I am going to be dead honest in this review: I cannot for the life of me quite figure out why I liked this book save for one reason and one reason only. I find the characters less-than-properly complex and the plot silly and romanticizied. And yet, like so many readers, I read this with an inability to put it down and I loved every moment of it. To make myself feel better, I shall begin with the bad. Mrs. Meyer puts a lot of faith in the concept that her characters are all madly in love with each other. Honestly, I see no reason for their infatuations other than emotion. I have yet to see anything that would set off a concrete and stable relationship. It is as if they have no other reason than to live for each other. In fact, the driving force of this novel is that Bella is utterly depressed by the fact that Edward and the rest of the Cullens have left. My goodness, by her actions and the various chapters devoted only to the names of months, it's as if someone had died. She's a teenage girl, she should have the ability to eventually bounce back. Too bad she has very little personality outside her love for Edward. Then again, no one else seems to have much personality save for the rather loveable Jacob Black. And even he eventually loses it in favor of lots of teen angst. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just no longer a teenage girl. I'm sorry. But look at my rating. 4 stars is pretty decent. And I believe my first paragraph was a paradox of my critiques and my love for this book. The fact is that Mrs. Meyer has a gift with words. Her simple, hypnotic prose draws me in to the rainy, misty world of Forks with its vampires, werewolves, and beating hearts of passion. The emotion may be baseless, but it is strong, and she clearly does love her characters with the same love they feel for each other. I admit, the romance got me in the end. I also admire her way with the vampire/werewolf mythology. It might be a little sugary, but I really don't mind it because it is complex enough without going the encyclopedia route. I also liked the way she dipped, almost Anne Rice style, into the question of vampires and God. I do wish Mrs. Meyer would learn to give her characters personalities that exist without each other, but she is still getting money from me whenever she writes a book. Keep up that pretty writing and that awesome vampire/werewolf mythology.