The Vampire Diaries Audiobook Review – Book 1: The Awakening

The Vampire Diaries, Book 1: The Awakening

Written by: L. J. Smith

Narrated by: Rebecca Mozo

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Series: Vampire Diaries, Book 1

Unabridged Audiobook

Release Date: 10-27-09

Publisher: HarperAudio

Personally, I’m not very fond of love story books but this one isn’t that bad. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening is the first The Vampire Diaries audiobook in a series and if I’m not mistaken it doesn’t follow the story from the TV show. I’ve caught glimpses of it but never actually got to watching it, but if you have you’re still going to enjoy the audiobook because it’s practically a brand new storyline with your favorite characters.

The book was originally intended for teens and naturally has all the elements they’re probably going to like. A touching love story, suspense, horror and vampires. Still, I know many grown up men and women who love the TV show, so don’t let that age “restriction” stop you from trying something you might enjoy. I find the story has a lot in common with Twilight, but The Vampire diaries was written earlier, and in my opinion was done much better, so there’s that.

About the story: The plot takes place in a small town called Fell’s Church, Virginia which you can hardly find on the map. We’ve got the pretty and popular high school girl Elena, who doesn’t quite fall into the feather-head stereotype. She falls in love with two brothers who seem to be very mysterious and nobody knows much about. Stefan is the dark, quiet and mysterious type and makes Elena want him even more, pretty much through half of the book, acting like he’s not interested in her at all (yeah, sure, that works in real life). Damon is Stefan’s brother and is more of a dangerous don’t-mess-with-me kind of guy but we don’t get much of him until the end of the audiobook.

Elena falls for Stefan from the first time she sees him at school. She’s very intrigued by his mysteriousness but it also kind of unnerves her. The first time she talks to him, Stefan rejects her which makes her fantasize even more about him. Things get even more complicated when Damon arrives in town and makes it clear that he’ll steal Elena from Stefan and he can’t stop it whatever he does.

Two brothers falling in love for the same small town girl isn’t exactly a ground-braking premise but it’s well done and keeps the story interesting. Also, hey, they’re vampires. The plot taking place in a small town like Fell’s Church also contributes to the overall level of drama, since everybody knows everything about everybody, or so they think. Every small town like that has a few secrets after all.

I guess if I’m to take away something from The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening it’s that no matter what others tell you or the circumstances, if you’re in love with somebody and they love you back, you shouldn’t let anything stop you from being together if that’s what you want. A quick note about the ending, though (don’t worry, no spoilers). I was kind of surprised from the abrupt ending of the audiobook and even thought a part was missing or something. Turns out it’s just a huge cliffhanger supposed to entice us for the next installment of the book. Well, it worked because within minutes of finishing it I was online hitting the order button and downloading the next audiobook in the series.

About the narration: No complaints here. I found Rebecca Mozo’s voice very pleasant and she delivered a quite nice performance of the characters.

I recommend this audiobook to everybody who loves a nice love story, mixed with a little mystery and a vampire twist to it.

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