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The wait is over, and another begun. Like its predecessors before it, Eclipse will please, and leave readers wanting more.
Picking up with life in Forks racing towards graduation, Bella is under house arrest, she and Jacob still aren’t speaking, Charlie is barely tolerating Edward, who himself is more polite than Bella thinks Charlie deserves, and her plans to become a vampire are solid as ever. If only that were the end of the list of worries.
There’s still Victoria, forever hunting Bella to avenge her mate’s death. And the Volturi, displeased with a human knowing their secret. And, after winning her freedom, and going to see Jake, Jake and Edwards’ mutual dislike. Edward, of course, is the first to get a grip. And in Bella, the werewolves and the vampires find common ground. After a break-in at her house, Jake and Edward realize Bella, and everyone else involved, would be better protected if the sides worked together. For a long time, that leaves Jacob on his own, largely lacking in sleep, but he won’t hear of not doing his part.
Then there’s the matter of the murders in Seattle. Eventually, the Cullens suspect vampires. Newborns. An area with which Jasper has a great deal of experience.
A plan begins to form, and after some more insightful thought on Bella’s part, changes, as the plot thickens. For her part, she can’t stand any of it. Knowing that her friends are putting themselves in danger for her. Regardless of their claims that it will all work out, she can’t relax. And after hearing in detail what newborns can do, she starts to worry after herself, and what she’ll become when she changes. Whether she’ll still be herself.
A lot of big questions get asked, and answered, in this installment of the series, which is sure to please. For my part, I’m now eagerly, and rather impatiently, awaiting Breaking Dawn.
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Edward Tulane lived the life of a spoiled rabbit–but he didn’t know it. He knew he was gorgeous, that he had fine clothes and his own pocket watch, set by him every day when his owner, Abilene, left for school. Pellegrina, her grandmother, spoke to Edward as an equal, as did Abilene, but her parents, he felt, were condescending. He didn’t like being thought of as a mere toy, regardless of whether it was true or not.
One night, not long before they’re to leave on an ocean voyage, Pellegrina tells Edward and Abilene a story. It’s a story of a princess who loves no one, and ends up turned into a boar and eaten. Edward doesn’t get it. He also doesn’t understand why Pellegrina, when she tucks him in, tells him “you disappoint me.”
When, during their ocean voyage, Edward finds himself thrown overboard, he has plenty of time at the bottom of the ocean to think things through.
After finally making it out of the ocean, Edward passes from home to home, family to family, spending time as a girl rabbit, a hobo, a scarecrow, and a puppet. Eventually, he finds himself in a shop on a shelf with dolls, after major repair-work. It’s enough to make him unlearn everything his adventures had taught him. But thanks to the words of an ancient, cracked doll, on her way out the door to another new life, Edward rebounds.
This was a really great book, with excellent lessons on love, friendship, family, and perhaps a little humility. I expect to be buying it for my own collection.
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Rating: 
Picking up where we left off in Once Upon a Curse, all is relatively well with Princess Emma’s life. She’s cured the family curse, she’s now the Green Witch, her Aunt and her sweetheart Haywood are reunited, and she has her own true love, Eadric. Her only remaining problem is trying to winner over his parents, who are not at all fond of magic, and therefore not at all fond of her.
On her mother’s orders, the two take a caravan to Upper Montevista, Eadric’s Kingdom, Emma trying her best to seem normal along the way. Easier said than done, when your traveling companions are a bat and a crab and your friend Ralf the dragon drops by to give you some news. Still, they make it to Upper Montevista in one piece and without many mishaps. Whereupon they find that Eadric’s brother Bradston has been kidnapped.
Using her far-seeing ball, Emma is able to conclude that the Troll’s have Bradston. And while his mother is loathe to have anything to do with magic, she must admit that Eadric will need Emma’s help. And so the two set off.
Along the way they encounter the trolls themselves, cockatrices, a banshee, a town of vampire bats, and some more trolls. Needless to say, not the easiest adventure they’ve set off on. But they do manage to retrieve Bradston, and return home to find that their wedding has been approved and will be happening the next day. Happily ever after, after all?
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Rating:
This is one of the most satisfying love stories I have read in a long time. Pure fantasy. So what if the boy of her dreams is a vampire? Bella is a feisty, albeit clumsy teen unaware of her own appeal forthe males (human or not)in her class at Forks High. Edward, 18 for over 100 years, is gorgeous, aloof and devoted to saving Bella (from herself, himself and his enemies). The plot is so compelling, and young love so well evoked I skimmed through the nasty bits to find out if they live happily ever (as in really forever) after. And then learned there’s a sequel.
