#yeah hot take the pregnancy arc is necessary actually

[cto10121]

Twilight Clown Takes Round ♾️ + Part 8

Featuring typical anti text vomit, Edward being a ~manipulator, and another round of “Bella and Edward definitely broke up.” Om nom nom

Problematic!!1!

“Stephenie Meyer makes sex horrible”/ “Bella isn’t allowed to enjoy sex”/ “Bella enjoys sex” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Anyhoo, Bedward canonically has great sex. Homegirl was in post-coital bliss!!!! And no, she never apologized for it. If anything, Edward half-apologized for killing the vibe. And even he gave in to Bella’s 🥺 and gladly sexed her up twice.

The only reason why the pregnancy was so hard was because Bella is human, and her nudger was half-vampire and super strong. Meyer also wanted to draw associations with the historical dangers of pregnancy:

“You know, I recently read—and I don’t read nonfiction, generally—Becoming Jane Austen…And the author’s conclusion was that one of the reasons Jane Austen might not have married when she did have the opportunity…well, she watched her very dear nieces and friends die in childbirth! And it was like a death sentence: You get married and you will have children. You have children and you will die. [Laughs] I mean, it was a terrifying world.

“And Bella’s pregnancy and childbirth, to me, were a way to kind of explore that concept of what childbirth used to be. That made it very specific for readers who were interested in that, and it did take it away from some of the fans who were expecting something different. I was aware that it was taking Bella in a new direction that wasn’t as relatable for a lot of people. I knew that it was going to be a problem for some readers.” (Official Illustrated Guide)

Meyer wasn’t even thinking about sex in the first place. She was thinking about the plight of pregnant women in a patriarchal world where women’s healthcare has been historically subpar.

I honestly do not agree with the fandom’s hatred with the pregnancy plot. Without it, we would just have Bella’s change into a vampire and her adjusting to vampire life. It wouldn’t be bad, per se, but it’s not great and interesting conflict, nor would it connect to the romance.

With the pregnancy arc, there are multiple barriers to Bella and Edward’s union in ways Bella simply changing into a vampire wouldn’t. For one thing, the threat of the Volturi becoming involved would still be on the table. With Vampire!Bella, they literally would have no excuse.

“Edward Is A Manipulator!!!11”

Hoy boy.

Edward was canonically not mad about the Bella/Jacob kiss in the mountain. Even through Bella’s idealized POV, we know exactly when Edward is chill and when he is NOT chill about the Bella/Jacob connection.

Edward was deliciously jealous/murderous in these three instances:

Jacob’s “I’d rather see you dead than a vampire”

Jacob forcing a kiss on Bella

Jacob warming up Bella in the tent

Yes, he was jealous/hurt over Bella’s choosing to kiss Jacob and liking it. But he did tell the truth when he told Jacob that he would accept it if Bella chose to kiss Jacob. Because that is exactly what he did, forgiving and not blaming Bella for it. When Bella wept over leaving Jacob, he held her in his arms for the whole night. He even worried whether Bella should really be with him after all and had to be persuaded otherwise by Bella.

Also, in Eclipse, Edward admits Bella becoming a vampire would be great for him, and that he would love Vampire!Bella. He just doesn’t think it’s the best option for her.

"Bella and Edward Would Not Last!!11!!!" Round ♾️ and Beyond

Bella went comatose for almost a week, and Edward went to the Volturi to kill himself. He admits he would have returned and was actually planning to. They lasted approximately six months apart from each other. Even after the wedding and Renesmee, they agreed to face the Volturi together, knowing they would probably die in the attempt. There is literally no way these two would ever break up, much less after 50 years of marriage.

As for the “boy mom” accusation, I think Bella's (slight and ultimately negligible) preference for a boy stems from:

1) Her parentification issues. A boy she wouldn’t have to take care of the same way she would a girl (see: patriarchy, misogyny, etc.) and

2) Her obsession with Edward. Bella wouldn’t want or have a child on her own...except, of course, if it was Edward’s child as well. Then she’d be happy as a clam, as Breaking Dawn amply proves. Hence, why when she imagines the child, it’s a boy with Edward's brown hair and green eyes. No duh.

