I don't generally mind fluffy bunny-style vampire stories, after all I like Twilight, but this book was a bit too fluffy for my taste. As with other young adult vampire stories, the two books were filled more with purple prose than anything that might be even slightly meaningful to anyone over the age of 10 or 11. I probably shouldn't have said that, since that might be an insult to ten or eleven year olds out there.

The characters lacked any significant development and it seemed like the author was afraid of exploring anything other than cliches and stereotypical teen behavior. By the time this volume started getting anywhere interesting, I was almost done reading the second story. The supposed arcs that were taking place were not defined well enough and made the stories seem more amateurish than some fanfiction that I have read over the years.

This book does make me thankful that the television show, which I love, is not anything like these books. If it were, I have a feeling that it wouldn't have lasted more than 3 or 4 episodes. Since I love the show, I really wanted to love these books but unless there is some dramatic increase in writing skill (and talent) I don't know how that could ever happen. It does make me appreciate other books in this genre, and makes me wonder why everyone villifies the "bad writing" of Stephenie Meyer while ignoring the fact that she's so much better in her stories of broody vampire romances than Smith . Clearly some folks don't realize that sparkly vampires might not be as gag-worthy as 500-year old vampire brothers who are still acting like toddlers fighting over a toy or, in their case, a pretty blonde. It also makes me thankful that I didn't read these when they were new. If I had, then it probably would have soured vampires, fantasy/supernatural themes, and even the English language for me forever.