The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #3: The Craving [Paperback]

Right so I love L.J. Smith when she's at the top of her game, really I do. I've read most of her books (I think I missed one or two but I'd have to check - all of the big ones and even some not as well known, I've read). So I'm having a really hard time here. I was in the middle of the last book she'd written (The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight) and just couldn't get through it. I was really feeling like the Vampire Diaries as a book series was dead for me. I'd stopped, read other books, gone back to it, stopped again. Then I get the e-mail from Amazon reminding me hey this is on your Kindle. Okay maybe this is what I need - those last two Stefan's diary books were pretty good.

Yes! The vamps are *cough* alive and well. And this is why I have such a problem with it. It's clearly not L.J. Smith. Her name does appear on the books - along with two others. I'm unclear on how much input she had in this arc of the series but given that she has now been fired from the books and how totally different the style is from her recent Vampire Diaries books I can only assume not very much. If I am wrong, I apologize but sadly this version is 100% better than the last arc she wrote alone which I seemed to be buying solely on some sort fan devotion and not because I felt they were good. This though is truly good.

The Salvatore brothers both end up in New York. Coincidence? Or is one maybe planning on toying with the other? Stalking the other? They do both end up connected to a high society family - surely that is a coincidence? And as always they end up wondering if they are really each others biggest problems or if they need to play nice with each other -- if there are things out there so much bigger and badder they are, so maybe they at least need to pretend to be friends again if only long enough to figure out what in the heck is happening around them.

So long as these books keep going this route, I'm in - whoever has taken over has figured out what was missing. Hopefully now that L.J. Smith is free of them she can find whatever it is she was missing in her future books, which I am also in for.

I've loved this series of books. I've only read the Stefan Diaries series,which is just as well by the sounds. By all reports the other Vampire Diaries books are vastly different (in a bad way) from this series. I can assure fans of the TV series that these books are great and give a great insight into the dynamic behind Stefan and Damons relationship. Only negative is that they are far too short!! Hope there is a volume 4 on the way ASAP.

I agree with what another reviewer said about not being able to get through the other set of VD books. I thought they just got worse and worse. I am really enjoying this set of Stefan's Diaries though. They are written so much better and I can't put them down. I do wish they were longer. I kinda thought they would follow the show a little more than they have but that's ok cause they are still a great read. I didn't want to read them at first because of L.J. Smith's name being on them but I am a huge fan of the show so I decided to give it a try. I felt that she ruined the last set of books but that is just my opinion.