Dear Twilight....
The main thing I noticed was that I am now much more sympathetic of Bella's clear mental health problems. As a young teenager, I thought Bella was being pathetic and needed to snap out of it (the classic "people go through break ups all the time!"). Now, having had brushes with mental health myself, I can see quite clearly how much Bella struggles with depression and anxiety. In some ways, it makes her a bit more realistic - who wouldn't be a big ball of anxiety when constantly being hunted by vampires?! Also, given the controlling nature of Edward (and in some places Jacob), I can perfectly see why her mental health went out of control in New Moon.
This bring me nicely onto my opinions of Jacob. As a teen, I disliked Jacob. I thought he was annoying and trying to force something that wasn't there - it was clear Bella loved Edward, BACK OFF JACOB! But he's managed to claw back some respect from me. He was such a good friend to Bella in New Moon and really helped her mental health. If I knew Bella, I'd be telling her to forget Edward and go for Jacob! Sadly, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn brought back my teenage opinions. I got frustrated at how Jacob kept trying to convince Bella she was wrong about her feelings. Don't get me wrong, Edward is a very controlling boyfriend, but Bella chose him and I think Jacob should've respected her decision.
My frustrations with Breaking Dawn revolve around the lack of birth control. Sure they didn't believe it was possible for a vampire to get someone pregnant, but I don't get how Bella can be so cool with having unprotected sex. Even more unrealistic, in my opinion, is how it takes her 5 days to realise her period is late. The number of times in my teenage years that I convinced myself I was the new Virgin Mary because I was a day late! And she was sexually active! The moral of the story: always have protection!
As I get older, I find myself relating a lot more to the parents in teen fiction. Whilst 10 years ago I definitely judged Bella and Edward for being married and having a kid so young, I accepted that they around 17, so basically adults. Now I read the books and wonder why they aren't at school. Jacob is 16 in New Moon.....is it normal for 16 year-olds to be fixing cars and running around shirtless?! Does he not have homework and exams to revise for? Bella complains that 18 is too old....guess I must be ancient! In my opinion, she missed out on getting a university education and enjoying her 20s. What we really need is a story about a middle aged lady having to choose between a vampire and a werewolf, but ending up with the nice guy next door, a successful career and a quiet life drinking wine.
Overall, I still love the books. Yes you can pick them apart and write a full literary criticism of the series, but defined my teenage years. It's hard to deny that the series has helped encourage a generation of teenagers girls to read! To me, that in itself is why we shouldn't give the series such a hard time.