Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Series: Twilight Saga (An Eclipse Novella)
Genre: Paranormal Romance (YA)
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Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits.

In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood … life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don’t draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn’t know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as “her.” As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

The story of Bree Tanner ties in with Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight Saga.  Bree is the newborn vampire killed by the Volturi after the war between the Cullens, werewolves, and the newborn army created by Victoria.  This novella follows about six days of Bree’s life as a newborn vampire.

“I couldn’t make sense of the mess in my head. Diego was dead, and that was the main thing, the devastating thing. Other than that, the fight was over, my coven had lost and my enemies had won. But my dead coven was full of people who would have loved to watch me burn, and my enemies were speaking to me kindly when they had no reason to.” Bree

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this little off-chute of the main story of the Twilight Saga.  I enjoyed the change in perspective, especially the perspective into the fight in the clearing, something the reader missed in Eclipse.  I also liked being in the mind of a “regular” vampire and seeing that side of things.  Even though she wasn’t completely evil like Victoria or the Volturi, you still experienced the blood lust that newborn vampires normally feel when first changed.  You also experienced the killing and tasting of human blood, which was very interesting.

For being a novella, I thought Bree was very well developed.  I wished, as I got closer to the end, that the ending of Eclipse had been written differently.  I wanted to see her have a chance at living as a vampire with knowing the rules and possibly becoming a part of the Cullen family.  I also enjoyed meeting Diego and Fred, two of Bree’s friends.  It was also interesting to see Riley’s character in a little more depth since the reader only encountered him for a short time in Eclipse.

I loved how much information was packed into this short little novella.  It gave me a lot of insight into the other vampires’ minds.  It even answered a question I had about something Edward had said about the Volturi at the end of Eclipse.