I had high hopes for this book, really. I'm a fan of the series (books and TV) and the original Italian nobility backstory, but thought it would be interesting to read about the Salvatore brothers in the Civil War days.

However, I found Confederate Stefan as a narrator to be exactly what TV Damon often teases him to be...dull. Very dull. Although the book may say that it's based on characters created by the beloved LJ Smith, you can tell she had no part in penning this. This bit of drab could never have been written by the queen of paranormal YA.

The book wasn't all bad, to be honest. A few interesting details (Stefan's intended, how Pearl and Anna were turned) are nice for fans of the show wanting a little more backstory, but besides that it simply didn't really grab me until after Stefan became a vampire and became interesting.

I'll probably go on to read Bloodlust and Craving, but I have a feeling I'm going to be running into dull Stefan again in the near future.