“When Beaufort Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural voice, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic.

What Beau doesn’t realize is that the closer he gets to her, the more he is putting himself and those around him at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back…”

Instead of the much anticipated, longed-for, and in some cases deeply demanded Midnight Sun, Stephanie Meyer crafts Life and Death as the 10 year anniversary gift for her Twilight Saga fans.

What if the gender roles were switched? What if the vampire was a female and her true love the human? What if every character in the book save one completely switched gender?

Royal and Eleanor? Jessamine and Archie? Carine and Earnest?

Edythe and Beau?

Inspired in part by the hate-mail Meyer received regarding the sexist/abusive relationship between Edward and Bella, Meyer decided to change the roles for the compelling parallel novel that takes place in the same gloomy town of Forks, same shy father Charlie and the same ever-so-eager, future werewolf Julie knocking on the door.

Like Meyer explained in the book’s preface, the love story flourished just as legendarily as it did in Twilight. The same conversations, same scenes, and same personalities mixed in the same little town of Forks.

Unlike an unexpectedly sappy, not – Midnight Sun, sounds like a wattpad knockoff book I originally anticipated, the book stands alone from The Twilight Saga. The slightly different changes in personality from gender, small explanations and fixes that were never in Twilight, and new takes on old scenes made this book one of my favorites.

Life and Death, the unexpected twist of Twilight, morphs a decade old love story into an equally enthralling parallel universe where everything should have changed. But instead of changing, the unconditional love between the two main characters remains. Like all of Meyer’s books, I found the love story in this one to be just as romantic as her first novel, even though I have read and imagined all of it before.

“Seriously, though, this wasn’t a life and death situation—it was just high school. It’s not like anyone was going to bite me.”