A well written first novel, not just for teens.
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Nick’s been dumped, and he’s not over it. So the last thing he wants to see at the show is his ex walking in with another guy. When ex and said guy are approaching his location at the bar, he panics, turns to the girl next to him, and asks if she’d like to be his girlfriend for the next five minutes. Norah, who has her own set of issues and recent mishaps running through her mind, answers by kissing him, and thus begins their journey.
Told in alternating chapters from Nick and Norah’s point of view, this story follows the path of their all-over-the-place night, from that first kiss, to their first fight, to the seeming end and then their reunion.
I really liked Nick and Norah as characters. They’re both quite real, and you might find yourself nodding your head to some of the things they go through feeling. Fun book to read.
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Rating: 
Every bit as amazing as it’s prequel, if not more so. To do this book real justice I may have to go back and read it again…for reasons I can’t really go into without ruining too much, I read it a little too fast.
Picking up where we left off at the end of Twilight, Bella is now recovered from her attack, still dating Edward, and now has a job at a store in town. Life seems pretty much perfect, except for the minor detail of her still not having what she wants.
Despite her wishes, the Cullens have planned a Birthday party for her, and while she’s displeased, she tries to cut them some slack, once Edward points out that they’ve not been able to celebrate a real birthday in over a hundred years. And party-lover or not, she has to admit they’ve gone all out.
But, clutz that she is, it isn’t long before disaster strikes in the form of a paper cut, leading to Jasper having to be dragged from the house, the rest of the family (other than Carlisle) quickly following after. Once she’s been stitched up and bandaged. Edward brings her home, and his gift to her makes the night perfect despite the badness. In fact, she can’t imagine a better birthday.
But it isn’t meant to last.
Abandoned, Bella spends the next handful of months in a daze. At a complete loss, Charlie has know idea how to help her. But she refuses to leave Forks, and so all he can do is watch her struggle on.
Eventually, sparks of life return, as Bella vows to become reckless, purchases two used motorcycles, and heads down to La Push to see Jacob Black about fixing them. While there, she remembers how much she liked being around Jacob, and her visits quickly turn into a regular thing. Between them, and the sound of Edward’s voice in her mind with each reckless act, Bella begins to feel alive.
And then Jacob turns on her.
Life quickly becomes on trial after another, as Bella refuses to let Jacob go, and after a mid-night visit does some hard thinking to piece the puzzle together, much to the chagrin of his new friends. Then a cliff-diving stunt gone bad sets in motion a whole ‘nother set of events, even more incredible and harrowing.
Even more than Twilight, New Moon will leave you eagerly awaiting what comes next.
(Next installment due out October 2007)
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Rating:
Bella Swan isn’t looking forward to life in Forks. Though her dad is easy to be around, she’s spent most of her life without him. On top of which, she can’t stand the weather, and she knows she won’t fit in.
So when the first week of school is full of stares and whispers, Bella’s not surprised. Some of her classmates seem friendly enough, though some also seem overly friendly. All in all, things seem to be going fairly well. Until Biology, when her lab partner takes an immediate dislike to her, more along the lines of hatred.
When Edward Cullen stops coming to school, Bella assumes it must somehow be her fault, and can’t imagine what she did that was so bad. She finds out from a classmate that the Cullens are frequently absent, being big campers, and is somewhat appeased. But unprepared for Edward’s reappearance and attitude change.
While most of the school stears clear of the Cullen family, and Bella herself finds them intimidating, she’s also enthralled, especially with the ever-changing Edward. After he saves her life, it only gets more complex. The more she learns, the more curious she becomes, and the more reticent he is to tell her.
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. The story is great, and the characters will pull you right in. I, myself, am currently awaiting the sequel (with not enough patience).
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Floey Packer’s life takes a decided turn for the worse with the arrival of her 13th birthday, all because of a training bra. She’s far too large for it, you see, being an early bloomer, and it looks so ridiculous her best friend Azra decides they need to take a picture. Then, informing Floey that she’s too ordinary, she takes said picture, writes a Thank You note, and sends it off to the aunt who had sent it, making like she’s Floey.
This is not good.
Even worse, Floey’s sister is getting married, which means the dreaded Aunt Sarah will be in the house for an entire day. And leaving her children behind when she goes too!
