We, honestly, picked this book because we weren't sure we would like it. In the end, we felt it wasn't a strongly written book and that the characters were flat. There were multiple logic holes in the world that Meyer attempted to build (ie- if a little blood gets the vampires in a frenzy, what do they do when people at school menstruate?).

We also felt that this book was a vehicle for multiple conservative values, particularly the no sex( or biting) until marriage. Its heteronormative view of the males continually pursuing Bella and Edward's continual want to ravage her while she was provided with a limited arsenal against such attentions rubbed us a little the wrong way. Additionally, Meyer's view of highschool was a little too much Mary-Sue, Bella had no conflict at all, and it was entirely unbelievable (granted, the book is about vampires... who sparkle).

A final frustrating point which goes back to my comment on conservative values and Meyer's limited ability to build the world: Bella has been taking AP classes in her old school and she seemed to take care of herself well enough with her mother and start to be independant, now, however, she is willing to drop all of that to become devoted to one male. We never expected Bella to be a strong feminist figure, but this seems out of character, even with the excuse of "first teenage love" with the past Meyers set up.

We didn't entirely dis-like the book, however, it was a quick read and as a majority/ all of our club normally find ourselves reading dense academia publishings quite often for work/school, finding a mindlessly indulgent novel was quite a pleasure, and the cover art of the original publishings (apple in hands) is beautiful. Additionally, finding a book that frustrated us provided for much discussion beyond "OMG-THIS BOOK ROCKED!!111!! eleventyone !!", which we happened to fall into with past books.