Product Description

When 17 year old Isabella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father she expects that her new life will be as dull as the town. But in spite of her awkward manner and low expectations, she finds that her new classmates are drawn to this pale, dark-haired new girl in town. But not, it seems, the Cullen family. These five adopted brothers and sisters obviously prefer their own company and will make no exception for Bella. Bella is convinced that Edward Cullen in particular hates her, but she feels a strange attraction to him, although his hostility makes her feel almost physically ill. He seems determined to push her away ? until, that is, he saves her life from an out of control car. Bella will soon discover that there is a very good reason for Edward's coldness. He, and his family, are vampires ? and he knows how dangerous it is for others to get too close.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Review
'The sexiest vampire tale for years arrived in Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT, about teenage Bella's chaste romance with a beautiful vampire boy. Their intensely erotic feelings are endangered by more predatory types. Guaranteed to suck in sulky 13+ girls for hours.' THE TIMES "Will keep readers madly flipping the pages of Meyer's tantalizing debut." Publishers Weekly

About the Author
Stephenie Meyer is a 30-year-old mother of three children based in Arizona. TWILIGHT is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

Bite me!................
This is YA fiction and I'm not even close to the target audience. It's been a lot of years since I belonged in the 'teen' category BUT... despite that, I loved this book! I think it might be because the 17 year old that I once was is still fresh in my mind, and if I squint when I look in the mirror I can still see her (she just got better looking over the last couple of decades *grin*).

A five star book for me is one that I have to tear myself away from and this has to be one of the better 5 star books I've read recently. I could not put it down, regardless of whether I fit in the target deomographic or not. I have no idea why I was so enamoured with this particular story but it just grabbed me, literally from the first chapter. It has it's flaws, and at times those flaws tried to pull me away from the pages while I wrestled with my beliefs but never did I feel like I couldn't go on. I'm actually mystified why this is such a great book, I wish I could put my finger on it but it escapes me. I am fond of a bit of vampire lit, it's true, but this goes beyond that....I think. I can't say the writing is superlative so it's not that.....but what is it? I wish I knew. Answers on a postcard, please.

Bella is a complete feminists' nightmare and I can see why that would put a lot of people off of her, but at 17 love is blind so I'm willing to forgive Bella on that score. Edward is so uber male that he fairly reeks testosterone and again, that may grate on some readers but lets put things in perspective, he's the ultimate predator and has had nearly a century of dominating his prey so on that score I'm willing to forgive him his overly masculine nature for now, this nurture/love thing is new for him too.....he'll get it right eventually I expect.

Ultimitely, lets not forget that this is a tale of vampire love which is aimed at teens/young adults and the usual complexities and concerns that come with real life won't apply here. I for one am glad to slip into Bella and Edward's world and remember what it was to be young and in the throes of first love. If you have an imagination and are willing to suspend your disbelief then you might enjoy this story. It's an enjoyable bit of fulff to while away a few hours/days but if your usual reading material tends to be the classics and nothing more, then you probably will feel the need to return here with you own 1 or 2 star review.

I have books 2, 3 and 4 lined up here, ready to devour and if they go as quickly as Twilight then I'll have completed all 4 in about 3 more days. I want to tell everyone to read this as I loved it so much, but I realise that everyone has different tastes so all I can recommend is that you read the reviews and make your own mind up from there.

Flawed, but enjoyable.
Now let me give Twilight haters this. Almost every single thing the negative reviews said about this novel is true. It really is. What are the negative things said about it, you ask? These are the most common observations I read when I read countless negative reviews and things I had also picked up myself whilst reading:

* It's unoriginal.
* The prose is overly filled with adjectives, mostly describing how beautiful Edward is, and constantly reminding us of that fact on every single page.
* The narration is overly detailed. e.g. the narration tells us that she gets up, brushes her teeth, what tooth paste she uses, what corners she drives round, which parking place she takes, what she has for dinner, how she cooks the dinner, and the list goes on.
* The vampire myth, or its world, does not have very much depth.
* We are reminded, far too often, how dangerous Edward is.
* We know at the very first page that Bella hates rain and cold, and that she is clumsy, and yet the author insults are intelligence, also reminding us of this on every page as if we might forget.
* Bella has no personality.
* Edward has no personality.
* Actually, nobody has a personality.
* The love that Edward and Bella share is completely superficial.
* The tone of the novel is inconsistent (pages 1-300 are completely different to the pages 301-430)

There is an element of truth in all of these points, though I would like to contest some of them, if only a bit mildly. The first and most common criticism is its unoriginality. At its bare bones, it is a teenage romance novel. It is what it is. Yes, it is unoriginal, but it was not trying to be anything new and amazing, and why is it things have to be original these days, anyway? I commend anyone that can come up with anything completely original, but also I'm not sure why unoriginality equates bad quality and vice versa. It boggles my mind.

