As a child, I was a voracious reader. Then I became an English major (reading even more). Over time, though, reading took a backseat to the rest of the things going on in my life. Then, when things began to calm down a bit, I decided I'd give this book that everyone was talking about a try. So I read it, read the other books in the series, and took off reading again. I'm saying all of this because my thoughts on this book would be different if it had just been another book on my TBR pile. As it was, it got me back into reading, so I have fond memories of it. 
 I can't give it full marks - the cliches run wild and there is little action (lots of moping), but I thought the characters were decent and it was very easy to get into. Meyer definitely has teen angst down to a science.