by Jennifer Kiley

Bella and Sookie are both in a love triangle where they have to decide which vampire or wolf they want in their romantic life. Bella is quite a bit younger than Sookie and all she knows is high school, romance and a family life that has uprooted her from living with mom to a whole new social community with her father. She really hasn’t had a chance to live beyond that and right out of high school she is getting married, pregnant and giving birth to a species of being that almost kills her.

I never had a sense that she didn’t think for herself but with the element that she had surrounding her she was always finding herself in dire situations in which she definitely needed rescuing. These rescues were way beyond the ability of her father but not that of Edward and his family or Jacob and his crew. She needed protection but she also stood up for herself and made decisions for herself. If she were older maybe she would be more like Sookie.

Sookie had her grandmother but she was taken from her and she has her brother who at times seemed kind of useless so she had to depend on herself. But once Bill came into her life, it seemed he was always coming to her rescue and she needed him to or on many occasions she would not have survived.

She has Bill, Eric and Alcide who all surround her in a protectve circle. She may work for a living sometimes but she has been in similar dangerous situations when she needed to depend on the strength of a man (vampire or wolf) to save her from being killed.

What is the difference from Bella and Sookie besides waiting or not waiting to consumate their relationships. Bella chose Edward and waited until they were married, which is totally acceptable and also it was her decision to accept Edward wanting to wait and she respected that no matter how tempted she was.

She, also, developed a relationship with Jacob, which drove Edward and Jacob crazy because they wanted her to chose one of them but she didn’t allow their needs to pressure her into making a choice until she was sure it was Edward that she wanted.

Sookie has multiple choices herself and even though she loves Bill, she also has deep feelings for Eric, but it is all about their blood co-mingling. Sookie acts on her sexuality much differently than Bella and depending on how one looks at that, one could say Sookie is freer to express herself and does not hold back from her desires. All Sookie’s vampires origianlly come from a different era which over the time that they have been alive would cause them to behave in a different manner.

That is also true for Edward. He is a gentleman who deeply cares about Bella’s feelings and being a vampire does not want to rush her into an extremely life changing decision. The rules have changed since Anne Rice came on the scene and changed up what effects vampires.

Edward does not want to overwhelm Bella and as we can see on their wedding night, the sexual act of making love draws out these intense emotions and terrific strength that cause him to physically harm Bella, not intentionally but his fears were justified. So, I guess I do not see where the dependency lies in Bella’s relationship with Edward is far from the dependency Sookie has for Bill, Eric or Alcide.

I left out some rather important information regarding Sookie and that is she has psychic as well as magical fairy powers. Where as Bella is not born with unusual powers but is married into a family of vampires and then makes the transformation into a vampire after her wedding. Quite a serious step for Bella and a decision she made quite independent of any influence from Edward. Sookie born with powers. Bella acquiring powers after marrying the vampire she loves.