The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries, #1) (2024)

If you can only have one star, it may as well be a Death Star.

My god!!! What can I say about this book?? IT IS A BAD BOOK!!! It has bad cheesy prose, a snotty annoying (and kind of a bimbo) heroine and the cliched, brooding Byronic vampire hero, needless to say that the moment they lay their eyes upon each other they fall hopelessly in love. Oh yes!! I can't believe I almost forgot!!!!! The mother of all originalities... it also has a love triangle!!!! I think it's safe to say that this book is the poster book for cheesy YA pnr books and since it was written in 1991 it's even safer to say that the others copied L. J. Smith's tropes and not the other way around.
But did I enjoyed it? I am ashamed to admit it...but yes I did!!! This book is a guilty pleasure, pure silly escapism and I'm afraid I will be back for more...

Written long before Twilight. SMeyer's claim of never having read Vampire fiction is absurd. There are FAR TOO MANY parallel's between LJ Smith's characters and Smeyer's.

And when it comes down to it? SMeyer has nothing on LJ Smith.

The story is refreshing and action packed. The characters are likeable. Stefan and Damon are interesting. And they don't SPARKLE!

All in all? 9 billion times better than Twilight. I can't wait to read the next one

Elena is blonde and has Katherine's personality. Katherine seems to be an actual saint. Stefan speaks like Mario from Mario Brother's and they all look and sound 12 in my mind.

Bonnie is a redhead, there is no Jeremy. Caroline is the reasonable one of the group and Matt is actually a dick.

This was such a trip to read for the first time after having watched the very iconic tv show so many times.

It really did drag me back to vampire books from the 2000's and there is nothing you can say to me that will convince me Stephanie Meyer did not copy LJ Smith.

She did.

I read this out of sheer curiosity and it was definitely a hilarious nostalgia trip. The writing wasn't bad at all. I am pretty sure if 13 year old me had picked up these books I would have been OBSESSED! LJ Smith has a very incredible urban fantasy voice and I think she deserves the credit.

In this day and age though? Not worth the read. I am no longer 13 and we have way better urban fantasies out there now. I rather re-watch the show for the billionth time. One of the very rare cases where the show is better than the books.

I AM THE FREAKING MOONSTONE

RIPPERRRRRR

HELLO BROTHER

JEREMY NOOOOOOOOO

C'mon, that cast and that entire dumb show is so good. LMAO

Don't waste your time on the books.

Read Awakening legally and for free here courtesy of the publisher. But please keep adequate amounts of brain bleach on hand.
What can I say? I read this on the usually-safe assumption that the book would be better than its adaptation. Differences are usually in the book's favor, but for once this is not the case. The TV series is a dramatically revised and very loose adaptation of the book, and a HUGE IMPROVEMENT. I'd give the TV series 4 stars, but this book is among the most worthless I have ever read.
I was shocked to realize just how bad the book is: atrocious dialogue, Elena is arrogant from the start and does not improve on acquaintance (all the characters are pretty shallow, actually), the romance is woefully artificial, and the plot... what a mess. I was hoping Breaking Dawn would last longer as my "most horrible book of all time." I started this book out of curiosity, kept going for the laughs, got depressed, and finished it for integrity's sake so that I can honestly say I have read and evaluated the whole thing. But there is no way I'm reading Book II.

An ihrem ersten Schultag nach der Rückkehr aus Frankreich trifft Elena auf Stefano. Er sieht unglaublich gut aus, wirkt aber irgendwie unnahbar. Er hält absichtlich Abstand zu den anderen Schülern und fällt doch durch seine Andersartigkeit und sein gutes Aussehen auf. Elena beschließt sofort, dass sie ihn als Freund haben muss. Sie versucht alles, um ihm nahe zu kommen, aber er blockt alle Annäherungsversuche ab. Gleichzeitig geschehen seltsame Dinge, seit Stefano in der Stadt ist: mehrere Menschen werden überfallen. Beim Halloweenball wird sogar ein Lehrer getötet, und alle halten Stefano für den Täter!
Elena glaubt an seine Unschuld, und es kommt zu einem klärenden Gespräch zwischen den beiden. Dabei erfährt Elena Unglaubliches… Stefano ist ein Vampir…
**
Im Großen und Ganzen hat das Buch mir gut gefallen, aber manchmal ist Elena mir ein wenig auf die Nerven gegangen. Ihre Arroganz ist unbeschreiblich; sie benimmt sich zum Teil wie eine verwöhnte kleine Prinzessin.
Der Schreibstil ist in Ordnung. Die Geschichte lässt sich leicht lesen, und man kann der Handlung ohne Weiteres gut folgen.