Floey is not at all excited at the prospect of a summer with cousins she doesn’t know. And that’s before she finds out that Richard, who she decides is a little devil, knows about the picture, and is actually in possession of it. And this is only the beginning.
The invention of the New and Improved Floey Packer doesn’t quite come off as intended. The unending confusion over her feelings for Wen and her deal with Azra not to let him come between them seems to have no resolution. Tish won’t stop following her around and asking questions. And then there’s Billy and his Spy Club…
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Witch Baby always felt out of place. With her tangled up hair and purple eyes and anger, she was never as soft and gentle as her almost-mom Weetzie, or her half-sister Cherokee. Only Angel Juan could ever make her feel like she belonged. So when he tells her he’s leaving, that he needs to go to New York and be on his own, she can’t understand, and runs away. When she wakes up and realizes she didn’t get to say goodbye, she decides she’s going to follow and look for him.
When no letters follow his first postcard to her, she becomes even more frantic, and knows she has to go. She asks permission to stay in Charlie Bat’s apartment, and sets off for the city.
Upon arrival she metts Meadows and Mallard, two kindly gentlemen who take care of Charlie’s apartment during the year. They take her to dinner, but as it turns out, they’re Ghost Hunters, and are off to Ireland. Witch Baby would wallow in her aloneness, if not for the appearance of a spectral Charlie.
With his help, Witch Baby wanders the city, usually searching for Angel Juan, sometimes sidetracked by her Ghostly Grandfather, but almost always gaining a new appreciation for life.
In the end, she follows her heart, which leads her to Angel Juan, and to some realizations about the dangers of the way she wants to cling to him and keep him to herself.
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Joe Beck’s life is pretty run-of-the-mill. Parents separated, doesn’t get on so well with his father, goes to school, plays with a band, tries to stay out of trouble. And then he meets Candy.
Something about her draws him right in. He can’t believe she’s talking to him. That he could be so lucky. And when he gets chased off by a very large and very scary Iggy, who can only be her Pimp, he can’t believe that either. He mulls it over for a week, after finding her number in his pocket, then calls to ask her out, knowing it’s the only thing to do.
At the Zoo she seems so normal. She explains Iggy away as some guy who’s just a little crazy. Joe wants to believe it, so he does. When she leaves him in the cafe to go to the bathroom and comes back changed, he understands she must use drugs, but he doesn’t give that much thought either. She likes him. He likes her.
But when she comes to his Band’s show only to be dragged off by Iggy and his hoarde, a fight which gets Joe’s brother-in-law to be injured, things come to a head. With nowhere left to turn, he finally tells his sister everything. Unable to believe there’s nothing he can do to help, and unable to get Candy on the phone, as soon as his dad’s left for his business trip, Joe takes off, losing all cares about being grounded.
He takes a train back to the spot where he first stumbled into her. Nothing. He wanders around London, trying to find somewhere within 10 minutes that could be the spot where she lives. If that part was true. Ready to admit defeat, he’s heading back to catch another train when he spots Iggy leaving the station, and gets it in his head to follow him.
After being led to the house, he hides in the bushes for quite awhile, making his move when an elderly woman loaded down with shopping bags arrives. He helps her carry them in, then takes off up the stairs to find Candy. And find her he does–severely battered and bruised. Broken, she tells him everything. How she came to be here, how it went so far. They’re concocting a plan to get her out of there when Iggy returns. There’s no saying if Joe could have stayed hidden in the bathroom if his cell phone hadn’t rung. But it did. And things very suddenly became life or death.
With a straight-edge razor held to his throat, Joe is staring at the end, when Candy breaks a lamp against Iggy’s head. They quickly bind him up with tape, and take off into the night. They stop at Joe’s house for supplies, then board another train, heading for the summer cottage. The plan is to get Candy clean, then take it from there. Iggy won’t find them. He’s sure of it, despite a nagging at the back of his brain.
But just when the worst of it seems over, when Candy seems to be herself again, and not a withdrawl insane version, Joe realizes just what kind of trouble he’s in. Iggy has his sister. He can find them, because Joe tells him exactly where they are. Any bargaining power he had has gone. Even with Mike on the way to help, there’s no knowing if he’ll beat Iggy to them, or what they can do even if he does.
In the end, it turns out in a way no one would have imagined.
Time goes by, but Joe can’t remember how life was before Candy. All he can do is struggle to find his way back to it.
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