New Moon by Stephenie Meyer is the second book of the Twilight Saga, a New York Times Λίστα Editor's Choice.
Exposition: When the Cullen family (vampires) celebrates Bella Swan's birthday, she gets a paper cut and Jasper cannot resist the blood scent, he attacks Bella, Edward intervenes, takes Bella back to her house and leaves her there. Edward decides to breakup with Bella and the whole clan moves out of town, leaving no trace and no information of their new location.
Conflict: Bella and Edward are no longer together, Bella has a hard time recovering from this break up. Other vampires are trying to kill Bella to avenge their friend's murder by the Cullens. Jacob is in love with Bella and sometimes she resists but others, she gives in creating another conflictive relationship.
Rising Action: Bella becomes depressed to the point that her father is very concerned about her and asks her to go out shopping, to parties or other typical places for teenagers. Bella eventually becomes closer to Jacob Black, a member of a Native American reservation that has feelings for her. Some of Jacob's friends including him, are shape-shifters, turning themselves into warewolves due to the presence of another group of vampires that want to kill Bella. This pack decides that they will protect Bella from the vampires that are exploring the town and threatening with their presence.
Climax: When Bella dives from a cliff, Alice thinks that she has commited suicide and calls Edward to tell him the bad news, he then decides to go to Italy and get killed by the Volturi, the original vampires that rule and keep track of vampire news to maintain a certain order in their world. When Bella learns about Edward's fate, she travels with Alice hoping to be able to save Edward from a terrible death. Bella reveals herself to Edward, he believes that he has died but when the Volturi capture them and Alice, he realizes that it was all a misunderstanding and tells Bella tha he will never leave her again unless she asks him to leave.
Falling Action: The Volturi ask Alice to stay with them, they also remind Edward that Bella must die because she is a mortal that knows about vampires. The Volturi give Edward and Bella an utimatum: conversion or death.
Resolution: When Edward, Alice and Bella return to Forks, Bella wants Edward to turn her into a vampire ASAP but he still wants her to complete High School and go to college to buy some time. Meanwhile, Jacob reminds Edward of the ancient pact between warewolves and the Cullen family: If the Cullens kill a human in their area, the pact is over and the vampires will be killed by the warewolves.
I have to confess that I shed some tears (just a few) when I turned the pages and found that Bella's October, November, December, and January were blank... I could only imagine the pain and suffering of this girl!!! New Moon reflects the darkest time in Bella's life when the love of her life breaks up with her with no apparent good reason, she is devastated and life has no meaning for months. The author made an extraordinary use of understatement and unexpected insights. When Edward takes Bella to the woods and tells her that he is leaving and that he really didn't love her, the reader knows from the previous book of his feelings for her and this action shows how much he cares for Bella and how he wants to protect her from being harmed either by being killed by a vampire or by becoming one. Edward's action also bring surprise since he had professed unconditional love for Bella in the previous novel.
