REVIEW: Life and Death (Stephenie Meyer)

Book: Life and Death

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Premise: Twilight, but swap the genders

I surprisingly enjoyed this book. It is Twilight almost word for word, with only slight tweaks to allow for the fact the genders are swapped. Beau (aka male Bella) is less flowery in his narration and I felt he had a lot more banter with Edythe (aka female Edward). Edythe was a lot lighter and more easy going than the serious, broody Edward. I think this change in demeanour made the relationship feel more natural.

What I found interesting was how different certain things felt with the gender swapped. In Twilight, Jessica and Lauren were really catty and bitchy at points, but from their male counterparts it felt more like lad banter and teasing. The age gap between Bella and Jacob hit different with the genders reversed and I was glad Beau was clearly platonic with Jules. The ending is different from Twilight, offering an alternative that was interesting. However, some of it is just dumps of info from the rest of the series, crammed into one or two chapters. 

Overall, a really good twist on a book I shamelessly adore