Rating: 1 star
Cover Synopsis: The romance of vampire Edward and human Bella has captured the imagination of millions of readers and become an amazing success story. No less amazing is the story of how an unknown Arizona wife and mother became a superstar author.
My husband brought this book home for me as a joke. I sent him to the library with a list of books to pick up for me, and one or two of them weren't available. So he brought me this one instead, with a smirk on his lips. He knows I like the Twilight books, and he knows I hate him ribbing me about that. So I set this book aside, refusing to take the bait.
But after a couple of weeks I decided, why not? It looked like an easy read, and I did like her books. So I picked it up and started reading...and eye rolling.
Don't get me wrong. Meyer's personal story is pretty cool. But this "unauthorized biography" was so poorly written -- full of cliche's, tiresome repetition, recycled news stories and blatant typos -- that I could hardly read a page without laughing or gagging.
Part of my motivation in picking up the book was hope that Meyer's experience would motivate me to start writing again. I'm a journalist for a living, but reporting is different than creative writing. I haven't really written anything non-work-related since college. But this book -- that is pitched as an inspirational story -- turned me off from writing! It focused so much on the media circus that took over Meyer's life that I found myself saying..."No thanks!" Meyer's story is pretty amazing. But Shapiro's writing made me feel like I was reading a 12-year-old's school paper. Gak.
