Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balance precariously on the point of a knife -- between desire and danger.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

I wish I could remember where I first saw this book mentioned so that I could thank them! Being a relative newcomer to vampire books (only having read one other), this book was completely fresh to me.

When Bella Swan moves to Forks, she goes from being a non entity in Phoenix, to being mega popular in her new school. Unfortunately the only boy she is interested in is Edward Cullen, and well, he's not really a boy. The fact that he disappears on sunny days, and never seems to eat anything, are the first clues as to his real...um, identity I guess!

As for Edward, he is instantly attracted to Bella, and goes out of his way initially to avoid her, because when you are attracted to someone, that tends to end quite badly! Gradually though, Bella and Edward gravitate more and more to each other and Edward begins to learn that he has more control over his desires than he initially thought. As Bella gets herself into more and more scrapes Edward becomes almost like her bodyguard.

Whilst most of the town of Forks has no idea that the well respected Cullen family are anything other than the fine standing citizens that they seem, albeit with very impressive cars, there are certain people who do know and who are trying to warn Bella away from Edward. Edward is also dealing with some resistance from within his own family, but gradually they begin to accept her. However that acceptance nearly turns to a tragedy when some newcomers come to town and find Bella with the Cullens.

The characters in this book are delightful, and there are several very funny moments, including some charming moments when there is a sense of tiredness around living as an immortal. For example, at one point Edward is talking to Bella about two of his brothers and sisters, who have chosen to be each others life partners, and he says something along the lines of "I suppose we'll have to go to their wedding in a few years...again".

Edward and his family are able to be integrated into society as the vampires in Meyer's world don't have to sleep all night in coffins, can be seen in the sunshine and can live on something other than human blood. Having so integrated has the added benefit of allowing them to occasionally take on very human traits.

This was a very enjoyable read, and am looking forward to reading more about Bella and Edward when the sequel is issued later this year. Oh, and both this book and the sequel (called New Moon) have really nice covers in my opinion.

Rating 4.5/5


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