If you’ve read Twilight and New Moon, chances are you’ve already got your hands on Eclipse. It is the third book in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. The book was released on August 7, 2007. On that day alone, it sold over 150,000 copies. You should definitely read these books in order because the book doesn’t spend much time reviewing what happened in the previous book. Instead, it picks up the story right where it left off.

Eclipse continues the story of Bella Swan and a vampire she fell in love with the well known Edward Cullen. The book opens up the story with Edward and Bella reuniting after their parting in New Moon. The main conflict of the story is Edward does not want to turn Bella into a vampire, although it is the only way for them to be together forever. If Edward does not give in and turn her into one of his kind, Bella’s life will forever be in danger. So, Edward gives in to save his true love and the date is set for after her graduation.

Bella will soon be graduating high school, and going off to what everyone else in Forks thinks is “college.” But in reality, she’s planning to join her vampire boyfriend and his family. The book revolves around romance. Almost everything Edward or Bella does throughout the book is for love. However, in the book, love is not a two way street. Jacob is a third wheel of the “love story.” Jacob has always been one of Bella’s best friends. Well, until she discovered he’s really a ware wolf. Ware wolfs and vampires go together like a teenager and chores... They don’t. The conflict between Edward and Jacob puts Bella and Jacob’s friendship on pause. Jacob is in love with Bella, who is in love with Edward. So, obviously there is a huge problem.

The first few chapters are slow. But Stephanie Meyer doesn’t fail to draw the reader in by spicing up the book with the love-hate relationship between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. Once you get at least halfway through the book, it turns into a soap opera type story. Not one of those ‘mushy-gushy’ ones, where you can predict the ending by the first page. But more like the kind that you can’t stop reading! Bella should be with Jacob. She could be, and odds are, would be with Jacob if Edward didn’t exist. But he does, and he is Bella’s soul mate. However, she does love Jacob, just not as much as she loves Edward. Bella likes being with Jacob. She takes hand-in-hand walks with him, and just goes over to his house to talk with him. Edward approves of this because he knows it is what Bella wants; it’s what makes her happy. In my opinion, I think this is why Bella chose Edward over Jacob; he understands her. Jacob and Bella’s conversations are always about how Jacob should be with her, not Edward. Edward does everything possible to make Bella happy; whether it’s being with him or not.

All in all, I really enjoyed Eclipse and I plan to continue on and read Breaking Dawn. It does a great job of following New Moon. I think teenagers can relate to this book more than anyone else because it involves typical teenage drama and young romance. Eclipse is one of those books that you will stay up past bedtime to read.