Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

Alright, so the last semester of any school year will forever and always be the most busy. just to let you guys know. This time, I'll be reviewing the first two books of the Vampire Diaries, and no, I haven't seen the TV show, so I can't accurately compare the two. This book is about a girl named Elana, the most popular girl in school whom everyone wants, and her relationship with the new guy, Stephen, who is mysterious and alluring. She wants to be with him but he seems to be hiding something dark and wants to keep his distance from her. Can you guess his secret?

So, I will start off by saying that I have only watched the first episode if this series and can only give you basic comparisons. First off, Elana is blonde, not brunette. Secondly, she has a healthy five year old sister, not a drug using sixteen-ish brother. Finally, and remember this is based solely on the first episode, her personality is completely different, but more on that later.

I want to start out with the positive things first, so I will say this book captures the Victorian time era really well. I know that is a minor detail, but I really enjoyed the mood that this book sets off. It's also a really quick read. This is a bind up of the first two books and it took me a day to read each (they're both about two hundred pages). These books were very enjoyable reads.

But they are not by any means perfect. The main issue I had with these two books was Elana. And that's not a good thing considering she is the main character. She is extremely self-centered and is determined to get what she wants. The best way I can put it is that if it isn't too inconvenient for her, she will try to avoid stepping on people's toes to get what she wants but, she isn't opposed to doing so either. Elana is definitely manipulative and kind of bratty at times. The plot is also cheesy and a bit shallow as well. It's mainly about Elana trying to be with Stephen and how she is so in love with him after only speaking to him for about a week *insert eye roll here.*

The writing is terribly cliche at times, especially when it is in Elana's diary. The amount of times I rolled my eyes was too many. The main redeeming quality of this book was Stephen's back story, but even that held some level of corny-ness to it. Over all, this book was okay. I found myself rolling my eyes at it way more than I would have liked but it was a quick, entertaining read. Also, before someone complains, yes there is a love triangle *insert another eye roll* but it's pretty one sided. If you read it, you'll understand. This book, both books, actually, was just okay. If you like or are just in the mood for a cheesy paranormal romance, this you may really like this book, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I would have liked. 3 out of 5 stars.