He wore the same ring as Stefan. Remember that, I thought, it's important.
ACTUAL LINE FROM THE BOOK!!! Because, obviously, as the reader, we can't figure out foreshadowing on our own. We have to be told. And it only gets worse from here, my friends.
Title: The Awakening & The Struggle (Vampire Diaries 1&2) by L.J. Smith
Rating: 1/5
Pages: 492
Genre: Fantasy
Summary (off Goodreads): Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.
Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.
Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one and two of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.
I knew that the book was going to be bad. I mean, numerous people and reviews had told me so. But I couldn't quite grasp the calibur of it until I read the books for myself. Smith just sends all the wrong messages to young girls in her vampire novels.
The first thing that turned me WAY off to this book was, well, Elena. She was so obnoxious. It's bad enough when you have a character that everyone loves, but to have that and have her KNOW it? And enjoy it so thouroughly? She's stuck up and self-centered and she honestly doesn't get any better. Even in her dealings with Stefan, she continually does things because she thinks that she making things better for HIM, protecting HIM, but at the end of the day, I really think she's doing it for HER. She doesn't even tell him that she's had all these interaction with Damon. It's this huge secret, this huge lie staring her in the face and she doesn't even come clean. She has two friends who would go to the ends of the earth for her, but she gives them almost nothing in return.
And then there's Matt. Good old Matt who is one of the few characters that I liked. He sticks by her despite the fact that she walks all over him: dumping him for another guy, using him all along the way. He even manages to become friends with Stefan and STILL Elena takes advantage of him. Stay away from her, Matt, she's not worth it.
I also liked Caroline, even though we're not supposed to and she falls into a ridiculous trope. At least she has some sort of... reason for what she's doing. Why does Elena do what she does? Love? How could she possibly love Stefan? She's known him for about 2.5 seconds.
That's the other thing. Elena talks about how scared of him she is half the time. The first time she really spends any time with Stefan is right after her episode with Tyler. So, you almost got raped, Stefan comes in, beats the crap out of the guy, scares you half to death because you're afraid Stefan is going to kill him and your first thought is.... he's so beautiful? Not only that but you go back, alone, to his boarding house room and make out with him? Yeah, that's a WONDERFUL message we're sending young girls.
When Elena finds out about Stefan being a vampire, she finds out in a very harsh way: he's on the roof eating a bird. And while, yes, she's shocked, I feel like she's not shocked enough. Just an hour or so later she's giving her neck up to let Stefan drink from it. I just feel like it's not normal behavior. If I walked in on a guy eating a bird raw, sucking it's blood, I would need more than an hour or so to adjust to that shock, if I ever did. I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't let him anywhere near my neck. But this idea that, "oh I love him so it conquers all" is absolutely ridiculous. Love doesn't make you take complete leave of your senses.
And I want to also point out that Elena gets engaged to Stefan mere months after meeting him. And then, in her usual selfish manner, screams at everyone when they "don't understand." She thinks that she has been overwhelemd and things have been too hard on her but never once does she think about her family, her friends and the things that have been going through their minds and happening in their lives. Her friend Bonnie is a psychic, cursed with powers she can't seem to control and Elena never seems to care, just keeps pushing her friend to use them.
Honestly, these books are not something I would recommend to anyone. They really have no sort of writing quality to them and they teach teens all sorts of terrible things. The main character, both the main characters, were completely unlikable and really, the whole book just made me want to scream in frustration.
Enjoy!
Title: The Awakening & The Struggle (Vampire Diaries 1&2) by L.J. Smith
Rating: 1/5
Pages: 492
Genre: Fantasy
Summary (off Goodreads): Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.
Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.
Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one and two of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.
I knew that the book was going to be bad. I mean, numerous people and reviews had told me so. But I couldn't quite grasp the calibur of it until I read the books for myself. Smith just sends all the wrong messages to young girls in her vampire novels.
The first thing that turned me WAY off to this book was, well, Elena. She was so obnoxious. It's bad enough when you have a character that everyone loves, but to have that and have her KNOW it? And enjoy it so thouroughly? She's stuck up and self-centered and she honestly doesn't get any better. Even in her dealings with Stefan, she continually does things because she thinks that she making things better for HIM, protecting HIM, but at the end of the day, I really think she's doing it for HER. She doesn't even tell him that she's had all these interaction with Damon. It's this huge secret, this huge lie staring her in the face and she doesn't even come clean. She has two friends who would go to the ends of the earth for her, but she gives them almost nothing in return.
And then there's Matt. Good old Matt who is one of the few characters that I liked. He sticks by her despite the fact that she walks all over him: dumping him for another guy, using him all along the way. He even manages to become friends with Stefan and STILL Elena takes advantage of him. Stay away from her, Matt, she's not worth it.
I also liked Caroline, even though we're not supposed to and she falls into a ridiculous trope. At least she has some sort of... reason for what she's doing. Why does Elena do what she does? Love? How could she possibly love Stefan? She's known him for about 2.5 seconds.
That's the other thing. Elena talks about how scared of him she is half the time. The first time she really spends any time with Stefan is right after her episode with Tyler. So, you almost got raped, Stefan comes in, beats the crap out of the guy, scares you half to death because you're afraid Stefan is going to kill him and your first thought is.... he's so beautiful? Not only that but you go back, alone, to his boarding house room and make out with him? Yeah, that's a WONDERFUL message we're sending young girls.
When Elena finds out about Stefan being a vampire, she finds out in a very harsh way: he's on the roof eating a bird. And while, yes, she's shocked, I feel like she's not shocked enough. Just an hour or so later she's giving her neck up to let Stefan drink from it. I just feel like it's not normal behavior. If I walked in on a guy eating a bird raw, sucking it's blood, I would need more than an hour or so to adjust to that shock, if I ever did. I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't let him anywhere near my neck. But this idea that, "oh I love him so it conquers all" is absolutely ridiculous. Love doesn't make you take complete leave of your senses.
And I want to also point out that Elena gets engaged to Stefan mere months after meeting him. And then, in her usual selfish manner, screams at everyone when they "don't understand." She thinks that she has been overwhelemd and things have been too hard on her but never once does she think about her family, her friends and the things that have been going through their minds and happening in their lives. Her friend Bonnie is a psychic, cursed with powers she can't seem to control and Elena never seems to care, just keeps pushing her friend to use them.
Honestly, these books are not something I would recommend to anyone. They really have no sort of writing quality to them and they teach teens all sorts of terrible things. The main character, both the main characters, were completely unlikable and really, the whole book just made me want to scream in frustration.
Enjoy!