reread the books since middle/high school (beyond a failed attempt to reread during the start of covid) or watched beyond the first Twilight movie, so it was helpful to have the summaries and refreshers to truly appreciate Gallagher's analysis. This book did read very conversationally, and I think some of the descriptors and humor will not keep well (like how so much is described as "cursed").

I didn't realize when I started this book that the author is the very same Tiktok creator I follow about Twilight lore! Gallagher is very charismatic in her videos and she's just as endearing in this book. (I was surprised that Gallagher herself doesn't narrate this audiobook!) A large focus is a reflection from Gallagher about her own love of the Twilight universe and how supportive and toxic the fandom can be. As Gallagher points out, media that women enjoy is so often ridiculed and dismissed, and it was so fun to hear her seriously break down and analyze the characters and their relationships with each other, and the fever dream of a plot Stephenie Meyer cooked up. If you are interested in pop culture phenomena and have previously enjoyed the Twilight media, I think you'll get a real kick out of this book!