What’s On Our Bookshelf? November Edition

In honor of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon last week, I chose New Moon by Stephenie Meyer as our book of the month for November.  In case you have been living under a rock, the Twilight series has become a worldwide phenomenon with the second movie shattering records.

Let me start by explaining that I used to be completely anti-Twilight.  I was an avid ‘Harry Potter’ fan and was pretty distraught thinking that there was another series being compared to it.  I read the back of Twilight to get an idea of what it was about and I laughed even harder.  Alas, I ended up buying it just to see where all of the hype was coming from.  I ended up really enjoying it for what it was.  Even though the books are long, they are definitely what you would call “easy reads.”  The first book, Twilight, gave us the budding romance between vegetarian vampire Edward Cullen and clumsy human Bella Swan.  The next paragraph may be a little spoiler-y… just a warning!

Where Twilight is filled with young love, New Moon is filled with teenage angst.  There is relationship turmoil, a secretive best friend and an international trip that could save something very precious.  After probably the worst birthday party known to man, the Cullens leave and Bella’s world is turned upside down.  She not only loses the “love of her life” Edward, but her best girl friend, Alice.  Bella is catatonic through a good portion of the book and she only finds solace in her best friend Jacob Black; however, Jacob starts to become secretive and Bella hits a low point once again.   Bella is a self-proclaimed “adrenaline junkie” racing motorcycles and cliff diving throughout the novel.  This is her only way to feel Edward’s presence again.

New Moon is definitely a bit heavier than Twilight was, but it is a necessity to the series as a whole.  I have to admit; when I first read this book, I was less than thrilled.  I think it truly takes a second reading to appreciate it.  Also, after watching the movie, I have become even more of a fan.  It is kind of nice that the characters in the series are far from perfect.  Each and every character has their faults as well as their strengths.  Hey, you can always give the Twilight series a chance because you probably couldn’t find a bigger hater than me… and now I am eating my words.

What are your thoughts on the series? Like or dislike it, we want to know your opinions!  E-mail us at intern@collegelifestyles.org or just let us know in the comments section.

Kaitlyn Kline is an intern with College Lifestyles^TM.  She is also an Edinboro University of PA and Alpha Sigma Tau alum.  She is totally Team Emmett because he has the best one liners such as, “Nice to have toddlers guarding the fort.”

*We have not received any compensation or gifts for reviewing this book.  We have expressed our sincere opinions in this post.*