curiousity killed the cat

Life and Death comparing with Twilight – Stephanie Meyer 

Vampires, werewolves, romance. YA, fantasy, fiction. 

No Rating

I was curious and decided to read this novel as well as the other Twilight series books that are out. It became popular once again since Stephanie Meyer made Midnight Sun as of recently and currently working on a novel spin-off that takes place after Breaking Dawn staring Renesmee and Jacob. I will be comparing both this with the original work. Just know this is my opinion and everyone is entitled to have their views towards this franchise. I’m just critiquing the two works side by side. I will also reread the entire saga plus Midnight Sun. In no shape or form is this to harm the author. Just as a disclaimer. And spoilers ahead… Anyways… 

This was marketed as the gender-bent Twilight version but the character is Edith as Edward’s female counterpart and Bella’s male counterpart is Beaufort. Not all characters were gender-swapped which is lazy work honestly. Edward’s parents were gender-swapped but Bella’s parents weren’t which was odd. This new form made Edith look like a mean girl with her attitude towards Beaufort. In the original version Edward came off as a douche bag but with the female counterpart, this didn’t make the novel any better. 

As far as the events go, most events happen just like the original novel except for the endings. The gender-swapped one was vastly different than the original which is cheating and being ultimately lazy and a little misogynistic. Beaufort had the decision and was given it whereas Bella wasn’t allowed to choose. Basically whether or not the bite from James or whatever the female version of him turned the main character into a vampire or not. This could be the author trying to establish that men can freely choose and women can’t with this work. Either way, I was disappointed with the ending. That did bother me slightly because I was suspecting that Meyer kept the original ending but I do see the understanding to create a standalone work. 

Overall, both novels weren’t my favorite since the love interest was a complete douche bag towards the main character, and the main character still chose the douche bag love interest that is a vampire. That is just how I see it because both Edith and Edward had gaslight Bella and Beaufort plus acted towards them in an unfavoring way. I still plan to read all the other works minus Twilight because I read that to do this comparison. 

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the sequel of the best werewolf YA

Wolfsbane – Andrea Cremer

Wolves, supernatural, fiction, young adults, identity, interpersonal relationships.

Rating 10/10

Calla was captured by the enemy. Only to find out the truth and that Shay was telling the truth of the reality she is now faced with. She has to work with them to fight her true enemy. In order to go back to rescue her pack, she must train and be prepared. She has to protect Shay as he is the key to the future. Even though she turned him into the wolf so he can give her pack blood in order to save his life, he is still in need of protection. She has to trust her own heart to make the right decision. 

I, of course, couldn’t resist getting the entire trilogy of this series. I loved this series as a teenager and even love them more as an adult. The synopsis is short because most of the book has a lot of details and I wouldn’t want to spoil. Andrea Cremer does such a good job world building and making lovable, as well as hateable, characters. This book was fairly paced and well written. A bit shorter than the first novel but definitely action packed. Calla going through the whole identity and purpose crisis was really character building and has made her better. I still find it funny that her other love interest, Shay, is now a werewolf. He hasn’t fully adjusted and it’s quite humoring. I might hold off reading the final book, BloodRose because I want to enjoy this series and relish the moments. I will also work on getting the prequel series that goes along with this book that gives background information of the history behind all what is going on in this series which I also had read back in middle school when I had that werewolf witch phase. I wasn’t on the team Edward lol. I was on the werewolf team. Go find this book series and read it if one is into werewolves and witches.

I understand the hype….

Crave – Tracy Wolff

Young adult, supernatural, vampires, dragons, werewolves, witches, fiction.

Rating 10/10

Grace is arriving to Alaska to a private school her uncle and cousin reside at after losing her parents in a fatal car crash. On day one she is warned by tall, dark, and handsome to stay away from certain people there as well as her cousin. She doesn’t understand besides the fact that there are cliques here too. Her attention is drawn to two boys who have anger towards each other. Jaxon and Flint. Jaxon is the tall dark and handsome that warned her about himself. Flint is much friendlier and kind to Grace. Except when she experiences near death experiences, it is revealed to her that she is surrounded by the supernatural and she herself was supposed to be a witch. She finds herself in a supernatural war.

I had to get this book to understand why the hell is the hype for. I’ve seen this book all over Tik Tok as well as my Instagram feed. I decided to get this book. I understand the hype now. This novel had a lot of Twilight vibes and a few references of the Twilight book. The main character is funny, and I liked her with Flint. I felt that Jaxon felt too much like Edward Cullen and the distasteful character he has immediately made him unlikeable. The fact that Jaxon gave her the Twilight book gave away a lot about his character and it was ironic that he would compare himself to that god awful character. I prefer Flint so yeah. I was shocked by the fact that there was a dragon shifter. That blew my mind and made me love Flint even more. I thought this was going to be a vampire versus wolf shifter but no. The writing was well done, and I liked how chapters were short too. I don’t like chapters that are too long where it’s a snooze fest. I may continue the series in the future but not so sure if I really want to dive into a book series where the protagonist love interest is a duplicate of a Twilight character that I hated a lot. I do recommend this book though.

i love werewolves

Bitten – Kelley Armstrong

Werewolves, fantasy, survival, fiction.

Rating 10/10

Elena is a pretty normal woman except she is a werewolf. She tries to live normally with humans even though the person who turned her prefers her to be with her own kind, she prefers normalcy. Having a human boyfriend in the city as well as a job there too screams normal. Clayton, her ex that turned her into a werewolf, calls her demanding her to come talk to him, so she leaves town to talk to him. There is a problem in Stonehaven, a couple of mutts running around causing havoc. they need her and the rest of the pack to hunt down the mutt. Jeremy, the leader, formulates a plan with the pack on how to catch the mutt that has been causing problems in that town. They find out who the mutt is, and this mutt had been turning people into werewolves, very bad people. Another pack comes in to help create peace and get rid of the dangerous mutts. Elena faces a fight of her life that would make her choose between two worlds she is apart of. Either return to her human life or stay at Stonehaven.

I love the fact that this novel had a strong female character who can take on challenges on her own. I had read this novel in middle school and fell in love with the main character. I had to return to this novel to reread because I loved this novel so much. Even as a werewolf she is pretty awesome. I wanted to make this as PG because I don’t fully know my audience so its safe to keep some information out. Besides, I don’t want to spoil too much because the reader should read for themselves the book because I think this novel doesn’t get enough attention. I did realize there is a series adaptation on Netflix, but I am not big on watching television much. This novel has great writing that is a balance of action and dialogue.