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Twilight Summary






Twilight begins with an unnamed narrator (whom we later find out is Bella) giving a brief account about how she is about to die at the hands of a hunter. She is dying in the place of someone she loves, and the narrator does not regret any of the choices that brought her to this point. The past few months have been extraordinary, and she can’t complain.

Zip! Now we’re following the life of Isabella “Bella” Swan, our seventeen-year-old narrator. Bella is moving to Forks, Washington, to live with her dad. We later learn that she volunteered to do this so that she wouldn’t hold her mother back from spending more time with her mother’s new husband. Forks is isolated, cold, dreary, and wet, and Bella’s relationship with her dad is distant, since she was raised by her mother in Phoenix. Bella's new life is dull until she gets a glimpse of the Cullen family – five gorgeous, mesmerizing siblings who attend her high school. She learns they do not socialize with anyone but each other. One of the boys in particular, Edward, pays her close attention and seems to regard her with alarming hostility when she's forced to sit next to him in Biology class. The next day, he is absent from school.

Bella continues to adapt to her new life in Forks. She gets a lot more attention from boys than she was used to in Phoenix. She makes several friends quickly. A few days later, Edward finally is back in school. Now he’s friendly to Bella. His mere presence excites her. That afternoon in the school parking lot, a boy’s truck almost hits Bella after skidding on some black ice, but Edward uses his body as a shield in order to save her. Wait, how’d he do that?! Bella is totally baffled by this, but Edward refuses to explain his inhuman strength. She begins to have dreams about Edward, but at school, he gives her the cold shoulder. His behavior is very confusing, indeed.

Bella gets asked to the upcoming school dance by not one, but three boys, all of whom she rejects. The next day, Edward gets Bella to talk to him during lunch – for the first time he’s spending lunch apart from his siblings. Knowing that she's trying to make sense of his strength and how he saved her, Edward asks for her “theories” on him. Next, it’s let’s-figure-out-your-blood-type day in Biology class, and Edward’s skipping class. Bella becomes faint at the mere thought of blood, and gets taken to the nurse’s office (Edward appears outside and intercepts her from Mike, one of the guys who has a crush on Bella). Edward insists that he take her home.

That weekend, during a trip to a beach at La Push Indian reservation, Bella meets Jacob Black, who tells her about “the cold ones” (vampires). Word around the reservation is that the Cullens are vampires. When Bella gets home, she does some internet research and things start falling into place. Bella decides that she’s too in love with Edward to resist him, even if he is a vampire.

Soon after, Bella takes a trip to Port Angeles with a few friends, where she gets lost looking for a bookstore. Some thugs almost attack her in a dark alley, but Edward appears in his shiny Volvo and saves her. They have dinner together, and he drives her home. He reveals that yes, he is a vampire. Edward doesn’t want to be a monster, though, and actually only drinks the blood of animals. Bella knows now that he does thirst for her blood, yet she still is in love with him. Edward repeatedly warns Bella that she should be afraid of him and stay away, if she’s smart.

Edward and Bella take a mini-field trip together and spend the afternoon in a nearby secluded meadow, where Edward shows Bella that his skin sparkles in the sun (which is why vampires only come out at night or on cloudy days, which are common in Forks). They are completely in love. They kiss for the first time. Bella learns more about Edward’s family and their past. Edward struggles with abiding his morals (not tempting himself by getting close to a human) versus what he desires – to be near Bella.

Edward spends the night in Bella's bedroom, watching over her as she sleeps (without her dad knowing, of course). Bella visits Edward’s house, meets his family, and learns more about their “kind” – vampires who don’t feast on humans. They go back to her house where Jacob and his father Billy Black show up to see her dad (Billy and Charlie are friends). Being a Quileute elder from the La Push reservation, Billy knows about the Cullens' secret and is worried for Bella's safety. He warns her to stay away from the Cullens. After the Blacks leave, Edward returns in his brother's jeep to pick up Bella. They’re going to play baseball. It's a Cullen family bonding ritual, evidently.