The second point I want to contest to is Bella having "no personality". I cannot help but think that it is up to the reader to see something in her, or to relate to her somehow, because I did not see the non-personality. I saw a frustrated, lonely, but, emotionally, a typical teenager. I do not know what her haters problem is, I can only guess, I only know that I disagree. As to the rest of the characters, the narration did keep mentioning different names and I could not determine the difference between them all - they were pretty lifeless. Character development is not this novel's strong point.

The third and final I part I want to disagree with to a degree is that Edward and Bella's relationship is completely superficial. I am not disagreeing on the grounds that they fell in "love" with one another because of appearances, but I am disagreeing to the point that their romance is typical of teenagers. Meyer is not writing about two adults in their forties falling in love, she is writing about two hormone raged adolescents. What do you expect? Even so, their conversations do begin to progress into deeper meaning behind their attraction for one another; think to when Edward explained why he would never hurt Bella. He explains that her personality, and her nature is unusual, and that is what attracted him to her, why he cannot read her mind, and why he could not bare to lose her - because her mind works differently to everybody else's.

Now, before you think I am flanking to this novel's defense, I will say this simply: This novel is an enjoyable read, but it is very, very flawed for the reasons listed above. The author is far too repetitive and tangential. She seems unable to develop her characters, or give good reasons for their actions; the last 100 pages of the novel feel like they are tacked on from a completely different novel. The "threat" that Bella comes under is too coincidental, out of nowhere and stupid to believe. The author seems to think that her readership are stupid and need reminding of certain things on every page (Bella's clumsiness, Edward's beauty, Bella hates rain, Edward is dangerous), there's no depth to any characters but the protagonist, perhaps Edward too, if we push it. The exclusivity of this novel is also a problem. With Harry Potter I recommended to anyone from my grandparents, to my best friends. Twilight? Would not feel right recommending it to a male. Men reading Twilight and enjoying it seems implausible to me. It really hits its market dead on centre. Everything about this novel is girly, and I think that is a major flaw (only on an aesthetic level, it is obviously very good for marketing and business).

But this book is enjoyable. There must be a reason. Quite frankly, to be overly bothered about its flaws is missing the point a bit. It is just a teenage novel. You would not go and read a Point Horror book and then write negative reviews for it saying how badly it is written, or how obvious the twist was at the end, because most people accept the Point Horror books for what they are, and hey, no one is talking about a Point Horror book, or making a film out of it! People's problem with Twilight is that it is popular, but it is no different to the Point Horror books. It is a novel aimed at teenage girls. Think of a milder and ever so slightly better written Mills & Boon novel, only with vampires, and that is Twilight.

I noticed the many drawbacks the novel had, but I still enjoyed it, because I am one of those people that like to fall into a nice romance. The writing is easy and accessible, you turn the pages, you're drawn in whilst you're reading it, you want the protagonists to just flipping kiss, you finish it, and you want the next book. Is that not what enjoying a book is all about? It is just a nice light read to tune your brain off too. Who cares if it will not win the next Booker prize? I would fully recommend this to anyone who enjoys a cute little romance and quick, gliding read.

Fantastic start to a new series
Bella (Isabella) Swan moves from living with her mum in bustling Phoenix to sleepy topwn Forks. She is spending some time where she grew up living with her dad while her mum and new partner look for a new job in Florida. She starts at the local school and makes friends, is a hit with the boys and also encounters Edward. He has pale skin, dark hollows under his eyes and he doesn't associate with anyone else at school apart from his family. She is immediately drawn to him. What she doesn't realise is that he is a vampire. Every step she takes getting closer to him, the more she puts herself in danger.

I really enjoyed this book. The style of writing was very seductive and really drew me in as a reader. It changes some of the essential vampire ideas, giving it a fresh take on an exhausted subject. It isn't "just another vampire book" by any means. It's mostly about relationships and Bella getting to know Edward. The last 100 pages or so take a different turn when an outside threat enters the neighbourhood and Bella's life is at risk. The tone of the book changed which I wasn't sure about at first as I liked the gentle building a lot.

I will definately be reading the rest of the series and have New Moon to start when I get time. If you like a good story, vampires or teen dramas than I recommend this to you.