What makes boy moms so creepy is that they channel love energies normally due to their husbands unto their boy children. Bella has proven that between going with Renesmee and staying with Edward to die via Volturi, she would choose the latter. And I don’t think that is something a change of sex would change.

Hilarious fanfic, bro. I liked the vampire-with-a-psych-degree, they were my favorite character.

So let’s put aside the fact that Bella and Edward apologize to each other a LOT throughout the series for all the shit they have done to each other (Edward leaving and Bella loving Jacob being the most egregious). Edward was begging for forgiveness half the time during the series and Bella straight up called herself a monster for refusing to let Jacob go. Let’s put that aside.

Bella staying pregnant just to feel “special”???? Not only is this non-canonical, it makes no sense. You don’t need to be on the brink of death to be turned into a vampire. Bella could have gotten the abortion and just went ahead with the original plan. Bella stayed pregnant because she wanted hers and Edward’s baby.

Also, Bella endangering Renesmee???? How? They were found by Irina, who jumped to conclusions! Bella made preparations to save Renesmee via fake papers and her going with Jacob. But I suppose since everything is Bella’s fault, Irina and the Volturi do not count.

“I Only Watched the Movies”

Tale as old as time…truth as old as song…

Based Takes

Yep.

[thebibliophagist]

   Goodreads   Amazon

Tech executive Cassie and bad boy hockey star Chase have been best friends since their college days.  Just friends, thank you very much.  When Cassie is given the opportunity to deliver her company’s yearly keynote address in Las Vegas, she invites Chase along for the ride.  What happens Vegas stays in Vegas... sometimes, at least.

Let me be shameless for a second here and say that I only requested this ARC because of the cover model. I mean... whoever designed that cover -- nice job. That was exactly how I pictured Chase throughout the book, and yeah, I can see why the fans can’t stay away.

Anyway. Moving on.

I think I might have actually started squealing when I found out that both characters attended my alma mater, UW-Madison! I’ve never read a book where the school was portrayed as anything other than the big, bad football rival, so this was a nice change of pace. The author got some points from me just for including that little piece of background information.

I really loved Chase, which is only partially due to his depiction on the cover. He has two dads, which I think is great. He has a hot temper on the ice but is actually super nice and friendly and good-natured off the ice.  Oh, and despite his celebrity status, he’s totally in love with his best friend.  Sounds like my kind of guy.

I could really take or leave Cassie.  She’s definitely not awful, as far as romance heroines go, but she was very frustrating. She was so adamant about not falling in love, especially with Chase, and not getting married and not making her mother’s mistakes, and what was even her problem with her mother to begin with? Like, sure, she seemed a little flighty and annoying, but I didn’t see anything in this book to back up Cassie’s level of disdain.

It was pretty obvious that Cassie and Chase were going to hook up once they got to Vegas, but I thought that aside from their hookup, much of what happened in Vegas was super out of character given everything we’d learned about Cassie. One night in Vegas and she becomes this irresponsible little girl who shirks all responsibility and starts doing things just for the fun of it? I mean, she never has fun back home. She spends the entire plane ride working. Am I really supposed to believe that she basically just forgot she was in Vegas on a work trip?  I’m not sure why this was necessary for the plot.

As an aside, though, speaking of the hookup -- can we nix this whole “you don’t have to use a condom because I trust you” thing? It’s been showing up in just about every romance I’ve read this year, and I don’t care if you’ve been best friends for ten years, you’ve both had multiple partners. Even setting aside STDs, there’s a thing called pregnancy and if you’re forgetting that you have a job, I’m pretty sure you’ve been forgetting to take your pills.  I’ve never been to Vegas, but surely they sell condoms there.

Anyway, I liked the first half of this book a lot more than the second half, but it was still a solid three-star romance for me. Chase definitely carried the book more than Cassie did, but I liked him enough that it probably improved my rating. I’d be interested to read the future books in the Bad Boys of Sports series.  Maybe we’ll get Marky Mark and Natalie’s story?

Final rating: ★★★☆☆

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!