While the Cullens are playing their crazy version of baseball (they're all incredibly strong and fast), three other vampires show up. One named James takes a liking to Bella (in the “I want to eat you” kind of way). Edward and his family get Bella away from James long enough to make a plan. They know that James is trying to track Bella, so Alice and Jasper (Edward's adoptive siblings) whisk her away to a hiding place in Phoenix, but James lures Bella to him by telling her that he has captured her mom. He’s about to kill Bella when the Cullen clan shows up. The only problem is that James has already bitten Bella. If Edward doesn't suck the venom-infected blood out of her, she'll become a vampire. Though it's difficult for Edward to control his urge to suck all of Bella's blood, he manages to cure Bella without killing her. The Cullens kill James and get Bella to a hospital, where she starts to recover from her many injuries.

Overall Bella’s OK, though banged up. She and Edward are more in love than ever. However, they argue because Bella wants him to bite her and make her into a vampire so that they can live together forever; Edward refuses. Regardless of their different species, they are devoted to one another completely.

In the Epilogue, Edward surprises Bella by taking her to the prom – she's horrified because she's uncoordinated and worried about dancing in public. Jacob shows up at the dance and delivers a message – Billy wants Bella to dump Edward. He also wants her to know that they “will be watching” (Epilogue.118). Anyway, Edward and Bella go outside to have some time alone – it’s twilight outside. Again, Bella asks Edward to make her into a vampire, and he refuses. Edward says to Bella, “I will stay with you – isn’t that enough?” and she replies, “Enough for now"


New Moon Summary





New Moon begins with our narrator in deep trouble, running against a clock, chiming in "the end of everything" (Preface.1). Avid readers of Twilight already know that the narrator is none other than our protagonist, Isabella "Bella" Swan. (Catch up on all the juicy details of Twilight in our full discussion on Shmoop.)

Bella is still living in rainy Forks, Washington with her dad, Charlie. She just spent a dreamy summer with her vampire love, Edward, and now it’s time to go back to school. She also just turned eighteen – a painful reminder that her human clock is ticking while Edward will stay young and handsome forever. To Bella’s major distress, Edward still refuses to turn her into a vampire.

When the Cullens (Edward’s vampire family) throw a birthday party for Bella at their house, clumsy Bella gets a paper cut while unwrapping one of her presents, and spills a little blood. Jasper Cullen, still struggling with his family’s no-human diet, loses control and attacks Bella. Edward fights him off but, in the process, the boys wreck the house and leave Bella with a gushing wound on her arm. Everyone except for the head of the family, Carlisle Cullen, and Edward, hurries out with pinched noses to escape the tempting smell of Bella’s blood.

Thanks to Carlisle’s profession as a doctor for the past 300 some years, he’s immune to the lure of human blood. As he stays with Bella, she complains that if Edward had made her a vampire already, these accidents wouldn’t be happening. Carlisle reveals that the reason Edward refuses to change her is that he believes vampires don’t have a soul and therefore no chance for an afterlife.

While Bella dismisses the Jasper incident as a minor family quarrel, Edward is visibly shaken and withdraws emotionally from Bella. On a walk in the woods, he tells her he wants a safe, human life for her, which is why he and his family are leaving town – without her. "It will be as if I’d never existed" (3.193), he says, and takes off.

Bella’s life is shattered. Several months pass during which she vegetates in zombie-like depression. There’s a deep, aching hole in her chest in place of her heart and she wonders if it will ever heal.

One day Bella discovers that, if she does reckless things, she can hear Edward’s voice clearly in her head. Feeling him close eases her pain. So she embarks on several reckless adventures just to coax Edward’s voice into her head.

Bella’s need for a mechanic causes her to renew her relationship with Jacob Black, the handy young son of Charlie’s best friend Billy, from La Push Indian Reservation. Two years younger than Bella, Jacob has had a crush on Bella since the first time they met. He also unwittingly told her that Edward was a "cold one," a vampire. Bella is surprised to see that Jacob has grown into a handsome young man. Always happy and supportive, he quickly becomes Bella’s healing balm, soothing some of the cracks in her broken heart. They become best friends. It’s obvious that Jacob has romantic feelings for Bella. Although she makes no secret out of the fact that she still loves Edward, she also has trouble curbing Jacob’s romantic advances because being around him makes her happy, something she hasn’t felt for a long time.

