A review by jdye6529
The Awakening by L.J. Smith
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.