With the first part of Breaking Dawn in movie theaters now, there has been a lot of talk on the Internet about vampire heartthrobs: what makes 'em, what breaks 'em, and how Edward measures up.

I love vampire fiction, and have ever since I devoured Interview with the Vampire my junior year of high school.  That was the book that taught me how to read and walk at the same time.  It was all about survival -- I couldn't put the book down, so I was forced to learn if I wanted to live to be a senior!

I have to confess that I was always more of a Louis fan, though.  I thought Lestat was kind of a jerk, but I loved Louis's gentle, somewhat self-deprecating nature.  All the angst in Interview spoke to my poor, confused teenage heart.

Either my tastes have changed too much, or Stephanie Meyer took the angsty self-loathing a little bit too far, because Edward didn't appeal to me in quite the same way.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I was caught up in the infatuation just the same as anyone when I read the Twilight Saga (less so when I watched the movies -- I loved the first, but thought the second and third fell rather short of the mark).  But if my vampire boyfriend left me, and then got jealous when I hung out with my guy friend (who just happened to be his mortal enemy), I woulda split.  Just sayin.

More recently, I've fallen in love with Eric Northman, Sookie Stackhouse's vampire sometimes-boyfriend (in the books at least).  I did always prefer him to Bill, and Alexander Skarsgard's portrayal of him is at least partly to blame for that.  As Sookie says in book 4...  Yum.

What about you?  Who are your favorite vampire heartthrobs, and whereabouts does Edward fall on the list?  Please, no rabid Meyer-haters -- I'm not down on her, I think she's a fine author with a great understanding of her audience -- but if you could be bitten by any fictional (I hope) vampire, who would it be?