Smith, J. L. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening (book #1) and The Struggle (book #2). New York: Harperteen, 1991.
Annotation:
Determination to get what she wants turns into true love when 17 year-old Elena Gilbert meets a mysterious and handsome tall, dark, and fanged stranger.
Justification for Nomination:
The Awakening is a cross between Romeo and Juliet and Interview with the Vampire. It is romantic and captivating. With so many YA books based on vampires, many people might think that "the forbidden vampire love" theme has been used to many times, but I think its interesting to read different vampire themed books to compare them to what other authors have done. Compared to other authors, Smith has used the vampire theme on a whole new level. She has made her human character Elena emotionally stronger than her vampire character Stefan. To make her work more realistic, Smith has given her vampire characters real human emotions (for example when they're sad they cry). She also uses realistic teenage situations (like going to the prom) to show the human part of the story. I really enjoyed the love triangle between the two vampire brothers (Stefan and Damon) and Elena. I especially love the danger that Damon, Stefan's older brother, brings to the plot. Damon's hate for his brother and his desire to have Elena to himself gives the plot a much more evil edge making The Awakening a cross between romance and horror.
Smith shows great talent in using beautifully detailed vocabulary. Her words helped me to visualize the places and the characters. She uses flashbacks to show Stefan's past life with his brother and his past love which I thought was very helpful because I could truly understand who he was and the pain that he was going through. This amazing use of flashbacks brings the characters and plot to life while keeping the book interesting and wildly exciting. Smith's ideas of using fantasy to coexist with reality is brilliant and magnificent. Lastly, I loved the idea of putting two books in one. This saves everyone money and when someone reads an exciting book they will want to run out and get the next book in the series, but with The Vampire Diaries you don't have to.
Genre Category: Vampire, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy
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