I’m reading these for the first time, so that I can finally watch the show for the first time! I did a full spoiler filled reading vlog on this book on my YouTube Channel. If you’d like to check out my spoiler filled review you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/I6jb5RkyauQ

Okay, this was MY Twilight before there was Twilgiht. I read this series when I was about thirteen. I was already into vampires in my preppy goth kind of way, and this one made me say SQUEE! This book is from the early 90's, but with the Twilight phenomenon, it's now been reissued, bound with a new cover featuring some blonde model, and is being considered as the basis of a TV series on CW (not sure how I feel about that). I like the original cover better (featured above). I had to bid on ebay for this baby!

Some parts of this are cheesy, but the story is this: Hot, slightly bitchy and arrogant girl-next-door catches the eye of TWO vampire brothers who hate each other. Insert drama here. Then, in the later books, throw in witches and werewolves and angry ancient vampires bent on killing everyone.

Plus, it's got rockin' 90's fashions, like hot pink dresses and perms. What's not to love?

If you liked Twilight, you'll probably like this. Sometimes I wonder if Stephenie Meyer actually stole some ideas from LJ Smith...some parts are similar, but I guess there's only so many original ways to write about the human girl/vampire boy, Romeo and Juliet-ish storyline before things start to overlap in similarity. They're both YA, they're both "scary romance," they both have cheese, and they're both slightly addictive.

1/5 Stars

This is the case when the adaption is better than the book.

This book is just sooooooooo bad.

I read this book back in 2015 because I was a big fan of the television show (which I'm not anymore) and wow what a disappointment it was.

Elena was very annoying and arrogant, probably one of the worst characters I’ve read, and honestly all the characters were pretty horrible.

This book is ridiculous and a waste of time, don’t read unless you want lose some brain cells.

After reading the vampire trilogy by Stephenie Meyer, I thought I would continue my bloodthirsty fiction rampage with this older teenage vampire trilogy. Lo and behold, it's almost the same story! Oh, Stephenie Meyer, now I know how you cranked out those three fat (should have been heavily edited) books in such a short span of time! For shame!

one of those rare situations where the show is better

I read all 13 Vampire Diaries books for a video project and I'm team burn the entire boxset. Check out my thoughts on the series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nLU4l-qJX8o

Picture the scene. It's 1996, I'm 12 years old. I'm at the library down the street, perusing the single shelf that makes up the YA section. I find this little paperback that promises deadly love. Vampire brothers, you say? Unspeakable horror, you say? I take the book home and read it in the course of an afternoon. I AM AWESTRUCK. WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL BOOK??? I've never read anything like it.

Immediately I make my dad take me to the bookstore in the mall so he can buy me the rest of the series. I spent the rest of my life (or the next few months) in various bookstores tracking down all L.J. Smith books.

And I've been obsessed ever since. And everyone thought I was weird for liking vampires. But I didn't care! I went on one of those early, early fansites where you could be a keeper of something, and I became a keeper of Damon's ring. I joined some email list of L.J. Smith news, where every email ended with Noblesse Oblige. I own multiple copies of this series.

This may be my favorite series of hers, although I love them all. But this was my gateway drug. I know people don't like Elena because she's selfish and shallow but that doesn't bother me. It's not that I think people should approve of her behavior or anything, but it's rare to see this type of character as a teenage girl. Her behavior wouldn't be out of place for, say, a late twenties/early thirties womanizing rich businessman or something. More power to Elena, I say.

I literally don't understand how people think this is bad. WHAT??? I get that they might not like it, but bad? It has a good buildup of creepy events, a tragic backstory, high school drama, a creepy atmosphere, a haunted house scene, a mysterious Power, and vampires!!! Elena is determined, Bonnie is adorable, Meredith is snarky, Matt is a nice guy, and Stefan is somehow not as bad as I remembered. This was top-notch YA back in the day! It ends on a cliffhanger, but if you're reading the new two-book edition, you get to jump right into The Struggle!

Anyway. I love it. I may have blinders on when it comes to this series but no, obviously I don't, it's amazing.

Damon, you have no idea.

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#1 The Awakening - ★★★★★
#2 The Struggle - Review Coming Soon!

I had The Awakening and the Struggle (the first and second books from the Vampire Diaries series) on my shelf for years.

