Title: The Awakening and The Struggle

Author: L. J. Smith

No. of Pages: 253 and 236

First Released: June 2007 

Synopsis (Courtesy of B&N): “A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror…
Elena – Searching for the ultimate thrill, she vowed to have Stefan.
Stefan – Haunted by his tragic past, he struggled to resist her passion.
Damon – Driven by revenge, he hunted the brother who betrayed him.

The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.” 

Comments and Critiques:I will admit that I only read this book because of the TV show.  I am one of those that will always try out the originating story no matter what.  I actually read this on my phone, as part of a new application I downloaded that allowed me to download the book for free.  It was my first experience reading a book in an e-format, and it did take me some time to get used to having to scroll down constantly.  However, I found myself completely sucked into the story and breezed through the book in what I feel is a record amount of time – complete losses of time while reading.

As with a lot of what I’ve been reading lately, this isn’t going to win any awards.  The audience is definitely a teenage one, filled with the misunderstood homecoming queen, the brooding new high school hunk, the mysterious bad boy.  It’s a quintessential teenage story, but again, I’m not going to hold that against it.

I found that I couldn’t scroll down fast enough. There really was something compelling about the animosity between Damon and Stefan.  Ms. Smith kept me wanting to read more, only because I was impatient to find out who triumphs in this battle.  She takes the word “cliffhanger” to an entire new level and could definitely give Suzanne Collins a run for her money on abrupt endings.  It is a very effective plot device that had me downloading the next book immediately upon finishing the previous one.

The first two books in the Vampire Diaries series were light reads but extremely enjoyable.  It’s already taken so many different twists and turns that it is not your typical teenage vampire drama. I find myself waffling between the good vampire and the bad vampire, which only keeps me engaged.    I would recommend this to any vampire lovers out there and can’t wait to finish the series.

T