To start off with, I've heard numerous parents and other people talk about how they think the books are so innocent which honestly makes me question whether or not they have actually read them. As far as I can see, there is nothing innocent about these books. And I'm not basing that just on the fact I don't like these books, but on what I've thought and seen critics and others agree with and also based on what the Bible describes as wrong. So first I'm going to talk about my personal dislikes of the books and then go into the serious reasons I have issues with.
When I initially read the books, I did like them, or at least the first one. My interest started going down with the second one and I pretty much just read the fourth one just to say I had read it and to see how it all ended. Now even before I started actually thinking about what was in the books and seeing all that was wrong with them, there were certain things that I just thought were bizarre or didn't like. First was the whole vampires sparkle thing. I don't typically do the whole, that's gay thing, but honestly when I read that, I was pretty much like that is so gay. I had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that a big muscular guy, not unlike a WWE fighter, sparkled. That just seemed so wrong on so many levels. The second thing was the writing style. I hate her writing style. With pretty much every single book I read I can create a very vivid mental picture of the characters, the scenery, etc. I couldn't do that very well with her books which severely annoyed me. The third thing was just how much she changed vampires. One of my favorite books is Dracula. I also loved Carmilla, so I'm a fan of more traditional vampire books. Meyer's books pretty much just completely recreated vampires which really threw me off. And honestly I didn't like that. Traditional vampires have some kind of vulnerability or weakness: garlic repels them, they burn in the sunlight or it at least weakens them, they're killed with a stake in the heart, etc. Meyer made her vampires completely invulnerable to anything but werewolves and other vampires which I found disappointing. So those are my personal annoyances with the books which may or may not affect others.
The main reasons I dislike this series are much more serious. The first reason is the idol-like relationship between Bella and Edward. There can be a fine line between love and idolatry when it comes to relationships. With Bella and Edward, it is clear that they idolize each other. Bella practically worships Edward and vice versa. She can't live without him and being apart from him for even a short while makes her anxious and impatient. When Edward leaves her in the second book, she becomes severely depressed. But when she discovers that she can hear Edwards voice whenever she does something risky or dangerous, she begins to actively seek those activities just to hear his voice. Edward is the same calling her his reason for living and going so far as to sneak into her bedroom to spend time with her. And like Bella, after breaking up with her, he goes into a deep depression. Also, when he believes Bella is dead, after she goes cliff jumping for fun, again so that she can hear his voice, he immediately tries to find a way to get himself destroyed because he can't live without her.
The second reason is just all the sneaking around that goes on between the two. You have Edward climbing into Bella's room every night to cuddle with her in bed. Now that's an issue in and of itself just morally, but they do this without her father's knowledge as well. Moreover, there are numerous times that Bella lies to her dad about doing something when in fact she's going to spend time with Edward. Even after Edward has left Bella, she continues to lie to her dad as she knows that some of the things she's doing in order to hear Edward's voice, like riding a motorcycle, are things he does not approve of at all.
The third reason is moral part. In the third book, Bella is constantly pressuring Edward to have sex with her. This involves her trying to seduce him. Now initially Edward refuses to have sex with her until she marries him, but at the end of the book he decides to simply give her what she wants and begins to initiate until she stops him and tells him that she does want to get married first. In the fourth book, they do get married, and they do have sex. While this part is not exactly explicit, it does add an edginess to the books that makes it much less tween friendly. And even after they have sex, the majority of their honey moon revolves around Bella trying to seduce Edward into having sex again. There are also parts later in the book after Bella becomes a vampire that do become more explicit. Again, its nothing graphic, but it is certainly not necessary and certainly not something I would want my child reading. One of the other main characters also makes repeated jokes about their love life at one point in the book. And aside from the sexual part, you do have them "sleeping" in the same bed nearly every night. Again Edward is constantly sneaking into her bedroom, and there are many instances of them making out.
The fourth reason is the religious part. Religion is really not mentioned very often in the books but the few times that it is, its questionable. Edward doesn't believe that vampires can go to heaven because he thinks that vampires lose their souls when they turn. Bella has a conversation with Carlisle, Edward's father, about this and essentially, they both agree that someone as good as Edward couldn't go to hell. This clearly is completely contrary to what the Bible says about needing to follow Jesus and give your life to Him to be saved in order to go to heaven.
The fifth reason is that Bella and Edward's relationship is actually considered an abusive relationship. Their relationship meets all fifteen criteria set by the National Domestic Violence Hotline for being an abusive relationship. Meyer romanticizes their relationship, making it seem as if their is nothing wrong with it.
The sixth reason is that the books seem to make stalking an okay idea. This is primarily seen in the first book when Edward is spying on Bella while she's sleeping and watching her to the point of following her when she goes to a completely different city hours away. This is seen less in Bella, but her obsession with Edward is still quite clear.
These are the key reasons that I don't like these books and would never recommend them to the younger age range that these books seem to be so popular with. I do have my own personal reasons for disliking them that probably don't affect anyone else, but the other reasons I have are ones that I think parents should consider before letting their kids read these books.
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