FINALLY! After months of waiting! Supposedly, I should feel happy while Eclipse tops the bestseller list but as its popularity grows, I can’t really say. Fortunately, I got hooked on the series even before almost everybody started talking about it.

Anyway, as for my thoughts about the book - it was definitely better than New Moon. I suppose it’s because Edward’s back under the spotlight, though now he has Jacob Black to share it with. I have mixed emotions with regards to Jacob. I can’t say he’s one of my favorite characters, but I don’t hate him either. I guess it’s just…weird for me since he was a very minor character in the first book and then he’s grown to have such a significant part in the series. And as for the third novel, he’s the third in a love triangle.

This brings us to Bella. I used to really love Bella - in the first book at least. Then I was annoyed at her angst in the second book. Now what irks me is her claims to love two men - though there’s a degree of difference, she did say “in love”. And I’m not entirely comfortable of this part of her. I don’t like the fact that she could say she loves two of them at the same time. Though I understand, rationally, that there’s a good basis for this - a valid cause for such confusion - I can’t hide the fact that I don’t really like it. In fact, I hate it. Edward had a point that he had broken her heart and it was Jacob who somehow managed to stitch it and the stitches would leave their mark there, but seeing Bella falter like this just makes me feel she doesn’t really deserve Edward. A pity Edward needs her so much (and she probably likewise, in a sense that both of them wouldn’t function normally without the other). Eclipse managed to illustrate how Edward cares for Bella excellently. He puts up with her friendship with Jacob even though he’s downright jealous about it. He exerts so much self-control just to make Bella happy, so much sacrifice, that the things Bella does to make up for all her mistakes pales in comparison.

At least she’s aware she’d done both Jacob and Edward wrong. It’s just that the book ended with Bella admitting she’s in love with Jacob as well, and telling Edward “I love you more” just doesn’t make it right for me. I guess it also has something to do with the difference in our cultures - Filipino vs. American - or like how I feel more traditional about things. I understand how Edward wants things to go or happen, though I also understand why Bella’s quite averse towards marriage despite the shallow reasoning. If I were her, I’d marry him without second thought, dammit!

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Started Reading: July 5, 2007
Finished Reading: July 7, 2007

This is a different book from the ones I’ve read before - with a more serious touch sprinkled with faith that it reminds me of After the Rains by Deborah Raney. The novel dealt with love, loss, love and betrayal that went to life in two characters in special circumstances. It was a new experience for me to explore the world of schizophrenia (probably not very new, but it was a story unique in its kind). I’m also glad that it had dealt with faith and a “love” that didn’t exist merely because of lust and sex that render the reader senseless (thank God). Despite the fact that the book deviates from my usual reads, I still enjoyed it. It didn’t give off the same complicated impression that The Patient did, plus a few “serious” books I’ve bought before. It’s been a long while since I read something that didn’t fall under the genres/categories Young Adult, Vampires, or Historical Romance.

Lance and Rese are two strong characters who are very easy to like. Both have their flaws, even if Lance does sound “too good to be true.” I wouldn’t say I understand them or their circumstances, but I’ve discovered new things through them. The open-ending gives me a chance to believe the two ended up together without reading the sequel.

I’ve read reviews about the sequel to Secrets but by the various testimonials, I’m curious yet not very itching to read it. I rarely trust sequels - since they usually don’t make the standards the first novel sets.

Started Reading: July 1, 2007
Finished Reading: July 1, 2007

Is there something more to the fairy tale about the six brothers turned into swans and their sister weaving them garments to break the spell? Juliet Mariller adds more magic to this old mystical tale. I’m glad she had picked a tale that wasn’t universally common already. Cinderella and Snow White have been told and retold countless of times, that the tale about the swans and their sister becomes a refreshing change.

The book was very enjoyable, and it does a good job of developing its characters. Seven siblings may be hard to handle, but they all developed into individuals with unique characteristics that even though Sorcha is the main protagonist, they manage to have their own, little stories incorporated as the plot progresses. It would never be easy to forget even one character, no matter how significant or not they are. Mariller manages to create characters that make lasting impressions on the readers, and this is one of her strong points because without it, one may have easily missed important details in the web of the story.

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Started Reading: June 26, 2007
Finished Reading: June 26, 2007

An important aspect of the book is its subject: incest. Marie and her older brother, Vincent, are adults in their 20’s who have grown up together until an unfortunate accident left them both orphans. The story revolves around their relationship with each other - which isn’t innocent at all - and with society or the people around them. Written in Marie’s perspective, we have another book with an unreliable narrator. Though, in a positive light, we gain a better understanding of Marie in this aspect (for her mind works uniquely: she is dangerous as a person as she is wonderful as a dreamer and poet). We see her struggle with her conscience, her reasoning that she is what she was made to be and it was no fault of hers to feel that way towards Vincent, and we witness her twist reality into a fantasy she could easily grasp and cope with.

Two of the words that would best describe Marie and Vincent’s relationship are irrationally dependent [on each other] and destructive. While they need each other to live - they destroy each other too. Or rather, both their jealousies and violence will. But because they are irrationally dependent on each other, they would never even attempt to live life without each other, which brings us to the end: Vincent dies and Marie commits suicide.

Although I would personally rather read a happy ending, both of them dying is a situation to be understood. At their state - where feelings could not be hidden anymore and desire as natural as the tide that crashes onto the shore - it would seem impossible for them to live bound by society’s rules anymore. Should they have returned from that boat expedition, things wouldn’t really be the same. Their relationship would become more obvious. Vincent, by the latter part of the book, had already started to accept that and to do that. There were less reservations from his actions and in the end, that would influence and encourage Marie to do the same (it always took merely a word from her brother and she would do anything that he had said). It was in dying that they “lived together”.

I wish I could read more books such as this one.

Started Reading: June 4, 2007
Finished Reading: June 5, 2007

I’m reading All Together Dead and I’m not finished yet, LOL. But I still want to type a few things about what I’ve read so far -

I wish Sookie could make up her mind on who she likes and does not like. I wish she stops sleeping with almost every man she feels a chemistry with. D=

I wish the series doesn’t turn into another Anita Blake. =(

I hope this would end with an Eric/Sookie pairing. If not, screw canon. LOL.

I wish Charlaine Harris didn’t dwell so much on the lives of other people and instead went directly to the issue of the Summit. The few first chapters were a waste.

I continue reading chapter eight now. xD

EDIT: Alright, finally finished it!

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