Title: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publication: Aug 7 2007

There really was no saving point in this book. Bella was as annoying as ever. Now in the third book, she’s getting on my nerves. firstly, right off the bat, one of the main parts in this instalment of the series is Bella’s relationship with Jacob Black. now, if I were to start reading the series now, I would be able to accept their relationship as it is, but having read a supposed ‘history’, where did this relationship come from? in the last book Bella spent a week or two with Jacob and only searched him out ever so that she could escape her problems and maybe get closer to what she perceived as ‘Edward’, and then all of a sudden no one knows Jacob like her? give me a break! that would make more sense if they had some sort of history before twilight, which they do, but she said that she barely remembered him the first time they met in book 1, and even then she used him to her own ends. so in my opinion, that relationship, at least on her side, doesn’t make sense or doesn’t really resonate with me as a deep and meaningful relationship that would interfere with her relationship with Edward, but she somehow makes it, which makes you wonder the level of her commitment to him. speaking of that, sometimes in this book i didn’t really feel Bella’s connection with Edward was something ‘real’. its ok that Bella’s relationships with other people are weak in a romance, so long as she has a strong relationship with her lover. and she doesn’t have a strong connection with anybody, except Edward, and that’s fine, its a romance, no one else is supposed to be connected. but somewhere in the third book we have Bella pushing Edward away? I mean she isn’t supposed to cling to him (never that), but she starts resenting his feelings. she gets her back up that one time, in the entire series, that he makes a request of her, that is for her own benefit. but she wines to him every night to stay with her while she’s sleeping.

I guess my problem is that it seems Bella is extremely selfish and expects people to what she says without really reciprocating. in fact she’s quite passive throughout the entire series, surprisingly. there is a lot of things happening, so you almost miss it with all of the action, but the action is happening around her or because of her, but she never takes an active role, and yet she’s so selfish and demanding. that’s what bugs me. (and it took a whole three books to figure it out).

Jacob, who was the only saving point of the last book ‘New Moon’, spiralled down into a jerk by physically forcing himself on Bella (twice) and then having the nerve to stand back for a bellowing laugh. I suppose it was lucky that his sexual assault didn’t borderline anywhere near rape, yet what really irritates me the most is that Bella’s reaction to his assault was played off comically by both Jacob and her father Charlie. (what the eff???).

This isn’t even the start of Eclipse’s problems. Then there’s Edward, who literally kidnaps the poor girl and holds her hostage in the start of the book, which made me wonder if Bella knew exactly the type of relationship she was in.  I don’t understand what the Author was trying to do here…it’s like the Character took a total flipside on their behaviours or that the readers are finally seeing their true-colours?

I know, I know, he loves her and wanted to protect her, but damn, when I was reading the entire thing from her perspective, it felt like I was watching a horror flick with an obsessed and mentally disturbed stalker instead. Luckily, that kind of over reaction didn’t last because Edward was a bit more tolerable here for the rest of the book. He actually seemed to have somewhat matured from the previous book, but again, like in the past, his constant need to cradle or hold Bella’s face to tell her how perfect she was became pretty annoying as well.

Even the ultimate alliance between the Werewolves and the Vampires didn’t interest me. There was nothing in there that was remotely intriguing, especially since most of their allied battle was told to us off-screen, which is a complete shame because I was looking forward to that the most.

However, the biggest gripe I have about this series is how everything, including the sun and moon, seems to revolve around Bella. As close to a definition of a Mary Sue if I’ve ever seen one in a long while. Between the hundreds of growls that every character seemed to make in this book, I found myself lowering my IQ just to tolerate the characters and the story.

Why were all these 100+ year old vampires so dumb? The big twist where Bella figures out the connection between Victoria, the newborns, and Seattle was plainly obvious. In fact, after Jasper explained the entire newborn story, I thought that everyone assumed that Victoria was behind this. Imagine my surprise when it’s BELLA who’s friggin’ telling all these smarter, faster, and experienced vampires that there might be a connection. The fact that they found this revelation surprising was what that baffled me.

This was not the only example: The twist of the final battle itself where Victoria used the newborns as a distraction seemed like a big deal to all the characters, even to the great military expert Jasper, but it was just as something that was so obvious and predictable that I felt like I was personally dealing with idiots. The entire thing just made me want to scream. I wanted to skip pages and got really tired of reading things that seemed to be redundant.

