Review
Twilight (Twilight, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer
Martin, New York Public Library All rights reserved.. As a result, the novel's danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive. Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.Hillias J. The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they attempt to hide Edward's identity from her family and the rest of the school. She becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire. Meyer adds an eerie new twist to the mismatched, star-crossed lovers theme: predator falls for prey, human falls for vampire. I have my headphones in and I'm listened to a mix of Muse, Coldplay, Travis, My Chemical Romance, and The All-American Rejects. Bella and Edward's struggle to make their relationship work becomes a struggle for survival, especially when vampires from an outside clan infiltrate the Cullen territory and head straight for her. This tension strips away any pretense readers may have about the everyday teen romance novel, and kissing, touching, and talking take on an entirely new meaning when one small mistake could be life-threatening. I like to have choices.Starred Review. When he reveals that his specific clan hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his blood-sucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him. Beside me is a fabulous, and yet mysteriously low in calorie, cheesecake....A: I'd like it to say that I really tried at the important things. Mostly things like, "How do you come up with this stuff?!" But, if he wasn't available, I'd settle for Matthew Bellamy (lead singer of Muse).A: I'd want something offensive, rather than defensive. That way, you're really open to going either way--hero or villain. Grade 9 UpHeadstrong, sun-loving, 17-year-old Bella declines her mom's invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly opts to move to her dad's cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. One book is impossible. Like shooting fireballs from my hands. Under that, I'd want a list of my favorite Simpsons quotes.A: I'd love to have a chance to talk to Orson Scott Card--I have a million questions for him. I was never perfect at any of them, but I honestly tried to be a great mom, a loving wife, a good daughter, and a true friend. The book with the most significant impact on my life as a writer is probably Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, with Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier coming in as a close second.Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?A: The CD is easy: Absolution by Muse, hands down. I can't remember ever seeing a single vampire movie, outside of clips from Bela Lugosi movies on TV. Montgomery I also enjoy J.K. I'd have to have Pride and Prejudice, but I couldn't live without something by Orson Scott Card and a nice, thick Maeve Binchy, too.A: My lies are all very, very boring: "No, you really look great in hot pink!" "My children only watch one hour of TV a day." "I didn't eat the last Swiss Cake Roll--it must have been one of the kids." That's the best I've got.A: It's late at night and the house is silent, but I'm still gfull of energy. It's harder to give myself just one movie, but the one I watch most frequently is Sense and Sensibility--the one with the screenplay by Emma Thompson. I don't have a ton of time for TV, and my kids get rowdy when I have on "mommy shows," but I do have a secret fondness for reality shows (the good ones, at least in my opinion). There are sequels on the way--I'm hard at work editing book two gright now, and book three is waiting in line for its turn.I didn't mean to write for teens--I didn't mean to write for anyone but myself, so I had an audience of one twenty-nine year old (and later one thirty-one year old when my sister started reading). There's a lot of scope for a novel in that.A: I guess my favorite vampire story would be The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice, simply because it's one of the only ones I've ever read. I don't like true horror movies--my favorite scary movies are all Hitchcock's.A: My favorite young adult author is L.M. I always TiVo Survivor, The Amazing Race, and America's Next Top Model.Q: What inspired you to write Twilight? Is this the beginning of a series? Why write for teens?A: Twilight was inspired by a very vivid dream, which is fairly faithfully transcribed as chapter thirteen of the book. As a teen, I skipped straight to adult books (lots of sci-fi and Jane Austen), so I'm rediscovering the world of teen literature now.A: The book with the most significant impact on my life is The Book of Mormon. She's a huge Buffy fan and she kept trying to get me to watch, but I was afraid it would mess up my vision of the vampire world so I never did. Rowling (but who doesn't?), and Ann Brashares. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. g--Patty Campbell 10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Stephenie Meyer Q: Were you a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Angel? What are you watching now that those shows are off the air?A: I have never seen an entire episode of Buffy or Angel. I keep meaning to pick up Bram Stoker's Dracula, because I get asked this question so often and I should probably start with the classics, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. It's a fascinating place: old enough to feel truly adult, old enough to make decisions that affect the rest of your life, old enough to fall in love, yet, at the same time too young gto be free to make a lot of those decisions without someone else's approval. Ack! I can't even answer the movie question. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. While I was writing Twilight, I let my older sister read along chapter by chapter. I think the reason that I ended up with a book for teens is because high school is such a compelling time period--it gives you some of your worst scars and some of your most exhilarating memories. Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat." As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship. "Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat.