jdye6529's review against another edition
4.0
Okay so I’ve been on a vamp/supernatural kick lately, i chose this book after finishing the Sookie Stackhouse (trueblood) series. While it focuses on a different demographic, teenagers, it is still a great book.
Other reviews have mention how the main character, human character, declares her love so quickly and how that is obnoxious. Here’s the thing, it is not at all obnoxious given that she’s a teenager, teenagers love hard, fast and deep, that was completely believable to me. It is easy to forget how the mind of a teenager works once you are past that age and to feel that their behaviors are cringy, which they absolutely are, but that’s exactly what it’s like being a teenager. So I complete believe the attributes and actions of Elena’s character, she’s selfish, demanding, and sort of mean girl-esque, and that’s okay because that’s a realistic identity for a teenager. I believe her character is well written and dimensional. The vampire who’s new to school is also well written and his back story is quite fascinating.
The beginning of this book was slow going but it picked up and became a well paced read that was easy to get through. The story takes an interesting few turns throughout. The friends of Elena are incorporated nicely and help to advance the plot line in subtle but important ways. Throughout the story there is several hints and foreshadowing that peaked my interested but didn’t outright give away what was to come or what was currently happening. This is a quality many writers struggle to perfect.
Initially I didn’t think I would continue the series as it started out slow but as I was finishing this book I knew I was not going to be turning away until I finished the four books. Technically there are more than four books to this series, or universe but I will probably only read the initial four as the later ones came as a result of the tv show and have multiple authors, therefor they are unlikely to feel authentic to me.
Other reviews have mention how the main character, human character, declares her love so quickly and how that is obnoxious. Here’s the thing, it is not at all obnoxious given that she’s a teenager, teenagers love hard, fast and deep, that was completely believable to me. It is easy to forget how the mind of a teenager works once you are past that age and to feel that their behaviors are cringy, which they absolutely are, but that’s exactly what it’s like being a teenager. So I complete believe the attributes and actions of Elena’s character, she’s selfish, demanding, and sort of mean girl-esque, and that’s okay because that’s a realistic identity for a teenager. I believe her character is well written and dimensional. The vampire who’s new to school is also well written and his back story is quite fascinating.
The beginning of this book was slow going but it picked up and became a well paced read that was easy to get through. The story takes an interesting few turns throughout. The friends of Elena are incorporated nicely and help to advance the plot line in subtle but important ways. Throughout the story there is several hints and foreshadowing that peaked my interested but didn’t outright give away what was to come or what was currently happening. This is a quality many writers struggle to perfect.
Initially I didn’t think I would continue the series as it started out slow but as I was finishing this book I knew I was not going to be turning away until I finished the four books. Technically there are more than four books to this series, or universe but I will probably only read the initial four as the later ones came as a result of the tv show and have multiple authors, therefor they are unlikely to feel authentic to me.
polly423's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
rebeccabryson21's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.0
aliencatl0rd's review against another edition
1.0
Be warned, this is an extremely typical and cliche read. Beautiful girl falls for unbelievably sexy guy. Surprise surprise, he's a vampire!
The plot is maybe half decent but I'm not dying or even looking forward to the next one. It's not written smoothly at all. The author has a habit of breaking and moving onto the next scene or character when the scene was NOT truly over. It seems as though L.J. Smith gets bored with her own writing and moves on to the next part as quickly as possible. I really can't blame her, what with everything being vague and dull except the "exciting" parts, which are very few but take up pages whereas other building scenes may only get a few paragraphs.
The story and characters themselves are really too boring to bother mentioning.
I'd only recommend this for those looking for a quick series; even though I haven't read the others yet it's pretty obvious that it's going nowhere way too fast. The "Blue Bloods" series and "Twilight" series had much more finesse and development. Granted, both of those series have present time in their favor, but even the one-shot "The Silver Kiss", which was published only a year later than this novel, beat it by a long shot.
