Review of *The Twilight Journals*

So I received a copy of the new Twilight Journals gift pack. It includes four keepsake journals in a collectible tin. I'm including a picture of the journal set to your right but I thought it would be cool to open this plastic-wrapped set with you here, now, and review as I discover.

First off, it's heavy. What initially caught me was the detailed silver scrollwork against black on the tin's lid. There's a slash of red peaking out behind the sticker.

So here we go *plastic crinkling*

Oh, I'm happy with the understated tin cover. The red ribbon-looking slash across the front has "The Twilight Saga" written in lowercase across it. The silver scrollwork is embossed, so it puffs up away from the black background. The sides are solid black. And the dimension is slightly wider than a standard tradepaperback book size.

The tin is really nice actually.

*lifting lid* The journals are laid in the tin according to the chronology of the books! I love little details like that. The book on top is Twilight inspired, of course. The very-familiar image of blanched hands holding a red apple are on the cover. But the image has been shifted to the right and cropped. To the left a bit of the text from Twilight, written in cursive, is superimposed, and wraps around to the back cover. "Twilight A Journal" is written on the spine. The journals are hardcover, *flips open*, 96 pages (unmarked), and without lines inside. The pages are mostly white. Scattered throughout are greyscale forest landscape images reminiscent of the Twilight movie, but really without looking specifically like the movie. You can write over them.

There are also quotations from the books written in red, and greyscale and red scrolls accenting every second page or so. But it's not overwhelming; there's plenty of space to write. Stephenie Meyer has a little introduction, but it's reprinted exactly in all 4 journals. Here's a snippet:

...I wrote and wrote, just for the sake of writing, just to see where the story would go. I hope The Twilight Journals will encourage you to do the same. Filled with my favorite lines from the Twilight Saga and the works that inspired it, this journal is your space to write down your dreams, your memories, your stories, or anything you like.

Oh that's right. There are quotes from other books like Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, *flipflip* Wuthering Heights, The Merchant of Venice (interesting choice), and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oh, and depending on who is speaking in the quote--Bella, Edward, Jacob--their font is differentiated.

*replacing lid* Apart from Stephenie Meyer's introduction being reprinted in each journal (I would have liked to see some new sentiment each time) and the lack of red-ribbon bookmarks (which would have really been cool--you can still go out and buy some to use), this is a well-designed gift set. I especially like the tin and the fact that you can keep your little journals in it. It's more secret; it doesn't say "Hey I contain a set of personal diaries please don't read me". It's understated and really pretty. Whatever shall I write in my journals?

Mandy