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The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries, Vol. 1) (Vampire Diaries, 1) Paperback – August 25, 2009

by L. J. Smith (Author)

4.1 2,650 ratings

Book 1 of 4: The Vampire Diaries

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The New York Times bestselling series!

The first book in L.J. Smith’s New York Times bestselling Vampire Diaries series, the basis of the hit CW TV show starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder.

Elena Gilbert is a high school golden girl, used to getting what she wants. And who she wants. But when the boy she’s set her sights on—the handsome and haunted Stefan—isn’t interested, she’s confused. She could never know the real reason Stefan is struggling to resist her:

Stefan is a vampire, and Elena’s in danger just by being around him. What’s more, Stefan’s dark, dangerous vampire brother Damon has just arrived in town. And wherever Damon goes, trouble always follows.

Fans of The Vampire Diaries TV show will find this book packed with the same kind of heart-stopping suspense, fierce romances, and jaw-dropping surprises that they know and love, all brought to life by New York Times bestselling author L.J. Smith.

Book 1 of 4

The Vampire Diaries
Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

HarperTeen
Publication date

August 25, 2009
Grade level

8 - 9
Reading age

14 - 17 years
Dimensions

5.31 x 0.61 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

9780061963865
ISBN-13

978-0061963865
Lexile measure

HL700L
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

Evil will never find peace. It may triumph, but it will never find peace.
Highlighted by 1,193 Kindle readers
She’d have him, even if it killed her. If it killed both of them, she’d have him.
Highlighted by 684 Kindle readers
Perhaps she’ll find that real darkness is more to her taste than feeble twilight.
Highlighted by 427 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A deadly love triangle

Elena: beautiful and popular, the girl who can have any guy she wants.

Stefan: brooding and mysterious, desperately trying to resist his desire for Elena . . . for her own good.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him.

Elena finds herself drawn to both brothers . . . who will she choose?

About the Author

L. J. Smith has written over two dozen books for young adults, including The Vampire Diaries, now a hit TV show. She has also written the bestselling Night World series and The Forbidden Game, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling Dark Visions. She loves to walk the trails and beaches in Point Reyes, California, daydreaming about her latest book.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0061963860
Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen; Revised - Media tie-in edition (August 25, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780061963865
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061963865
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 - 17 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL700L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 - 9
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.61 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #243,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #228 in Teen & Young Adult Vampire Fiction
- #697 in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Romance
- #1,102 in Teen & Young Adult Paranormal Romance

Customer Reviews:
4.1 2,650 ratings

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L. J. Smith

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Lisa Jane Smith is the New York Times #1 Bestselling author of The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle, The Forbidden Game, Dark Visions, Wildworld and Night World series. She has written over two dozen books for children and young adults, and has enjoyed writing every one of them. She lives in the Bay Area of California, with a backyard that is full of flowers, which she adores, especially with many different shades of roses.

She loves to visit a friend’s little cabin in the Point Reyes National Seashore area, which has lots of trees, lots of animals, lots of beaches to walk on, and lots of places to hike. Once, while hiking, she saw a snow-white buck which allowed her to follow it nearly half a mile. She also likes to collect things: angels (they remind her of her late mother), tiny boxes from different countries or of fanciful shape, nineteenth century children’s literature, and books about quantum physics—especially about the mystery of the dark energy in the universe. A militant optimist, she is also part of the Velociraptor Sisterhood (a fancy way of saying that she likes to read, write and discuss books with strong female characters), and she has traveled extensively in Europe and the Far East. The two countries she loves to visit most are Great Britain, with its historic monuments and amazing country landscapes, and Japan, with its bustling urban life and exquisite mountain scenery.

Her favorite current writer is Terry Pratchett, the author of the Discworld series, for its wild and witty satires on life, death, war, love, assassins, coppers, and Australia. Her favorite classical writer is Jane Austen. Her favorite poets are Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. Her favorite movies are The Seven Samurai and Avatar (analyze that!). She doesn’t have a favorite TV show, because she doesn’t have time to watch TV (and only owns one for playing movies).

Her favorite people are her readers, each of whom she cherishes with deep and lasting affection.

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4.1 out of 5

2,650 global ratings

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Claire

Enticing Entertainment

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2010

Verified Purchase

I am a sucker for vampire lore as well as teenage drama so this series was just plain amusing fun. It's nothing deep or profound but I just enjoyed them and found them enticing and intriguing. Since I researched them a little bit before buying, I discovered that there were originally three books and the author obviously meant for them to be a trilogy that (a la Star Wars) ties everything up neatly so the reader can have closure at the end. To clarify any confusion, The Awakening is followed by The Struggle and then finally The Fury. They were meant to be read all three in order. I'm not sure why the author didn't just combine them into one novel but I noticed another reviewer commented that the book just ended. This is true but the following books pick up exactly where the previous ones left off.

