The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle audiobook

Vaya locura! Este segundo tomo no me ha durado ni 24 horas. Y, aunque la trama es completamente diferente a la de la serie, sus personajes siguen siendo carismáticos. A por el tercero!

This second book of the Vampire Diaries series picks up exactly where the first book ended. Stefan is missing, and Elena confronts Damon by her choosing. We see a lot more of Damon in this books and he gets close to classmates and family members, drawing ever closer to her. Bonnie's abilities get showcased more in this book as well. This story also focuses more on Elena's missing diary.The pace of this book seemed a bit faster to me, which I liked. we also get to know the minor characters, Matt, Caroline, Meredith, etc better. The story was more from Elena's perspective this time, with less Stefan. It has a cliffhanger ending that has me determined to get my hands on the third book and find out what happened and will happen. This story was an easy read. I read over 75% in one evening sitting.

I did a book report on this volume in 7th grade. I made a movie poster on fluorescent orange poster board. My cast was horrible, because I was limited to cutting pictures out of magazines. So Stefan was Leonardo DiCaprio, because I obviously hated Stefan enough to foist this casting decision on him. Elena was Alicia Silverstone because she was the only blonde I could find, and Damon was Skeet Ulrich because he was so hot in Scream.Anyway, it's a super ugly poster (I still have it), but I got an A, and its ugliness in no way reflects my love for the book. This series is SO atmospheric. I love all the details about the town.And Damon. I love Damon. The scene with him on the rooftop is one of my favorites in the series.Despite Elena's flaws, I actually find her a pretty realistic character. Meredith wasn't as bitchy in this book, and Bonnie is a little more assertive than in The Awakening.I may be in the minority liking the books more than the show. I'm a rebel!

Tanto o más adictivo que la primera entrega, quizá porque estamos en pleno desarrollo de la historia. Simplemente es un libro que no se puede soltar; la acción está tras de cada página, no deja respiro.

By the time I got to the second book I was really hooked, like I've said in my previous review (of book #1) it's very different to the tv series but that doesn't really effect anything now that I'm used to this 'version'. Again this isn't the longest of books but there's still quite a lot of stuff packed into the chapters.I thought the ending was really...dramatic, I'm not quite sure if that's the right word, but I'll get to that later.For those of you who haven't read the book: Elena has now found out about Stefan and Damon's secret./ More strange thins are beginning to happen and after the death of Mr. Tanner many people see Stefan as the reason behind everything, but was it him that caused it all?Well, short answer, no, he hasn't... Directly. I feel really sorry for Stefan in this book because Damon is the one (or the one suspected) behind everything. Stefan doesn't know this so he's slowly getting weaker because of his guilt.When Stefan gets trapped in the well, again we all presume because of Damon but in fact he didn't. Throughout the book Damon is viewed as the 'bad guy' when in reality he hasn't done anything that he's been accused of (apart from killing Tanner which he freely admits).In this book it's really the first time we get to hear about this 'other power' (which again is assumed to be Damon). A lot of us will have started piecing things together (as you do when you're the reader with more information [and all the POV's] than the characters) and I started to realise all is not as it first appeared. Now, I can finally talk about the last couple of chapters. Yes, the scene where Elena drives her car of the bridge (accidently of course).It all happens as the result of a fight which in turn means Elena drives off angry... This is our big glimpse at the 'other power' and it is a good 'glimpse'. Elena's there thinking "The power fills the whole sky" and there I am picturing a massive thing covering all of the sky, just wow. We all knew Elena's death was waiting for her at the bridge and I was kind of thinking, "This is it, your death is here. It's going to happen." And then at the same time I was thinking, "Unless you turn your car around this instant you're going to become a vampire. Which you probably don't want." But does Elena listen? Well no, because she's in a book, but that's not the point. She crosses the bridge anyway, and when I say 'crosses' I mean she drives straight off the bridge.I give this book 5 stars, yes the end was good. It's a well written book that has all the things you need for a good story.

This book was better than the first. It seems to be the true starting point in the series, and I really wish L.J. Smith would have combined the first and second books.