On a visit to the meadow in the woods where Edward once brought her, Bella meets Laurent, a vampire of the same coven (group) as James, the vampire who attempted to kill Bella in Twilight. Laurent tells Bella that James’s mate, Victoria, wants to kill Bella to take revenge for Edward killing James. Only Laurent is thirsty and has decided to kill Bella himself. Before he can attack, though, a pack of giant wolves appear out of the woods and chase Laurent away.

Later, Jacob tells Bella about a gang of boys down in La Push who also seem to be up to no good. Jacob fears that their leader, Sam Uley, will force him to join. When Jacob suddenly starts avoiding Bella, she thinks Sam finally got to him. Trying to save Jacob from the gang, Bella discovers that Jacob has instead morphed into a werewolf. In fact, Jacob was one of the giant wolves that saved her from Laurent. According to ancient Quileute legend, selected men from the Quileute tribe turn into werewolves to protect humans from getting eaten by vampires. Long ago, the werewolves made a peace treaty with Carlisle Cullen on the condition that the Cullens refrain from eating humans.

Jacob vows that he and his wolf pack will protect Bella from the vampire Victoria and that he’ll always be her friend – and maybe more, if she’s ready. Bella is torn about what to do.

In the meantime, on another reckless adventure to hear Edward’s voice, Bella goes cliff jumping. Jacob barely saves her from drowning.

On her return home, Bella finds Alice Cullen, who is shocked to see Bella alive. Due to her future-seeing skills, Alice saw Bella jump off a cliff. But it turns out she can’t "see" werewolves, so she believed Bella committed suicide.

Edward hears the false news of Bella’s death and he decides to go to Italy to provoke the Volturi, and ancient vampire family, to take his life too. The Volturi are in charge of enforcing rule number one of vampiredom: don’t reveal to any humans that you are a vampire! That’s why Edward plans to walk out into the sun at noon – exposing his sparkly vampire skin – in Volterra's center plaza.

However, Bella has gone to Italy in search of Edward and saves him from exposing himself in the nick of time. But they get kidnapped by the Volturi anyway. Aro, the leader of the Volturi, forces Edward to make a decision: either he changes Bella into a vampire or she has to die, because she knows vampires exist. Through Alice’s vision of Bella’s future, Aro sees that Bella will become a vampire and releases them.

At home, Edward and Bella re-declare their love for each other, but trouble looms on the horizon. Jacob and his werewolf pack warn Bella that if she transforms into a vampire, their pre-existing treaty will force them to attack the Cullens. Bella is faced with a tough choice. Yet, with Edward back at her side forever, she believes that she can face anything.


Eclipse Summary




Eclipse opens with a preface in which Bella and "her protector" in great peril. They're trapped by an unknown enemy. We learn that a war is raging somewhere, but that Bella doesn't believe she'll live to learn the outcome.

Flashback to Bella's home in Forks, Washington. She reads a letter from Jacob, a werewolf, in which he tells her that they can't be friends anymore. She misses him. Bella's father Charlie urges her to hang out with some friends other than her (vampire) boyfriend Edward – Jacob, for example.

Charlie informs Bella and Edward of a killing spree in Seattle. Edward reveals to Bella that his family thinks bloodthirsty newborn vampires have committed the killings.

Jacob becomes a sore point for Edward and Bella. Bella demands to see Jacob, but Edward sabotages her attempts to run off to see him.

Edward convinces Bella to visit her mom in Florida. After their return, Jacob shows up at Forks High and reveals to Bella that evil vampire Victoria, who is set on killing Bella, has returned. The hunt for the bad vampire has caused a run-in between the Cullens, Edward's good vampire family, and the Quileute werewolves, including Jacob. Bella makes Edward promise to stop being so overprotective of her.

Bella escapes the supervision of Edward's sister Alice and sneaks off to see Jacob. When she returns, Edward is livid, but she's had enough of the hostilities between vampires and werewolves. "I am a neutral country. I am Switzerland," Bella says.

