The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

"Now that a supernatural force has brought Elena back from the dead, all handsome, brooding Stefan wants is to keep her safe. But when he is lured away from Fell's Church, sleek, powerful Damon seizes his chance to win Elena over, unaware of the danger they're both in. A malevolent being has infiltrated the town and is growing stronger. Able to possess Damon at will, the creature is also drawn to Elena and the new power she has acquired. But it's after more than Elena's power: It thirsts for her death."  L.J. Smith


The first four books of this series was first released when I was in college.  During that time vampires didn't have the draw that they currently do and only a few people were reading books of this genre.  Upon hearing that a continuation of the story line was going to be released, I was very excited. Unfortunately my joy was short lived.  The first third of the book was a touching scene between Stefan and Elena upon her return to the world of the living.  Stefan's patience, love and understanding with Elena's childlike behavior made the characters that much more lovable to me. From there though the book begins to take on a chaotic writing style that caused me at many points to wonder what in the world was going on in the story line.  It was almost as if the writer became aware of a time crunch for publication and started throwing in as much information as possible.  Damon's storyline of being possessed by evil was choppy and extremely hard to follow as were the subplots concerning Matt, Bonnie, Meredith and Caroline. Upon finishing the book, I was very disappointed and was beginning to doubt if I would put in the effort to read the next book in the series The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Shadow Souls.  At this point I am less than enthusiastic about continuing the series.  Most likely I will read the next book because I hate to leave a series unfinished but it has been moved down on my reading list to at a minimum until it is release in paperback.


Book Rating: PG 13 due to the subject matter


Personal Rating: ***