New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

I was so excited to read this, once I had finished Twilight. However, it was dull in comparison. I struggled to get through it. The beginning 100 and last 100 pages were okay, but the ones in the middles could have definitely been condensed. They were almost painful. However, you must read this to get on to Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, which are both definitely worth reading.

I just started reading this book and I am hooked just like the first one.You should read the whole saga.

I bought this book after seeing the movie adaption of the first book "Twilight" with my sister who has read all four books and is definitely obsessed. Based on what my sister told me I was expecting the continuation of a story about a vampire and a teenage girl whose love defies logic. It took me less than three days to finish it and while it was entertaining, the middle 400 pages are very drawn out and boring. Not Jacob just the writing. Edward's absence for most of the novel doesn't help matters but quite honestly it's the writing. Bella is written as a depressed teenager desperate for someone in her life after Edward breaks her heart. She genuinely cares for Jacob but is just plain desperate. But I can't fault Stephanie Meyer completely since she never intended to write a sequel to Twilight and from what I know about the publishing industry was probably rushed into writing a sequel at the expense of quality story telling. All that said, I do plan on reading the third novel just to see what happens.

After reading Twilight, I really expected to be even more wowed by New Moon, but that was no where near the reaction that I had to this sequel.
I found myself bored and sad for most of the book. It was kind of beating to read. I do believe that some of it was necessary to further the story, but I believe it could have been done in a much more interesting and different way. I didn't really find any of it interesting until the end, so when you read it, just keep in mind that the third one is better, so its worth the boredom.

I really have to start this review by saying that if I was 16, I would be all over this series. Obsessed and tearing through them and unable to put them down. However, I am not 16. I picked up the first volume for two reasons: one, I am high school teacher, and I wanted to know what it is that all my girls are reading, and two, as a writer (but not yet published) I feel like I should keep up with the current trends.

So here we are at the end of book #2. Without giving away too much, Bella is still head-over-heels for Edward, our vampire hero. However, Edward breaks up with her somewhere in the first 50 pages (of almost 600). This brings on a deluge of teen angst and sends Bella into a dangerous downward spiral worthy of a VH1 documentary. She recovers eventually and rekindles a friendship with Jacob, an old family friend who she hasn't seen much of, because of some bad blood (sorry, had to do it) between him and Edward.

Here is my main issue with this series: Bella has no identity of her own. She is either Edward's girlfriend or Jacob's. She is either with the vampires or the werewolves. She has yet to embrace her own individuality. I don't like the message this sends our girls. When you get dumped, you should stalk around like a zombie for months and take foolish risks with your life? If you can't get over one boy, go find yourself another to become infatuated with? Allow yourself to become so absorbed with a boyfriend that you allow him (whichever one we're talking about here... doesn't matter) to tell you who you can be friends with and who you can not?

Overall, the series so far is entertaining, but I'm getting tired of Bella constantly saying how beautiful Edward is and how plain she looks next to him. She actually says at one point, "by comparison, I am hideous." Oh, please, Bella. According to Stephanie Meyer, you have every boy in Forks and La Push after you. There must be something redeeming about you. Stop talking about how you don't deserve your controlling, possessive, noncommunicative boyfriend. It doesn't become you.

Yes, I will read the third book. I'm invested enough in the story to want to know how it comes out, but I hope that the kids who are reading this take it with a grain of sat. Edward is not, contrary to popular belief right now, the perfect boyfriend. But when I was 16, I don't know if if I would have realized that. I hope that I would have.