Why the Vampire Diaries?

Why out of all the books in the world, did the Vampire Diaries capture my heart? Well it was years and years ago, 1992 to be exact. I was visiting my grandmother one summer in a small North Carolina town, and was bored to death. So I regularly visited the small 15ftx15ft library, and was very quickly reading my way through the entire young adult section. There was one book I was avoiding though. Dark Reunion. The back of the book had intrigued me, but it was labeled as book 4, and unfortunately the library did not have the first three.

Once I had devoured all the Christopher Pike and Sweet Valley High books, I reluctantly checked out Dark Reunion. I hoped that maybe the author had supplied enough background information that the book wouldn't be a waste of time. I finished the book in a couple hours, and over the next couple days re-read it a few times. I was hooked. But, again, they didn't have the first three books, so the rest of my summer was spent creating the characters pasts in my imagination.

The following school year, my eighth grade class took a trip from New Smyrna Beach Florida to Washington DC and New York City. Now I come from a lower middle class family. My mother was a single parent struggling to make ends meet. She and my grandparents scraped up enough money for me to go, and before I left, my mother handed me $100 to spend on souvenirs.

I spent a little on things, some pressed pennies, postcards, a NYC t-shirt for my mother, and didn't know what to spend the rest on. Well somewhere near DC there was a 'mile long' mall, and our tour buses stopped there. My group walked around, finally stopping at a bookstore. I walked around, just browsing, when I spotted the books.

All four Vampire Diaries books, on a shelf, calling my name. I checked the prices, I had more than enough. You guessed it. I spent my souvenir money on the series. I had them all read before the bus reached Florida. My mom still tells people that story. "My daughter went to New York and came back with books."

I still have them, though after being read so many times, they are creased, and faded to a dull yellow inside. So when the books were re-released, all four copies were bought, and set on a shelf for display. Yep, I am that obsessed. They have never even been opened, and to be honest, they probably never will be. In fact, if I can ever save up enough money, more than likely I will order the United Kingdom covers to sit beside them.

Why not the interest in the Secret Circle? I don't know. I loved them as well, and have both covers as well as a website devoted to them. They've been read a lot, though not nearly as often. I consider my self a Wiccan, and it seems I should be able to relate to them more than vampires. I was an outcast in school with more enemies than friends, so why didn't I name my daughter Cassie instead of Elena. I can't explain it. There is just something there in the Vampire Diaries that is missing in everything else.

I do believe that an older person can read the series and enjoy them, but I don't think that they will capture your heart as much as if you read them in your teens. Personally I enjoy several types of books and authors. I am an avid Nicholas Sparks reader, and enjoy the Merry Gentry books from Laurel K. Hamilton. But to me, neither can hold a candle to dear sweet, LJ Smith....

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