It was a very nice reading. I read it in few hours and it was pleasant and exciting. I still don't like Damon and I wish Elena was less childish. She annoyed me sometimes and because of that I'm not rating 5 stars. Apart from, I'm excited to read the next book asap!

I am GASPING for air

** spoiler alert ** No SERIOUS spoilers Continuing directly from "Awakening" Elena finds herself screaming for Damon to appear so she can confront him about Stefan's whereabouts. He appears and Elena gets what's seems to be her first real look at him. He looks like Stefan, with the same dark hair, pale skin and good looks. Taking it in she sees unlike Stefan his hair is straight, his eyes are "black as midnight" and he has a "cruel smile". While she is trying to confront him about the murders and trying to get Damon to share Stefan's location- Damon uses his Power to try and make Elena forget Stefan and draw her in to him. Elena is strong and manages to resist him which just seems to make him more interested in her and her strength. He offers her the Power, eternal life and fulfilled desires trying to convince her that it will satisfy her. When she refuses Damon tells her that she will change her mind, and to not bother looking for Stefan, as he has killed him. Bonnie is starting to develop her own psychic powers, and so far is one of the most likable characters in the series other than Matt. That being said, Matt seems easily manipulated and like he is definitely under Elena's thumb, and would probably jump off of Wickery Bridge if she asked him to. Meredith seems like and unnecessary character as of right now, and was probably only added to help expand the ever popular Elena's friend group- either that or Smith just didn't feel like developing the character in any way shape or form. Introducing Alaric. The new history teacher who takes over when the previous one is killed by Damon. He starts off his class by making the students talk about what happened, as if he is some type of grief counselor. I can't help but feel he is already crossing a line, and he's only taken over for all of 2 minutes . Then he takes it one step further by inviting them to come talk after school at the place he is staying at. Elena still feels strongly connected to Stefan, even more so after he feeds from her. She thinks that knowing his secret has brought them even closer together. I have yet to find much of anything for them to build a relationship on, but my inner teen fan girl keeps jumping up and down happy that they are so "in love". I still find it concerning how quickly and easily she trusts him and honestly believes he will never hurt her. Caroline and Tyler are out for revenge against Elena and Stefan. Damon is out to weasel his way into Elena's life. Aunt Judith is charmed by Damon. Chaos ensues! The second book was less campy, and while it should probably get a 3/5- I give it 4 stars because I couldn't put it down. Can I just say that I HATE the original covers? I usually never buy tie in editions, but I couldn't bear to put the old homely editions on my self. I also hated how they did 2 new editions that included 2 books each. I like to read my books one at a time, and why have to carry around more pages than I have to. This rating and review is based solely on my immediate feelings upon completion of the book, and is in no way meant to be in comparison with the TV series or other books I have read. In consideration of the TV series let me state, for the record, the stories highly differ- and anyone expecting similar storylines will be disappointed.

One word to describe this book: EPIC. A HUGE improvement on The Awakening, because it deals with Damon increasing his reign over Fell's Church and over Elena's life. He's creepy as hell, totally dangerous, and really kept me reading on. I wasnt sure how I felt about Damon at the end of the first book, but now I'm hooked. Elena's changed a whole lot since The Awakening, and is no longer catty and obsessed by pathetic and petty high school things. Though that's not to say that everybody else feels the same, with a large theme of this book being Caroline trying to exact revenge on Elena. It's funny, because everytime the book gets dark, heavy and totally consumed with the vampire battle, a Mean Girls-esque plotarc comes along and reminds me that these are just high school girls after all, and the world is still going on around them. I really like how Bonnie, Meredith and Elena's characters have all developed - Bonnie is really coming into her psychic powers, Meredith has a few secrets she's not telling us, and *SPOILERS* Elena may have gone over to the dark side with Damon. I kinda guessed that's what was happening to her, and I cant wait to read the next book to find out. Im also really intrigued by whatever secrets Meredith's hiding, and I hope they dont turn out to be terribly underwhelming or something. I dont really want to spoil too much, but if you read The Awakening and werent too fussed on it, try this one because it might surprise you. Less Stefan, more creepy ass Damon, and there's a definitely feeling of evil and foreboding in Fell's Church.