When I say years, I mean it. It all started when I was in high-school, around 6 years ago, and I was in love with the Vampire Diaries TV Show. When I found out there are books as well, I begged my mum to buy them for me. And once I had them, I never got to read them, because teenage logic...

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!

Elena Gilbert is a popular girl in high-school and she always gets what she wants. Boys want to be with her, girls hate her, or want to be her best friends. And when this new boy Stefan comes into town, all mysterious, Elena wants him. But Stefan is hiding a deadly secret that Elena might now be ready for just yet. And her life, as well as the life of everyone living in Fell's Church is in grave danger... Elena finds herself between two brothers - one who came for a new life, and the other, who came for revenge...

Reading this book, while already knowing what the plot it, I thought I found find it boring. But no. I still enjoyed every single page of it, and I still devoured this book in one day.

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.

I loved Elena!

Her character is exactly what I was expected and what I have known to love - brave and fierce, and also willing to sacrifice her own happiness and safety for the people she loves the most.

Elena's friends, Meredith and Bonnie are the friends every girl needs. Funny and caring. A few pages in, and you will get to love them too.

Stefan - the mysterious new guy in school. The guy that tries to stay away from the girl he really wants because he's a danger to her. A little bit of Twilight vibes, but we can get past that. Because there is one thing that Twilight didn't have, that you can find reading The Vampire Diaries...

DAMON

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.

So, are you team Stefan, or team Damon?

I loved reading this - it was an amazing experience and it reminded me of my high-school days, of those innocent happy memories. My teenage life didn't include vampires, but hey - it was still awesome!

Pick the Vampire Diaries up if you love Young Adult spooky books, if you loved Twilight and if you love vampire, love and mystery stories in general.

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2.5 ⭐
Nuovo libro nuova recensione!

Da dove posso cominciare? Allora il libro ha molti difetti, il primo tra tutti è il personaggio di Elena, insopportabile all'inverosimile, viziata, egoista ed egocentrica e potrei continuare all'infinito. Sarà che è solo il primo volume quindi non voglio esprimermi sugli altri personaggi che definirò al momento passabili e piatti, tranne ovviamente per Stefan. Il libro si fa avvincente solo nell'ultima parte ed è per questo che non gli ho dato 1 stella, non so se il ritmo lento è fatto apposta perché è, per l'appunto, il primo della saga ma direi che non è un buon inizio. L'unica cosa che ho adorato sono le atmosfere cupe e dark che mi hanno spinta ad concludere questo primo volume e a dare una possibilità al secondo, anche se non nutro molte speranze in merito.

Pues qué puedo decir? Enganchada a la serie estoy y, aunque esta saga se aleja mucho de ésta, voy a por el segundo volumen. Hay que entenderlo, el enganche es el enganche jaja... De todas maneras, la novela me parece demasiado juvenil.

I came to that book by the internet. A lot of people recommended it and I thought it MUST be right. Gosh, did I failed.
It's one of the first book I was eager to give away and I really regret that I bought it. At first the cover of my german version is ugly (yeah I know, don't judge a book by its cover, but it IS ugly)

Second, I am really fed up with all this "ooohw dark handsome mysterious guy" or even better TWO gorgeous brothers. I mean do we normal human girls now all have to wait for our Mr. Handsome? What's about true beauty? The beauty of the heart?

Then the next point, Elena the school queen. Talking about cliche. Ugh I really don't want to write about that.
While her character isn't very complex, so it is the same with her friends and cute little Stefano, the mysterious loverboy.
It's just like "oh I saw you and you're like SO gorgeous! I'll love you forever!". There is no developement, it's just given from the author.

And that is a pity, because I started to watch the series on TV and I actually liked it better.

UPDATE; Series isn't that much better.

This book was pretty good, didn't really expect that. I enjoyed it alot and will be continuing with the series!

Elena was quite annoying, and the insta-love was just ridiculous, but I found myself being able to look past that.

I feel like the series is only going to get better, I hope that's the case :)

Δεν είναι και οτι καλύτερο έχω διαβάσει, αλλά 3.5 αστεράκια θα τα βάλω, για τις αναμνήσεις που μου ζωντάνεψε!

Buddy read with Devanshi!

