The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Saturday I finished up The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella by Stephanie Meyer.  It's a spin-off from the Twilight series, focusing on exactly what it says, the short second life of Bree Tanner.  We don't see much of Bree in Eclipse.  I tried to write this in a way so that if you hadn't read/seen Eclipse I wouldn't spoil the plot of it for you, but then I decided there is no point in reading this book if you haven't read through or watched the third Twilight movie.  So I don't care.  If you don't want to know the plot of those books, stop reading now.

Bree is a newborn vampire, created by a previous villain in the Twilight series, Victoria.  Victoria made an army of newborns to attack the Cullen clan, hoping to kill Bella in the process (because Bella is Edward's "mate" and the Cullen's killed Victoria's).  I can't quite remember how much of Bree we see in the books, but in the movie she's the human huddled in a corner during that vampire massacre in Seattle.  During the big fight scene in Forks Bree decides to surrender to Carlisle and Esme, but then the Volturi decide to kill her anyway.  Not a hugely developed character.

Well, this book is focused completely around the time Bree was a vampire.  It shows more of the back story to the newborns, Riley, their interaction, what the newborns knew of Victoria, what the newborns knew period (some surprises there), etc.  It's short, travels down the already established Eclipse road, and has no chapters (because its only her, and her short life, and one thing--the newbies... get it?).

If you're a Twihard, you've probably already read it :)  If you are a moderate or light fan of the books/movies I would suggest reading it.  The Short Second Life[...] is light (both the weight and the writing), so you could take it to the beach or an oil change at Belle Tire (*cough*).  What I really liked was that it gave you a better idea of what Bree was thinking during the battle scene.  I looked at her character completely different after I read this.

3 out of 5 stars.