“NEW MOON” BY STEPHENIE MEYER

“New Moon” is a second part to the now-famous saga of teenage vampire romance, “Twilight”. And it is as good as the first one, which does not happen too often, in case of series or sagas. Luckily, Meyers does not disappoint and delivers what she promised with the first volume.

“New Moon” has somewhat a different aura about it. We see Bella, the heroine, in despair after her vampire lover, Edward, leaves her; trying desperately to pick up the pieces of her life, if not for herself than for the sake of the people who love her, like her parents. She does not succeed very well in pretending to be fine, and the only one who can make her feel somewhat herself again, is a childhood friend, Jacob—a Quileute.

However, Jacob has a secret of his own and we quickly find out that Bella has a knack for finding trouble, no matter how much she tries to avoid it. Will their friendship survive the terrifying dark secret that is the Quileute’s path? Will Edward ever return to Forks? And if he does, what will it mean for Bella and her friendship with the mortal enemy to the vampires?

I must admit, as much as I didn’t quite expect this part to be half as good as the first one, I was surprisingly engrossed in the story from nearly the first chapter. Reading through the pages, one can nearly feel the despair and the pain Bella goes through every day. And somehow you find yourself wishing her to hope a little, nearly screaming at her: “he still loves you, you foolish girl!”

But the best part about the books, and I’d guess it’s probably what makes them so extremely popular is the fact that while reading it, I forget that the characters are teenagers… The story, characters, their emotions and relationships they forge are simply timeless, just like the great tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. People will read it no matter how old they really are because there is something so profoundly true in it that it strikes a chord deep within yourself…