TWILIGHT
At the beginning of Twilight,
Isabella (Bella) Swan has just moved from Phoenix to the cloudy town of
Forks, Washington to live with her police-chief dad, Charlie. Bella
can't help but notice a striking group of students sitting together at
school. And though Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett, along with their
adoptive parents Carlisle and Esme, are intimidatingly beautiful, Edward
Cullen's hate-filled reaction to Bella is downright frightening to her.
That's
why it's surprising when he saves her life — twice — in two mysterious
incidents that showcase his oddly superhuman abilities. Eventually,
Bella discovers three things that will change her life: first, that
gorgeous Edward and his family are vampires, second, that Edward's
reaction to her blood's smell and taste is particularly strong (the
reason he had avoided her at first), and third, that in spite of these
obstacles, they seem destined for each other.
Bella
begins to adjust to the strangeness of dating a vampire — from Edward's
mind-reading to the way his skin glitters in the sun to the hunting
trips the Cullens must make to avoid drinking human blood. But soon,
trouble arrives when a new trio of immortals arrives in Forks. Vampires
James, Laurent, and Victoria seem peaceful enough at first, but Edward
sees that James is obsessed with hunting and torturing human prey, and
that Bella is his ultimate target. Bella, Jasper, and Alice escape to
Phoenix, but James follows. He blackmails Bella into meeting him and
nearly kills her before Edward appears in the nick of time and kills him
instead. Still, Bella has a lot of healing to do and plenty of
time to think about something Alice told her: that with one bite, it's
possible for her to become a vampire, too.
NEW MOON
In New Moon,
Bella is 18 (a year older than the eternally 17-year-old Edward),
making her desire to be a vampire even more urgent. After a disastrous
birthday party, Edward and his family suddenly leave Forks — and Bella —
behind forever. The only thing able to bring Bella back from her
depression is her best friend, sunny Jacob Black. She begins to spend
most of her time on his reservation, especially after she realizes that
thrill-seeking activities like riding her new motorcycle with Jacob help
her to remember Edward more clearly.
Still,
even with her vampires gone, Bella can't avoid the paranormal. Jacob
discovers that he and several other boys are next in line to defend the
Quileute tribe from vampires, the "cold ones," and that, like their
ancestors, they can shape-shift into werewolves. Even though the
werewolf pack sometimes helps take Edward off her mind, Bella isn't
finished with vampires. Clairvoyant Alice thinks she sees Bella's future
disappear, and a series of miscommunications leads Edward to believe
that she is dead. When he heads to Italy to end his own life, Alice and
Bella arrive just in time to stop him, but end up having to face the
Volturi, the rulers of the vampire world.
Once
they return home, Edward, who had been just as miserable as Bella,
reveals that he only left Forks because he knew how difficult her life
would be if he stayed with her. Though it takes a while, Bella finally
believes in the depth of Edward's love for her imperfect,
accident-prone, human self.
ECLIPSE
In Eclipse,
it's clear that Jacob's feelings for Bella go further than just
friendship. Bella makes an effort to be friends and ignores Edward's
warnings about "dangerous" young werewolves, crossing treaty lines to
visit Jacob. But Jacob knows that vampires and werewolves are mortal
enemies. In addition, Seattle is being ravaged by a strange wave of
vampire killings. Soon, the culprit is found: Victoria has sworn to kill
Bella because Edward killed her mate. And she is building an army of
volatile new vamps. In an unprecedented move, the Quileutes and the
Cullens (led by Jasper, a former major in the Civil War) band together
to fight their common enemy.
Though
so much else in her world is being turned upside down, Bella still
finds comfort in being with Edward. He proposes to her and she agrees to
marry him, and Edward promises that he'll be the one to transform her
into a vampire if she still wants to be one. Jacob is still trying to
win Bella's heart, though, and things get tense before the big battle
with Victoria and her group when Bella realizes that she loves him too.
After Victoria is defeated, Bella wonders if she should give up an
eternity with Edward to grow old with Jacob.
Eclipse ends when Jacob receives an invitation to the wedding from a well-meaning Edward and runs far away from Forks.
BREAKING DAWN
There are still tons of questions to be answered in Breaking Dawn. From the first chapter (released as a "sneak peek" in special editions of Eclipse),
so far we know that Alice's undoubtedly elaborate wedding plans have
Bella more than a little freaked, that Edward finally replaced Bella's
old Chevy truck with a flashy Mercedes, and that telling Bella's parents
about Edward's proposal went better than anyone hoped. In a surprising
twist, Edward has also made friends with one of Jacob's werewolf
"brothers," who keeps them updated on Jacob's safety, though it doesn't
seem like he ever plans to return. What we don't know is whether Bella
will go through with the wedding after all. Is she still harboring
feelings for Jacob? Will Bella let Edward bite her? What will happen to
her friendship with Jacob if she becomes a vampire? Can the Quileutes
and the Cullens end their feud? Will Jacob try to kill Edward? And Bella
— if she becomes a vampire? All Bella can do in the midst of all of
this confusion and drama is to go to her mental "happy place" and hold
on for dear life.
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