The Vampire Diaries, L. J. Smith

I heard about this series when I saw a trailer for the upcoming tv show based on the books. I bought them and read them all but I can't say that I would recommend them to anyone. Even someone with a high threshold for formulaic writing, flat characters, and a heavy dose of faux-occult-creepiness oooooOOOOOooooooOOOOOO (imagine that in my best ghost voice) would get tired after a bit. I liked the first book the best and they go downhill from there. I just kept thinking if Elena is so magical and special why can't the fight just end. The solution to every problem is Elena developing a magical new power that if she had just had in the first place would have prevented all the problems. None of the books give any closure to the storylines; just a temporary calming down. There is always a new creepy supernatural danger out there. I really didn't like that it was neverending. After a while it just feels like the author is looking to make money not to tell a story (I think that is author code for "please buy my next book!"). When I read that the most recent volume in the story was written in the wake of Twimania after a near 10 year hiatus I had that hypothesis confirmed. I came incredibly close to not reading the last one. The books do really start to drag but I am pretty compulsive about finishing things that I start reading (especially things that I spent money on).