At first I thought they were silly and I had no love for its heroine, Elena, and not too much love either for its hero, Stefan. However, they grew on me and I fell in love with the Damon character- first for his evil bad-boy persona but then later because he softens and actually becomes lovable. The other characters in the story are actually interesting as well.

I have only seen the show a few times but am trying to catch up with it now by watching episodes online. I'm finding the show is also growing on me. It's obvious there are many many differences between the show and the trilogy of books. Though there was resolution at the end of the third book, the author eventually started writing further sequels due to its popularity. The show obviously takes a different direction and uses some creative liberties that are necessary for it to continue on as a show instead of a movie. So really the show is loosely based on the novels and they are indeed very different.

It's amazing to me also that these books came out in 1991- way before the Twilight saga as well as True Blood and even before Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One can't help but wonder if maybe the creators of those sagas borrowed from these. Anyway, I found that after a bit of a cheesy slow start, I was absorbed by them and read all three in about three days. If you are in to teenage vampire love stories (similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer,) these books deliver entertainment (thrills, chills, suspense and romance plus an unexpected storyline twist at the end) without over the top drama (such as Twilight.) They are just good clean high school fun and I enjoyed myself while reading them even at the age of 35.

10 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Amazing

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024

Verified Purchase

If you thought the series was great, the book is by far even better. So Book #2 here I come!!

2 people found this helpful

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Kelly Brackeen

Intense

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2013

Verified Purchase

Although a person may find themselves not liking Elena very much in the beginning of the book, one has to admire the changes in her as she earns Stefan's love. Not much action but complex, lively characters. Damon gave me shivers down my spine. The pages flew by as I finished the book in one day.

Things I didn't like: repetitious descriptions of things such as the crow, editing errors, and lack of details during the crises (who and what happened to background characters and let's get a description of the confrontation of Tyler and the police and consequences of his actions).

3 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Trashy as heck.. but that's why we read it right!?

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

I didnt enjoy it at the start - coming from the television series there too many differences to enjoy it at first. As I continued on I came to take a little more interest in the differences, it's same same but different and it feels like I'm getting a different perspective on some favourite characters.

The writing initially felt very dis-empowering to women, I can't really speak for that not being one but perhaps I was over empathising and most women wouldn't be bothered by it. It did appear to shift a bit such that I didn't think Elena was a complete idiot as I went on (which was probably the authors intent).

The writing got a bit much at times.. like bad purple prose.. and it felt like the author was just throwing in obscure 'Olde Englishe' and Italian words to make it appear as though it was better constructed than it actually was.

I will have to continue with the second to see how it goes so on that front I guess this book is a success :p

I am interested to see how these different versions of Bonnie and Matt develop - and I'm looking forward to seeing when Alaric is introduced (personal fave - I hope he is in the books and not just a construction of the television series).

I was a little bit disappointed that Jeremy doesn't seem to exist but he may be an external character introduced later - the family setup and dynamic is totally different in this book to the series and I'm not sure if I like it yet - though it hasn't really been developed much yet so we shall see.

What does bother me a lot about this book is that this 'publishing' of it has the actors from the television series on the cover, which gives a false sense of what the characters in the novel will be like. I dislike when publishers do this to draw the eye to attract the sales of those who briefly glance at it an recognise it from the show.

I wish Amazon let you choose which cover you wanted in your library because I'd much rather have the originals or a variant without the actors.

13 people found this helpful

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adia

loved it

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024

Verified Purchase

I loved it! I need more of it! I couldn’t put it down. It was so distracting that I couldn’t do any work!

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book kept the suspense and was a great read. I love the vampire Diaries show and was glad that it was similar but had some changes to it as well.

One person found this helpful

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Cindy Ritchey

Incredible love/ hatred story!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is an incredible, breath taking, astonishing novel by L.J. Smith!!!! The compassion, the intensity, the power of the love that the two characters stefan Salvatore and elena gilbert have over each other is just incredible. This novel is truly a roller coaster of events that will get you so involved and deep into the story of the characters lives that you won't be able to look away from this story. You will get so involved in this novel that it will completely remove reality from you and just drown you in the pages making you imagine that you are actually in the story watching everything happen!!!! Truly, never in my entire life have I ever been so anticipated by a book like I have been with the vampire diaries. I would strongly recommend this novel by L.J. Smith to someone who loves fiction or fantasy, love stories, possibly adventure, and action. I gave a five star rating because of the reason that this book has the ability to completely take away any glimpse of reality from a person and just drown them in the story of the fantasy and fiction of the vampire diaries.

One person found this helpful

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