Rosalie, Edward's other vampire sister, tells Bella her life story and her dream of having a baby. Becoming a vampire against her will destroyed that dream forever. She urges Bella to not give up her mortality.

Jacob appears on a motorcycle at Forks High to "kidnap" Bella from Alice's supervision. Bella seizes the moment and takes off with him. Jacob tells Bella that he'd be a better choice for her than Edward, but Bella tells him she loves Edward. He clues Bella in to "imprinting," which is like love at first sight for werewolves. Some of his friends have already imprinted, but he hasn't yet. When Bella reveals that she'll be transformed into a vampire after graduation, Jacob loses his temper and says he'd rather see her dead.

When she returns from seeing Jacob, Bella is surprised to hear that Edward has decided to allow her to visit Jacob to show his trust in her.

When Bella notices that some of her clothes are missing, Edward confirms that an unknown vampire has been snooping around her house. Jacob arrives to pick up the unknown scent for the werewolves to track. Edward tells Bella that the killing spree in Seattle has worsened, leading the Cullens to believe that someone is building an army of vicious newborn vampires.

With graduation just one week away, Bella realizes she will soon be transformed into a vampire and gets cold feet. She still wants Edward to change her, but she cringes at the idea of marrying him, because she's concerned about what her parents and the people in Forks will think of her.

During a gathering of the Cullen family regarding the newborn vampires all over Seattle, Jasper, Edward's brother, reveals that he was transformed into a vampire to serve in an army, created by a vampire named Maria, to expand her feeding territory. He explains that newborn vampires have enormous strength, but aren't yet skilled fighters. The Cullens decide to stop the newborn vampires in Seattle before the Volturi, a powerful group of Italian vampires, do so, because their visit might lead them to check if Bella is still human. (Check out our summary of New Moon if you need a refresher on Bella's interactions with the Volturi.)

Jacob declares his love to Bella. He forces her into a kiss. She punches him and breaks her hand in the process. At Bella's house, Edward confronts Jacob. Their fight for Bella is officially on. "May the best man win."

Bella realizes that her earlier unknown vampire visitor and the vampire army are connected. She believes that someone is creating a vampire army just to kill her.

Jacob and his werewolf buddies Embry and Quil show up to Bella's graduation party at the Cullen house. Bella forgives Jacob for kissing her. When Alice, who can see the future, has a vision of the vampire army marching toward Forks, the werewolves and Cullen vampires form an alliance against their common enemy. They meet in the woods where Jasper tells both his family and the werewolves how to kill newborn vampires. Bella makes Edward promise to stay with her, because she can't stand losing him. He agrees.

Edward and Jacob come up with a plan to hide Bella from the vampire army in the woods, far away from the scene of battle. Jacob decides to have his cousin Seth, a young werewolf who's new to the pack, guard her during the fight.

Bella confides to Edward that the one human experience she wants to have before her transformation is to make love to him. Edward refuses for fear that he might hurt or even kill her. After a heated argument, they come to a compromise: Edward will try, but only after Bella marries him. He gives her an engagement ring and proposes.

The night before the battle, Edward, Bella, and Jacob decide to sleep in a tent in the woods. A snowstorm rages outside. Bella is freezing to death, so Edward (whose skin is always ice cold) grudgingly agrees to let Jacob warm Bella. Edward and Jacob have a heart-to-heart in which Edward says that he'd let Bella go without a fight if she chose Jacob.

Moments before the battle, Jacob learns that Edward and Bella are getting married. He's crushed and tells Bella that he's going to kill himself in battle. Bella pleads with him. They kiss. This time, Bella loses her self-control and realizes that she's in love Jacob.

Bella feels horribly guilty, but Edward forgives her. The fight goes smoothly, until – out of the blue – Victoria and her companion vampire Reilly appear. Edward takes on Victoria. Seth attacks Reilly. It's a close fight but, in the end, Edward and Seth prevail by working as a team. The Volturi arrive at the scene of battle, awed that all their work has been taken care of by the Cullens (as they don't know about the existence of the werewolves).

