Alright, let’s see how I do reviewing Book 2. For once I’m not writing this immediately after finishing the book so my thoughts are a tad less organized. But here we go –

The Book

Better than the first one.

Now granted, New Moon had it’s head banging moments and horrible scenes. But it had one or two good scenes and I actually enjoyed reading about Jacob & the Werewolf crew. So not a total loss. I think part of that is the fact Edward was missing for over half the book.

Edward alone I can handle.

Bella alone is almost tolerable.

Bella & Edward together gets near unbearable. I can’t even really put it into words but them together is some of the most unbelievable stuff I’ve ever read. It just pushes my suspense of belief out the window. Maybe it’ because I’ve never been in love or seen anyone in real life act like this. But the sheer level of obsession these two have with each other can not be healthy. It just can’t.

People date, they break up, they move on. Sometimes it’s harder than others – I realize that. I believe in love. But this sort of love that they describe almost has no basis. Why do they love each other? What really caused Bella to be near Catatonic for months? As far as I could tell the only thing Edward did (other than the save her life thing – which isn’t really a basis for a romance…) was be mean to her and mention she smelled really really good.

]Though, in New Moon towards the end, Bella refuses to believe Edward could love her so I ended up reading a page of Edward declaring why he loves Bella and I stared at the page – when did she show any of those behaviors? It was like he was describing a different person. I, it was just odd.

But I’ll move on. It’s almost baffling and I’m not sure I could keep up with it.

Let’s talk about things I liked instead. Because admitting there are things I liked in this book are good. I could go on forever about how Bella’s a selfish idiot (Her Vote to become a vampire? No. Just. No.) So let’s talk about good things:

Aro – I loved Aro. This is a vampire. He’s a total monster who still manages to be bright and cheery and keep his manners like a real gentleman. There’s a charisma there that I didn’t expect to find in this book.

Jacob – I’ve already stated he’s the only person in the book who not only seems believable but sympathetic. Plus, werewolves are cool. And her recreation of the classic myth for them isn’t nearly as intolerable as say, the sparkling.

And…that’s all that comes to mind at the moment. Overall, save for a few frustrating moments with Bella & Edward, I liked it.

Which brings me to –

The Movie

I’ve admitted it before and I’ll admit it again. I liked the New Moon Movie. There! I said it.

The directing was 100x improved and it was obvious with the new cinematography and pacing. It featured Jacob (one of the few who could act) and dare I say it – Jacob and Bella actually had chemistry on scene. I was actually drawn in a few times as they interacted.

Plus? I actually laughed when the joke was intentional. I can’t say that about the first movie (save for her dad pulling out the shot gun – that’s always gold.).

But yeah. Not many complaints about the movie, actually. Aside from the plot but that can’t be helped sometimes.

Now…for Eclipse.