Natalie's Nook

A/N: The following blog post may slightly offend those that are of house Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. You have been warned.

A young girl was mesmerized by a enchanting saga that would forever fill her hopeless romantic heart. This was a much simpler time. Little did she know that although her world was that of Forks, Washington; she missed out on the exciting discovery of the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”

It was the year 2007. At almost every Scholastic Book Fair my middle school had, I would always see this series of books that looked so intriguing, but no other kids I knew seemed to be attracted to it. So, one Friday after school, I took the liberty to check out the audio book from my local library. That was the first (and only) time I listened to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”(’97). I was beyond excited to crack open the case, take the CD out, and place it into my CD player to start listening to the first chapter. I hadn’t realized how many chapters there were, but I knew I would be listening for a while.

Not sure as to how far I got in the audio book, but the seven book series became this world wide phenomena, that they were later adapted into films; beginning in 2001 and finishing the movie series with the last two part film for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in 2011. I wanted, no, I needed to see the movies since I couldn’t find a way to get my hands on all seven books. After begging my dad to buy me one of the movies, I finally had in my possession Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

It was the second installment to the series, and the only Harry Potter DVD I own that I’m sure is still collecting dust in my father’s DVD rack. I watched that particular movie several times, not enough times to commit it by memory, but enough times that that would be the only Harry Potter movie I could actually talk about without being completely clueless in conversations. A day came that my continuous movie watch ended. My mom was not having it! She felt like it wasn’t just fiction; that there were tropes deeply tied to the demonic world that conveyed messages that a nine year old did not need to retain in their subconscious. That was an abrupt end to my Harry Potter experience.

Years went by and I started to (and sort of still do) feel excluded from all of the Harry Potter talk— the references, the jokes, the quizzes to see which house you belonged to, the trivia games, etc. What was a Hufflepuff? Malfoy who? Harry’s scar? That weird looking guy. . . .why is it forbidden to say his name and why does he want to kill Harry? I wasn’t able to be a part of the die hard “Potterhead” fanbase. But in the year 2011, all of that miraculously changed.

A friend of mine came to me talking about this other book series she had recently became engrossed in. It was as fantasy filled as Harry Potter, but with a romantic twist of two star-crossed lovers; “a love story with a bite.”

The first novel in the Twilight Saga was written by best selling author Stephenie Meyer in 2005. It is a series of four vampire themed books that is centered around the later teen years of Isabella “Bella” Swan, a girl who moves to Forks, Washington, that falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen. Later leading into a love triangle between those two lovers and Bella’s best friend/member of the Quileute tribe/werewolf— Jacob Black.

All four books gained a monumental amount of popularity and commercial success around the world— winning multiple awards, just as Harry Potter. Many would say it was a new era for young adult literature. And, although I wasn’t a young adult, I was a pre-teen and it was a new era for me!

On November 21, 2008, the first novel was adapted into a motion picture with the help of the film production company Summit Entertainment. Continuing through the year 2012, a movie for each installment of the saga was released— Breaking Dawn being split into two parts. The movies weren’t what I imagined—see I was one of those people that watched the movies before I read the books—I thought they were just your average chick flick but with a supernatural twist. I stood corrected.

I watched the movies first because the first three—Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse—were already available to watch on FX because as you know “FX has the movies”. I remember them doing a Twilight Movie Marathon one weekend. I was flipping through the channels as I recognized the opening scene to the first film: it was a green and blue toned forest area, with a doe (presumably) standing in the midst of it, as a voiceover of Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) internal dialogue sounded over the scene: “I’d never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” That night my sole focus was watching those movies and commencing my dying love for Bella, the Cullens, the Pack, vampires, and werewolves. And from the age of thirteen, Forks became my world.

In 2013, by this time, my mom knew about my love for the saga and only said that watching and reading it was MY choice; it was up to me because I was then old enough to choose what I watched, read, listened to, etc. So, I continued on reading and watching. She even took me to see Breaking Dawn part two in theaters, an experience I will forever cherish. She started to realize how much Twilight truly meant to me. But, that summer, I was able to get my hands on all four volumes which lead to me spending most of my time indoors reading my vacation days away. . .well all of July and two weeks in August. I literally read the first three in a period of three weeks! I was staying up until breaking dawn—pun intended—having my head buried in those books, escaping into a story my fifteen year old heart yearned for.

I confessed my love for Twilight soon thereafter, although some would say it was an obsession because it had gotten to the point where I started committing the movies to memory. Every line, character’s actions, props placement, and scene settings were embedded in my brain for good. I even started a tradition of watching a—if not all—Twilight movie every Halloween accompanied by popcorn and candy. I was able to find Twilight fans, such as myself, to have conversations about favorite characters, which team they were—Edward or Jacob? I was like Bella, team Switzerland—favorite movie vs. favorite book, favorite song off the movie soundtracks (which will forever be ahead of their time), what’s the latest and best fan-fiction they’ve read (Shamrocks and Shenanigans by Mathisson was epic!) etc. I even talked about planning a trip to Forks (which I’m still down to do) so that I may experience Forever Twilight In Forks. I became a “Twihard”, and that was when the true fan-girling for me began.

My Twilight collection grew as I, meaning my parents, invested in the volumes of graphic novels, the novella: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (2010), the Funko Pop figures of Bella and Edward (still haven’t gotten Jacob’s), the Twilight Tenth Anniversary Edition novel: Life and Death (2015), and the Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga DVD collection (2013).

Despite the multiple memes of why vampires shouldn’t sparkle, the multiple reviews/critiques on why the entire saga is a terrible read, or the multiple comparisons to Harry Potter; I loved every part of it. Sure it has its flaws, but for me it was about the romance, the literary quotes, the coming of age and figuring out ones true nature/self, the meaning of friendships, the meaning of family, sacrifices, having an unrequited love that will keep you friend-zoned and leave you with heartache, but also having a love that will last a lifetime. Forever.

I was that girl.