I recently noticed the Vampire Diaries books sitting on my shelf, forgotten, and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to read it in October, because of the whole spooky vibe. So there it is now - even thought the wheel didn't choose it, I did, because it deserved the attention! Damon, on the other hand, is actually interesting. He's unpredictable. He may do some good things, but he's still definitely evil. There's a lot of potential there for a sexy doomed attraction between him and Elena, but so far I don't think it has been well executed, unfortunately. Once again, Elena's feelings are just explicitly stated rather than shown through scene. It's weird because I thought that the mutual attraction in Smith's The Forbidden Game series was actually shown well, so I don't know what's going on here... Damon is the only character that comes into play that I can understand. He was the one who lurked from afar and didn't try to disguise his obsession with love. His was purely lust. I think this is the first time I have ever rooted for the bad guy to get the girl. I want Elena to be with Damon, Stefan just isn't doing it for me I guess. Some people have read it and compared it to Twilight, but I have to say that these books are NOTHING like Twilight except for the part where she's human and the brothers aren't. But that's about it.

Okay, so I promised myself I wouldn't do this but here I go..... as Kat would say UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME....

Elena is an uptight snobby girl who gets what ever she wants and when she doesn't she pouts like a 2 year old out to get revenge and sneak in her mothers pantry to steal chocolate! From the first chapter, this book is intense and captures your attention. It is written in third person, but it also contains diary entries that belong to Elena and capture her deepest thoughts that she doesn't dare share with anyone else. The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire fiction series of novels created by American author L. J. Smith. The story centers on Stefan Salvatore, a vampire, and his life. I either read an interview or saw one with Stephenie Meyer who remarked that she got her plot to Twilight from a dream that she once had. After having read this, I can say in all certainty that if she got the idea from a dream, it was at some point after reading this series. Look no further for her source material, here it is.

The Struggle continues where The Awakening ends; Elena is looking to talk to Damon, knowing that he has something to do with Stefan's disappearance. This will not be a book for everyone. People who enjoy Twilight-esque books will probably be into this. Third, idk I just think watching the show first ruined the books because characters I liked from the show didn’t exist in the books and characters I liked in the books didn’t exist in the shows. So I've read the first one "The Awakening and The Struggle" and I have to say that I was kind of disappointed. What it boiled down to for me: A teen vampire novel populated with obnoxious, under-developed characters and a plot that just screams "OH LOOK AT ME AND MY DRAMA QUEEN SELF!"LMAO I COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD READ THIS BEFORE, look I read it so long ago that my review differentiates between "Netflix Instant" and my "Netflix discs"!!! an adorable time capsule. In the second book, Elena is a touch more palatable, but that might have been because the story as a whole got marginally better, leaving less time (but still ample, believe me) for Elena to wax poetic about the unexplainable love for Stefan that seemingly flourished after one kiss. The thing I really hated about this one, and the few vampire novels I've read, is that the guy is tortured by his past, he's a victim, and claims he only wants to protect the girl and pushes her away. The girl in turn believes she can save him with her love, tries to change him/help him, and believes she's not whole without him, her world would end if she left, blah blah blah. This is not romantic-it's a pattern for a bad relationship. Maybe I'm just too cynical. This was so extremely different from the Vampire Diaries Show and not really in a good way. Elena was not very likeable and she was blonde?!?!?! Weird. She is strong and Katherine is weak?!?! Katherine is dead??? (I believe stefan and Damon believed her to be dead for a while in the beginning of the show, but she most certainly did not choose to kill her own self for their sakes) Stefan wasn't as nice as he is in the show. His darker side definitely was more prominent.

I had posted this as a two but am changing it to a one .....muahaha... because I am not as nice as I used to be!I had The Awakening and the Struggle (the first and second books from the Vampire Diaries series) on my shelf for years. Forget everything I told you about how bad the book version of The Vampire Diaries is and go watch every episode of the television series. Not only is the T.V. version a better story, it has 100% more Boone (if you get this reference, request my friendship IMMEDIATELY) There was supposed to be action/suspense, but I didn't think it ever got that exciting. The author isn't that great of a writer (I've heard from those who have read her stuff that in the later books her writing improves) but I found Elena's diary entries too angsty "I can't bear the thought of losing him","we didn't touch each other much-we didn't-but we talked and looked at each other a lot. I want to touch him. More than any boy I've ever known." There's also a point where the bad brother vampire Damon refers to Elena as a "beauteous damsel"-beauteous?? Ooh-you really seem scary now!! There was nothing to lead them up to there romance. Elena thought of him as a challenge and for Stefan, Elena just reminded him of a girl he use to love... Particularly in the first novel, "The Awakening", I found the main character - Elena - to be selfish, spoiled, and revolting. Perhaps it's because the popular, pretty girl foil is simply something that I can't related to, or perhaps it's because the idea of making my friends swear in blood that they won't stop until they 'get me' a boy is totally and completely absurd.

There had been too much fear, too many blows tonight. She could react no longer. She could only stare up at him with a kind of wonder." / "He laughed shortly, without humor, and saw her flinch. It made him hate himself more." Even though we only get a glimpse of him in this book, we can feel his presence throughout the whole book. We can feel his connection with Elena, as weird and spooky as it may be. All that danger that he carries with him, we all want to see whether there's anything good in him at all. His story is the most intriguing one, I think. His hunger for revenge makes you really understand both sides of the story and choose a side for yourself. Not bad, not great. I will probably give the next book in line a try just to see if it improves..... Stefan ignores Elena, the two barely say anything to each other, but once Stefan saves Elena on Halloween (after he snubbed her at the dance) she tells him she loves him. The two start "dating" and sharing blood (the equivalent of sex for these books) and by Thanksgiving Stefan proposes and they're engaged!!! Ok, read that again, it's not even been a month, she's in high school, and they're engaged?? What the crap??? Stephen Salvatoreis the new transfer student at Mystic Falls and with his good looks, reserved attitude, and secretive nature everyone there seems to fall under his spell, that is of course until the sexy steadfast Damon Salvatore comes to steal Stephen's fame. However, though they appear to be the normal fighting brothers underneath the service lies something no one in Mystic Falls is prepared for, will only destruction and chaos from these to dangerously handsome brothers or will it be them who saves the day.Usually I can't resist these YA supernatural fiction series but Vampire Diaries is actually too wretched for me to enjoy and, oh man, that's saying something. Laughable prose, characters who are inconsistent at best and numbingly dull at worst, and a nonsensical plot cobbled together from various bits of mediocre films like some wrong Frankenstein. No, no, no!