OK Bella, so you're hot and bothered ... GET ON WITH THE STORY ALREADY!

Nice review.  I was actually more disturbed by Meyer's character development and prose more so than anything else.  Way too many moments where she just spends time talking about how perfect Edward is.  It was like Meyer was working with a Thesaurus and said, "What's another word for 'perfect?'  Oh, look 'seraphic!' That works!" and she went ahead and used it.  I got so sick of seeing Bella pretty much worship Edward.  But I was more disturbed at the fact that Bella seems like a typical Mary Sue character.  She's hardly flawed or anything like that.  She's supposed to be an awkward teen yet all the boys she meets fall for her, and all the girls she befriends want to be like her.  It's annoying to read about characters who just aren't believable.  In the event that you read the rest of the series (I tortured myself... somehow) you'll see that Meyer's writing style never really changes.  The second book is slightly better if only because Edward isn't there (but Bella's almost religious infatuation with him is still there) but the last two books are worse than the first.

Loved your review.  If you ever catch the movie on television, though, it's worth watching just for a good laugh (it's absolutely horrible, but in a funny way if you're the type that can stand to laugh at bad movies). 

Your review made me wonder how much influence Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" had on Stephanie Meyers. Although I have not read "Twilight," I have read "Dracula" and found it to be also tedious, slow and repetative but with truly fascinating elements once the vampire and his history are discussed. I placed the blame on the Victorian writing style which emphasized flowing and flowery prose over succinctness, but it seems as though this may be a running problem in the world of vampire novels. Best of luck if you tackle the other three books, but I think we both know the likelihood of that!

I agree completely!! I was very generous giving it a half a star!