"Era oscuro y hacia mucho frío". Con un final de infarto,donde no puedes dejar de leer los cuatro últimos capítulos. En esta segunda entrega de la saga Crónicas vampíricas de L.J Smith,se perfilan mas detalladamente las iras y desventuras de los personajes. Elena,la protagonista femenina principal,que en un primer libro se ve como una completa niñata insoportable. Aquí, evoluciona y cambia hacia una personalidad mas abierta y luchadora por su amor por Stefan. Sus amigas inseparables Bonnie y Meredith seran sus mayores apoyos. Stefan que en todo el libro se ve casi desaparecido o poco importante. Al final parece el resucitado y se ve en todo su esplendor. Pero,la sorpresa de este libro es la aparición brutal y magistral de Damon,el hermano de Sstefan,que con su odio y su mirada oscura, intentara por todos los medios desquiciar a Elena y atormentar a Stefan. Hasta el punto que puede conseguir atormentan y enamorar a todo el pueblo. Nota 8.

Read this in high school and really enjoyed it! That's about all I can remember.

If you like teen vampire fiction, you should read this series! It is completely different from the TV series, but it is still so good! Things I liked:-I really enjoyed Elena, Damon, and Stefan. - I love reading about their love triangle. Things I didn't like- Caroline and Tyler are AWFUL in the books!!

Spannungskurve immens gesteigert bis zum Ende. Musste mir dann direkt den 3. Band kaufen.