The plot is maybe half decent but I'm not dying or even looking forward to the next one. It's not written smoothly at all. The author has a habit of breaking and moving onto the next scene or character when the scene was NOT truly over. It seems as though L.J. Smith gets bored with her own writing and moves on to the next part as quickly as possible. I really can't blame her, what with everything being vague and dull except the "exciting" parts, which are very few but take up pages whereas other building scenes may only get a few paragraphs.
The story and characters themselves are really too boring to bother mentioning.
I'd only recommend this for those looking for a quick series; even though I haven't read the others yet it's pretty obvious that it's going nowhere way too fast. The "Blue Bloods" series and "Twilight" series had much more finesse and development. Granted, both of those series have present time in their favor, but even the one-shot "The Silver Kiss", which was published only a year later than this novel, beat it by a long shot.
4lberj's review against another edition
1.0
Aunque me ha resultado entretenido, me ha costado muchísimo terminarlo y me ha parecido que está lleno de clichés y personajes planos.
lelemontgomery's review against another edition
3.0
New Review June 2023:
I already have read this book in German last year in September and gave it three stars. The reason why it only got three stars was that the character Stefan was spelled Stefano - which isn´t really his name at all, so I had quit some trouble reading and liking it back then. Now, I have the whole box collection in Englisch and Stefano was corrected into Stefan, so it may be better this time for me to imagine the characters more detailed like they look in the series, since the names are the same.
AFTER READING IT: So I’m finally done with this book and so far it was better since the name got changed and it was a good idea to buy the complete series as box set in English too. I also had some audiobooks of it I listened to while also reading it at the same time and I’m totally in this story and will read the next book/ start it today.
There are some things I hated about this book because names were changed and characters were totally different from the tv series but it was okay for me.
I like the fact that Alaric will be showing up pretty soon in the next books, because if I had to choose a character from the tv show and the book series it’s definitely Alaric
Will add a review later after finishing it. For more, check out my website to see reading updates and blog posts about this book there: https://lelemontgomery.de
I already have read this book in German last year in September and gave it three stars. The reason why it only got three stars was that the character Stefan was spelled Stefano - which isn´t really his name at all, so I had quit some trouble reading and liking it back then. Now, I have the whole box collection in Englisch and Stefano was corrected into Stefan, so it may be better this time for me to imagine the characters more detailed like they look in the series, since the names are the same.
AFTER READING IT: So I’m finally done with this book and so far it was better since the name got changed and it was a good idea to buy the complete series as box set in English too. I also had some audiobooks of it I listened to while also reading it at the same time and I’m totally in this story and will read the next book/ start it today.
There are some things I hated about this book because names were changed and characters were totally different from the tv series but it was okay for me.
I like the fact that Alaric will be showing up pretty soon in the next books, because if I had to choose a character from the tv show and the book series it’s definitely Alaric
Will add a review later after finishing it. For more, check out my website to see reading updates and blog posts about this book there: https://lelemontgomery.de
hgranger's review against another edition
1.0
What did I just read? My eyes. My brain. Argh.
Also, this plot seems JUST like another vampire book I also wasted time reading. No wonder that author didn't bother suing 50 shades of crap writing - she would have been laughed out of court by anyone who'd ever cracked this juvenile vapidity open. At least Meyer's characters had a bit more bite to them. (Haha. I know...)
And Katherine. What in the ever-loving...
Also, this plot seems JUST like another vampire book I also wasted time reading. No wonder that author didn't bother suing 50 shades of crap writing - she would have been laughed out of court by anyone who'd ever cracked this juvenile vapidity open. At least Meyer's characters had a bit more bite to them. (Haha. I know...)
And Katherine. What in the ever-loving...
riiiclark's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t know if this deserves 3 stars, but I’m gonna keep reading because I have to know just how different the books end up being from the show in the long run.
elynx_19's review against another edition
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
sofialia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0