The Awakening

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I started this book knowing that it was written many years before Twilight and I wanted to see what all the talk was about. After reading the Sookie Stackhouse series (Dead After Dark also written before Twilight), I was painfully aware of the similarities to Twilight and once again there are many; however, in this case, I wasn't impressed like I was with the other vampire books. Bella, although annoying at times, isn't as annoying as Elena, the main character in VD. L.J. Smith's writing was derivative and seemed to be geared to really young tweens. The main character, Elena, is manipulative, obsessive, egocentric and self-righteous. I couldn't stand her. She calls herself the queen of the school...it's like a bad episode of Gossip Girl. I found myself liking how she is portrayed on the TV much more than the novel. Smart move, CW. The vampire, Stefan, is definitely no Edward. I found myself cheering on the "evil" vampire Damon! So, ultimately I must admit that Meyer does it better.... a lot better.

On the bright side, towards the end of book two, I was intrigued and am curious as to how the author is going to spin the situation. Smith left it as a major cliffhanger and I'll probably read the next book in the series only because I have no idea where she is going to take the plot. I also wonder how the CW will depict this situation in the TV show? I definitely wasn't expecting that ending for book two.