You definately need to have read the books to follow...there are a lot of holes. I felt the acting lacked the passion of the books. There didn't seem to be a connection between the characters. They seemed to take some of the best lines of the book and have the characters say them to each other. I did love the ending and that the Victoria, Laurant, and James characters were more integrated than in the book, and it certainly left the door open for New Moon. But the essense of the characters wasn't there, I was sad to see!