ALA Booklist (Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2006)

Which is tempting you more, my blood or my body? Things are heating up between Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, in this sequel to the immensely popular Twilight (2005). Then Bella is injured at her birthday party, and the Cullens' reaction to her blood sends Edward's family packing. Bella is inconsolable until she discovers that reckless behavior allows her to hear Edward's warning voice in her head. To keep him close, she decides to live as dangerously as possible, acquiring two motorcycles and developing a close friendship with Jacob, who helps her rebuild them. Romantics will miss Edward's presence, but the suspense created by a pack of werewolves bent on protecting Bella from a vindictive vampire will keep them occupied until the lovers can be reunited. The writing is a bit melodramatic, but readers won't care. Bella's dismay at being ordinary (after all, she's only human) will strike a chord even among girls who have no desire to be immortal, and like the vampires who watch Bella bleed with fevered eyes, teens will relish this new adventure and hunger for more.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

To protect his girlfriend, Bella, vampire Edward leaves town. As a result, a broken-hearted Bella deepens her friendship with the earthier Jacob--who turns out to be a werewolf. Bella is little more than a passive stand-in for fantasy-happy readers, but the grandiose emotional arc begun in Twilight continues to entice, and Jacob's character development sets up a promising triangle.

Kirkus Reviews

All is not well between demon-magnet Bella and Edward Cullen, her vampire Romeo. An innocent papercut at Edward's house puts Bella in grave danger when various members of the Cullen family can barely resist their hunger at the smell of blood. The Cullens promptly leave town, afraid of endangering Edward's beloved, and Bella sinks into an overwhelming depression. Months later, she finally emerges from her funk to rebuild her life, focusing on her friendship with besotted teen Jacob from the reservation. Bella's unhealthy enthrallment to Edward leads her into dangerous and self-destructive behavior despite her new friends, and supernatural complications are bound to reappear. Bella's being hunted by an evil vampire, and Jacob's adolescent male rage turns out to be incipient lycanthropy: It seems many Quileute Indians become werewolves in the presence of vampires, their natural enemies. Psychic miscommunications and angst-ridden dramatic gestures lead to an exciting page-turner of a conclusion drenched in the best of Gothic romantic excess. Despite Bella's flat and obsessive personality, this tale of tortured demon lovers entices. (Fantasy. 13-16)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Fans of Meyer's debut novel, <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Twilight, may be disappointed in this second book in a planned trilogy. It begins with a bang, on Bella's 18th birthday, when Edward Cullen sweeps her off to his unorthodox family home (in the first book readers learn that the Cullens are vampires who hunt animals rather than humans) for a birthday celebration. But when Bella unwraps a gift and gets a paper cut, her drops of blood set off a chaos that culminates in the Cullens leaving town. Edward exits on page 73, and does not reappear for nearly 400 pages, except for his voice in Bella's head when she embarks on dangerous adventures, such as motorcycle riding and cliff diving. Instead, this book focuses on Jake, her friend from La Push, who has some unusual traits of his own. A Quileute legend that he confides in Bella in the first book comes to the fore here (and ties in with the title), and Bella is tracked down by the "bad" vampires from the first book, who seek revenge for Edward's murder of their friend James. Long stretches in the book may make readers feel as if they're treading water, but the pace quickens when Alice Cullen sees a vision of Bella cliff diving and mistakes it for suicide. Edward then heads to the all-powerful Volturi vampires in Italy, seeking his own death. Will Bella get to Italy in time to save Edward? Will she remain human? Meyer answers the first question but leaves the second for the third novel. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005), Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step. Vampire fans will appreciate the subsequently dour mood that permeates the novel, and it's not until Bella befriends Jacob, a sophomore from her school with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella's emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends. Less streamlined than Twilight yet just as exciting, New Moon will more than feed the bloodthirsty hankerings of fans of the first volume and leave them breathless for the third.-Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Readers return to the Pacific Northwestern hamlet of Forks in Stephenie Meyer's sequel to her debut novel, Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005/VOYA October 2005). Human Bella remains incredibly enamored with her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, and continually hints at her desire to become a fellow nosferatu. A disastrous birthday celebration leads to the Cullens' exodus from Forks, leaving behind a devastated Bella. Morose and depressed, she discovers that reckless activities elicit auditory hallucinations of Edward chastising her to stay safe. Bella's new friend, Jacob Black, helps bring her out of her melancholia. As their friendship begins to shift into something deeper, Jacob himself undergoes an unexpected metamorphosis. Misunderstanding and miscommunication lead to Bella's flight from Forks and into the clutches of the Volturi, an influential vampire family in Italy. From its orchid-embossed cover to the epilogue, vampire aficionados will voraciously consume this mighty tome in one sitting, then flip back and read it once more. It maintains a brisk pace and near-genius balance of breathtaking romance and action. While certainly better written than its predecessor, it may leave the reader wishing for something different-a more empowered and self-assured heroine, comic relief to balance the perpetually brooding Edward, fewer references to the vampires' innate beauty. Meyer is at work on the third addition to the Forks saga so there is hope these transformations can occur. Despite the flaws, expect this book to remain checked out by its legions of fans as they await the third novel's release.-Angelica Delgado.