New Moon

This book is not new. And very old.

There is something weird about these books. Overall I felt exactly the same about the second book as I did the first, except in every case my feelings were stronger.New Moon picks up shortly after the events of Twilight. Bella and Edward are madly in love, the type of love that is so sickly and dare I say it "teenage girly" that has turned so many people off the series and prevented many from even picking it up to begin with.However, the dynamic soon changes. An incident highlights just how fragile and impractical their relationship is forcing Edward to withdraw his love and move away. From Bella's silly opinion, this is because he doesn't love her anymore. Why she thinks this is beyond me. Edward is mean but it is obvious why he is doing it. What follows (I read this on the Kindle so forgive the percentages) is from 5% to 30% utter mind numbing drivel. Bella is distraught, she wallows in self pity and pines like someone has never pined before.This section of the story was way too long. I was wanting to stick pins in my eyes and came so close to giving up on the book. I thought I had finally realised why so many people ridicule the series.Thankfully I persisted a little bit longer. Enter Jacob. By far and away, Jacob is the most interesting character in the story. Bella's attraction to him is believable, their growing relationship (after the initial ooh I think I love him now), is actually well handled. Jacob comes with a good back story and an air of mystery to him. Unlike the Bella / Edward relationship which is too impossible to imagine (both are madly in love with each other, the type of love that when they don't see each other they ache).Following Jacob's appearance, the story also begins to get some semblance of a decent plot. My main criticism of the first book is that nothing happened. Although this story suffers from the same fate, there are story threads going on.The story here surrounds random attacks on innocent hikers. There is also the angst going on around Jacob and his friends and the return of some vampires that appeared in Twilight.The ending of the book is actually quite good. Why it comes about on the other hand irked me. Some minor spoilers follow: Bella in an effort to overcome Edward, resorts to taking part in dangerous activities. The logic being, she hears Edward's voice in her head warning her to be careful when she does these and can therefore imagine him again. I made a logical assumption here that Bella was actually hearing Edward and not imagining him. This proved to be incorrect as later in the book Edward acts upon something he hears Bella has done which proved my assumption wrong (sorry for the confusion, trying not to give too much away). However, later Bella can hear Edward in her thoughts again, which makes no sense whatsoever.Another strong element to the book is the natural and growing hatred between werewolves and vampires. When Edward and Jacob finally come face to face, the animosity is evident. Obviously anyone with a y chromosome will root for Jacob (I can't believe I just weighed in on that argument).Overall then, I had mixed feelings about the book. After the appalling start, the story kicked in and dare I say it was quite enjoyable. The ending was satisfactory and there is enough left over to keep me interested in the next book. My rating: 8.0

Well, I must eat my words...I have just finished reading this book, and I have to say; it's much better than the movie - so far that is. I say 'so far', since I had already attempted to watch it (see my scathing Review for that title) and failed due to its 'tedium'. However; thanks to the Reviewer 'junie' (great minds think alike!) having mentioned that I'd already ordered the book and then thought it a total waste of money, she advised that the book - though nothing special was at least 'better' than the Picture, and so I thought I'd trust her opinion, and give it a go. To my astonishment (and utter embarrassment in contrast to the harsh Review I did for the movie) I found it very readable indeed! Okay; so it's still no 'Block Buster' in my opinion, but the sheer fact I could quite happily make it through to the end at least says I got my moneys worth if nothing else!To be fair though, I did get more than that, in that I did enjoy it. It was slow (as many have been saying) but still refreshing like the first novel, in that There's no unnecessary bad language or explicit sex scenes which almost always seems to haunt modern writing these days and spoil it.Ironically, (for me that is) this is the VERY first 'sequel' I have read right through to the end! I'm shocked, amazed and quite frankly to use a modern term I hate 'gobsmacked' that it should be so, as I've recently put down a 'sequel' written by someone I admired for their fabulous first book 'Scar Night' - Alan Campbell's 'Iron Angel' (see my Review for those titles) and although it was a more enjoyable read, I could not make it 'quite' to the end, and so the very fact I completed this one... Well... I don't understand it, but as a result, I do now intend to have another go at the movie. I'm not expecting any major retractions from my original Review of it, but hey; who knows!! : - )

