The core genre of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books are YA Romance. This fact, much neglected in the pervasive dismissal of Mrs. Meyer as a writer, explains much of the superficial and politically correct criticisms of the series.
Not knowing that much about YA Romance or any of the Romance genres beyond what long-time All-Pro Linda McCabe has taught me, I searched for a site online that looked at Mrs. Meyer’s work in exactly this light. Check out All About Romance: The Back Fence for Lovers of Romance Novels and their reviews of Twilight, of Eclipse, and of The Host.
Please share your thoughts on these romance-focused reviews — and please share as well any other Romance genre websites and their thoughts on Mrs. Meyer’s work.
I thought these reviews were pretty good. If you strictly define Meyers’ novels as romance, she’s hit the jackpot (as sales of books and film tickets attest). As for The Host, I really enjoyed it and hope she writes a sequel or two (very nice worldbulding). Meyer does human nature and relationship very well and I don’t think she gets respect or credit (or even a fair shake) for that. Genre snobbery is tiring.
I tooled around and found this intriguing article that takes seriously and without scorn the romantic appeal of Twilight to midlife people: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-the-wild-things-are/201007/craving-twilight-romance.
What do you all think?
And at Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance blog (http://paranormalromanceblog.com/2008/11/19/author-jane-porters-twilight-madness/), in Author Jane Porter’s Twilight Madness, Porter writes, just before the first Twilight film, about the adult romance appeal.
Paragraph of note:
“For me, the charm is in the wonderful characterization, and Stephenie’s skill in making me believe this could happen, or want it to happen. I loved her very small town setting of Forks, Washington and her family dynamics of a teenage daughter living with her loving, but a little crusty, father. It’s storytelling at its best, which transcends genres and just becomes great reading, appealing reading, reading that tugs on your heart and captures your imagination.”
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_31/b4189069953563.htm
An interesting article that was sent to me on the rise of the romance genre and the most popular romance subgenres. The Twilight reference is in the paragraph below. The article has a sneering condescension toward these emerging subgenres. Though I don’t care for the romance genre myself, it’s insulting to rate some genres as superior to others. Very Stephen King-ish.
“Paranormal romance, which continues to enjoy a boost from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, remains a popular subgenre. Yet vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters now have competition from knitters, which are part of the “home crafting romance” subgenre—itself part of the “small town” subgenre.”