Adult Fiction Selection: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Young Adult Selection: In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater Rhodes

“Anyways, you don’t irritate the Volturi—not unless you want to die.” ~ Edward Cullen

“Yes, it is the fourteenth day of February. So are you going to be my Valentine? Since you didn’t get me a fifty-cent box of candy, it’s the least you can do.” ~ Jacob Black

“So you’re the vampire girl.” ~ Emily

“He was a fool to think you could survive alone. I’ve never seen anyone so prone to life-threatening idiocy.” ~ Alice Cullen

“Leave it to you, Bella. Anyone else would be better off when the vampires left town. But you have to start hanging out with the first monsters you can find.” ~ Alice Cullen

“I bet she’s tougher than that… she runs with vampires.” ~ Embry
 

Edward has learned to curb his desire to kill Bella and replaced this need with the desire to protect her at all costs. Bella is enjoying the beauty of being in love and experiencing her senior year of high school in Forks, Washington. Many of Bella’s friends and family members worry about the amount of time she spends with Edward. (I’m sure they’d worry a lot more about this fact if they knew Edward’s true nature.) However, Bella does not heed their advice and spends every possible moment with Edward.

Edward’s family has grown to accept Bella after the amount of time the two lovebirds have spent with one another. They are looking forward to Bella being around with them for some time until the fateful day of her 18th birthday party. Alice Cullen, Edward’s pixie like sister, has decided to throw Bella a birthday party in spite of the fact that Bella hates parties of any sort. Each member of the Cullen coven has shown up with a gift for the birthday girl. Bella is touched by their thoughtfulness, but she still can’t help struggling with the fact that every day makes her a just a bit older and Edward is locked in his perfect 17 year old state. During the party events unfold that make Edward seriously re-evaluate his choice to be with Bella. He determines that her life and safety are more important than his feelings. He finds himself in the midst of an impossible choice – Does he stay with the love of his life and hope that he can protect her? Or does he leave her and hope that she can move on with her life and forget that he ever existed?

As Edward struggles to do what he feels is best for Bella, she also must make some difficult decisions. Should she allow Edward to leave? Should she forget him and move on? Is there anyone else that can make her heart soar as he does? Bella’s good friend, Jacob Black, hopes to help her find the answers she so desperately seeks. But will Bella allow him to do so? Bella will soon learn that nothing is at it appears and even friends can have deep dark secrets that they choose to keep hidden from the light of day.

I feel that Stephenie does an amazing job of capturing the raw emotions of her characters within this novel. For me her writing simply is about the characters. The plot is interesting, but I am not sure I would like this series so much if I didn’t truly love the Cullens and Bella. I am compelled to read their stories because I want to know what happens to them based on their decisions and experiences. Even though I realize that these fictional characters do not actually exist I view them as living, breathing entities as I read. I feel that this is an example of the giftedness of Stephenie Meyer. She writes about people that are so human they could be real in spite of their mythical qualities. New Moon was not my favorite of the Twilight series, but I do appreciate the effort that Stephenie put into crafting this novel. I was tormented right along with Bella and shared many of her tears as she struggled to make sense of her life and of Edward.

Rating: 9/10

Favorite Characters: Edward Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Bella Swan

To learn more about New Moon, please visit:

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/newmoon.html

The following quotations are my favorite from the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer:

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how potent that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” ~ Bella Swan

“If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.” ~ Edward Cullen

“You smell so good in the rain” ~ Edward Cullen

“You’re intoxicated by my very presence.” ~ Edward Cullen

 ”You’re exactly my brand of heroin.” ~ Edward Cullen

“Vampires like baseball?” ~ Bella Swan

 ”Oh, a sadistic vampire, intent on torturing her to death, sure, no problem, she runs off to meet him. An IV, on the other hand…” ~ Edward Cullen

“Snow just means it’s too cold for rain.”  ~ Bella Swan

An ad in a magazine for Eclipse is what first turned me onto this series. I hadn’t read a vampire novel since I was a kid and decided it might be time to give this subject matter a bit of attention. I headed to the bookstore in search of the first book in the series and came home with a paperback copy of Twilight. Since that first day I purchased the book I have “revamped” the novel six times and it continues to enthrall me.

