Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga has maintained a tight grip on the contemporary culture's imagination. This timely and critical work examines how the Twilight series offers addictively appealing messages about love, romance, sex, beauty and body image, and how these charged themes interact with cultural issues regarding race, class, gender and sexuality. Through a careful analysis of the texts, the fandom and the current cultural climate, this book argues that the success of the Twilight series stems chiefly from Meyer's savvy negotiation of cultural mores. An insightful and scholarly addition to commentary on the Twilight phenomenon.