The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

I think I've been reading too many YA vampire novels. I guess I hoped I was hooked on this "genre" after reading the Twilight series. However, none have really lived up to that, and I've only thought they were all mediocre stories. And the other day I was trying to help an English teacher choose indepent reading novels for her class list, and I realized that I was not much help because I hadn't read most of the books I was suggesting to her. If she had wanted teen vampire fiction, then I would have been utterly helpful.

Anyway, I say all this to lead into a vampire book that I actually quite liked. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & the Struggle by L.J. Smith actually had an interesting and non-obvious plot, well-developed characters, and really good suspense. It was dark and not completely high school-cliquish, the way a vampire novel ought to be IMO. I was more scared reading this than I ever was reading Twilight. It's about a human high school senior named Elena who is beautiful and popular. When school starts, a hot, mysterious new boy (Stefan) is attending school with her. Elena is attracted to him and tries to pursue him, after dumping her cute and extremely nice and reliable boyfriend Matt. Of course, Stefan is a vampire who was born centuries before. He is trying to escape the ugliness of vampire life by blending in as a high schooler in small Fells Church, VA. Weird and creepy things start happening to Elena and others she knows. A homeless man is found dead with his throat ripped open, and a girl is almost attacked in the graveyard on homecoming night. Stefan is blacking out when these events occur, and he thinks he is doing it (and so does most of the town). He tries to stay away from Elena because she reminds him of someone he once knew and because he is trying to protect her from himself. But she is strong-willed and their attraction is great, so eventually they succumb to their attraction. But all is still not well! Stefan's evil older brother, Damon, has followed Stefan to Fells Church and is also determined to have Elena for himself.