Bella visits Jacob, who's been wounded in battle. He promises Bella that he'll let her go, but that he'll always be waiting in the wings – maybe even after she turns into a vampire.

After leaving Jacob, Bella experiences an emotional breakdown. Yet she believes she's made the right choice. Though she's also been upset about getting married, she makes peace with the idea, because she feels that she owes it to her parents to share this important human tradition with them before becoming a vampire. She even agrees to let Alice plan a big wedding.

When Jacob receives Bella's wedding invitation, he's devastated, Even more, he's enraged. He turns into wolf form and disappears into the woods, thinking to himself, "I would never go back…I pushed my legs faster, letting Jacob Black disappear behind me" .


Breaking Dawn Summary



Breaking Dawn is the fourth installment in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series. Picking up where Eclipse left off, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are counting down the days until their wedding. It's the talk of the small town of Forks, Washington. Bella's acceptance of Edward's proposal means an Ivy League education, a step up the financial ladder and the shadow of death in his promise to make her a vampire.
Twilight Series to date.

Bella Swan is like a death magnet, effortlessly attracting vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen and befriending werewolf Jacob Black. Bella likes living on the edge and is counting down the days until Edward turns her into a vampire. Will Jacob allow her to go through with a plan that would break the truce between the Quileute wolf pack and the Cullen family vampires?

Teen Choice Awards

Gossip Girl (TV series)


Gossip Girl is an American drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007. On February 24, 2009 The CW renewed the show for a third season. Narrated by the omniscient yet unseen blogger "Gossip Girl", voiced by Kristen Bell, the series revolves around the lives of privileged teenagers attending an elite private school in New York City's Upper East Side.

The series begins with the return of Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a mysterious stay at a boarding school in Connecticut. Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), who creators describe as the queen at the center of their chess game,is a longtime friend and occasional rival of Serena's, and the Queen Bee of Manhattan's social scene. The story also follows Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the resident bad boy of the Upper East Side, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Chuck's best friend, and certain outsiders who become part of the turbulent Manhattan scene: Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), Nate's friend and Serena's on-again, off-again ex; Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), Dan's best friend; and Dan's ambitious sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen).


Season One 2007-2008 : Main article: Gossip Girl

Season 1 featured 18 episodes and began airing on September 19, 2007. However, due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, only 13 episodes were produced from the planned 22, but once the strike ended, the network announced five more episodes to be produced, and finally the season concluded on May 19, 2008. The season premiered with 3.5 million viewers, and ended with 3.00. Although the ratings were low the network renewed the show for second season due their aiming on male and female demographics on age 18-34.

In the beginning of the first season, the episodes focus on why Serena initially left. It is soon discovered that she felt an overwhelming guilt for sleeping with her best friend Blair's boyfriend Nate Archibald behind Blair's back. However, as the season progresses, Georgina Sparks, a new character with malicious intentions, comes back to haunt Serena. It is soon discovered that the real reason Serena left was because one night she and Georgina were hanging out in a hotel room after a night of drinking and partying. Things soon got out of hand when the man they were with asked for his cocaine and Serena gave the drugs to him. Immediately after, the man began having a seizure and the two girls panicked and ran away. Serena felt obligated to at least call 911 for help, and as she ran across the street in hiding, she saw that the man they were with had died. This is the full reason why Serena left because in the same night she had slept with her best friend's boyfriend and killed a man. Part of the main story arc also involves Serena's relationship with Dan Humphrey, an outsider from Brooklyn who she begins to date but has a rocky road with because of their different family backgrounds.

Other storylines include Blair breaking up with Nate and falling for his best friend Chuck Bass, which leads to her dethroning as Queen Bee; Jenny's training to become the next Queen Bee lead by Blair, which contribute to both of them later in the season beginning war for the throne; Nate's family problems; Lily's marriage with Bart Bass; Rufus' troubled marriage; Dan's relationship with Serena, which is interrupted by his former love Vanessa Abrams; and the friendship of Chuck and Nate.