Twilight is the story of a love affair that defies all odds. Bella Swan is an average girl who moves to Forks, Washington in order to live with her father, Charlie, the loveable local sheriff. Bella’s mother, Renee, has relocated to Florida due to the career path of her current husband, Phil. Bella has no desire to move to Florida and feels that the best thing she can do for her mother is to let her go without being burdened with a teenage daughter. Bella is constantly trying to make everyone in her world happy and rarely thinks about herself. This is evident in the fact that she agreed to move to a town that she loathes with every fiber of her being. Bella finds Forks dull and she cannot stand the weather! She remarks that the area is too green; she also misses the sun and its warmth since these items make rare appearances in her new home.

Bella’s father, Charlie, attempts to make his daughter’s life in Forks as pleasant as possible, but he worries that she is unhappy in her new home. The story shifts to focus on Bella and her experiences at Forks High School. On her first day she glimpses Edward Cullen and his family; there is an instant attraction for Bella, but Edward seems to detest everything about her. She tries to not let this fact bother her and she attempts to erase him from her mind, but she finds this to be an impossible task.

 Eventually, Edward allows his guard to drop – Bella gratefully enters Edward’s world. His life holds secrets that she would not have imagined in her wildest dreams. How does a human girl grow to love a vampire that thirsts for her blood? I shall let you read the book to find out that answer.

Rating: 10/10

Favorite Characters: Edward Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Bella Swan

For more information on Stephenie Meyer and Twilight, please visit:

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

Also, Twilight is on its way to becoming a major motion picture! The film will be released December 12, 2008. You can watch the trailer and learn more about the film here:

http://twilightthemovie.com/

There are also numerous websites devoted to Twilight – Twilight Lexicon and Twilight Moms are two that I frequent on a regular basis. I highly recommend them to any fans of the book. If you are under 25, there is a site called Twilight Teens that would better meet your needs. Enjoy!

P.S. – TEAM EDWARD!

Once I arrived in Seattle and checked into my hotel, I immediately hit the streets for some sight seeing and lunch. There is plenty of yummy food to be had at The Revolution Bar and Grill near the Space Needle. After lunch, my friend and I boarded one of Seattle’s famous ducks to get a unique tour of the city. The ducks are vehicles from World War II that work as land and water vehicles; this way you see the sights within the city and get to spend some time on Lake Union. Once the duck tour ended, it was time to go visit Pike Street Market. My main goals for the visit were to stop by Beecher’s for the best mac and cheese in the world and to get a drink from my Mecca, the first Starbucks! These goals were accomplished in a fairly quick manner and were well worth the lines!

My day in Seattle ended with a yummy dinner at Sky City, the rotating restaurant perched high upon the Space Needle. Seattle is a gorgeous city at night and the view was certainly worth the price of dinner.

The next morning I headed to Sea-Tac to await my flight home and a return to reality. I am now in love with the Pacific Northwest and cannot wait to return to it!

This day began just as early as the previous one. Once again the logging trucks were out in full force clattering about the asphalt carrying their heavy loads of lumber. The only major difference in the morning was the location of breakfast. We opted to eat at The In Place. The food here was also pretty decent. After satisfying our hunger, we once again made a trip to the Forks Chamber of Commerce. This visit was to secure directions to the house that they had decided most resembled the Swan residence. With the directions, the house was much easier to find. The home was very similiar to the one in my imagination. I could almost see Charlie clomping up the steps after a long day at the station. My eyes also scanned the upper portion of the house and rested on the ledge underneath two windows. Flickers of seeing Edward climb from this ledge into the window of Bella’s room flashed throughout my mind. We also stumbled across the closest thing the town has to the Cullen house. It’s a gorgeous bed and breakfast not far from the main part of town. Perhaps I will stay there on my next trip to Forks! I certainly have plans to go back at some point.

We also spent some time shopping in Forks before heading to La Push. Once we arrived on the reservation, a quest for house resembling Jacob’s began. I was intent on finding a house so that I could imagine Bella’s time spent on the reservation during New Moon and Eclipse. There were two homes that stuck out as possibilities for Jacob’s home – each one complete with a garage. One could almost picture Jacob working on his cars and motorcycle! A trip to La Push would not be complete without a visit to First Beach. The setting was just as I had envisioned during my reading and it was just right for werewolves. Mike’s beach party sprang to mind as I looked around the beach and I could almost hear the story of the cold one’s ringing throughout my mind.

