Are the books always better? - The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries, #1)

The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries, #1): L. J. Smith 

A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror...
Elena
Searching for the ultimate thrill, she vowed to have Stefan.

Stefan
Haunted by his tragic past, he struggled to resist her passion.

Damon
Driven by revenge, he hunted the brother who betrayed him.

The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

For me to watch an adaptation of a book before I actually read the book is a rare thing, but it does happen. Then, if I like said movie or show, I'll usually pick up the book. I've had the first two Vampire Diaries books sitting on my shelf picking up dust for probably a year now. I was a huge fan of the TV series up until the original vampires left to start their own show. After that, it was really downhill for both shows. I figured the producers did this just to make more money - I mean it's pretty obvious. So, they probably deviated from the original storyline of the book. I thought to myself, "Well, hopefully if I read the book I'll like how things turned out for the original vampires/ original cast rather than how things are turning out right now for the show". What I didn't expect was what really happened with the book. 

You know how you hate movies or TV show adaptations because you feel like they rush the books? Well, I feel like the book was rushed compared to the show. The book was only about 250 pages and they were "in love" by page 150. They only met at around page 50. It was so cheesy, I have no idea how someone picked this series to make into a TV show. Surely there are better series that would take much less editing to make better. Anyway, there are a lot of differences between the TV show and the book. Which isn't a bad thing, because I didn't really like the book, I'd give it probably 2 stars. The book characters were so 1-dimensional, they didn't leave any lasting impression on me. How can any character leave a lasting impression on you in a 250 page paperback with large font? 

Let's go over some notable differences between the TV show and the book that I can pick out off of the top of my head. 

1. Caroline's character is literally so insignificant it's like she was barely there. 

Sure season 1 Caroline was super bitchy and everyone hated her, but she was still a main character. Except in the book, Caroline wasn't even friends with Elena and Bonnie. They openly all hated each other. They were literally in a competition to see who was "queen" of the school. Yep. You heard me. That actually happened. 

2. Bonnie is a druid. 

A druid? Outlander? Nope, just Vampire Diaries! Bonnie was scottish, had red curly hair and could read who people would marry. Ok then. There wasn't much room for Bonnie in the book either. What with Elena's ego and selfishness taking up most of the space and all. I'm on team TV show Bonnie. 

3. Wait, Who are these people? 

Matt Honeycutt, Tyler Smallwood, Bonnie McCullough. Aunt Judith. Need I go on? 

4. Elena is scared as shit of this crow. In the show she talked to him like a friend.

In the book, the crow is Damon. I think in the TV show, it was supposed to be something along the same line - but it ended up just being confusing as crap and the crow ended up just disappearing one episode with no explanation whatsoever and never coming back! I mean, at least in the book we get a little background!

5. Jeremy is non existent. Elena has a 4 year old little sister. 

I liked TV show Jeremy! Sure I didn't like him when he was a goth and a drug addict, but he sacrificed so much for Elena. Like I don't know his happiness and his life?! I'm sad he isn't a real person in the book. I wasn't this angry when there was no Jessica in the Sookie Stackhouse books and I liked her better than Jeremy. Well, those books were also a lot better than these sooo. 

6. Katherine is … SWEET?! 

It's Elena who is described as the saucy one. Katherine was misunderstood and ended up killing herself because she couldn't decide between Stefan and Damon. Damon thinks Elena belongs with him because Stefan won't be able to handle her since she's not gentle and fragile like Katherine was. How about that!


Will I continue with the series? It's not my top priority, but I want to get to the part where the original vampires show up. Hopefully it will get a little less cheesy then? Maybe evil Katherine will show up? Who knows.