Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by Betelgeuse

While despising this series first, I have come to enjoy this book after watching the movie. Not many bad words, but it is sort of creepy for kids maybe under eleven. It is hard to believe that I have ignored the first book of the Twilight series for over four years. I think that this is a great book. Meyer sure adds a twist to this novel about vampires, making most of these immortal creatures "vegetarian" vampires, who feast on the blood of animals instead of humans. This fact brings one human, Isabella Marie Swan, who has recently moved from sunny Phoenix to the small town of Forks, really close to a "veggie vampire." The vampire, Edward Cullen, looks like your average seventeen year-old teenager, but he is actually a bit older than a century. He was immortalized by his foster parent, Carlisle Cullen in 1918, while he was dying of Spanish Influenza. Carlisle, who is about four hundred years old, has also bitten (which is how they become vampires), but not sucked the blood out of, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice Cullen. Some of them have powers; Jasper can control the emotions of surrounding people, Alice can see the future, and Edward can read minds. While they are foster-siblings, Rosalie and Emmett, and Jasper and Alice are couples. They have to constantly move, because they aren't getting older, and the kids have to repeat high school over and over. When Edward meets Bella in Forks, her blood smells very yummy, so he has to be really rude to her so she stays away. But it has the opposite effect to her, and she is very interested in him, and when she knows his secret, they are completely infatuated with each other. But trouble brews when three non-vegetarian vampires, James, Laurent, and Victoria find out about Bella's mortality, and James, who is a hunter of extreme expertise, is obsessed with murdering Isabella. You'll have to read the end to find out if Bella dies, along with a secretive secret about Alice. Like many people say, this sure is a good book to sink your teeth in.

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