Excellent sequel to 'Twilight', and the second in the saga of (currently) four books. After a wonderful summer, Bella's birthday rolls around all too quickly - now she is 18, and officially older than Edward (sort of, anyway). Things go from bad to worse that night, when a clumsy moment at her birthday celebration puts her in mortal danger from all but the most restrained of the Cullens. Afterwards she struggles to understand Edward's sudden coldness and self-hatred, until her worst fears come true and he admits that the Cullens have decided to leave town for good - her best friend Alice included - and that he will be going without her.For months she is left bereft, numb, functioning on autopilot and fiercely blotting out all memories of the Cullens in an attempt to keep her sanity. Then one day, in a potentially dangerous situation in town, she suddenly hears Edward's voice in her head, warning her to be careful and begging her to stay safe. Although the pain his voice evokes is excruciating, she longs to hear it again and sets about discovering what triggers her hallucinations. She renews her friendship with Jacob Black on the reservation, and his presence in her world seems to bring her back to life, putting a smile on her face and giving her an enthusiasm she hasn't felt for a long time. But Jacob has his own growing up to do and his own problems to overcome - not to mention the fact that his feelings for her are well beyond friendship - and all the while, Bella's behaviour is growing more and more reckless. Not only has she discovered Jacob's secret and found out that a fiery vampire is stalking her with revenge in mind, but her desperation to hear Edward's voice is driving her further and further from common sense. In the end something has to give, and Bella goes too far, triggering a terrible misunderstanding that threatens to destroy everything she holds dear.This novel starts out more peacefully than its predecessor, and the electricity between Edward and Bella has faded into something a little more serene, but Meyer still knows exactly how to quicken the pulse and freeze the blood when she needs to. The end of the book came quite unexpectedly, and there was a sense that this was more of a transitional story, moving on from the neat ending of 'Twilight' and setting up a strong background for the conflicts to come. Despite this, it didn't take long before I was drawn into the story as thoroughly as before, and the climax was so nail-bitingly tense that I had to put the book aside for a while to calm down and stop myself jumping ahead too fast! Bella's quick humour also makes a welcome return as her emotional state improves, and I noted with interest the references to 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Wuthering Heights', given that Romeo and Heathcliff have been frequently mentioned in discussions of female infatuation with the Cullen men!The verdict? Not QUITE as compelling and sizzling as 'Twilight', but excellent anyway and leaves a tantalising glimpse of what is in store as the saga continues...

It no secret that I love Twilight and everything about it. This is my oh like say about 10000th rereading. I reread Twilight back in December when I was in a reading funk and I knew it would help me get out of it. So it was time to reread the rest. This is the only series that I can read over and over without ever getting bored.New Moon is the second installement in this amazing series and my favourite by far. In this we follow Bella on a journey trying to survive after Edwards departure. I am not a big fan of Bella. She is whiny, annoying and relys on other people way too much. However, I have to admit I warmed to her in this book. I think it was mainly due to Jacob. We meet Jacob in book one for only a brief time so honestly I couldnt really form an opinion on him. When Jacob is introduced in New Moon my heart honestly did a little fluttered. He is so down to earth and warm and friendly you just can't help but like him. Even when things change and he does become bitter and mean I still really like him and he was my first ever book crush.The plot itself is so much better than Twilight. I think mainly because Edward isn't in it much. I know I am going to get a cyber slap from all the lovely Team Edward fans but I just don't like him. Even though it was Edward and Bella story that got me hooked as I have read the books a few time I realise just how overprotective and selfish he is. So back to the plot lol. Oh yeah, I loved the story in New Moon. The first time I read it I honestly was on the edge of my seat with excitement waiting to see what was around the corner for Bella. Even though most of it you seen coming there was a few I didn't.As I as have said I love Jacob, However what I loved the most about this was getting to meet the Volturi they are vampires. Evil and bloodsucking. They way a vampire meant to be. I love them.Overall, I loved this book. For me is my favourite in the entire series and has a really special place in my heart.

i have to say it took me a long time to even consider reading OR watching any of the books or films.....so I watched the first film and thought that's not bad... and so I will read the book = I loved the book.....Anyway New Moon I decided not to watch the film and instead read the book first, and again I loved every minute and couldn't put it down it took me a day to read it... the emotion put into the book was amazing you really felt the loss the love the healing and the friendship that grows between the characters... its a must read and I will certainly be reading it again soon...on a different note I watched the film and really wished I hadn't bothered as it took everything away from the book apart from the basic story line...cant wait to read eclipse...(hope its a dam sight better that the film!!!!!!)