So I am re-reading the first chapter of midnight sun right now...literally, I cam over here to simply post this comment, and then I am going to go back and finish it. But I noticed something tonight that I hadn't noticed before... and I was curious if anyone else had any thoughts on it.

On page 7, the last full paragraph, it starts with "Beneath the transient humor..." something really stood out to me and I wanted to point it out. In that paragraph, Edward talks about feeling a strange impulse. IT is the first time that i feel, he wants to 'protect' her.

"I felt the strangest feeling urge to step in between them, to shield this Bella Swan from the darker workings of Jessica's mind. What an odd thing to feel."

I know that the next paragraph talks about Bella looking weak and what not, but I don't remember it really ever occurring to me how much he wanted to protect her, even before he met her. Then in Biology he spent the entire time protecting her from himself. I don't think it was his urge to keep the secret that kept him from killing her that day. I think that it was some innate urge to protect her from everything, from himself, from those around her, from everything. He wants to protect her from Jessica Stanley...It just hit me hard tonight that it didn't start at the accident when he saved her life...it started the first time he ever saw her...he started falling in love with her before her scent hit him...

Or at least that is my thoughts on it...anyone else?

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Jaidi Clayton
Wife to Justin and Mother of Jaicie, Felicitiy and maybe baby Collin (To be confused with Cullen) Due June 20!

My Husband dazzles me! FREQUENTLY!

Quote:

he started falling in love with her before her scent hit him

I like the way you phrased this. I really enjoyed hearing that insight about Edward in the cafeteria room as well. In the thread 'How does Edward overcome his desire to drink Bellas blood? I mentioned that I thought Edward's desire to protect her led to his love for her. I think you and I are on the same wavelength!

He fell in love during the six weeks he ignored her. That's what SM said.

I think he definitely cared the moment he saw her, but didn't necessarily know what the feeling was. Something about her pulled him in at that very second. It was fate.

Yes, I see what you’re talking about. I thought it was awesome that he was even defensive toward Jessica (in MS) even though he may not have realized it at the time. I also thought it was great that even after he first “caught her scent” he subconsciously knew there was something more there than just wanting to drink her blood........
There were a LOT of things he did in the beginning - in the office he was confronted again with her scent - but instead of killing Bella & Mrs. Cope, he managed to remove himself from the situation. Then he chose to NOT follow her home and kill her there. Then he fled and went to Alaska because he didn’t want to end a human life, as much as he did not want to leave. Then he came back to Forks and was absolutely determined not to kill her, sat next to her in Biology and even had a conversation with her. You could tell this was beyond difficult for him because of how he would suddenly change his demeanor - from “friendly” to stiff & quiet, etc.
Also, later, there are those points where he walks her to class. What I’m specifically referring to is when he would walk her to Gym class - he would hesitate, reach out & touch her cheek or face, then stop and abruptly turn and walk away. Not to mention his jealousy thoughts of Mike Newton after gym class. Who knows what dear old Newton was thinking that Edward heard.
Anyway......I agree - his very 1st thought about keeping her “safe” was even before he could catch her scent. I know that it’s not as powerful as the conflict he felt when he did catch her scent, but I think there was definitely something more there; their connection is meant to be.

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Another interesting thing I think there is that he's acting very jaded about Bella initially in terms of her looks-but it seems to be more in response to the fact all the other humans are so taken by her right away. that sort of herdlike tendency is something he can't stand, so all his "she's just ordinary" statements seem more reactionary than anything. Because I do believe there's a part there where he looks in her eyes in the cafeteria and mentions how her eyes strike him for them not being flat brown, but having a deepness to them. He also talked about how much her face conveyed.

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"Would You Like a Side Of Cougar To Go With Your Mountain Lion, Edward?"
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(I never thought a set of brothers could challenge the Bluth Boys' hotness-then the Cullens came along!)

Absolutely, he was intrigued by her way before he smelled her scent.

I was just reading in Twilight where they are in her room and he is talking about jealously and I thought to myself, it has been a long time since he was a human and even though he has these fellings for her, he doesn't understand them at first b/c he has a: been a vampire too long or b: never felt this way before about anyone.

I believe his subsciously cares about her but consciously he is not able to recognize it, at first.

I can't wait to read MS! But I really think the beginning is going to be a lot of confusion on his part. Can you imagine someone who has been on Earth 100+ years and still can't figure out his emotions....wait a minute, am I talking about the male species here....duh!

And I thought Edward was perfect....

He still is to me.

Natashanatasha wrote:

Absolutely, he was intrigued by her way before he smelled her scent. I was just reading in Twilight where they are in her room and he is talking about jealously and I thought to myself, it has been a long time since he was a human and even though he has these fellings for her, he doesn't understand them at first b/c he has a: been a vampire too long or b: never felt this way before about anyone. I believe his subsciously cares about her but consciously he is not able to recognize it, at first. I can't wait to read MS! But I really think the beginning is going to be a lot of confusion on his part. Can you imagine someone who has been on Earth 100+ years and still can't figure out his emotions....wait a minute, am I talking about the male species here....duh! And I thought Edward was perfect.... He still is to me.

The difference is that Edward is willing to try.

Starrie wrote:

Quote: he started falling in love with her before her scent hit him I like the way you phrased this. I really enjoyed hearing that insight about Edward in the cafeteria room as well. In the thread 'How does Edward overcome his desire to drink Bellas blood? I mentioned that I thought Edward's desire to protect her led to his love for her. I think you and I are on the same wavelength!

