Final tally:

  • 14 Flinches
  • 9 Winces
  • 8 Cringes

When I started reading Breaking Dawn (the final book in the Twilight saga, a bestselling young adult vampire series) I started counting the number of times author Stephanie Meyer overused these three words to describe her characters’ actions. It felt like a fun way to track the author’s weakness for this particular imagery. Everybody flinches constantly in response to dialog. It’s he said/she winced! Ooh, cringe cringe goes the character.

By the time I was done with Breaking Dawn, the tally had become a brief, exact book review.

I almost gave up on the book early on — the whole pro-life teen pregnancy (It’s a necessity; not a choice!) felt grossly out of place. But Meyer is nothing if not compelling — something about the way she writes has forced me to keep reading.

But I think the spell is broken after reading The Host and now the whole Twilight series. I’m done flinching at her terrible-but-compelling writing. I’m done wincing at her creepy relationships (Meyerville: where the men are borderline abusive, and the women love to take it). I’m done cringing from the downright squickish age differences (infant girl & 16 year old boy = wtf?).

No more flinching, wincing, or cringing for me. Stephanie Meyer, I’m quitting you.

(And yes, I’m aware that this threat has little value having now read all her books. But it’s gotta stop somewhere)

PS: If you’re looking for THOUSANDS of Breaking Dawn reviews, head over to Goodreads.com.