The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Review

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR

Release date: June 5, 2010

Source: Bought

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trus. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

Review:

I’m a huge fan of the Twilight Saga and have read the original four novels multiple times. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was a great addition to the series and a quick read at that. I started and finished this in the same day I picked it up at Wal-mart. :)

The best part of this novella was being able to see things through the eyes of a real vampire. Bree was a likable character and readers will feel for and understand her by the end. Bree was one of the smartest vampires in the coven, and was even beginning to figure out what Riley and her were planning for the newborns. Bree and her fellow vampires were being manipulated and lied to from the start, but only three of them (Bree included) realized this before it was too late.

The romantic interest, Diego, was a sweet and adventurous guy who was one of the only vampires Bree could actually talk with. He was smart and understood something wasn’t right with the coven, but he unfortunately trusted some of the wrong people. He and Bree had a connection from the start and the scene when they discovered that light was actually not a death sentence was one of my favorites.

The other “good” vampire in the coven was Fred. Readers didn’t know much about him to the end, when he started playing a bigger role, but he ended up being a great guy, and a good ally for Bree. He was also talented in a unique way that came in handy for Bree quite a few times. Bree, Diego, and Fred were also pretty much the only ones that even thought about the lives they were taking and the importance of keeping their existence secret.

There was a lot of excitement and mystery in this novella and will have readers unable to put it down. The romance is sweet and small, but you can feel the connection between Bree and Diego. It’s sad to see how things turned out for Bree and her coven, and that you don’t always know who to trust. One of the most interesting scenes was when Bree meets Bella and the Cullens. It was intriguing to see her reaction to these mysterious “golden-eyed” vampires that kept a “human pet”.

The ending was sad, but, unfortunately, the way it had to be. Readers will feel a lot of emotions through the course of this novel, especially the last 50 pages or so.

Overall, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was an interesting, emotional, and romantic read that gives Twilight fans a glimpse into the life of a vampire other than the Cullens.

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars