New Moon – Stephenie Meyer

New Moon was a completely different experience reading the book than watching the movie. I actually really enjoyed this book, whereas this was my least favorite movie. I feel like this book is a lot more significant than I expected it to be, and it wasn’t just a filler for the storyline to continue. 

Plot

New Moon is the sequel to Twilight and once again follows Bella Swan and her relationship with a vampire named Edward Cullen. They have been going strong for six whole months, the only thing coming between them being his absolute refusal to turn her into a vampire. 

On the day of her eighteenth birthday, the Cullens throw Bella a party at their house which turns into a complete disaster. Bella cuts her finger on some wrapping paper, causing Jasper, the newest vampire of the Cullen family to go into a frenzy. This entire evening makes Edward distant towards Bella. 

Eventually, Edward talks to Bella, but only to tell her that he is leaving with his family and he “doesn’t want” her anymore. He also makes her promise not to be reckless, “for Charlie’s sake”. Bella is heartbroken and goes through months of not eating, and having horrible nightmares every time she closes her eyes. Her entire world falls apart and through her loneliness and shattering heartbreak over Edward, she stops spending time with her friends, causing her to be isolated and miserable. 

After Charlie states that he is worried about her, Bella decides to go hang out with her old friend Jessica and discovers that if she does something reckless and dangerous, a hallucination of Edward will appear and tell her to stop. Upon learning this, Bella goes to Jacob Black’s house and insists they rebuild and ride some motorcycles. 

Bella is still hopelessly heartbroken, but Jacob begins to fill certain holes inside her and she becomes more human than “zombie”. However, Jacob is no ordinary boy. Bella learns that Jacob is part of a Quileute heritage that causes him to turn into a wolf whenever he is angry. She also learns that Victoria is back in town and she is obviously hunting Bella. 

With Jacob on a scout for Victoria, Bella decides to do some reckless behavior in order to see Edward again. This time, however, causes Alice to come back home. She brings no news of Edward, but with her amazing gifts, she can see that Edward has put himself in danger and Bella must be the one to save him. 

Characters

Bella is still the klutz that she was in the last book, however, she has grown into a bit more of a well-rounded person. I think that her relationship with Edward has helped her grow a bit more and she really knows what she wants now. I still believe that it’s hilarious that she is basically someone prone to injuries and she falls in love with someone who never gets hurt. 

We don’t see much of Edward in this book, but he is still a character that I will always love. I feel like he needs to think some of his decisions through though, because if he never left, Bella would be perfectly safe and so would he, and the Volturi would not come for them either. Along with this, there is no pressure for Bella to be turned into a vampire which he didn’t want but it is necessary now. 

We see a lot more of Jacob in this book, which I’m definitely not mad about! The love triangle really shows in this story, but it is clear that Jacob wants what’s best for Bella. I really like the fact that Jacob found a way to tell Bella his secret even though it was forbidden. I feel like it shows that he doesn’t want to lie to her or keep secrets from her, and he just wants to be himself. 

Setting

Most of this book took place in Forks, Washington. This is still a rainy place, but I think it is the perfect setting for a book such as this. The rain adds more character and depth to the story, and Bella grows accustomed to it now that she has been there for over a year. 

The other setting of the story was Volterra, Italy. I actually found this to be a beautiful setting. I think that it is pretty creepy with a ton of vampires occupying it, but it is beautiful and it sounds like the perfect place for them to stay and rule the population. 

“Forbidden to remember, terrified to forget; it was a hard line to walk.”

Writing

This book is extremely well-written. I felt the pain when Edward left Bella and I felt guilty for leading Jake on. Most of the story is centered around Edward leaving since it is such an important change in Bella’s life. Going from seeing him every day and night, to never seeing him at all absolutely destroyed her and the writing in this book makes that clear. 

Along with all of this, I think it’s really cool that there is a sort of parallel to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. At first, Edward is mentioning how he admires them for being able to kill themselves so easily, but Bella eventually realizes that she is in danger of repeating one of the biggest and most important tragedies in history. 

In Conclusion… 

I really enjoyed this book. I think that the movie doesn’t do it justice at all, and it is much more important to the storyline than it seems. Along with that, I loved the character development between Jacob and Bella and it shows that Bella’s heartbreak can lead to good things after all. 

Rating: 4/5⭐