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Frustrating 
I read Twilight and didn't finish it. I read The Host and didn't like it. So why did I get New Moon? Because I have to have something to read and I thought I'd see what all the hype was about.
You go into the stores and see all this merchandise with Twilight and New Moon on it, teen girls are snapping up the books or any books about it. They love it, love Edward or Jacob, want to be Bella. But what frustrated and distrubed me about the Twilight saga, but mostly New Moon is the message that the book delivers.
You need a man, a strong and very handsome man to be happy and to feel whole. Break ups hurt, espically if you loved that person deeply. But to spend months in a daze is pathetic. Bella can't even remember the months she was a "zombie". She wakes up screaming bloody murder every night from nightmares brought on by Edward's leaving. A more normal reaction would be grief and loss and pain, then anger.
She feels she doesn't deserve him because she's not beautiful like him. What kind of message is that! Who is Bella? We don't know, all we know is how beautiful she thinks Edward is, how she can't bear to live without him. We don't know what she likes, the kinds of food, music, books, clothes. For the first book it's about how beautiful Edward is, how lucky she is, and how she loves him so much. The second book is about how she misses him so much. Oh, and Bella is clumsy and gets hurt a lot. I mean, A LOT. That girl needs to be put in a bubble.
She uses people, like Jacob. Like her friends. And she admits it!
I haven't seen the movie, maybe it's better. But this isn't a book I'd want any girl I know reading. And if I saw her reading it while recently suffering a break up of her own, I'd tear it out of her hands and burn it. I don't think I'd want my boys reading it either (if they were old enough and would dare to be seen reading it) because it sends a message to them. That girls are totally dependent on them and don't have any thoughts of their own and will idolize any man who claims to love them.
The ideas behind Twilight and The Host are wonderful and creative. I just wish they had been written differently. It was such a disappoinment to see those brillant ideas twisted into a codependent and selfish nightmare.
I swear Bella is the kind of character that would get into a relationship with a guy who beats her with an extension cord for overcooking the spaghetti noodles and she'd claim she deserved it. Way to go, influencing a generation of young people to be codependent and passive doormats.
Impressed despite my apprehension 
So I am one of those people that loves to read.. therefore, I tend to avoid the "hype" books such as the Twilight Series. Add to that I am a woman in my late 20's and I was adamantly against reading these "teeny-bopper" books. Well I was sadly mistaken to believe that because Stephanie Meyers books were being advertised primarily to these young people that it wouldn't be a good read. I was persuaded by a friend of mine that is an avid book reader of great intelligence to read new moon and I was greatly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! I read the book in two days and quickly picked up Eclipse afterward. Meyers writes in a way that draws you in and allows you to feel every emotional aspect of what the character would be feeling. There wasn't a lul in the text or a part I felt I could or wanted to skip over. Do not fall into the stereotype of beliefs that this isnt good writing just because the teenagers love it.. adults love it too.
So the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb. . . Then the Lion Left
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that this book is about what happens to Bella, the regular teenage girl protagonist of "Twilight," when Edward, the vampire she loves desperately, leaves her. She is devastated. She is depressed. She is inconsolable. I myself had a couple of very intense relationships a little like this when I was in my twenties, and I could definitely relate to Bella's predicament and how author Stephenie Mayer expresses it. In fact, it was so realistic that I was considering not reading any more when Bella finds a new source of comfort: her friendship with Jacob, the Native American boy she has known from childhood. Obviously, he's not the "perfect" Edward, but Bella begins to suspect that allowing herself some small measure of happiness away from Edward would not be "selling out."
Jacob, who is 2 years younger than Bella, has his own period of painful growth to endure. Both his physical and emotional progress is laid out for the reader (eventually), as he comes to terms with the kind of adult he is becoming and tries to make peace with it.
This book contains some of the history, mythology and philosophy that the first novel lacked, and it finishes with an even better and more suspenseful flourish. Some Romeo and Juliet comparison is included, which may be appropriate, if cliched, for the age of the characters. Fortunately, Bella is modern enough, and sophisticated enough, to handle the comparisons her mind insists on making without getting too sentimental about it.
Great, great fiction 
Stephenie Meyer has given her readers a great gift in these books. I am afraid this fact is being lost in the hype for the movies. The books evoke strong emotion and they are a great gift to anyone who enjoys this genre, well written, easy read, fun.
Least Favorite 
Yes, Edward is noble, trying to do the right thing by leaving Bella to live a life as a human. But surely he should have realized that if he was so intent on not causing her pain that this act would cause her the most excruciating ever? She is in love with him and how can separation ever be a good thing?
The vocabulary was so redundant...safe harbor, my best friend, happy...that it was almost a screaming moment to read another word.
Too much angst to be good.
Edward's point of view would have been a more fascinating story.
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