Ok. Anyone who knows me knows that I love two things: Peter Pan and vampires (not necessarily together, but can you imagine!!??) So it comes as no surprise that I love The Vampire Diaries television show. I’ve been a big fan since I was about 12 or so and recently decided to rewatch the show in its entirety. This brought on the nostalgia of when I was reading the books, also at the tender age of 12. I didn’t remember a lot about them (I was a particularly skimmy reader back then) so I figured, why not reread the books as I rewatch the show?

The moon had not yet risen, and she could just make out the old graveyard and Wickery Bridge beyond it. The old graveyard dated from Civil War days, and many of the headstones bore the names of soldiers. It had a wild look to it; brambles and tall weeds grew on the graves, and ivy vines swarmed over crumbling granite. Elena had never liked it. “It looks different, doesn’t it? In the dark, I mean,” she said unsteadily. She didn’t know how to say what she really meant, that it was not a place for the living.

Unfortunately, the rest of this wasn’t as good. The plot suffered significantly from iffy pacing. Instalove was a plague throughout. And worst of all, I absolutely hate the characters.

Scratch that. I absolutely hate Elena and Stefan, though really only when they’re together. Or when they’re pining after the other. Or when they breathe in each other’s general direction.

Confession time: while I love TVD, I don’t love Elena Gilbert. I think she’s really annoying, actually, and kind of a Mary Sue idiot. But book Elena makes her a saint. A paragon of excellency. The best written protagonist of all time.

Primarily, this is because book Elena and show Elena aren’t the same person. They’re entirely different in every conceivable way. Different hair, different eyes, different skin tone, different personality and priorities, different past traumas, different siblings, different friends, different aunt. Book Elena is a mean girl who literally vows to make Stefan her boyfriend solely because he snubs her and she’s used to every male on the planet being obsessed with her. It’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. She acts like it’s some big thing when she just needs a reality check. But then Stefan reveals that he loved her the whole time even though they don’t know each other and have never actually held a conversation for longer than 2 seconds. And from there, it’s true love.

Every other character is different from their show counterpart too: Stefan is like 600 years old and still hung up on Katherine, Bonnie is a meek redhead, Caroline is a frenemy rival, and some girl named Meredith who isn’t Meredith Fell is the sarcastic best friend. The only character who’s actually the exact same is Matt.

This isn’t a problem. I don’t mind that the show changed the source material so much. They actually made better, more well rounded characters than the original, and improved the plot too. But it’s strange that the showrunners felt the need to change everything so much but keep names and the title of the series the same.

I’m definitely going to continue my reread and hopefully make it passed where I dropped the series back in the day. If not for the nostalgia, for my undying desire to know what happens differently.

Evil will never find peace. It may triumph, but it will never find peace.

If the show had not been made, if I had not read a ton of other vampire books, THE AWAKENING might have been OK. Since the show was made and since I have read a ton of YA PNR with vampires as the central figure… I am amazed that I finished it.

First: This book pales in comparison to the show. So from here on out I am not even going to bother with a comparison.

Second: I hate Elena! Flighty, believing herself entitled, and very insensitive to the needs and feelings of those around her (poor Matt!) I really did not like how she seemed to feel herself entitled (i.e. once she had set her sights on Steffan, nothing mattered: Not her boyfriend. Not her friends.) I suppose I should admire her go get him attitude. Sadly, I just could not! The only thing that I agreed with was her assessment of Katherine. Which leads me to the boys, Steffan and Damon. Nothing new to them. Hot, brooding… bla bla bla. I suppose I am being a tad harsh especially considering that these books were first published in 1991(?) So I suppose they’re trailblazers, the first of their kind at the time… I would not know.

But I am stubborn because I’m reading the rest. I intend to answer in the affirmative (and with a straight face) that, yes, I did read the books she got me.

These were some of my favorite books as a teenager. They are about a high school student, Elena Gilbert, who is torn between two hot vampire brothers. Melodrama ensues. They are not the most mature books, but they are all about nostalgia for me. Of course, as I get older, I think that a lot of the things Elena does are downright stupid, but I still remember how romantic it all seemed when I was 14.

I know the TV show is MUCH better than the book, but let’s be honest you guys, this is the original piece that brought the characters to life. It was written in 1991 for god’s sake, give L.J. some credit! It’s pure gold. 💛💛💛💛

Well, well, well. This is the book that actually started the cliche storm that influenced the Twilight series. Put it in your book history book (Whaa?), my dear readers!

