Review: New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

New Moon
(Twilight # 2)
by Stephanie Meyer

(young adult, paranormal romance, vampires, werewolves)

Published: 09-06-06

Publisher: Little Brown Books
Kindle: 577 pages  Purchase: $6.99 on Amazon (at time of post)

 5 stars

  Synopsis
For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning....
Legions of readers entranced by New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.
Cover
Notice I didn't use the movie cover for this one. Surprised? Yeah yeah, I know. I almost always go for the movie covers when there is one. But I love the simplicity of the first edition covers. There isn't much to them but a unique radiance stems from them. Like this one. It's a bloody feather flower of some sort. I happen to think it's super cool. That, and I just don't don't want to see Bella's face on the cover. Which takes me to the next topic...
Characters
I loved Bella in the books when I first read them. I can't stand her now. I don't like re-reading books because I always tend to change my mind about certain aspects once I've read it for a second time. Reading from Bella's perspective just annoys me when I see Kristen Stewart's face saying the words. I'm not a fan of her as an actress and she literally annoys the crap out of me. However, in the books I really do like her. With the exception of this book.
Team Jacob, that's all I really need to say. This is my favorite Twilight novel because of the over abundance of Jacob, and that will probably never change. He is the perfect best friend turned love interest. He creates the perfect love triangle and just the right amount of intensity to make this installment so fantastic. I love me some Jacob! And while I do adore the werewolves that get introduced, I'm still a huge fan of the Cullens. It's hard to pick sides with these books.
Story
I thought this story progressed really well. Bella's little stint of sitting in her room staring out the window for a few months was a bit overboard, but you can really feel her heartbreak. She takes it out of context but she's a very dramatic character so it works for her. I love how the werewolf clan is introduced slowly and everything isn't thrown into the plot all at once so you're not wondering what the hell is going on. 
Now that I've read it for the second time, I still enjoyed it as much as I did the first. If you haven't read the books or seen the movies yet, you absolutely must live in a bubble and you should remove yourself as soon as possible. Aside from all of the hype the movies got, this really is a great story of enduring love and overcoming obstacles to protect your family. It's still one of my favorite books and I still highly recommend it to any and everyone. 
Quote(s)
"Jacob was a gift from the gods." - Bella
I just had to point this out because if she meant this, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.
Author
I was born in Connecticut in 1973, during a brief blip in my family's otherwise western U.S. existence. We were settled in Phoenix by the time I was four, and I think of myself as a native. The unusual spelling of my name was a gift from my father, Stephen (+ ie = me). Though I have had my name spelled wrong on pretty much everything my entire life long, I must admit that it makes it easier to google myself now.

I filled the "Jan Brady" spot in my family-the second of three girls. Unlike the Brady's, none of my three brothers are steps, and all of them are younger than all the girls. I went to high school in Scottsdale, Arizona, the kind of place where every fall a few girls would come back to school with new noses and there were Porsches in the student lot (for the record, I have my original nose, and never had a car until after I was in my twenties). I was awarded a National Merit Scholarship, and I used it to pay my way to Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. I majored in English, but concentrated on literature rather than creative writing, mostly because I didn't consider reading books "work" (as long as I was going to be doing something anyway, I might as well get course credit for it, right?).

I met my husband, Pancho (his real name is Christiaan), when I was four, but we were never anywhere close to being childhood sweethearts. In fact, though we saw each other at least weekly through church activities, I can't recall a single instance when we so much as greeted each other with a friendly wave, let alone exchanged actual words. This may have been for the best, because when we did eventually get around to exchanging words, sixteen years after our first meeting, it only took nine months from the first "hello" to the wedding. Of course, we were able to skip over a lot of the getting to know you parts (many of our conversations would go something like this: "This one time, when I was ten, I broke my hand at a party when-" "Yeah, I know what happened. I was there, remember?") We've been married for ten and a half years now, and have three beautiful, brilliant, wonderful boys who often remind me chimpanzees on crack. I can't write without music, and my biggest muse is, ironically enough, the band Muse. My other favorite sources of inspiration are Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, The All American Rejects, Travis, The Strokes, Brand New, U2, Kasabian, Jimmy Eat World, and Weezer, to mention a few.
And thennn...
So tell me, what team are you on? I was originally Team Edward but changed my mind soon after reading New Moon and never turned back. What's your favorite Twilight book, and why?


DISCLOSURE: All of the reviews posted are my opinions and mine alone. I am in no way paid for them. Every book reviewed was either purchased by me, received for free directly from the publisher/author specifically for review or received via: