Midnight Sun recap

Midnight Sun retells the events of Twilight from Edward Cullen's point of view. Edward is a telepathic vampire hiding among humans in Forks with his family, who feed only on animals. When Bella Swan arrives at school, he is stunned that he cannot hear her thoughts and nearly undone by how strongly her blood tempts him. He fights to stay away from her, then to protect her, as the two fall in love against his every instinct and the danger he poses. After he saves her from a speeding van and later from an attacker, he tells her what he is; she accepts it. He brings her to meet his family, but a passing trio of human-hunting nomads arrives during a family baseball game, and one of them, a tracker named James, fixes on hunting Bella for sport. The Cullens flee with her, but James lures her away and bites her. Edward destroys James and, in an agony of self-control, sucks the venom from her wound to keep her human, saving her life without turning her. Bella recovers, and they return to their fragile life together in Forks, the danger of what Edward is still hanging over them.

Edward Cullen, a telepathic vampire posing as a teenager in Forks with his adopted family, is thrown off balance when a new student, Bella Swan, arrives: he cannot hear her thoughts, and her scent tempts him more than any human's ever has. In a biology class he is nearly overwhelmed by the urge to kill her and barely holds himself back, then leaves town for several days to regain control. Returning, he resolves to keep his distance, but when a van skids across the icy school parking lot toward Bella, he moves with impossible speed to shield her, stopping the vehicle with his hand. Bella notices what should have been impossible and begins to suspect he is not ordinary. Fascinated against his will and unable to stay away, Edward finds himself drawn ever closer to the one person whose mind is silent to him.

Edward and Bella circle each other warily, each intensely curious about the other. When Bella wanders into danger from a group of men in nearby Port Angeles, Edward, tracking her through the minds around her, arrives in time to rescue her, and afterward admits that he can read thoughts, though not hers. Their fascination deepens into love even as Edward warns her how dangerous he is. He finally confirms to her what he and his family are, showing her the truth of himself, and is amazed that she is not repelled but accepts him. His family reacts with unease: some fear the risk a knowing human poses to their secret, and Rosalie in particular objects, while Alice's visions suggest that Bella's future may be bound tightly to theirs. Edward, long solitary among his own kind, lets himself hope.

Edward brings Bella home to meet the Cullens, and most of the family welcomes her. During a thunderstorm the family gathers to play baseball, their strength and speed unleashed, but the game is interrupted by three passing vampires, nomads who hunt humans: James, Victoria, and Laurent. James, a tracker who treats hunting as a game, catches Bella's scent among the Cullens and instantly makes her his quarry. Laurent, uneasy, leaves the others rather than join the chase, but James will not be turned aside. To protect Bella, the Cullens scatter and set decoys: Edward and some of the family try to draw James away while Alice and Jasper take Bella into hiding in her old home city of Phoenix. The hunt tightens, and Edward is desperate to keep the danger he brought into her life from destroying her.

James outwits the Cullens' protection by tricking Bella into believing he has captured her mother, luring her to a ballet studio in Phoenix, where he attacks and bites her. Edward and his family arrive and destroy James, but the venom already in Bella's blood threatens to turn her into a vampire. In an act of extreme self-mastery, Edward draws the venom out through the wound, forcing himself to stop before he drains her, and saves her life while keeping her human. Bella recovers in a hospital, her injuries explained away to her father with a cover story, and she and Edward return to Forks. He takes her to the school prom, gently resisting, for now, her desire to be changed so she can stay with him forever. James is gone, but his mate Victoria has escaped, leaving a lingering threat. The book ends with Edward and Bella together and in love, still shadowed by the dangers of what he is.

Edward reaches Bella in a Phoenix ballet studio after James has bitten her, and the Cullens destroy the tracker. Bella's greatest peril then becomes the vampire venom spreading in her blood: rather than let her change, Edward forces himself to draw the venom out through the bite, mastering the very thirst that first tempted him and stopping himself before he drains her. She survives, badly injured but still human, and wakes in a hospital where Edward has arranged a cover story for her worried father. The two return to Forks and to their life at school, and Edward takes her to the prom, deflecting for now her wish to become a vampire and stay with him forever. James is dead, but his mate, the red-haired Victoria, has slipped away, and Edward knows the reprieve is uneasy. The book closes with Edward and Bella together, deeply in love, still shadowed by the constant threat that his nature, and the vampire world, pose to a fragile human girl.