I haven't seen the TV series yet (I will until I finish the entire series. I can't wait for Nina Dobrev, one of my favorite actresses!), but I'm pretty sure it's so much better than this. I don't know, maybe it was the writing that set me off. I wouldn't say it was terrible, it just wasn't . . . good. I will say it once again: Show, don't tell, goddammit!

Since I was more familiar with the TV series, I wasn't expecting Elena to be . . . blonde. And with lapis lazuli blue eyes. Because ordinary blue eyes are too mainstream, I guess. And because brown hair is for ugly girls. Didn't you heard that gentlemen prefer blondes, girls? Okay, here's my problem: Elena is a whiny bimbo. There, I said it. Elena isn't the typical ordinary girl. Instead, she is the Queen Bee and really rich. But, wait! Her life isn't perfect. She wants everything to be perfect, because if she doesn't, her life is ruined! Oh, how my heart aches for her suffering. She has a really nice boyfriend, Matt; Who is a monster as well. I spoiled myself by accident. the best friends in the world; and of course, a frenemy, Caroline, who wants to take her spot as the most popular in school. And she is a superficial bitch who is willing to have what she wants, because she is also a spoiled parasite.

Yawn, yawn. Where's the spice?

Then, Stefan arrives. And in case you missed, HE IS A VAMPIRE! Elena immediately falls in love with him and is willing to dump her boyfriend so he can have him.
Bitch.
Stefan realizes that Elena looks like Katherine, his former lover, and the reason he is a vampire. Katherine also had an affair with Stefan's brother, Damon, who is now his worst enemy. He falls in love with her as well but ignores her for some reason.
Stuff happens, blah blah blah, after some angst, they finally get together.
It doesn't make me happy, though, considering the fact that their relationship is a bunch of garbage. If that isn't codependency, then I don't know what is! Even Elena said that she will die without him, before they even got together. And he apparently stalks her. Great, that's exactly what we needed: Another creepy YA lover. If doesn't matter, though. Wait, what? Why am I saying that? Let's do a little quiz, shall we?

QUESTION TIME!!
If you discovered that the guy you liked has a piece of clothing of yours (the one you lost on your second day of school) and you've been officially dating since yesterday, what would you do?

a) Call the police.
b) Think it was the most romantic gesture somebody has ever done to you.
c) RUN. AWAY.

If you chose either A or C, then you're not Elena Gilbert.
Enough. Said.

And where is Damon? Honestly, I didn't pay attention to this after Elena and Stefan got together. Nothing interesting happens from there.

Oh yes, I forgot! Someone is murdering innocents in the town! Who is responsible for this heinous crime?
I don't think I care.

The blurb tells you that there's a love triangle. The only love triangle at the moment is the one between the Salvatore brothers and Katherine. Which happened, like, centuries ago. I'm still intrigued about what will happen with Elena and the Salvatore brothers, though. Okay, yes, this book was predictable, cheesy, with bland characters and plot-less, but I still want to know what will happen next. That's my explanation for the rating I gave for this book.
EDIT: The rating is now 2 stars after some consideration.

One thing, though: The ending was so messy. That's not a cliffhanger, that is just being lazy!
UGH.

I'm thinking that I made a really big mistake. Oh, well.

I've watched the tv show for quite a while, which I admit definitely colors my reception of the book. But I could not get past the first few chapters. I tried, because I wanted to see how the books differed from the show. I really did try, which is why I made it to the third chapters instead of the just the first. The writing was sub-par and I just could not relate to any of the characters. They seemed like caricatures, all obsessed with popularity and being the "queen bee," and I just couldn't take it. Sure, girls can be catty in real life, but not quite to that extent. The fact that Stefan could read minds also felt like it was just a Twilight knock-off, though if you asked me, I wouldn't be able to tell you which book was published first. Compared to their tv counterparts, every single character seemed meaner or weaker or too detached for me to feel anything for them at all. I know it's unfair to compare the two, since they are in different media and the plots are vastly different, as well (yes, I admit to looking up the plot summaries of the books, since I couldn't stand to read them myself). My curiosity to see what happened in the plot was not enough to keep me going through the bad writing and horrible characterization, and when I did finally read plot summaries, I wasn't impressed by those either.

Creo que un buen indicador para valorar un libro es su capacidad para atrapar al lector y, al menos en mi caso, no podía soltar esta novela. Si bien al comienzo podría sospecharse una historia simple y superficial, al ir avanzando va tomando un cariz bastante oscuro, con conflictos muy bien elaborados y en que los personajes van tomando mucha fuerza.

