'Sup kids.
So I just finished the Vampire Diaries books. Omg? So good. I tried reading them once before, towards the end of high school, but I think I was in too realistic a phase to accept the fact that they fall in lurrrrrrrve almost immediately upon meeting. This always kind of bothers me (except in the Night World series, because there is a magical excuse for love at first sight), but once I got
over that I really, really enjoyed it. Her writing is really engaging, though admittedly written for a young adult audience. I love love her characters, and her plots, and just everything. Also, wow, I can totally see where my writing style came from. Her books were my favorite things evarrr during my formative years, so my writing is her writing plus a little Francesca Lia Block. Also, her vampire mythologies are what I take as "normal", even though they're totally romance novel vampires, not horror vampires. HOWEVER! These books were genuinely creepy. Especially the last two.
GUYS I JUST HNNNNNNN I LOVE THESE BOOKS SO MUCH AND I'M ALL STUCK IN LJ SMITH VAMPIRES AND WITCHES WORLD. It's even making me want to watch
the show which, so far? Not so great. Although, more sex and
Ian Somerhalder as Damon. In my mind, a gothed out
Chace Crawford is Damon, but they look a lot like each other, so I'm cool. Although Elena is supposed to be blonde, not brunette, and Bonnie is supposed to be a pixie-like redhead druid descendent, not an African-American Salem witch descendent. NOT THAT I CARE ABOUT CHANGES, I hate being one of those people, I'm going to enjoy the show for what it is, which is a sexy vampire show with some hot dudes.
Although, speaking of Elena turning into a brunette...the show is both trying to be and trying to move away from Twilight. The book is
shockingly like Twilight for the first like 2/3 or so, before it deviates some. Of course, it was published in 1991 whereas Twilight was published in 2005 soo...yeah. Stephanie Meyer claims she's never read vampire books, but I dunno. Anyway, the
show is definitely trying to LOOK like Twilight, with the way the characters themselves are styled and such, but it's changed the plot around a lot, so I'm thinking they realize the intense similarities and don't want everyone calling it a rip off.
ANYWAYS, YOU GUYS SHOULD BUY EVERY BOOK LJ SMITH HAS EVER WRITTEN. YOU CAN FIND THEM
HERE. The Night World series is her best, imo, but Vampire Diaries and Dark Visions are both really good, too. They're all amazing, but those are my favorites. So if you like young adult vampire romance that still has come creepiness? READ LJ SMITH!
Okay, I'm done now.