THE AWAKENING
by L.J. Smith

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Pub Date: Sep 1, 1991
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: Audiobook
Spoilers: MARKED
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Elena is the school beauty, but she’s bored, until a new boy turns up in her class. Stefan is dark and mysterious—and she’s determined to get to know him better. But Stefan is just as determined to resist her… until a series of attacks in the area terrify the town and Stefan is held responsible. Elena is the only one who offers to help and, falling in love with her, Stefan tells her his terrible story. He is a vampire, on the run from his evil brother, Damon, who doesn’t share Stefan’s qualms about drinking human blood. And Damon is the one Stefan suspects of really being behind the recent attacks… Can Elena help prove his innocence—without revealing his secret?

Not the TV Show
If you, like me, saw the TV show before you knew there was a book, let me inform you that this is not the same story as the show. The characters are different. Their relationships are different. Even the city is different. That made it more interesting to me, but it took me a while to stop imaging the TV show characters in the book.

The Romance
Oh, come on. You all know it’s in here. It’s basically the entire plot and… it’s why I had issues with this book. I mean, I get that the characters are supernatural. I get that love is a weird thing, but it did not develop appropriately in this book to be realistic. At least, not coming from Elena. As such, the rest of the plot felt illogical and unbelievable. Shame.

The Pacing
I have some serious issues with the pacing of this book because it wasn’t smooth, and it didn’t make sense. It took forever for anything to actually happen and when it finally did, it was like a jolt. There’d be one quick scene and then nothing again for a few chapters. It was frustrating because I kept hoping it would pick up at some point and it didn’t.

Narrator
Holy woah! There were points when the narrator sounded just like Nina Dobrev and my mind would just pause and be like: “What?!” Because it’s not her and the characters aren’t even the same between the TV show and the book. Still, it was a bit eerie. :p

~~Stefan~~
You know how I said the characters are different from the tv show. Well, Stefan is really different and I do not like it! He is such a pansy in this version. He is supposedly cuddly and comforting and what not, but he is literally pathetic! The worst part is the bad boy facade he apparently gives off with his style because it doesn’t match and it really bothers me. Elena is more dominant than him in this and that just didn’t seem right for their relationship.