We are, of course, still in the tiny town of Forks, Washington. It's been about a year, and Bella and Edward are still together, which is probably a surprise to no one. It's Bella's birthday, and she's all kinds of moody about it since now she is, for all intents and purposes, now one year older than Edward, and she is not thrilled at the fact that she's aging. You might recall from the end of the first book that Bella wants Edward to turn her into a vampire so they can truly be together forever, but Edward isn't so keen on the idea, so she's still human (so far). Anyway, against her wishes, Edward's "sister" Alice has put together a party for Bella at the Cullen house. Bella, accident-prone as ever, can't get through the thing without a little blood being inadvertently shed, which as you can guess did not go well in a house full of vampires. Jasper has the hardest time, if you remember, with the whole "vegetarian" lifestyle, and he reacts pretty quickly. Edward reacts quickly to Jasper reacting quickly, and the party is basically ruined.
There are no hard feelings from Bella since hey, Jasper can't help it, but Edward convinces himself that he really is too much of a danger for her, and the Cullens pack up and leave town in kind of a hurry.
Bella becomes deeply, deeply depressed and stays this way mostly for the rest of the book, and all of her friends except Jacob Black give up on her. Bella becomes an adrenaline junkie, and then shit just starts hitting one fan after another.
Overall, it was a good book, insofar as it was as unputdownable as Twilight was. I didn't really like it quite so well as I did Twilight, but in some ways, this one just hit a little too close to home for me; I identify a lot more with Bella in this one. Let's just say my own Romeo left, but unlike Edward, mine isn't coming back, and I don't have a Paris waiting in the wings to step up, either, even if I wanted one. That analogy is incredibly lame, but if you've read New Moon already, you might get it. Romeo & Juliet is mentioned off and on throughout. Anyway, so I really related much more to Bella as an empty shell of her former self in this book than I did in the last, when she was some kind of oblivious beauty, desired by every guy around her.
Of course, dudes still want her. She IS Bella Swan, after all. Mike is still vaguely interested after a certain point. And then there is Jacob Black. Childhood friend-turned-always half naked shapeshifting Quileute brave. I know a lot of people are Team Jacob, but I find it hard to get on board with that. Maybe it's a werewolf thing, but he's incredibly cocky, possessive, and quick-tempered. If he weren't a werewolf, the potential for domestic abuse there would be blatantly obvious to anyone, and red flags would be going up all over the place. I don't really care for the way Bella pretty much dangles hope for a future together in front of him, though, justifying it by telling herself he knows she isn't interested in that way. I mean, I definitely get that when you are feeling the way she does, if you find something that gives you even the slightest relief, you are likely to want to latch onto it, but she could probably have done so without holding hands with him all the damn time and giving lingering, heartfelt hugs. You just know he was sniffing her hair during those moments. When a dude sniffs your hair, that is serious business, ladies. It's weird, but trust me on this one. Some of you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, moving on...the end of the book makes me actually like Rosalie. She becomes more of a person to me, instead of being one of THOSE girls. Again, ladies, you know what I mean. Maybe some of you men do, too. She got me a little choked up at the end. Alice is still my favorite Cullen, though. I'd want to be her BFF, but I'd be secretly jealous of her all the time for being a flaw-free goddess.
I'm eager to read the next in the series; I've seen the movie for that one, too, but so far the books have quite a few differences, and I'm tending to enjoy the books better.
ISBN:
Series Info: What came before this book? What's next?
Twilight Saga
- Twilight (Book 1)
* New Moon (Book 2)
- Eclipse (Book 3)
Film Adaptations:
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