** spoiler alert ** DO NOT continue if you don’t want the entire book to be spoiled. Because there will definitely be spoilers. Almost every sentence is a spoiler. I’m warning you. The first few pages start off right where the last book left off. Elena yelling into the wind for Damon. Which would be all good and fine, except for the fact that she literally tells Damon (and I quote), “I’ve already found what I want. And who I want to be with forever.”I would laugh, and believe me, I did. But now I’m genuinely concerned. She literally met the guy on the first day of school. Hint hint; school started like a week ago. Maybe two? Maybetime got lost in the days she spent pining over him for no reason except the fact that she was used to boys staring at her every second of the day. Does it matter? Elena…I think you’re obsessing over Stefan a little bit. I mean we know YOU want to be with him forever (uhhh…), but I doubt he wants to be with you forever. But, since I decided to read paranormal teen vampire romance, of course Stefan actually DOES want to be with her forever. Anyways, after Elena says the stupid thing about spending her stupid life with stupid Stefan, Damon goes ahead and tells her not to bother looking for him. Why? Apparently he killed Stefan last night. (Another hint hint; Damon was lying. Did you think he was being honest?). Elena doesn’t believe Damon anyways. I carry on, having to listen to Elena being all like, “Stefan. Stefan, Stefan, Stefan. Stefan. Stefan? Oh! Stefan.” Because apparently STEFAN is all she can think about. She would absolutely be able to know if he was dead. She…she would just somehow feel it deep in her soul. Meanwhile, my boy Damon was over here in the first chapter promising Elena that she would be his before winter came into season. But it’s okay, because we know at this point Damon isn’t actually having insta-love with Elena, he’s just trying to piss off Stefan. Brother stuff, you know. Of course though, Elena says that she finds Damon revolting and disgusting and whatever other insults she threw in, telling Damon that he could do nothing to her. It doesn’t take a genius to know that she’s an idiot. I mean, yes Elena, Damon can actually do something to you. He could kill you in probably less than two seconds. I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to rip your heart out and shove it down your throat. But okay. Then she gets all delusional, where her “rational” thoughts are being turned irrational. *Cough* like they were ever rational before. And so now she’s sitting down on the side of the road, realizing in her little mind, “Stefan must be coming to me right now! I should just wait here, expecting HIM to come to ME!” No work involved, just let Stefan do it. Even though I think we all know that Stefan isn’t coming. Sadly, Bonnie and Meredith come and ruin the hilarity. They take her home and blah blah blah. Everyone else: Oh my gosh, Elena’s gone crazy. She’s in love (ahahahha ahahaha ahahahah ahhaha) with the runaway guy that the police think is a killer! She may be sick. Elena: Stefan didn’t run away! I’m not sick and I’m not crazy! He’s not a killer *mad face*Shortened up, Elena is a jerk to Matt. She laughs hysterically (to herself) about Damon being a killer. Acts a little crazy around Meredith and Bonnie. Bonnie and Meredith are mad that Elena hasn’t been talking to them as much since she got with Stefan. Have a crying fit. All hug and become besties again in the next two sentences. Elena forced Bonnie to do magic to help her find Stefan even though Bonnie says that it’s dangerous and she doesn’t really want to. But why not risk the life of your best friend who you’ve known forever when you’ve got a vampire boyfriend that you’ve known for five minutes, right?Then Bonnie, in a weird trance, says for Elena NOT to go to Wickery Bridge. Death awaits! But dark and dangerous warnings in the real world actually mean, “Let’s go to the bridge! Probably won’t die, but if I do, at least I’ll have dragged my best friends to death with me. Including the fact that they have NO idea that Stefan is a bloodthirsty veggie vampire. Oh well. Hopefully he’s actually there or we’ll all be dead for nothing.” But it’s all good because Meredith loves danger and Bonnie wants to look young and beautiful in her grave. Did I mention how creepy that is? Then we find out (predictably) that Wickery Bridge wasn’t the right place to look for Stefan. And now they’re all afraid that death is waiting for them. Except that cloaked figure? It was just Matt. I would still be concerned though. Matt is a scary guy. Skip ahead; they find Stefan in a well. Yikes.Elena: Oh no, don’t call any doctors! Well, that’s what you get for bringing along a bunch of people to find your vampire boyfriend, when they don’t know he’s a vampire. Now Stefan is probably going to live quite normally, and without any help from any doctors…not suspicious. Especially since he was freezing in the bottom of a closed and water-filled well (a literal well), not to mention while sitting on top of sharp rocks.(This all happens in like the first 4 chapters)Look, all in all, the book is summed up like this: Elena so obviously is attracted to both brothers. She’s 100% NOT in love, but what can you do? Damon is very determined to make Elena his, and of course Stefan wants Elena…but he also wants to destroy Damon. Elena doesn’t know what the heck she wants. But now I’m getting carried away. Best to just stick to my feelings about the characters and whatever. Elena - AGAIN with the eye obsession! I already told you that I literally don’t care if Stefan’s eyes are green. But not like trees anymore, no. Like emeralds this time. And malachite. Oh, and holly. AND like a cat’s eyes too. Uh, creepy. Don’t get me started on how much she obsesses over everyone else’s eyes too. Caroline, Damon, sheesh. Even Alaric. Keep it to yourself.Other than her love of eyes, there’s the problem of her love for Stefan. I don’t even want to get into how ridiculous it is. Not to mention she treats Bonnie and Meredith like they mean nothing, and doesn’t respect her Aunt Judith or Robert (by the way, who is this Robert guy I can’t remember) and gets jealous about Damon flirting with other girls *Bonnie* while also claiming to hate his guts completely. She’s just