The vampire-romance book series that defined the late 2000s and influenced a generation of girlies. The rainy town of Forks in Washington still gets over 70,000 international visitors annually. Last month, I was one of them.

By popular demand – and by that, I mean one enthusiastic request – I bring you the ultimate nostalgic Twilight review and greetings from Forks (as an apology for being so absent).

That’s right, I’ve been visiting America recently and have neglected RRB for exactly all of that time. Thank you to my loyal readers for prompting me to continue and patiently waiting for my return. It probably felt something like this:

If you were a teenage girl in the late 2000s and early 2010s, chances are you were held hostage by this series of books, much like I was. They’re written by Stephanie Meyer and were developed into a hugely grossing film franchise, starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. Ever-present in the pre-teen mind. Those books defined a generation. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson even started dated because of it (I bet you forgot about that).

Let’s dive into a summary and some topics in this general Twilight sphere. Random nostalgia-trip, here we go!

The Books

First things first: The Twilight series consists of four main books and a few later novels, but I won’t go into all that. We’re here for the main lore only.

Twilight

We follow 17-year-old Bella Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to her dad Charlie in Forks, Washington. Charlie Swan is a police chief and rather quiet (but hot, according to fans). Bella becomes the token new girl at the local high school and is taken in by an extremely cheerful group of friends whom she all low-key loathes. Instead, Bella is drawn to the mysterious Cullen children (who seem to all be dating each other but it’s okay because they’re adopted…), particularly Edward, who takes classes with her. Bella realizes that the Cullens are vampires – this happens through conversations with her childhood friend Jacob Black, who is part of the Quileute tribe. He tells her legends of how the tribe kept the “cold ones” away. Bella later learns that some vampires have special powers; Edward’s being the ability to read minds. Edward finds himself extremely drawn to Bella’s scent (of blood) and also finds her interesting because his powers don’t work on her. Their relationship develops by Edward repeatedly telling Bella that they can’t be together because he will kill her if he loses control, and Bella hears that as “you’re so irresistible, keep trying and you’ll get me”. He also thinks he’s too old for her because he’s technically 104 years of age (he is right). Bella meets the family: Carlisle (a gorgeous doctor at Forks hospital), his wife Esme, and siblings Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett. They are all “vegetarian” aka only drink animal blood. Unfortunately, the area is plagued by some stray human-killing vampires, including James, who takes a liking to Bella (the baseball scene!!). James notices Edward protecting her and wants to hurt Edward by luring Bella away from the Cullens to a ballet studio in Phoenix, where she’s saved by Edward (Alice has the ability to see into the future and this makes them all go there). Bella narrowly survives but everyone loses it because she is bleeding, and it just smells so *good*.

New Moon features a stronger relationship between Bella and Jacob, because Edward abruptly leaves Forks in an attempt to protect Bella from *himself* (poor tortured hot/cold boi). Jacob turns out to be a werewolf and has reached the age where he can phase into the wolf shape, making him hate Edward (and somehow misplace all his t-shirts). Bella gets increasingly reckless, as she hallucinates Edward’s presence if she gets into dangerous situations and is desperate for any vision of him. The dead vampire-James’ girlfriend Victoria wants to kill Bella as revenge, so Jacob and his pack protect her. Alice mistakenly sees a future where Bella is dead, making Edward suicidal. He seeks out the Volturi (read: vampire version of the Vatican) who kill vampires for exposing their kind. His plan is to step into the sunlight and reveal his *sparkle*. Alice informs Bella and they go to the Volturi to stop Edward. The Volturi let Bella stay alive on the condition that Bella be turned into a vampire. Edward is strongly against this, as he believes vampires to be low-key evil (aka soul-less). Also, he loves her.

Eclipse has Victoria (still vengeful) creating her own army of newborn vampires to kill Bella. Vibes between Jacob and Edward are tense, but to protect Bella the werewolves and vegetarian vampires join forces and defeat Victoria’s army. It’s a constant showdown between Edward and Jacob though. There’s this scene where Edward has to watch Jacob hold Bella as she sleeps, because Jacob can provide extreme body heat and she’s freezing. Bella refers to Jacob as her “sun” and he thinks of Edward as the “moon”, eclipsing him (I guess that’s why the previous book is “new moon” cause he disappears). But alas, the love-triangle must end: Bella has to choose between Edward and Jacob, who are both hot for her. She’s kinda hot for them both too, but it was always Edward, really, so they get engaged.

