EP Read along Week 4: Chapters 9, 10, 11

To all Mia Bella Ragazza, Happy Friday!

I’m honored to be subbing for Kassie this week (get better girl, NY awaits!) and thanking Marie for asking me to pinch hit. There’s nothing that makes me happier than taking one for team-EP. So here we go girls. Grab some Toblerone, Cherry Coke, or Grey Goose and let the comments fly!

I know that some people don’t like the in and out of POV’s as they can sometimes be repetitive. But in the case of EP, we really need to hear what goes on from these two very different voices. Besides, you can’t get enough of Edward’s debauchery from just one angle, Seeing him through Bella’s innocent eyes is very revealing.

Chapter 9 gives us Edward’s inner voice and like his outer one, it’s insightful as well as amusing. For example, he comments on Jasper’s “If mom could see you now...” Edward feels that if his mother could see his behavior she would be disappointed with him. He remembers how different he was when she was alive. She raised her boys to be gentlemen and Edward was the one most like her back then. He was coddled and pretty much a mama’s boy. He’s different now, he pushes people away and thinks nobody truly sees his pain. He and Bella have some things in common. They both don’t want people to see them for who they really are. They’re protecting themselves from further hurt, having been broken beyond what others could understand. Edward hides behind his badass, man-whore self, Bella behind the slave who’s most safe taking orders.

This chapter describes how captivated he is with something as simple as watching her moan as she eats chocolate for the very first time. Stunning he thinks, and like the hormonal guy he admits to being, gets aroused by her as she enjoys this simple pleasure. “Something about her being happy made me smile. I had a feeling she had more demons haunting her than me.” This quote of Edward’s sums up their relationship nicely. There’s something he recognizes in her, something he needs to save, something maybe that she might in return save in him.

Don’t you just love how Edward describes moans, and groans and taking care of his release? Yeah, get used to it, he’s a young guy, he’ll be taking care of himself a great deal or looking for someone to do it for him! Did I just make you smile? That’s what Edward does for me, he makes me smile.

Next we’re introduced to the boys. As I said, Edward admits to being an ass, rude, crude, and hot-headed. He’s like his father, he can be intimidating and scary. It’s almost like he’s become what’s expected of him, he’s the bad boy. Both brothers want nothing to do with their father’s business. Emmett is more accepting while Jasper holds on to his mother’s values. We meet Alice, and she’s as you would expect. Edward calls her “short-cake” and she’s in charge of buying Bella some clothes. Rosalie is as you would expect too, she’s Emmett’s bitchy yet devoted girlfriend. kiTT, what were the quotes you liked in chapter 9???

Chapter 10 is Bella’s voice. We learn she’s slowly enjoying her new life. Jasper makes her feel welcome, Emmett makes her feel safe. Edward, well, he’s awaking something in her that scares her. She’s suddenly feeling something she hasn’t felt since she was a child and that is HOPE. “I felt hope, happiness, and I couldn’t allow that, because when it all came to an end, as it inevitably would, it would destroy me. I couldn’t let my guard down-I needed to be strong. And I blamed Edward for breaking me so much already.” Like Edward feels about her, she thinks he’s dangerous “..others could beat me and punish me..leave me battered and bruised but they’d never break me. Edward, ...already had my walls crumbling.” I think Edward’s walls are falling too. I think they both don’t feel like they deserve to be loved, or that they are lovable. At least that’s what I hear them saying in these early chapters. What are your thoughts?

Didn’t you love Alice hugging Bella? I don’t think she’s ever had a friend, and certainly not one as warm as Alice. I loved the football shirt comment...”The girls in this town are nuts over that boy...you wearing his clothes is cause enough for their jealousy to spike.”

I don’t blame them really, I still want one of those shirts to wear to bed myself. Thanks Marie for preparing the ones from Cafe Press, one more Edward shirt in my stash!

Carlisle shows his softer side when he insists Bella eat and puts her dinner in the fridge for her. He also makes an interesting comment after she says she would never disrespect him...”Never say never, Isabella. Disrespect comes in many forms and sometimes we do it without even realizing it.” Any guesses as to what he means by that?

Chapter 11 shows Edward’s childish, needy side. He gets pissed off that Bella seems to be able to sit, eat, and speak with his brothers but him, nothing. He’s also upset at himself, she’s interfering with his bad boy side, even giving him “performance issues.” He's already beating himself up for the way he's coming across toward Bella. He seems to be putting his foot in his mouth anytime he's around her. Why do you think this is happening to him. Where did confident Edward go?

Now for Edward, that’s a major hurtle to over come. But alas he has skanky Lauren to help him out. What did you all think about Edward not allowing Lauren, or any girl to kiss him on the mouth? Like he said, kissing is too intimate and that’s something he hasn’t done since he was a kid. Once again, alluding to the fact that something in his childhood broke his spirit. How did you like Edward’s comment about not having sex in his car but rather outside, on the hood? I wanted to smack him on the first read. But having read it through and falling hard for this “finicky f**ker” the only thought I have now, thanks to Rob too is...”kneel, open your mouth, smile, and pray.” I think that’s pretty much the message Edward was sending Lauren, and dam if she wasn’t left smiling. So, I can’t rightly blame Edward, Lauren got what she prayed for.

Well girls, do you agree that Edward is just giving a girl what she asked for? Or, do you

think he’s just a jerk? What did you think of him walking into Bella’s room as she slept?

Should he have done that given how afraid she would have been to find him there? What do you think of Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie? What about Carlisle leaving Bella and the boys alone? Who’s POV do you like reading the best?

Hang in there girls, the EP journey we’re on gets better with each chapter. Characters grow, plot develops, a bedroom becomes an incredibly sweet bubble, and secrets get revealed...

Sempre,

Fran

For next week, we are reading Chapters 12, 13 and 14. :)