so whiny and so self-serving that it annoys me. I mean, I would think it annoys everyone.Damon - What’s to say? I don’t know how anyone can’t like Damon. I have to say, I’m really disappointed that he kissed Bonnie at that dumb party thing in the beginning. Even though it really meant nothing, just ugh. Why? Why Bonnie? At the very least, he could have made it some random girl.Besides what went on, I really do like Damon as a character. He’s much more realistic than Stefan, and he has a deeper personality. Despite the fact that we’ve gotten to see less of him that Stefan, he tends to have a more developed character and is the one I’m more interested in learning about. It’s also a relief that he acts like an actual vampire. No squirrel-eating and crying-over-dead-rabbit scenes from Damon’s side. He’s also sweeter with Elena, somehow. I’m glad that he’s a lot more present in this book; it made it a lot more fun. Stefan - If I met a person (vampire) like Stefan, I’d back off quickly. Run the other way. Bail on the mission, or whatever saying you want to use. Am I missing something? Is it possible that I’m just not understanding the allure of good old Stefan here? Emphasize on the old. Hehe. Look, I get it. I don’t think anyone (except Bonnie) would want to date a psychotic killer. So, Stefan’s the alternative to that. Elena, here’s my question for you. You want to date a vampire, but you don’t want him to act like a vampire? I have a feeling that Elena would go all freak mode and cry her eyes out or something if she saw Stefan killing someone like a normal vampire would do. I lied. I don’t get it. It’s hard to get the point across. Anyways, we still have typical Stefan for this book. In the end, he’s the good guy who likes being all vegetarian and heroic and symbol of all things good and flipped into “human savior mode”. Yet he still hates the *gasp* disgusting creature he’s forced to live out his days as. Doesn’t want to put Elena in danger, yet knows that he has that strange, totally unexpected urge to rip his teeth into her jugular every time he’s with her. But okay. Okay, Stefan. Live out your fantasies.I would call him Edward 2.0, but since Stefan technically came first, I guess it would be more appropriate to call Edward Stefan 2.0. They’re so similar it’s actually funny. -Desire to kill humans but holds off because of their “oh so sweet” humanity and care for the human species. -Love (in quotations) for some girl who is a century younger than them AND conveniently human. -Tells that same girl to stay away from them but ends up not being able to resist going by her?-Ends up in some situation where they’re too weak to protect anyone and then feeling all guilty about it. -Acts like they have deep thoughts and emotions and are “more human than you think”. -Leaves the girl at some dramatic turn and then comes running back.-Has some depressing rundown where they lose themselves and then (with the help of that girl, of course) get put back on track. -Has an overwhelming sense that draws them to THAT ONE GIRL’S blood. There’s more but I am having trouble putting it into words here. Either way, they’re both pathetic excuses for vampires. They might as well be sociopathic humans with delusions where they think they need to drink blood. Yeah, I think that’s it. Bonnie - I hate you Bonnie. There’s nothing else to be said. She’s so creepy. Literally, she said that it would be ROMANTIC to have a KILLER kill you with his hands around your throat. What. Are you okay, Bonnie? I can’t- like what? How do I express this. There’s nothing romantic about killers killing you, people. Not even if they happen to be really awesome vampires named Damon Salvatore. If you want to see, here’s my evidence. Straight from the book. “I don’t know; killers are sort of romantic. Imagine your dying with his hands around your throat. He’d strangle the life out of you, and the last thing you’d see is his face.” UHM. Stop right there. Just want to add that Bonnie is expecting to die young. And she’s GLAD. Why? Not for some actual excusable reason. But because she wants to look young and beautiful in her grave. Vain much? Once again, please send Bonnie to a hospital. Listening to her talk makes me want to meet a vampire and have them suck the blood out of me until I pass out so I don’t have to hear what she’s saying. Meredith - There’s not too much of Meredith. I still can’t place what she really is like. Her character is so dull and unbelievably underdeveloped. I haven’t even outlined her personality, and already forgot what she looks like. Not really having high hopes for her in the future books. Matt - I don’t know. I just can’t place him. He’s kind of an idiot and kind of really annoying, but he’s not completely insufferable like Tyler Smallwood. Caroline - I’m just waiting for the breakthrough where she comes crawling to Elena or something and begs to be buddies again. Right now, she’s kind of a jerk and an entitled, spoiled and selfish girl who is obsessed with being at the top of the popularity chain. (Elena wanted me to point out that she has green, cat-like eyes.) I think Caroline could be a good character. So hopefully that’ll happen soon. Alaric - Kind of weird. Kind of scary. A little creepy. I expected him to be different. Vickie - Why are you still even a part of this book? Aunt Judith - Poor Aunt Judith. All in favor of putting Elena up for adoption, raise your hand. I can’t believe I almost forgot. Stefan proposed. I- what? You- Still- okay. I’m just going to cry because Elena said yes. She’s not even out of high school?! I swear, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever read in my entire life. I was genuinely enjoying this book, and then that…happened. I don’t have the energy to explain how idiotic that scene was. “He’s Stefan and he’s all I care about. And I happen to be engaged to him.”Please shut up Elena. I can’t imagine how many people felt second hand embarrassment for you. I really think that was ended though, somewhere along the end. I mean there’s no way they were actually going to stay engaged.Overall, there was a ton more vampire action in this book, which was nice. The writing was still flawlessly done, and there wasn’t anything about the actual plot that I could complain about. I really enjoyed this one.