To Twilight, or not to Twilight?

The wonderful thing about BookSwim and/or libraries is that they let you read something you're not sure about without wasting your hard-earned money on something you might not end up liking. For instance, Twilight.

I don't really know anything about the series, except that it's a vampire love story. Obviously it's ridiculously popular, so it must be somewhat good. On the other hand, I just pulled up the Goodreads page for the book, and the numbers aren't doing it justice. For being one of the most popular books on the site, users have given it some terrible reviews. For every five-star rating, there's at least seven one-star ratings and essay-length criticisms.

When Harry Potter came out, I wasn't interested at first, for no particular reason. My mother bought the first one and started reading it. One day she got up to go to the bathroom and I just happened to glance over at the book and see what page she was on. I started reading and was still reading when she came back and told me to give it back. After that I was hooked. I haven't actually finished the series; after Book 5, I was a little aggravated with Harry and his moodiness, so I wasn't as quick to pick up the next book.

Getting back to the point: I have taken a chance on a new popular series before, and it turned out ok. I'm sort of willing to do it again, but with so many bad reviews (from readers, not critics) I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to regret that choice. It's not about wasting my money, it's about wasting my time. Once you read a book or see a movie, you can't un-read or un-see it. It's there in your head forever. =P

If anybody has an opinion to offer, feel free. Otherwise I'll just debate on my own.

~Gretchen aka The Coconutter~

P.S. -- Prior to writing this post, I read a few pages of the Midnight Sun excerpt from the author's website. I hated it, but I shouldn't let that cloud my judgement. It was an incomplete rough draft, and those don't always do a person justice.