The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and the Struggle
by L.J. Smith
Rating: So so
Difficulty: Normal
Pages: 492

Synopsis
Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.


Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.

Review
I wanted to read this book because i knew that there would be a tv series based on it coming out soon. The tv pilot looked good so i decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, i was not impressed. This book is actually a combination of two books-The Awakening and The Struggle, the first in a series of vampire novels by author L.J. Smith. It is about a girl torn between two vampire brothers who are both fighting for her heart and her soul.

The object of these vampire brothers who's names are Stefan and Damon, is Elena a prissy and, in my opinion, cocky teen girl who thinks she can get whatever she wants including the newcomer Stefan. Luckily for him Stefan is not immediately drawn to Elena but rather stay away from her for the first half of the novel. I don't know if its just me but as i was reading this, i kind of got tired of Elena's stuck up attitude. She acted more like a middle school-er then a high school senior and it seemed weird that everyone around her was just listening to anything and everything she was saying. In the beginning of the book when it was just her point of view the book was quite boring and i felt as though she had no depth to her whatsoever. The only thing that she could come up with to excuse her actions was the fact that her parents had recently died tragically.

When Stefan entered the picture things became a little more mysterious and i found myself getting into the book a little more. HE was the one who added the right amount of depth and emotion to the novel and i really don't know how i would've lasted with out him. His stunning portrayal of his long lost love Catherine, who Elena apparently looks like, is very sad and you can't help but hate his brother Damon for tearing them apart.

Damon doesn't even come into the novel until the end of The Awakening so really, Elena wasn't really even "torn" until the ending of The Struggle. Actually she hated Damon's guts up until the confusing and shocking ending of The Struggle. Yes- it was shocking but it was more confusing then anything! The only reason i am continuing with this series is because of the ending and the fact that i can't just leave it like that.

Overall i won't recommend this book to just anyone, you have to trust your instincts when reading it and try to bare it until the end when it gets a little more interesting.