Además, destaco el estilo de la autora: muy limpio, claro y con un equilibrio perfecto en lo descriptivo como para crear todo el entorno en la imaginación del lector, pero sin hacerse excesivamente denso.

Por último, no puedo dejar de compararlo con los libros de la saga Crepúsculo, al encontrar varias similitudes entre ambas historias; pero para aquellos detractores del estilo de vampiros creados por Meyer, aquí disfrutarán con vampiros bastante más "tradicionales".

PD: El argumento no tiene nada que ver con la serie de televisión, que sólo toma prestados a los personajes principales.

Okay so I remember back when Netflix had at least the first 3 seasons of this show on there (or maybe 2? can't remember) anyway, my neighbor told my parents about this show and how she LOVED it and so they watched the first 3 episodes and quit. I on the other hand saw the first 20 minutes of it and my curiosity piqued (especially after seeing the gorgeous sexy Salvatore brothers haha) and I started on episode 1 and just kept going and been watching live after the season that was on netflix. So that's when I found out not long after it was a book series back in '91 (when I was born) and thought, "why not try the first book?" I knew going into this it would be soooooo different BUT I didn't know how much difference......*laughing* I hate to say this but I'd honestly prefer Twilight. there I said it and it's horrible of how true it is. It's one of those RARE moments where the show was done perfectly, casting was/is fantastic, but I'm also glad the show is on their last season. I swear they're running out of storyline and I did go into the second book and felt it didn't have much of a story.....just randomness really. So I'm actually GLAD it took all these years to do a movie/tv series on it especially the casting. (I think I'm just a sucker for Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley haha). But if you like these kinds of books go for it but to me, it was a lot more cheesy than Twilight and not my favorite. (I didn't even bother with the other 4 or the rest it was that bad for me.....)

and one last note....one other thing that DID come good out of TVD was Klaus Mikaelson!

AND I don't CARE if Caroline is with Sefan or whoever I WILL ALWAYS SHIP KLAUS AND CAROLINE! KLAROLINE FOREVER NO MATTER WHAT! haha

and last but not least......

DELENA FOREEEEEEVER!!!! Enough said haha.......

After reading this book for the fifth or sixth time, I still enjoyed it! It reminds me of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

I have about a million positive things to say and only one negative: Elena says "I love you" too quickly. The fact that such a serious statement is made at such an early stage in the book...irritates me. I love you is not something to be taken lightly, and when said too early it makes me think of puppy love, not undying love.

Other than that single annoyance...this book is endearing. It was written years before Twilight and I wonder if Stephenie Meyer may have gotten some of her ideas from this series.

Elena is somewhat pretentious in the beginning, but blossoms throughout the book. Her obssession turns to devotion, and her conceited demeanor transforms into a singleminded determination to become someone worthy.

Stefan plays the part of the wounded soul. He believes that he is no longer worthy of happiness, and instead seeks to blend into society only to find acceptance in Elena.

Damon is an captivating character. Even in the first installment of this series, it is difficult to dislike him. He is the embodiment of sexuality and temptation that only becomes more appetizing in the later parts of the series.

I fully recommend this book to anyone who has a fondness for love triangles, and the supernatural.

As always, I'm gonna read the first and not continue, this series seemes to never finish and honestly after reading this first book I can tell that the tv series must be better tahn the book. This was boring and not that intriguing. Not interested.

Less of a review and more of me venting, sorry. You've been warned. I was thinking of starting this off by saying The Awakening reads like fanfiction, but . . . that would be an insult to fanfiction.

I'm pretty sure the only reason I got through The Awakening was because I came to the conclusion that Elena has narcissistic personality disorder. On the first day back at school, Elena sees Stephan and decides she's going to have him, even "if it killed her. If it killed both of them, she'd have him." (30) Okay, that is not healthy. And also, what, does Stefan not have any say in the matter? I guess not. Apparently he's the first guy to not automatically start fawning all over her.

"He'd walked right by. Without a glance. She couldn't remember how long it had been since a boy had done that. They all looked, at least. Some whistled. Some stopped to talk. Some just stared."

I think they speak like once sentence to each other, maybe. And then he saves her from a boy who is basically trying to rape and/or murder her and (yet she's more scared of Stefan!) And then her and Stefan kiss and she tells him she loves him. *gag*

With that being said, I think I can see where the author was going with this. Two vampire brothers fighting over a human girl. The TV show is popular enough; if the book had been done right, it might've been popular too, albeit a little cliche.