Reviewed by Mrs. Walker

I’ve always loved vampire stories, but since the mayhem surrounding the Twilight series erupted, I’m asked almost daily for “books like Twilight.”  So, I’ve been reading more vampire stories than ever.   The Vampire Diaries comes the closest of any to being “like Twilight,” but guess what – it was written more than 10 years BEFORE Twilight.  And, I have to wonder if Twilight author Stephanie Meyer may have been influenced by this vampire classic.

A few of the startling similarities:  Well, for starters, both Twilight and the Vampire Diaries are told in four novels.  Vampire Diaries novels are MUCH shorter, and each book contains two of the novels, so there are two books in total to read to complete the series.

Startling Similarity #2:  The premise:  Human girls meets vampire boy at high school, they fall in love, they battle all the human-in-a-vampire-world/vampire-in-a-human-world problems.  In this case, the “new kid” is the vampire boy, Stefan, for whom mega-popular Elena falls for immediately.  Stefan at first seems to entirely hate Elena, but we soon learn he’s simply masking an uncontrollable attraction to her (hmm, sounds familiar).  In Twilight the attraction is based on the smell of Bella’s blood, in Vampire Diaries, it is Elena’s uncanny resemblance to Stefan’s former love Katherine.

Startling Similarity #3:  The main characters.  Stefan is a brooding, guilt-consumed, reluctant, but ”good,” “vegetarian” (aka non-human diet) vampire who tries repeatedly to keep Elena from continuing a relationship with him for her own good.  Elena is strong-willed and pursues their relationship with complete abandon – the need to be with Stefan is more important than anything to her.

Startling similarity #4:  Evil vampire enters the picture and wants human girl.  Vampire boy must save human girl.  In Vampire Diaries, the evil vampire happens to be Stefan’s older and stronger vampire brother Damon with whom he once battled for the love of Katherine and whom he must now battle for Elena.

There are many other little similarities between the stories, so I can’t help but wonder how much Twilight might have been influenced by this series.  Others obviously share this thought.  Just Google “twilight vampire diaries” and you’ll find a number of websites where readers discuss which one they like better.   For me, I’m still a bigger Twilight fan, but if you’re jonesing for another story in a similar vein, I’ll quickly admit that Vampire Diaries is a good read.