Meyer weaves a tale of true love, rejection, deceit, and
suspense that gives "New Moon" a resounding bite and vibrant
potency. Meyer's crisp writing allows her supernatural world
to encompass the reader, leaving them breathless and
hungering for more.

The novel starts with Bella celebrating her eighteenth
birthday. The Cullens have something planned for her at
their house. As they shower her with gifts, Bella, in all
her clumsiness, cuts herself. Jasper can barely contain
himself and attacks her. Edward fends off his brother.
Carlisle attends to Bella's wounds, but Edward is shaken by
what has happened. He becomes moody and after much thought,
breaks up with Bella. The break up is swift and decisive,
leaving Bella emotionally naked as she crumbles, lost in the
forest that surrounds Forks. One of the local Native
Americans from La Push finds her after an extensive search.
Bella's dad is grateful, but Bella is only a shell of her
former self.

Months go by before Bella can even emotionally "feel"
something again. Wanting to take up extreme sports to drive
out the pain of losing Edward, she buys two motorcycles that
don't work. She seeks out Jacob Black at La Push to help her
fix them so she can ride them. Bella and Jacob become quick
friends. Soon Bella realizes that Jacob is essential to her
- at least his friendship is, and she can't lose it.

Unfortunately, Jacob gets sick and tries to alienate her.
Bella is unrelenting. After confronting Jacob with his
friends, Jacob is mean and Bella is forced to walk away from
him. Jacob visits her room the following night and
apologizes. He encourages Bella to guess his secret. She
does - he's a werewolf. The La Push Indians have a certain
few tribe members who are bred to change when their tribe
and land are threatened by vampires, and Jacob has changed.

Bella accepts him and is soon, reluctantly, accepted by the
other wolves. They have a problem - a vampire has been
attacking the area. Bella and the wolves quickly figure out
it's Victoria, wanting to avenge James's death on Bella. The
wolves manage to keep Bella safe, but they can't catch
Victoria. One day at La Push, Bella decides to go cliff
diving. Jacob saves her, but this action was "seen" by Alice
Cullen in her mind's eye. Alice thinks Bella might have
tried to commit suicide and rushes to Forks to find out.

Alice finds Bella alive and is grateful for it.
Unfortunately, a misunderstanding between Alice's vision,
Rosalie, and Edward leave Edward believing Bella is dead.
Edward goes to Italy in the hopes that an old vampire
family, the Volterra, will kill him. Alice, with Bella in
tow, rush to Italy to save Edward. They do so, but only
after the vampire family captures them. The head vampire,
Aro, agrees to let them all go after witnessing one of
Alice's visions. When Bella returns to Forks, Edward stays
and Jacob is devastated by her romantic rejection.

"New Moon" offers what "Twilight" didn't - tight
characterization. Meyer knows her characters better in this
sequel and it shows. Bella easily carries the novel. She's
less "whiney" as she deals with heartache, an emotion that
many readers can connect with. Jacob's development as a
character is a delight to read.

What young adult readers will be able to relate to are the
"Romeo and Juliet" comparisons throughout - this made it
easier to understand why Bella is so set on Edward, despite
Jacob's consistency and friendship.

The book moves at a quick pace and the plot is tight.
There's plenty of action and mounds of suspense - especially
on the trip to Italy. Meyer's dialogue captures the essence
of her characters. The book doesn't dwell on a natural,
sensual appeal that vampires and werewolves bring to a
story, in fact there are only a couple of kissing scenes.
It's this innocent, yet, smoldering sensuality which will
engage the reader's imagination leaving the reader ready for
Edward and Bella to take their relationship deeper.

While "New Moon" is lengthy, Meyer's brisk writing will make
it impossible to put down. "New Moon" is a sequel that
delivers a charge which accelerates past "Twilight" faster
than the moon's light reaches Earth.

Book Review for "New Moon" Written by: Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown, and Company ISBN: 0-316-02496-1 563 pages
$10.99 5 Stars

StephB is an author who can be found at
http://sgcardin.tripod.com In her spare time she likes to
read many books and a variety of different genres. StephB is
an author at http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for
Creative Writing.

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