Breaking Dawn sees Bella and Edward get married, Bella at the ripe age of 18. There are a few fun scenes from the honeymoon where Edward keeps breaking the beds and a local woman warns Bella about her new husband. Jacob is hurt about Bella choosing Edward. To everyone’s surprise, Bella ends up pregnant *gasp* and the foetus grows rapidly, making Bella very weak. Jacob isn’t allowed to see Bella and he assumes it’s because she has been transformed. He is furious at Edward when he finds out she is instead pregnant; Edward is furious at himself too. Bella refuses to get rid of the baby and they discover that it craves blood. They form a strange trio, Jacob facing tensions with his tribe. Bella almost dies giving birth to Renesmee, so Edward transforms Bella. Bella wakes (now a *sparkling* thang) and discovers that Renesmee grows very quickly and - shock horror - Jacob has imprinted on baby aka she will be his mate forever. Also, turns out Jacob was only in love with Bella for the part of her that would turn into baby Nessie, so we’re all good on the triangle-front. Some random vampire blabs to the Volturi about the baby, because they think she’s an immortal child (a child that is turned into a vampire, which is the second illegal thing a vampire can do, apart from exposing himself). There’s a big battle with the Volturi looming. Bella discovers that her secret vampire power is a brain-shield that can be expanded and protect everyone she loves from the Volturi’s mind torture-powers. Vibe. They convince the Volturi that Renesmee isn’t dangerous and live happily ever after in *sparkling* perfection.

Forks – the Definitive Guide

On my recent trip to the States, I visited Forks. The good people of Forks have fully embraced their position in culture and society. Despite the constant (!!!!) rain, everyone was cheerful and proud of Twilight. The local Chamber of Commerce looks like a teenage girl’s attic-bedroom, complete with life-size cut-outs of the three main characters and posters on the slanted ceilings. Two corkboards have world maps fastened to them, heavy with the weight of so many tiny pins that people pin to it, marking where they come from. This town, with a population of less than 4000, had more than 76,000 visitors in 2024. Every single shop carries all the Twilight merch you could ever dream of. The town is tiny. The rain is plentiful. The vibe is glorious.

The local Twilight museum (named “The Twilight Forever in Forks Collection”) consists of a single room full of all the original costumes from the films. There’s the bloodied outfit from the ballet-studio scene, the stand-ins for CGI werewolves, the motorbikes used by Jacob, and the Volturi robes, among other things. Delightfully, it even houses the creepy Renesmee doll that was banned from set.

I gotta say – there isn’t that much to see. It’s just a random town. But boy has it embraced the mood. We were handed little maps that highlighted all the note-worthy spots. We drove by the local high school, Bella’s house, the Cullens’ house, and the Forks signs, all within a few minutes of each other, and headed to La Push and the beach. I think the main reason to visit is 1) for the lols and 2) because it’s just surreal that the town exists as a real place, considering how much time we all mentally spent there. It’s so random, all of it. Stephanie Meyer had reportedly never even been to Forks before she wrote the books. She just googled what the rainiest place in the US was.

Kristen Stewart – and being so Done.

Ah, our on-screen Bella. Kirsten Stewart can never really escape this franchise, much like Daniel Radcliffe will never escape Harry Potter. Funnily enough, Robert Pattison lived through both. But, to the point: The air around Kirsten Stewart was always rather negative. Stewart was even dubbed “the most hated woman in Hollywood”. Remember that?

I recall there being this sentiment that Kristen Stewart was a bad actress. She was accused of being an awkward and hollow Bella. Even worse, she committed the fatal sin of not seeming approachable in front of press cameras. She never smiled and didn’t seem to like the promo touring. Well, maybe she was a good actress and just a very private person. Because – surprise – being cringe is exactly what Bella was meant to be. Bella was an outsider, a teenage girl, an introvert who moved from constant sunshine to the rain-hell that is Forks and caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. She fell in love with an un-dead man. You gotta play her awkward and kinda dumb, because she was.

