The Awakening / The Struggle (Vampire Diaries, Books 1-2) Paperback – Unabridged, May 31, 2022

I've loved this series since i was a child, l.j. smith's were the first books i picked up as a kid when buffy came out and i got into my vampire phase. this series is like mental comfort food for me even now. for a YA book, the characters are all remarkably well developed, and the atmosphere is wonderfully dark for a teen's book.many people are complaining that they had trouble relating to elena when the series starts, but the point of the book series is that elena starts out as a shallow, selfish teenage girl much like katherine had been several hundred years before her. but elena makes different choices and grows into a person who realizes what's really important during the course of the novel. in a way, other characters wind up struggling with similar issues... bonnie with what her newfound powers mean, matt with losing someone he loved, etc. stefan and damon are both sterotypes at first but manage to become slightly less so once we've gotten to know them. both are also struggling with various issues... and versions of those issues are what confront teens every day."i really want to do something, even though i know it's wrong." or "what's really important in life? clothes, popularity, and status? or something else?" "what's the point of continuing to do the right things and be a good person if bad things still happen in the world?" those are some of the things the characters struggle with in this series, and their answers and experiences change them. that's one of the things i like best about this series. no character is black or white, and none of them stay 100% the same throughout the novels. it makes them much more interesting than the characters in a certain other vampire series i could name.damon is absolutely my favorite character, and one of the more well developed villains in a YA series. he doesn't come off quite as awesome in the tv. series, although i think somerholder's doing a decent job. this story is very different from the TV series... the appearance of the main characters, the origin of the salvatore brothers, and even the name of the town have been changed. if you're looking for something exactly like the show, you'll be disappointed, but if you keep an open mind, it's a good series, and the personalities of most of the characters are the same, except what i mentioned before, that elena starts out selfish and grows up.

I decided to order this book since I started watched "The Vampire Diaries" on the CW. I love the show, and from my experience the book is always better.When I started the book, I was immediately ingrossed. I read each book in a day, The Awakening and then The Struggle. As soon as I finished I ran to Target to buy the next in the series that night, and finished that the next day too. The tv series and the book series are very different, but both are equally as interesting. You fall in love with the characters so quickly. Stefan: the mysterious new guy, Elena; Queen of the school, Damon; the dangerous brother. And all of the friends feel like your friends by the time you are reading it. The characters are so real to you.And the story is great. The idea that vampires have talisments and can walk in the sun, the incrediable backstory for them, the whole thing is wonderful.I highly recommend this entire series. Whether you watch the show, read other vampire series, such as Twilight or the Sookie Series...It's a great story. Very original with the talisments and the thick backstory not just with each character, but also with the town.Wonderful read. Be prepared to be completely preoccupied for a few days with the series. You won't want to put it down.

I have watched the show and own the DVD's so I decided to give the books a try. I knew before I started that they are not much in common on some aspects between the show and books. These books are what gave life to the TV series. L.J. Smith brought Elena, Stefan, Damon, and the other characters to life. She created a depth to them that has me coming back for more. I read these two books in two days because I just had to see what happened next.Elena, the popular girl of school, who lost her parents three years ago in the book world. She still misses them both and for long time blamed them for their deaths. She lives with her Aunt Judith and four yr old sister Margaret. She has two best friends Meredith and Bonnie, it used to be three, but her and Caroline are on the outs now. Elena doesn't feel like she belongs though and soon looses the once popular status being shunned by her friends except Meredith, Bonnie, and Matt.Stefan comes to Fells Church at the beginning of The Awakening. He thinks that Elena looks like Katherine so much, but when he gets to know her he realizes she's nothing like Katherine. Stefan makes the football team and for a while he's accepted at the school. Then people start turning up dead and they blame him because he's new to town.Damon through-out the two books is doing things that lead everybody to believe that Stefan is behind the deaths. Their feud going back to Katherine still rages between them. He does everything to keep Elena and Stefan apart, but it doesn't work. Elena won't let him win because she loves Stefan.These two books offered into one book is a must for a vampire diaries fan. The characters are well written, it is hard to put down not wanting to miss what comes next. It is not extremely scary like some books or movies can be, but some parts make you jump. I enjoyed those parts the most and cannot wait to read the next two in this series.