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Book Two: Twilight Saga

Summary
It’s nearing Bella Swan’s 18th birthday and her devoted boyfriend, Edward Cullen and his family, decide they want nothing more than to throw her an extravagate party to celebrate. All is well in Bella’s life, she has a man she loves and his family accepts her despite the fact that they are vampires and she a human.

Happiness can’t last forever though, for a single drop of blood while unwrapping a gift, causes Bella’s life to be put in danger. In order to protect the one he loves, Edward has to leave the woman he loves, leaving Bella heartbroken and depressed.

Months pass as Bella passes the day in zombie-like behavior, but when she finds out that thrill-seeking activities, such as motorcycle riding, allow her to “be with” Edward, she doesn’t hesitate. Comforting her through all this time is her best friend, Jacob Black, but even that happiness can’t last forever. As Jacob grows farther from her with his secrets and Bella tries desperately to cling to some small happiness, Bella’s world turns upside down when Alice brings news of Edward.

Review
I have to admit straight away that my opinion here is going to be bias. My favorite books of the Twilight Saga are by far New Moon and Eclipse. Why you ask? There’s hardly any Edward in New Moon, how could you like it more than Twilight? Well it’s pretty simple in my mind… action.

When Stephenie brought us Twilight we were blown away by the realism of the world in which vampires existed. Most of us women saw a little of ourselves in Bella as we saw the world through her eyes. So what did New moon do differently?

Well for starters Stephenie decided it was time for a little conflict in her books. Right away we have the conflict of interest… should Edward stay with Bella and risk her safety or should he leave. Stephenie opted for some depressing, albeit needed, alone time for Bella. The worlds not all bad though. A character, which originally was intended to be only minor, blew us away as Bella’s devoted puppy dog; in more than one way.

So why do I love New Moon over Twilight? Could it be just Jacob’s presence? Maybe, but I think what ultimately made this book good was the love triangle between Edward, Jacob and Bella. By the end of this book she has to make the choice between the boy she’s known since childhood and the man who made her soul burn bright. In my opinion Bella’s choices in Twilight came so easy… her only hurtle was finding out what Edward was and then things were mostly ok, minus some vampire stalking action. In New Moon everything is action and conflict. From the birthday party all the way to Edward’s rescue in Italy, everything in Bella’s life is dark, tense, and on unsteady ground. This left me with some page turning madness as I tried to read another page before my train stopped in San Francisco.

Overall, one of the best books in the series. So read it if you haven’t.

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