The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith

The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith

First and second in The Vampire Diaries series

5 stars

This is a combined book of the first two books in The Vampire Diaries series. These books follow Elena, a girl who has everything her heart could desire, but is also feeling empty. Elena meets Stefan after her best friend, Bonnie, predicts that she will meet a guy who was once seen as tall. Stefan is mysterious and Elena can’t resist him. She then meets Damon, Stefan’s brother, the sexy and more dangerous of the brothers. He is determined to get revenge against Stefan and Elena is his prize. I don’t care what anyone says. You can say these books are terribly written, that they are cliché, that they suck, but to me they were the start to my YA love. This is another series that if I wouldn’t have discovered I probably wouldn’t have been able to say I loved these books before they were a TV show. A TV show which I have never seemed to be able to get into because they are so different from the books. I love these books and I still remember reading them so long ago when I was in the fifth grade. I literally remember sitting down early in the morning on my couch before school and diving into this wonderful. I remember being sucked in immediately and my love for the Salvatore brothers started.


The main female character is Elena. I loved Elena in this book. She was relatable for me at the time of my fifth grade experiences and to me that’s all that matters. I probably wouldn’t like her as much if I reread the book, but I do love Elena even though she made very stupid decisions and had me through hissy fits at her stupidity.

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 8.5

The main male characters are the Salvatore brother, Stefan and Damon.

 
Those boys are just... yummy! I love looking at those boys. In my opinion, the TV show finally got something about a character spot on and they succeeded with these boys in bringing them to life. Let’s start with the main love interest Stefan. Stefan was the brother I had been routing for early on the books. I thought he was sweet, caring, smart, compassionate, and strong. I thought he was a package deal of greatness. Of course, my opinions have changed and I find myself routing for Damon. Speaking of Damon, Damon is your typical YA bad boy, but I always seem to have a soft spot for him. He is a tough looking guy with a big heart and he does care you just have to know where to look.

Swoon Worthy Scale: Stefan: 8.5 Damon: 8

These ratings are only for this book and not for future books.

The Villain- Since there are two books the villains obviously change somewhat, but stay the same in a sense.


Villain Scale: 7

Elena’s friends are Bonnie, who is a feisty red headed witch and loyal friend, Meredith, who is of Latina decent and also another close friend of Elena, and Matt, Elena’s ex-boyfriend and close friend of the group. Caroline was once a good friend of the girls and Matt, but they grew apart and she has a hatred for Elena and wants to bring her down. These characters have a special place in my heart even though I may not always like them I care for them.


Character Scale: 8

If you haven’t realized it yet but these books did have a big impact on my love for reading and I’ll always recommend these books to anyone and everyone looking for a good vampire series. People have said that Smith is a Meyer copycat, but actually Meyer is the copycat since these books came out in the ‘90s. I love Smith’s writing, world, characters, and books. I definitely recommend giving this series a shot if you haven’t already.

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover. Call me cheesy, but I love it and I prefer it to all the other covers they’ve given these two books.