The Vampire Diaries:
The Awakening
by L. J. Smith
Published: 2009
Genre: Romance, Vampire
Paperback: 272 pages
Rating: 4
A deadly love triangle
Elena: beautiful and popular, the girl who can have any boy she wants.
Stefan: brooding and mysterious, desperately trying to resist his desire for Elena . . . for her own good.
Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him.
Elena finds herself drawn to both brothers . . . who will she choose?
Description from widipedia:
The first volume of the series introduces the reader to Elena Gilbert a popular and beautiful high school student in Fell's Church, Virginia and her best friends Bonnie and Matt. A former childhood friend, Caroline, is also introduced and revealed to be Elena's antagonist. As their senior year at Robert E. Lee High School begins, Elena meets and becomes involved with a mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore. As Elena and Stefan fall in love, strange attacks begin to happen in the town and Elena discovers that Stefan has a dark secret—he is a centuries-old vampire. Soon after Elena and Stefan meet, another charismatic stranger later revealed to be Stefan's estranged elder brother, Damon Salvatore, begins to make appearances. The reader learns that the brothers both fell in love with a young vampire named Katherine in Renaissance Italy. Fueled with rage at Katherine's refusal to choose one brother over the other and her subsequent suicide, Stefan and Damon kill each other in a sword fight. They are interred in the family crypt but soon awaken as vampires, at which point they part ways until they encounter each other once more at the beginning of the novel. The Awakening ends with Elena seeking out Damon, whom she believes to be the prime suspect in Stefan's disappearance after the townspeople begin to suspect him for being behind numerous violent animal attacks and the recent murder of the high school's subst history teacher.
My thoughts:
In-a-word: selfish
Finally, finally finished reading this. It was tough going while watching the TV series. The book has a different feel with characters that don't totally match up with the TV series characters. I read the book with this cover and found that it just does not match the innards. The cover with Stefan below is a better fit. The cover posted above with the crow works too, but has a xmas-sy feel to it. Anyhoo if you'd like to have my copy, let me know in comments below.
At first I did not like how this story was going mainly because I had the TV version warring with it in my head. But, as I continued the read I began to get into the story and accept the book characters as they are.
The story does have a different take on a vampire love story. An unusual love triangle where the girl/woman has the upper hand.
The book ends with a cliffhanger so I must read book 2 to continue the story. The big question I have is what is the connection between Katherine and Elena other than their appearance? You can say that this story also fits into the Mystery genre.
Interesting European folklore (from Scotland?):
One of the characters mentions a way to find out who your future spouse by way of old ritual called the Dumb Supper. You create a place setting at dining room table with one plate, one glass, and one set of silverware without uttering a word. Then you light a single candle in a candleholder in the center of the table and position yourself behind the chair with the place setting.
According to Bonnie, on the stroke of midnight she was supposed to pull the chair back and invite her future husband in. At that point, the candle would blow out and she would see a ghostly figure in the chair.
-page 175
Zombie sighting:
Several zombies turned as Elena came in. Their grinning skulls visible through the rotting flesh of their faces.
pg 187
Series:
The Awakening
The Struggle - my review
The Fury
Dark Reunion
The Return: Nightfall
*part of my Vampire Diaries challenge
*part of my R.I.P. challenge
*part of my Helluva Halloween challenge
