The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith

Being a fan of vampire literature I picked up a copy of The Vampire Diaries. The series has four books. Originally the books were published separately in the early nineties. Harper just recently revamped (ha! revamped!) them into a two book series with the first book containing The Awakening and The Struggle and the second book contains The Fury and Dark Reunion.

The Awakening

Elena is miss popular with a capital P. She is the queen of her school, she knows it, she revels in it. She has a cute boyfriend and the envy of every girl in school, yet she isn’t exactly happy or satisfied. Cue Stefan.

Stefan is hot with a capital H. He is mysterious, considerate and withdrawn. He doesn’t draw attention to himself, yet he can’t escape it. He is overcome with more than one lifetime of guilt and regret. Stefan is a vampire.

Of course Elena is attracted to Stefan. She will do anything to have him including losing her cutie boyfriend Matt. Unfortunately for Elena, she reminds Stefan of the one thing he wishes he could forget. Their attraction can’t be denied and finally Stefan lets go of his past and in turn gains Elena’s complete devotion.

But there have been some strange things happening in the small town of Fell’s Church and Stefan gets blamed for a murder, even though he is innocent. When Stefan disappears, Elena knows the one person to blame, the one person that has been causing all the trouble. Cue Damon.

End of The Awakening

The Struggle

Damon is Stefan’s older brother. They don’t get along too well. They had a falling out over a girl. The girl actually. The girl that made them the way they are. The girl that resembles Elena. Damon is the opposite of Stefan sure he has the good looks, he might even be hotter, but he is dangerous. And he will do anything to make Stefan miserable. Including stealing Elena.

After Elena finds Stefan in the aftermath of Damon’s wrath he is almost to the point of death. Damon has warned Elena that she will be his or else. So begins the tangled web of deception. Damon deceiving Elena in anyway he can, and Elena deceiving Stefan, the only way she feels she can protect him.

Elena is being tormented with fragments of her stolen diary. Her diary that talks of a secret Stefan is hiding. Which can be interpreted that he may be the murderer the Fell’s Church police department are looking for, even though it isn’t true. Elena finds out who stole her diary and what they plan to do, but she is powerless against it, unless she asks Damon for help and takes his deal in return. But something happens to Elena that will change her relationship with Stefan forever.

End of The Struggle

I was so glad that those two books were together! Talk about a cliffhanger ending! I really liked this book, I might even love it! I was totally hooked from the beginning and the whole love triangle! How suspenseful! I almost can’t handle it! It you are a vamp lover, you will totally dig this book! The ending of The Struggle was mind blowing, I’m glad I had a copy of The Fury hanging around! I loved the characters, there were so multi-dimensional. Yes, Elena may seem like she has it all going fo her, but the girl is only strong because of her struggles. Stefan may be a vampire but he is more full of humanity than the homo sapiens themselves. If you haven’t read this series yet, I suggest you do.

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The raging war in Russia causes Anna, a countess, and her mother and brother to flee the country. Betrayed by their wet nurse the family is left penniless. They arrive in England to live with Anna’s former governess.
Concealing her true identity Anna takes a job as a servant to help in her families finances, although she keeps it hidden from her mother and brother. The job is going swimmingly until Rupert, the Earl of Westerholme, arrives along with his fiancee. Against his better judgement, Rupert finds himself falling in love with Anna.

Again, as with Dragon’s Keep, this was a book I had high hopes for and I was left with disappointment. Anna as a character seemed too perfect, she was perfect. There wasn’t any chemistry between her and Rupert, I didn’t encounter any of the instant attraction that the book summary suggests. At times I found myself lost in the reading. I liked the idea of the story, but again I think it was poorly executed. I liked this book, but I didn’t by any means love it. If you are interested in reading it, I would still give it a try, hopefully you will end up liking it more than I did.

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Violet is your everyday teenager. She is insecure with her body and unsure of the person she is. But all that changes when she is “discovered” working at the local movie theater. Angela her modeling agent is sure Violet is the next big thing!

Modeling comes easily for Violet, she simply can’t help being herself, and the designers love it. The other models however don’t particularly like being shown up by a newbie. When Violet takes the big step and moves to New York, she finds out modeling is more that walking around with pretty clothes. Violet tries to resist being swallowed whole by this new world, but in response she has turned into someone else. Will the new Violet win out, or will the old shine through?

When I started reading Violet on the Runway, I was hesitant. I didn’t want another one of those books where the girl goes from zero to IT and all her dreams come true. I was for certain I had the storyline pegged, and I wasn’t thrilled. Luckily for me I kept reading, because I didn’t have this story pegged after all! Sure Violet gets the modeling gig, but it isn’t a walk in the park. I know how she felt in the beginning, when she had to have people like her, because I was the same way. I was so happy to see her grow! She did make me mad when she ditched her true friends, but she made it up to them in the end. I actually enjoyed reading this book and I am totally looking forward to reading Violet by Design. I just hope I see some more Violet and Roger action!

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Ironside is the third novel of A Modern Faery’s Tale. It had been a faerly fairly long amount of time between reading the first two books, but I didn’t have a problem picking up where everything left off. It even helped me understand why Valiant was in the middle of these two books!

Kaye is unsure where she belongs in the world. She doesn’t know anything about the world she belongs to as a faery, yet she can’t get comfortable in the human world, even though she was raised there, because she isn’t human. Feeling sorry for herself she lets herself become drunk on faery wine at her boyfriend’s, Roiben’s, coronation. Since she is feeling so good she lets Roiben know how she really feels. In her deceleration Roiben sends her on a quest to prove her love, but the quest he requests is impossible to attain. (the quest he requests, say that five times fast) Kaye has to find a faery that can lie.

In the midst of it all Kaye tells her mother, the truth, that she is a faery, and of course that doesn’t go over well. Then there is the whole thing about the two faery courts being at war to deal with, Oh! And Kaye can’t see Roiben again until she has conquered her little quest. With the help of her friend Corny and a reappearance of Luis from Valiant, Kaye must detangle herself from the Seelie Queens web, and save herself and Roiben.

Whew! This is my favorite book of the three. Tithe was the first faery novel I read, well dark faery novel, so I had to figure out some of the faery terminology, like the whole glamour thing. Then being one of those people that love the likes of Meg Cabot and Sarah Dessen’s wholesome, leading ladies, I wasn’t used to seeing young characters drinking, doing drugs, just being so unwholesome! I mean whoa! But then that is what made these novels so cool and different and refreshing! I love the darkness and the edginess! I’m totally faery-punkified!

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Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

I finally got my hands on a copy of this book! I’ve heard so many good things about it, I couldn’t wait to read it for myself. I was a little worried about how it would work out telling a story in verse, but I loved it! Even without using a lot of words you were still able to feel the intense emotions Ave was having.

If you haven’t heard what this story is about yet, I’ll give you a brief overview. The story starts as Jackson’s funeral. Jackson was is Ava’s boyfriend. Throughout the story Ava is dealing with the loss, and she isn’t dealing with it well. Then she feels his presence and realizes he hasn’t left her at all. But when she is finally starting to move on with her life, she can’t help but feel guilty knowing that Jackson is still with her.

If you haven’t read this book yet, I recommend that you get a copy. It is a quick read, but the story is intense. I was hooked from the first line.

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