Product Description

"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. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. 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. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he''s a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. 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.Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. 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. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. 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. 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. (Ages 12 and up)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Amazon.com Review
The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector's edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–When Bella Swan moves from sunny Phoenix to Forks, Washington, a damp and dreary town known for the most rainfall in the United States, to live with her dad, she isnt expecting to like it. But the level of hostility displayed by her standoffish high school biology lab partner, Edward Cullen, surprises her. After several strange interactions, his preternatural beauty, strength, and speed have her intrigued. Edward is just as fascinated with Bella, and their attraction to one another grows. As Bella discovers more about Edwards nature and his family, she is thrown headlong into a dangerous adventure that has her making a desperate sacrifice to save her one true love. One of the more original vampire constructs around, this recording of Stephenie Meyers debut novel (Megan Tingley Books, 2005) is narrated with great style by Ilyana Kadushin, who makes the infinitely romantic tale of star-crossed lovers resonate with a bittersweet edge. Although Edward and Bellas romance and subsequent danger develops slowly, the pacing is appropriate for teens who want learn all the details in this suspenseful tale. An excellent purchase for both school and public libraries.–Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 9-12. In the tradition of Anne Rice and YA titles such as Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (1999) comes this heady romance that intertwines Bella Swan's life with that of Edward, an alluring and tormented vampire. Bella's life changes when she moves to perpetually rain-soaked Forks, Washington. She is instantly drawn to a fellow student, Edward Cullen, beautiful beyond belief and angrily aloof. Bella senses there is more behind Edward's hostility, and in a plot that slowly and frighteningly unfolds, she learns that Edward and his family are vampires--though they do not hunt humans. Yet Edward cannot promise that his powerful attraction to Bella won't put in her in danger, or worse. Recklessly in love, Bella wants only to be with Edward, but when a vicious, blood-lusting predator complicates her world, Bella's peril is brutally revealed. This is a book of the senses: Edward is first attracted by Bella's scent; ironically, Bella is repelled when she sees blood. Their love is palpable, heightened by their touches, and teens will respond viscerally. There are some flaws here--a plot that could have been tightened, an overreliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue--but this dark romance seeps into the soul. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

Mildly amusing
I was utterly surprised that when this movie came out I was not drawn to wanting to read the book or see the movie. I truly love a good vampire plot. I loved the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and really enjoyed the Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire Series. I looked at this series as being a mesh of both. So after friends gushing review I caved. I can't really say I enjoyed this book. It held my attention enough that I was able to read it in a day but it was not exactly earth shattering deep thinking stuff. More or less it was a mesh of recognizable ideas from previous books. Teenage hormone fantasy well, . . Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The atempt of Vampire baseball well it seemed to much like an atempt at Harry Potters Quiddich. The common vampire characteristic of beauty once you become a vampire, . . Interview with the Vampire. Do you mean to tell me that there is no such thing as an average looking vampire? Not everyone is beautiful. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some parallels to the authors high school life portrayed here. Dealing with divorce? New school?

With that said I would have to say that this book was an easy read and had enough to peak my curiousity to read the whole series. This statment comes with a disclosure though there were many an irritated times when I wanted to seriously throw this book in the dumpster. I thought that the development of the relationship between Edward and Bella started off interestingly enough then got to the point of teenage obsession. The authors constant use of the words, . . god like, model like, beautiful were seriously to the point of severe irritiation and nausea. Okay I get it the guy is good looking for a pale skin, dark, cold, blood drinking individual.

This book had good bones to it just not enough omfph to it and common seriously like a whole family of vampires would bend over backwards and risk their family for some teenage love affair??? Please I understand that teens have hormones and feel like their first love is their only love and are willing to do anything for that love but a little overstated here. Gosh and in reality how many teenage highschoolers would really accept such a flakey friend. Actually Bella was really quite irritating towards the end and the dialogue between Bella and Edward was really quite cheesy, and soap opera like. All in all I would have to agree with the other reviewers who said that this book was enjoyable but don't expect to much. It represents a teenage delusion of grandure. A way to lose yourself and get away from the stresses of everyday life.

Like I said the book has good bones to work with. Warning though this is nothing I would ever let my daughter read as a teen. It may be to influencial. It is almost an open invitation for a teenage girl to give up her life and her family for someone she barely knows.

I saw everyone reading it, so I had to give it a go...
Hey, it's not Ann Rice, but it is fun to read and if you are a Twilight fan, you will read it anyway! It was a good 2 hours to finish it.
I just finished two very different but very good Vampire books that are very, very good:
The House of the Vampire
and
VARNISS THE VAMPIRE: A ROMANCE OF BLOOD

It was so boring!
Seriously, when I see all the adult women and even men reading these books I roll my eyes. I could barely go through the first one. The girl and the vampires are so boring and naive. I guess it would be an ok read for kids but for the mature adults? It is kind of embarrasing. It was a horrible experience.