A short drive brought us to the parking lot for second beach, which is also located in La Push. A short hike was required to get to the actual beach. The path twisted through the forest towards the shore. Once the path ended we quickly saw that our entry to the beach was blocked by numerous drift wood logs piled high upon one another. There was only one way to the sand – to climb over the massive trees. This process took a bit of time and was somewhat tedious. As I reached the sand, I soon forgot the time it took to reach that point and breathed in the cool, salty air. The view before me was like none I had ever witnessed. Being from the East Coast, I am used to beaches that have warm breezes and sunlight. Neither of these elements was present at Second Beach. I began to collect pebbles from the shore to bring home with me. I had heard that Stephenie Meyer and other Forks visitors had collected pebbles from these same beaches as keepsakes and writing inspiration. The pebbles would serve as a memento of my time in La Push. Time was also spent hiking to the tide pools just as Bella and her friends had done in Twilight. I had never seen anything like them before. The pools were hard to reach due to slippery sea rocks that needed to be crossed. The peril was well worth it! Purple and orange starfish were clustered throughout the tide pools in large numbers; the pools also contained various other forms of sea life such as brightly colored sea anemones and hermit crabs.

Once I was able to drag myself away from the tide pools, I returned to the sand to collect a few more pebbles for my collection. Green stones were my favorite and I was seeking a variety of these keepsakes. The child within me crept out a bit when I decided to write messages in the sand. The messages ranged from “Team Edward” written in the sand with a piece of driftwood to the letters EC spelled out with sea stones. My enthusiasm with the beach art died out fairly quickly and I decided it was time to once again brave the driftwood maze and the hike back to the car. The day had been amazing, but as all things do it had come to an end. The evening was spent losing myself in reading Twilight yet again. However, the reading was more entertaining and vivid with the visions of Forks and La Push dancing amongst my thoughts.

Edward would have loved the weather for sure! I awoke to skies of gray which held out for the remainder of the day. The skies were just as gloomy as Bella described within Twilight and there were numerous rain showers. I loved the weather, but I could see how it would have been difficult for Bella to adjust to this after living in Phoenix for so long. Throughout the day, I kept looking for Edward out of the corner of my eye even though I know he’s a fictional character and couldn’t possibly appear.

Our day began super early due to the noise from the logging trucks that frequently passed our hotel. We had breakfast at the Forks Coffee Shop, which was pretty decent food. The large elk head on the wall was slightly unnerving since I could only imagine how large the animal must have been alive! Forks and the surrounding areas are full of the creatures. In fact, they were a food source for the Cullens at times within the books. We would actually spend a lot of time trying to see elk during our stay in Forks. After breakfast, we headed to the Forks Chamber of Commerce. The staff there was knowledgeable about the books and the local sites associted with the series. We were given packets to help us with our vampire and werewolf hunting – the packet actually included sand from First Beach in La Push! My friend and I also had our photographs taken and placed on the Forks website.

The next stop was the Hoh Rainforest. Green beauty abounded throughout the ferns and massive trees. Being within the forest was like a fairy tale. One could clearly see how Bella would have been frightened as Edward ran through the trees at different points within the novels. The trees grow so closely together that I could only imagine how frightening the run must have been. After walking various trails and seeing enormous trees, we decided it was time to leave the forest and head to a different venue,

Our next stop was Ruby Beach – so named because it is said to have garnet mixed in with the sand. Some say that when the sun hits the beach the sand sparkles with a pinkish hue. The beach is not part of the Twilight world, but I was interested to see if the sand truly looked pink as I had never seen anything of this nature before. Sadly, the sand was an ordinary shade of tan, but the beach itself did offer many interesting views. The sand was littered with smooth rocks and pebbles that had been thrown from the sea. Driftwood logs also littered the edge of the shore.

Finally, we decided to spend the remainder of the day seeing the major Twilight sites within the town. Forks High School was located directly behind our hotel, which made it very easy to find. The school was exactly as I had imagined it. Our tour of the Twilight sites also led us to the hospital (complete with a parking space marked for Dr. Cullen), the police station where Charlie would have worked, Thriftway (where Bella stocks up on all the ingredients she needs for her various dinners), and the Forks Outfitters (aka Mike Newton’s family’s store). I was pinching myself the whole time! We had yummy burgers at Sully’s for lunch – I highly recommend eating here if you are ever in the area. The restaurant even features a Bella Burger! I opted to not order this because I wasn’t fond of many of the ingredients included – I am a picky eater. However, I did order the Rainy Burger, which could also be seen as Twilight related.

After lunch we spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect Swan house, but couldn’t find anything that matched the vision from the reading.

Since this day was devoted to Edward and the vampires, the following day would lend itself to searching for Jacob and The Pack.