(First published November 9, 2011)

The all-important synopsis…

Elena Gilbert always gets what she wants. After all, beautiful and popular go a long way in a small town like Fell’s Church, Virginia. She has a close circle of friends, a cute All-American boyfriend, and basically holds student body in the palm of her hand. At least that’s what she had before her parents died.

Living with Aunt Judith in their family house, Elena now feels as if she’s out of place waiting for life to begin again. And that’s when she encounters Stefan Salvatore: new student, good-looking, confident and…completely not interested in her. As Stefan avoids her every advance, her resolve grows to capture his attention and his heart.

But Stefan holds a dark secret that he struggles to control. And as some people start to turn up dead, the result of supposed animal attacks, only he holds the knowledge to unlock the grasp that the night has on Fell’s Church–and Elena.

True Confessions

I should probably ‘fess up to something right off the bat. I love the CW’s Vampire Diaries. It’s one of my top 5 favorite shows, and those of you haters out there just cannot possibly understand what good television it is. Because if you watched the first half of the first season, you’d be hooked. The actors are well-cast, the pacing is amazing, and the writers on this show are a step above brilliant.

And after that small rave, if you are thinking that I only picked up this book after watching the first few episodes of the television show, well, you’d be right. I’d like to deny it, being a girl who is a big advocate of “the books is always better than the movie/television show/theater production” philosophy. But, I think it’s important that I keep these reviews on the up and up. So. There’s my first confession.

For my second confession, I’d like to tell you that this review is going to really be more of a book review slash comparing and contrasting the book from the show. More of a hybrid, really.

Now that we have that all cleared up, I feel much better. Let’s dive in!

[No spoilers ahead, FYI]

The Book vs. The Show

Book Elena vs. Show Elena

Well, first of all, Book Elena is blonde. Blonde, popular, self-centered, petty, and a little bit cruel. Show Elena has dark brown hair, is tragic, sweet, caring and strong-willed. The first time I picked up the book, I only got half-way through. I disliked Book Elena so much, that I put it down never to pick it up again. Until I talked with a good friend who assured me that things get better as one reads. See? This is why it’s important to have friends that read.

So, I picked it up again and I think there’s hope for redemption in Book Elena’s future.

The General Lack of Jeremy

I have to tip my hat to the genius who decided that Show Elena’s sibling should be troubled teenage Jeremy. ‘Cause in the book, Elena’s sibling is four-year-old Margaret who is almost a non-entity. Well done, show folks. Well done.

Book Friends vs. Show Friends

In the book, Elena’s circle of friends are:

- Meredith, seemingly the closest friend of all those surrounding Book Elena. She’s never mentioned or alluded to in the show.

- Bonnie, whose family line has a druid past and appears to be almost identical to Show Bonnie…except that Show Bonnie and Elena are much closer. Kind of like Book Bonnie & Meredith combined. Oh, and in the book Bonnie has red curly hair. And on the show, Bonnie looks like this:

- In the book, Caroline is more of a friend turned nemesis. Show Caroline is much more friendly and flighty.

- Matt appears to be the same on the show and in the book.

<3 <3 <3

The Review:

I must be honest and say that I am currently a bigger fan of the show than this book. But I’m further along in the television series than I am in the book series, so I’m willing to give it a chance. So far the plots are only vaguely similar, so I liked that. It made the book much more interesting to read.

I appreciated that Elena appears to be growing as a person and as she endeavors to be more worthy of Stefan, she’s becoming more worthy of her readers, too.

Much like the show, I also really enjoyed the flashbacks into Stefan’s past. Understanding his character through his own thoughts could be a big plus for the books.

The jury is still kind of out. I enjoyed the read enough to pick up the second book (or, rather, add it to my ginormous reading stack), but I’m not going to put it as a top recommendation anytime soon.