"the short second life of bree tanner"

an Eclipse novella, by Stephanie Meyer, 2010, 178p, rating=3

I suppose it would be a great big plus to have read Meyer's Eclipse, if not the entire Twilight saga to fully appreciate this novella, since the main character was introduced in book #3. 

What a new and interesting concept for me.  An off shoot from a novel.  I'm new to this book world so I ask you, "How often does this happen?".  Just wondering.

Here we get a glimpse of a newborn vampire's life under leadership of Riley and "her" (I won't spoil it for those who haven't read this yet, though you can probably guess correctly).  Namely through Bree Tanner's eyes.  We discover that Bree and the other newborns were created in volume and under false pretense.  As newborns they were easy targets to brainwash.  For instance, they were told that they must return home by dawn for the sun will surely kill them.  Bree and Diego discovers that this was not so and thus lead them to question Riley's motives.  What are the reasons for the lies?  What other lies have he told?  Was it in fact "her" that lied to him?  They ventured cautiously to find the answers.  As the story continues, the newborns had a few days to train for a battle with the yellow-eyed older vampires (Cullens) and were given a scent of their "pet-human" (Bella).  Bella's sweet blood scent drove the young vampires to shear ecstasy so in their eyes the fight would certainly be worthwhile.  Then the day of engagement, Diego was said to already be with "her", Riley and "Freaky Fred" ditch the scene, and the rest went to battle.  In the end, Bree the last survivor was given mercy by Carlisle.  Such characteristics in all the yellow-eyed vampires intrigued Bree.  The pieces of the puzzle finally were put in place.  Too bad the Volturi had to come in the picture and give her that "short life".

A cute quick read.  It took me back to reminisce the saga.  ~If you're a Twilight fan, this certainly is a nice treat.