Easily this reader's least-favorite of all four books in the series, New Moon does show a degree of style growth as we're introduced to a storytelling shift from the first book: Dual-POV. Not only are we given Bella's first-person perspective, but also Jacob's. Edward features little throughout most of the story (aside from Bella's semi-hallucinating moments brought on by self-inflicted danger--in which some semblance of her own conscience/common-sense seems to manifest as Edward, with the request that she STOP risking her safety.) Sound a little insane? Well, to be fair to realism, I've known few teenagers in love who weren't leaning pretty far over the cliff-o-craziness... 
 I digress. 
 At a base level, New Moon is a highly emotional YA urban fantasy continuation revolving around an inadvertent love-triangle--and a girl who deals with her relational co-dependency in less than healthy ways. Readers are also allowed inside the head of a somewhat whiny male protagonist, who happens to be going through some physiological changes that make puberty look like a hormonal walk in the park. The world-building expands to encompass both vampires and shapeshifters, rounding out a far broader sense of conflict than was conveyed in the 'star-crossed lovers' plot of the first book. 
 While some have contended that Bella's period of depression was overly dramatic, there are many who may find her response entirely believable. For this reader, the primary detraction to enjoyment was spending too much time in Jacob's head. Purely subjective, to be sure, but the guy annoyed me. If this reader wanted to end up in any male's head, it would have been Edward's. (16-year-old male mind vs. 100-year-old male mind? Not really a contest, there. Just sayin'.) 
 I did appreciate the vampire socio-political aspects that came into play toward the end. The book managed to stand well on its own, while hinting more at future issues that would likely need to be faced.