Written by Stephanie Meyer, Twilight has quickly become a favorite among teenagers and a New York Times Bestseller. The book is centered on vampires--something generally considered a very dark subject.  But is the story as dark as it appears at first glance?

Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan decides to spend some time with her father Charlie. She packs up her bags, wishes her mom and step-dad farewell, and leaves sunny Phoenix. She arrives at Charlie’s house in the middle of a very small town called Forks in Washington State, one of the rainiest places in the world.

Bella considers herself klutzy and entirely normal, but she quickly becomes the interest of the entire Forks public high-school. Almost everyone treats her pleasantly, with one major exception: Edward Cullen. Edward seems to hate Bella from the start and ignores her at every possible moment. This makes Bella feel slightly hurt, and wonder what she’s done to spur this strange reaction from him. The kids at her lunch table tell her that Edward is just a strange kid.  In fact, his entire family is abnormal.

The next week, Edward completely changes his attitude towards Bella, much to her surprise. Soon afterwards, an acquaintance of Bella’s nearly runs her over in the school parking lot. She and two others involved in the accident end up at the hospital, one of whom is Edward Cullen, who pushed Bella out of the way and saved her life. Bella saw him appear out of nowhere, and the dent his body left in the offending car did not escape her watchful eye.

After this episode and a few other near-death situations in which Edward again plays the role of hero, Bella confirms something she learned from an old friend. The Cullens are, in fact, vampires, and yet somehow Bella is not scared that her newly found friends are considered monsters.

Bella knows two things, number one being that Edward Cullen could kill her at any moment, and the second is that she has fallen in love with him. Edward struggles against what he is in order to protect Bella. He finds it harder to keep her safe from himself than any other person (or from the many accidents that seem to find her). The Cullen family members jokingly call themselves "vegetarians" because they do not drink the blood of humans. However, there are other threats in the small town of Forks…

Will Bella and Edward’s friendship and relationship be able to withstand all of the life-threatening trials? Can Bella the Danger-Magnet survive in the seemingly peaceful and overwhelmingly rainy town?

Despite the alluring maleficent plot, the story really isn’t any darker than other young adult adventure novels. This book is highly recommended for teens as well as young adults; younger readers may want to ask an adult. Twilight draws the reader in and doesn’t let them go until the last word has dropped from the page.

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