Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, is the first book in the Twilight Series. It was originally published in hardcover in 2005. It is a Young adult/Fantasy/Romance novel about a human girl (Isabella "Bella" Swan) who falls in love with a vampire (Edward Cullen). The story is told from Bella’s point of view. The not yet released companion novel, Midnight Sun, features the story told from Edward’s point of view.

Plot summary
Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie. She chooses to do this so that her mother, Renée, can travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league baseball star. Even though Bella never had many friends in Phoenix, she attracts much attention at her new school in Forks, and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy Bella's attention.

When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in biology class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed. He moves as far away from her as possible. He even attempts to change his schedule to avoid her, which leaves Bella completely puzzled about his attitude towards her. Shortly after he disappears for a while, Edward begins to talk to Bella, having seemingly forgotten their unfriendly first encounter. One day, Bella looks at Edward, who is far away, in the parking lot. Oblivious to her, a student (Tyler Crowley) had lost control of his vehicle, and it was rapidly progressing in her direction. Bella realizes this at the last moment, thinking she is dead. However, Edward appears and stops the oncoming car completely with one hand, leaving a dent, and shocking Bella with his speed and strength.

During a trip to the La Push reservation, Bella tricks a family friend, Jacob Black of the Quileute tribe, into telling her the local tribal legends. Jacob mentions the Cullens, and says that they are vampires. During a trip to Seattle, Edward rescues her again, this time from a band of thugs. Bella asks him if what Jacob said about his family is true. Edward admits that he and his family are vampires, but says that he and his family only drink animal blood to keep themselves from turning into the monsters that many other vampires are.

Edward and Bella's relationship grows over time, and they fall passionately in love. Their foremost problem is that to Edward, Bella's scent is a hundred times more potent than any other human's, making Edward struggle to resist his desire to kill her. However, despite this they manage to stay together safely for a time.

The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. Edward's family plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and Bella is forced to give herself up to James at her old dance studio. Upon meeting him, Bella discovers her mother wasn't at the dance studio and was safe all along. James attacks Bella, but Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before James can kill her. James is subsequently ripped apart and burned by Emmett Cullen, one of Edward's brothers. Bella recovers in a hospital.

Once returning to Forks, Bella goes to the prom with Edward, where she expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.

Cover
According to the author Stephenie Meyer, the apple on the cover is meant to represent the forbidden fruit from the book of Genesis in the Bible. It is also a symbol of Bella and Edward’s forbidden love, and represents choice. The similarity between the forbidden love and the forbidden fruit is further reinforced by the quote from Genesis 2:17 that opens the book.

Awards and nominations
Twilight gained recognition and won numerous honors, including:


 * A New York Times Editor's Choice
 * A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
 * An Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
 * A Teen People "Hot List" pick
 * An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers"
 * Translation into 20 languages
 * A New York Times Best Seller

Critical reception
The critical reception for Twilight has been mixed. Booklist wrote, "There are some flaws here–a plot that could have been tightened, an over reliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue–but this dark romance seeps into the soul." Kirkus wrote: "[Twilight] is far from perfect: Bella's appeal is based on magic rather than character." Patty Campbell of Amazon.com noted that "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." Publishers Weekly's starred review described Bella's "infatuation with outsider Edward", their risky relationship, and "Edward's inner struggle" as a metaphor for sexual frustration accompanying adolescence. BusinessWorld Weekender reporter Johanna Pohlete noted the "mass hysteria" over Twilight and the series as a whole.

Film adaptation
Twilight is being adapted into a film, set to be released on November, 21 2008. It is being directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and the screenplay written by Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Rosenberg. The film stars Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen.

Editions

 * Little, Brown and Company (United States, etc.)
 * ISBN 0316160172 (Hardback)
 * ISBN 0316033413 (Hardback, Collector's Edition)
 * ISBN 0316015849 (Paperback)
 * ISBN 0316038377 (Mass Market Paperback)
 * Topeka Bindery (United States, etc.)
 * ISBN 1417755911 (Library Binding)
 * ATOM (United Kingdom, etc.)
 * ISBN 1904233643 (Hardback)
 * ISBN 1904233651 (Paperback)
 * ISBN 1905654340 (Special Edition Paperback)
 * Alfaguara (Spain, etc.)
 * ISBN 9789707709942 (Paperback)
 * Hachette (France, etc.)
 * ISBN 2012010679 (Hardback)
 * Sony Magazines (Japan, etc.)
 * ISBN 4789726029 (Magazine)
 * Sjaloom (The Netherlands, etc.)
 * ISBN 9062495117 (Paperback)