Stephenie Meyer's first novel, Twilight, was published in October of 2005. People didn’t really respond to this newcomer in the first place. But by November, Twilight had reached number 5 on the New York Times best seller list for young adult chapter books.

Meyer soon published the sequel to Twilight, New Moon, in August 2006. In its first week of release, it debuted at number 5 on the New York Times best seller list for children's chapter books.

In its second week it rose to the number 1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. On August 7, 2007, the third book in the Twilight series was released. In total, the three books spent 143 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

Thus it goes without saying why the fourth book of the series, Breaking Dawn, was so eagerly expected.

It was released at a Twilight Masquerade Ball held by Empire Books and News in Huntington on Friday night. The store had 300 copies of "Breaking Dawn" in stock and sold more than half in a pre-sale before the midnight release.

The books tell the story of a small-town girl named Bella who falls in love with Edward, who is actually a vampire. At the same time, one of her friends is a werewolf, but she doesn't know it. Bella has to choose between the two.

Although the series had taken on a Harry Potter-like following, the author believes that it has nothing to do with J.K. Rowling’s books. Her readers consist mostly of teenage girls who can identify themselves with Bella very easily, while the Harry Potter series focuses more toward middle-school children.

Stephenie Meyer also has a special appearance in the movie version of her novel Twilight. The film stars Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward, her vampire friend, and it is due to be released in theaters beginning Dec. 12.