I thought you all might enjoy reading the real talent in this family. Here is a book review written by my daughter for the Tracy Press.
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Sink your teeth into ‘Eclipse’
By Kristen Pihlman
Our Town
Bella’s boyfriend, Edward, is a vampire.
Her best friend, Jacob, is a werewolf.
There’s a history of animosity between vampires and werewolves.
So, no chance for complications to arise there — no chance at all.
As “Eclipse” begins, Bella is anticipating her high school graduation. To her, graduation doesn’t represent college or independence. Graduation means death — in more ways than one.
First, there’s the death of Bella’s humanity and of her friendships, especially her unique relationship with Jacob. It also means the start of her eternal life with Edward. It doesn’t seem like Bella has ever wanted anything as much as she wants to undergo the transformation into a vampire.
However, at the beginning of the novel, she’s having second thoughts.
Bella hasn’t spoken to Jacob since he tattled to her dad about her illicit motorcycle escapades, which caused her to get grounded. Although she’s furious with him, she misses Jacob something fierce.
Bella realizes that she might as well get used to not seeing Jacob, since he’ll be as good as gone once she’s a vampire. But she doesn’t like that realization.
When Bella decides she would like nothing better than to visit Jacob, Edward overreacts and doesn’t allow her to go. Edward insists that werewolves are too dangerous — but his motive is something other than Bella’s safety. Though it’s easy to forget that Edward has flaws, he’s capable of jealousy behind his façade of perfection.
Bella doesn’t stay separated from Jacob for much longer, though, since her stubbornness and Jacob’s persistence make for a fiery combination. Soon, it’s as if they never stopped talking.
Jacob ends up declaring his love to Bella, to her dismay. Jacob hopes Bella will choose him over the “bloodsucker” Edward (werewolves have offensive names for vampires, just as vampires have a few for werewolves); he would prefer anything to her becoming a vampire.
Edward realizes that when he left Bella in “New Moon,” he created a hole in her heart that Jacob patched up with his friendship. Edward feels unimaginably guilty about leaving Bella; he’s emotionally scarred from his previous lapse in judgment. Now, Edward doesn’t know if Bella would rather be with him or with Jacob.
The more Bella prolongs the inevitable by putting off ending her friendship with Jacob, the more pain she causes both of them. Of course, Bella is only human (for now), so her behavior is understandable, even though it’s infuriating. She’s greedy for wanting to be with both Edward and Jacob. She can’t have her cake and it eat it, too.
To complicate matters, the murderous vampire, Victoria, is an added nuisance. Her desire for vengeance for the death of her lover, James — killed by Edward after James bit Bella in the first book of the series, “Twilight” — has made her implacable. She’s built an army of newborn vampires, and she’ll stop at nothing to get her fangs around Bella’s throat.
I enjoyed this book and adore this series and its characters; especially, sweet, selfless, handsome Edward, hilarious and unpredictable Jacob, and the awesome Cullen family. I only hope that Stephenie Meyer ends the series happily, but genuinely so, in “Breaking Dawn.”
TracyReaderDad: Book Reviews 