Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2005 When seventeen-year-old Bella Swan moves in with her dad in the small town of Forks, Washington, she’s immediately fascinated by one of her new classmates, the distant but exquisitely handsome Edward Cullen. Though Edward is obviously drawn towards Bella as well, he is clearly conflicted, warning her away from him, and she eventually guesses why: he’s a vampire. Like the rest of his unusual enclave, he has forsworn feeding on humans, but Bella tempts his appetite as well as completely capturing his heart. A trusting Bella has confidence in Edward’s increasing self-control, but it’s not Edward she has to worry about when a group of visiting vampires encounters her among Edward’s family and fixes on her as their prey. The story moves slowly, spending an excessive amount of time on extended description and contemplation of Edward’s physical beauty (“He was too perfect. . . . There was no way this godlike creature could be meant for me”) and a general tendency to tell at length rather than show; it’s not until the last quarter that the vampire hunt delivers the suspense and action promised in the opening scene. The notion of the vampire struggling with self-abnegation is a philosophically intriguing one, though, and Meyer makes original use of the classic subtext in her conflation of Edward’s different kinds of appetites. The matter-of-factness of Bella’s narration makes her seem an accessibly ordinary teen even as her calm acceptance of her boyfriend’s vampirism supports the notion that she is highly unusual in ways that arouse Edward’s affections, not just his hunger. While this lacks the pace that some vampire lovers seek, readers may nonetheless find their appetites whetted by the risky, compelling romance. - Copyright 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 11/15/2005 *Starred Review* In the tradition of Anne Rice and YA titles such as Annette Curtis Klause’s TheSilver Kiss (1999) comes this heady romance that intertwines Bella Swan’s life with that of Edward, an alluring and tormented vampire. Bella’s life changes when she moves to perpetually rain-soaked Forks, Washington. She is instantly drawn to a fellow student, Edward Cullen, beautiful beyond belief and angrily aloof. Bella senses there is more behind Edward’s hostility, and in a plot that slowly and frighteningly unfolds, she learns that Edward and his family are vampires--though they do not hunt humans. Yet Edward cannot promise that his powerful attraction to Bella won’t put her in danger, or worse. Recklessly in love, Bella wants only to be with Edward, but when a vicious, blood-lusting predator complicates her world, Bella’s peril is brutally revealed. This is a book of the senses: Edward is first attracted by Bella’s scent; ironically, Bella is repelled when she sees blood. Their love is palpable, heightened by their touches, and teens will respond viscerally. There are some flaws here--a plot that could have been tightened, an overreliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue--but this dark romance seeps into the soul. - Copyright 2005 Booklist.