I sense a general consensus in this thread over the fact that Edward was definitely intrigued and interested in her before the scent hit. I think even if she didn't 'sing' for him, he would have fallen for her, that fact just made it all the more appealing, in both ways... 'always both' because he had to fight so hard for it.

Sorry, haha, rambling, hope that all made sense! Just so happy to find so many people who can sense how much depth it truly has. This is why TwilightMoms rules so much!

Something else I thought of while reading through these posts is that Edward could "hear" all the thoughts of the students at the school (plus even the thoughts of all the boys) and I wonder if it intrigued him? Then when he finally saw her, he had already seen everyone else's thoughts and that is what made him want to protect her. I also think he may have known somewhere in the back of his mind that she was different because he hadn't heard her thoughts before she came to the lunchroom. Of course, I may be spliting a camel's hair on that last statement but it's something to think about

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It is interesting to me that Edward was totally bored with Bella when he first saw her. There was no attraction at all and definately no love at first site. The only thing that interested him to Bella at first was that he couldn't read her mind like he could everyone else. This bothered him and he couldn't understand why. It made him feel 'unease'. He said that he could hear Jessica's vicious thoughts towards Bella and it made him want to protect Bella from Jessica. Edward thought that this was a strange thing for him to feel, but isn't this what the Cullens are all about? To protect humans? But besides that there was NO ATTRACTION to Bella at all! Zip! Zero! None!

There was NO attraction at all until he got a scent of her smell. He said her scent hit him like a wrecking ball, like a battering ram. Bella's scent was the sweetest blood he smelled in 80 years. He started thinking about killing her and tasting her blood.

I feel that Stephenie will explain further why Edward can't hear Bella's thoughts; there has got to be a reason why. It would be natural to be curious or interested in a person that is shielded this way when your not use to it. And I don't neccessarily feel that because Edward feels a need to protect Bella from Jessica's thoughts means that he is feeling love for Bella. If I could hear someone thinking mean things towards another person really for no reason at all besides jealousy, I would feel the need to protect that person too. It will be interesting to read why Edward really loves Bella. I'm curious to see why when he came back did he decide to start talking to Bella and become closer to her. Will there be some other reason(s) for this, or is it simply her scent that he doesn't want to never smell again?

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Why do any of us fall in love? It's not just one thing, but a combination of events, feelings, and chemistry.

Edward's inability to read Bella's mind piqued his interest.
He is a gentleman, and felt a gentleman's natural protective impulse towards Bella, whom he perceived as an innocent victim.
As Edward got to know Bella, he discovered her intelligence, the tastes they had in common, and a chemistry that surprised him.

Of the three conditions, I think the most influential was Edward's inability to read Bella's mind. He may have fallen in love anyway, but feminine mystique is pretty powerful!

However, when Edward caught Bella's scent, nothing else mattered. He thought of nothing except her taste, and the only thing that saved her life was him seeing his monstrous reflection in her eyes. That shock brought Carlisle and Carlisle's philosophy of life back to the forefront of his mind and gave him the strength he needed to resist overwhelming temptation--twice!

I can't wait for the rest of the story!

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"Where there is great love, there are always miracles."

I think when Edward felt a need to protect her and was surprised by this strange feeling, it really DID have to do with love at first sight. He may not have been falling all over her, but I'm sure since he could read everyone's mind that he had to have run across a bully and an innocent person at one point. But, he never felt this feeling to protect any other time.
So, I think Bella's blood didn't make him love her more. If anything her blood brought out the worst, the MONSTER in him and made him feel hatred toward her. While he was in a fit of rage in the biology class he said "I turned my face away from her, as a sudden fierce, unreasoning hatred washed through me". That's why he said he would still love her after she became a vampire. I feel it would make his love for her even stronger!

I've thought about your comments, pemmer, and I agree with you up to a point. It is very likely that Edward felt differently about Bella than he did other victims of vicious thoughts in his past, but I think if Edward had been able to read Bella's mind from the beginning he wouldn't have paid enough attention to her to react so protectively. Notice that he didn't feel protective until after he'd unsuccessfully tried to probe Bella's mind, listened to the thoughts of everyone around her, and listened to her questioning Jessica. He was contemplating her when he first felt the urge to shield her from Jessica.

Fated love ... does it really exist? It seems so in Stephanie's universe! If Edward's and Bella's love was fated (they certainly are overcoming their share of obstacles!) I definately see the stirrings of something in Edward's reaction to Jessica's mental viciousness.

I also agree Bella's blood didn't make him love her more (just want to kill her more!).

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"Where there is great love, there are always miracles."

Esme echo,

Yes, I agree with you on that. The fact that Edward couldn't read her mind really drew him to her and made him notice and study her more than he would have any other new girl. Midnight Sun never did say if Edward was physically attracted to her, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with his immediate interest??


I like the idea of love at first sight, but Edward really doesn't talk about physical attraction until later when he explains to Bella she is very beautiful to him, despite of how she sees herself. So I'll just pretend that he did fall in love with her immediately, even if he didn't know it yet.


I think her blood is pretty annoying to Edward since he wants her to be with him forever. I mean, I really LOVE pizza but if I had to kill my husband to get it and he was always waving it in my face, I would be really annoyed. Not sure if that hits the true depth of the meaning