The only characters that I found that I could truly tolerate in moderation were the secondary characters – Charlie, Billy, Sam, etc. The stories that both Jasper and Billy’s relatives told about their pasts were the only parts where I enjoyed the book. The conflicted romance, and even the danger that surfaced in this book, were laughably bad. I can only shake my head at anyone who thinks this is good writing. Perhaps as a way to fill some time, but other than that, it’s a pass for me completely.  I may re-read it again for sure maybe this time I’ll be more….interested? However this book out of the whole series isn’t up there. Maybe the movie will win me over. Hopefully !!!

Title: New Moon
Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publication: Sep 6 2006

Right after Twilight I picked up New Moon. This is by far my favourite book. This one made me laugh, cry and most of all fall in love with all the characters from the series.

The Lives of the Star-Crossed Lovers Continue

For Bella Swan, there is only one thing more important to her than life itself: Edward Cullen, her vampire boyfriend. As the day of her eighteenth birthday finally arrives in Forks, Bella is terribly dismayed. Being eighteen now means that she is one year older than Edward; and, if he continues to refuse to bite he and make her a vampire as he has been, Bella worries that she will be old and decrepit when she is at last a vampire, while Edward forever remains seventeen. Against Bella’s wishes, the Cullens all plan a big birthday party for Bella at their mansion. At first, the evening passes normally. But then, when Bella cuts her finger while unwrapping a gift, and a single drop of red blood oozes from her finger, it sends Esme, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice into a ravenous, bloodthirsty rage.

Although Edward and Carlisle manage to control themselves and endure the alluring scent of Bella’s blood, Edward fears that he has put Bella in far too much danger. He sees only one option left: to leave Bella entirely. And so he does that. But he leaves Bella behind, completely heartbroken, with a terrible hole in her chest. She becomes nearly a zombie for months, almost comatose or catatonic, it seems. But then, Bella discovers there is one person that can heal the hole, or ease it at least: Jacob Black, the sixteen-year-old Quileute Indian living in the La Push Reservation near Forks. Bella realizes how warm and happy she feels around Jacob—but she knows that he loves her more than as a best friend; but she could never love Jacob over Edward.

As Bella uncovers the truth that Jacob and four other young men at La Push are all actually werewolves, the vampires’ worst and only natural enemy, the werewolves continue to try and hunt down a flame-haired vampire lurking in the forests surrounding La Push and Forks. Bella knows that the vampire is Victoria, who wishes to ruthlessly murder Bella, because Edward killed James—Victoria’s mate—who nearly killed Bella last spring. Mate for mate. But Jacob and the others are not willing to give Bella up to Victoria without a fight first. One day, Bella decides to “cliff-dive” off the cliffs by the beach of La Push, like she had seen other boys do. Every time Bella does something reckless, she hears Edward’s voice as she gets a rush of adrenaline.

But when Alice sees Bella cliff-diving through her gift of second sight, she mistakes it for suicide. His heart shattered that his lost true love is now dead, Edward leaves for Volterra, Italy, to ask the all-powerful and largest vampire family in the world, the Volturi, to kill him—as all vampires do when they wish to die. When Alice informs Bella, she immediately decides to fly to Italy as well to save Edward before he does something exposing that forces the Volturi to kill him. She leaves Jacob behind, confused and hurt. Edward is more important to her, no matter what she may think afterwards. Saving Edward is one thing; but how can Alice and Bella explain everything to the Volturi? Will they believe them? Will they let Bella, a human, stay alive, knowing secrets of the vampires? And finally, will Bella remain human?

In the less streamlined but still gripping and exciting sequel to the entrancing Twilight, the #1 New York Times bestseller, Stephenie Meyer crafts an eloquent novel of vampires, love, danger, and now, werewolves. The blossoming love between Bella and Edward is true and beautiful, and I enjoyed the numerous comparisons and quotes in the novel from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet—indeed, the love triangle subplot of this story does rather resemble the play in a few noticeable ways. I personally hate Jacob Black, however, not for his personality, but mostly for his intentions to make Bella love him and hate Edward. Although unintentionally, Stephenie Meyer makes Edward and Bella’s love so likable, anything or anyone that interferes with that—a.k.a. Jacob—will be hated, whether he is good or not. Still, Jacob aside, the novel’s end will have teens begging to read the third instalment, Eclipse, in fall 2007.

Highly recommended! Again I strongly believe these books aren’t meant for younger kids. There are too many topics that young minds need to be educated about – I adored this book and nov. 2009 – there will be a movie. Sadly I’ll miss opening day but I’m dragging someone to come see it with me!

New Movie

I can’t wait to see this. I think it looks so much better than the first one. I’m so happy Chris Weitz jumped on board.!!!

This is crazy look what I just found…damn….spoiler for sure.