Season Two: 2008-2009

Season 2 featured 25 episodes and began airing on September 1, 2008 starting at the end of the summer instead of the more conventional start in the fall along with larger TV networks. The season concluded on May 25, 2009. The season premiered with 3.43 million viewers, similar to the first season and ended with 2.23, lower than expected.

The second season mainly explores the senior year of most of the characters, the continuity of their new found relationships, their final encounter with "Gossip Girl", and their attempts to get into college. The first couple of episodes feature part of the summer vacation, respectively week before the start of the school year. The role of "Gossip Girl" is slightly decreased. She continues to run her blog, but she keeps the ultimate information for herself, sending it in the final episode as the last blast, where Serena decides to find out who "Gossip Girl" really is, but ultimately fails.

The second season also focuses on Blair and Chuck, who were labeled "the heart of GG" by People magazine. At first, both characters negate their feelings for one another, and go through random schemes and manipulations. After all the games are done, both of them eventually say "I love you" to each other. Other storylines include Blair's attempt to enter Yale University; the death of Bart Bass which proves to be a very bad influence on Chuck and the exploration of his involvements; Dan's transformation from outsider to insider and his relationship with Serena's teacher Rachel Carr; Serena's relationships after breaking up with Dan; Jenny's career as fashion designer and her rebellions which ultimately ends with her becoming the next Queen Bee; the end of Nate and Chuck's friendship and Nate's friendship with Dan; Nate's family problems which continue to grow and affect on his new found relationship with Vanessa; Rufus and Lily's relationship after Bart's death, their engagement, and revelation that they have a son; and Serena's involvement with Poppy Lifton, a secretive socialite that tries to steal money from Serena and her friends which ultimately leads to the return of Georgina Sparks, who claims to be changed but eventually decides to get revenge on Blair.

The penultimate episode of the season, "Valley Girls", was a backdoor pilot for a Gossip Girl spin-off series also titled Valley Girls. The series was set in 1983 and chronicled the teen years of the Gossip Girl character Lily van der Woodsen.


Season Three: 2009-2010

Gossip Girl's third season premiere aired on the CW on September 14, 2009. The cast began filming on June 29, 2009 in New York City. Hilary Duff joined the show for a multi-episode guest arc in this season as Olivia Burke, a famous movie star who wants a normal college experience, and eventually starts dating Dan Humphrey. This character was inspired by real life actress Emma Watson's decision to attend university.

Joanna García also joined the show for the first four episodes as Bree Buckley, an "evil Miss America" type from the Archibalds' rival family - she served as a love interest for Nate, until he found out she was just using him to get back at her cousin's fiancé Carter Baizen. America's Next Top Model creator Tyra Banks appeared in the fourth episode as Ursula Nyquist, a larger than life actress, for whom Serena Van Der Woodsen temporarily works as a publicist. Also appearing in this episode was Sonya Harum, an up and coming actress, and designers Tory Burch and Georgina Chapman.Also, Gina Torres got a recurring role as Vanessa's mother, Gabriela Abrams.

Music group Sonic Youth made a guest appearance in the season's fifth episode, "Rufus Getting Married", where they played an acoustic version of their song "Starpower" at Rufus and Lily's wedding.The ninth episode of the season caused a significant amount of controversy. Parent groups urged the CW not to air the episode that contained a threesome. The preview for the episode revolved around an "OM3" theme. CW ignored these requests and announced that it was going to air the episode as planned. The show is also gaining more attention due to the fact that it is bringing in many new guest stars. Lady Gaga made an appearance in the episode "The Last Days of Disco Stick".

Robert John Burke who played Chuck's father, Bart Bass, returned for A Christmas Carol themed episode in December, also Desmond Harrington will return to the show in spring, as Chuck's uncle, Jack Bass. Willa Holland, who played Jenny's model friend Agnes, confirmed on her Twitter account that she'll appear on Gossip Girl again. Billy Baldwin has been cast as Dr. William van der Woodsen, Serena's and Eric's father, for at least three episodes, starting in April.And Laura Harring is guest-starring as Evelyn Bass (Chuck Bass' mother) towards the end of the season.