Why was there so much negativity around Kristen Stewart then? Honestly, that’s something we will probably keep asking ourselves again and again when it comes to female celebrities. Just look at Millie Bobby Brown’s recent post on Instagram. I think it’s cause she was a young woman who didn’t smile and for some reason that was a good enough reason to punish her.

Of course, photographs later surfaced of her cheating on Robert Pattison; not nice. But just interesting (sad) to put into perspective how hated Kristen Stewart was by everyone and how loved Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson were by the fanbase in comparison. Speaking of which -

Team Edward or Team Jacob – the Debate

Right, this debate is a farce. There’s really not much to discuss, is there? Not if we’re honest with ourselves. Jacob is so obviously the better guy. He doesn’t kill humans, for a start. He also is actually alive. He’s not 100 years older than his girlfriend. You can be with him in public because he doesn’t sparkle like a diamond. He’s warm, strong, has friends, fixes your car, gets along with your dad, and doesn’t abandon you for months on end. Jacob was the perfect guy next door, and definitely the underdog (literally?).

The only minor tiny little bitty flaw is maybe that he later “falls in love with an INFANT, Bianca” which, ok, thank you for the DMs, I will admit, that is bad.

Renesemee – the Doll Disaster

This segment admittedly doesn’t have much to do with the books. But famously, Edward and Bella’s baby girl in the films was a disaster. For some reason (costs? logistics??), they decided to CGI the baby, but this came at a much greater cost: the trauma this creation inflicted on a generation of viewers. And how dated it made the movie appear, right from the get-go. No other way to describe it than that the CGI baby is very CGI.

Originally, (and even worse!) the film-baby was going to be an animatronic doll, to capture that Renesmee was half human half vampire. I saw the original animatronic doll version of Renesmee in person when I was in Forks. It was understandably cut out of the film because they decided it was just too creepy. Other shows seem capable of using real life babies. Why couldn’t this franchise be bothered? Was this film directed by a man? Maybe. I’m not saying there’s a connection. I’m just asking questions.

As Renesmee grows up in the films (this only takes a few weeks), they change to real actresses but still CGI her face on. The adult Renesmee carries the CGI face of 11-year-old Mackenzie Foy, who was chosen as the main actress for the role.

As true fans will remember, Renesmee’s name comes from Bella thinking it would be cute to mash up their mothers’ names (Renée and Esme). Jacob calls the baby “Nessie” instead, and Bella gets mad at him for “nicknaming MY DAUGHTER AFTER THE LOCK NESS MONSTER?!”. Which always confused me tbh because why is the Lock Ness Monster so bad?

Anna Kendrick – the Debut

I made my boyfriend watch Twilight before we went on our field trip and the main point of recognition for him was when Anna Kendrick showed up on screen, portraying Bella’s insecure and annoying friend Jessica. He was like, isn’t she famous? And I said, yeah she’s the one with the cup-song (remember practicing that during middle-school lunch breaks??). Anna Kendrick was the lead in the Pitch Perfect films, back when Glee and acapella ruled the world, and she generally played more comedic roles later on.

Anna Kendrick is famously reported to have consistently forgotten she ever starred in the Twilight franchise. So: not a cameo, just a break-out role buried deep in the sub-conscious of – well, most of us, probably.

The Verdict

Twilight has lived on in public memory as the worst love story ever. (“Still a better love story than twilight” memes, anyone?) At the core of it, Twilight is just a classic love-triangle romance story, with vampire and werewolf trimmings. Potentially the bad rep comes more from the success of the films, the awkwardness of the dialogue, and the obsession with the actors. But all the real ones know, the Twilight books were a vibe. They had such a cultural impact. I mean, the publication of them created ripple effects from 2005 that eventually led to me going on a road trip to see a miniscule rainy town on a random weekend in February 2025. That’s 20 years of relevance. All the haters could only dream of that.

As a final note, I’d like to say that this blog post was (as always) based on some research, but my teenage brain is also weirdly proud of how much garbage information it has managed to store from 15 years ago. Like how Renesmee was the name made up from the mothers’ names. Or how the plot is etched into my memory. I vividly remember sitting in the top part of my bunk bed as a pre-teen, eating white chocolate and binge reading New Moon so I could talk about it with the cool girls in school the next day. It was the first time I ever experienced that my love for reading (and my ability to do so in English) were desirable attributes in a social setting.

And with that, here are some memes from the golden (or should we say diamond) age: