Jenny's Reviews > The Awakening / The Struggle

While this book did come highly recommended from a friend, my reaction, over and over as I was turning the pages, was "seriously? you're not going to... oh yep. you did" followed by an exasperated eye roll.

Elena is the (blond and, of course, beautiful) Queen of the School who just spent her summer in France with her aunt and her little sister because he parents are dead. Really. (Mary-Sue much??) She has a group of adoring followers, both male and female, as well as the requisite frenemy who is scheming to userp her position in the school's social heirarchy. BUT then a gorgeous, brooding stranger (Stefan) shows up at school and shows no interest in Elena at all. So she's determined to have him. He ignores her. She pretends to ignore him. Of course, he's actually ignoring her because he's in love with her and wants to protect her from his evil vampire-ness. But, because of the magic of true love, once she finally gets him to admit that he finds her *cough* attractive, they're joined at the hip. Throw in a few random dead people, a jock with a grudge, and, oh yeah, Stefan's evil, uber-powerful vampire brother and you have the first two books in this surprisingly popular series.

What it boiled down to for me: A teen vampire novel populated with obnoxious, under-developed characters and a plot that just screams "OH LOOK AT ME AND MY DRAMA QUEEN SELF!"

Not recommended for, well, pretty much anyone.