In a completely new story written specifically for this site, we get a look back in time to Matt and Elena’s first date, a year before Elena will meet Stefan. Matt takes Elena to the most expensive restaurant around, and finds that she isn’t the Ice Princess he’s been expecting. Cuddly, romantic—the greatest danger in this story is the risk of social humiliation.
L.J. SMITH, Lisa Jane Smith, is the New York Times #1 Bestselling author of The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle, The Forbidden Game, Dark Visions, Wildworld and Night World series. She has written over two dozen books for children and young adults, and has enjoyed writing every one of them. She lives in the Bay Area of California, with a backyard that is full of flowers, which she adores, especially with many different shades of roses.
She loves to visit a friend's little cabin in the Point Reyes National Seashore area, which has lots of trees, lots of animals, lots of beaches to walk on, and lots of places to hike. Once, while hiking, she saw a snow-white buck which allowed her to follow it nearly half a mile. She also likes to collect things: angels (they remind her of her late mother), tiny boxes from different countries or of fanciful shape, nineteenth century children's literature, and books about quantum physics--especially about the mystery of the dark energy in the universe. A militant optimist, she is also part of the Velociraptor Sisterhood (a fancy way of saying that she likes to read, write and discuss books with strong female characters), and she has traveled extensively in Europe and the Far East. The two countries she loves to visit most are Great Britain, with its historic monuments and amazing country landscapes, and Japan, with its bustling urban life and exquisite mountain scenery.
Her favorite current writer is Terry Pratchett, the author of the Discworld series, for its wild and witty satires on life, death, war, love, assassins, coppers, and Australia. Her favorite classical writer is Jane Austen. Her favorite poets are Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. Her favorite movies are The Seven Samurai and Avatar (analyze that!). She doesn't have a favorite TV show, because she doesn't have time to watch TV (and only owns one for playing movies).
Her favorite people are her readers, each of whom she cherishes with deep and lasting affection.
Note: L. J. Smith wrote books 1-7 of The Vampire Diaries series. After that, a ghostwriter took over the rest of the series. L. J. wrote books 1-3 of The Secret Circle series. After that, a ghostwriter took over the rest of the series. L. J. did not write any of the Originals or Stefan's Diaries. These were written by Kevin Williamson and/or various ghostwritters.
Sorry to disappoint the other fans of this book series...I'm just so used to the tv Elena version. Now, I may really not want to read the books at all...
In this short story, Elena was portrayed like one of the irritating popular girls in movies like Mean Girls and Sydney White. I like the Elena tv version - sweet, compassionate, not shallow, not hedonistic, etcetera etcetera
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sad that Matt and Elena's first date didn't exactly go as Matt had planned it. Good that they still were able to make the date work. Hope they have fun on their other dates.
Haha, this was quite a start for a series I've been planning to start for some time!
This short story describes the first date of Matt and Elena. I don't know what will go on between them on the rest of the books, but this was really an ideal date. Although, almost nothing went as planned, the author managed to show in the best way, that real feelings of love are not built in money and glittering things, but on smaller, that are more significant!
Towards the end, the story took a quite dream-like turn, but it showed us how other people would perceive their attitude, so it was welcome.
P.S. I think I like Matt very much, so it will be a shame if he's ignored in the rest of the series...
It was a nice story, but nothing really interesting happened. It made me like Matt even more because he is so sweet, even though he seems so obsessed with the idea of this 'perfect' Elena.
Tot voor vandaag wist ik het bestaan niet van deze novellas. Voor de volledigheid (en de nieuwsgierigheid naar de inhoud) ben ik er gelijk aan begonnen. Aangezien ik al wat verder ben in de serie is het wel vreemd om te lezen hoe de Matt en Elena zijn en hoe zij zich gedragen in deze novella.
Verder vond ik de inhoud van de novella niet heel spannend, er gebeurde niet heel veel. Maar het einde vond ik daarentegen wel weer heel grappig. Al met al was het een prima novella.
How wonderful story with such great details about their first date. Matt is just a gentleman and worried about doing something wrong in his date. Very short book but covered with awesomeness.
This was okay, but my God, how many times do we need to be told that Elena is the most beautiful person to ever set foot on this planet? It was every other sentence! Give it a rest!
Very sweet story that helps flesh out the series in new ways. Seeing the chemistry between Matt and Elena takes a whole deeper aspect to what comes later. It's also kind of nice to see what the author can do outside the supernatural.
The date itself is so classic that it's almost cliche. The fancy restaurant, the poor boy and the rich girl The snooty waiter...yet it's their reactions to the situation that make this fresh and new and fun. Definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the Vampire Diaries.
This was a nice little story, romantic and humorous. However, I felt like the author only wrote it as an excuse to rain praise down on Elena and how "perfect" she is. Hardly a page went by where Matt wasn't complimenting this or that, and though it may make me sound petty and envious, it was annoying.
(P.S. Can one truly be envious of a fictional character?)
Short and saccharine sweet. Kind of made me ship Book!Elena and Book!Matt a bit. Not sure what was up with the ghost of his Uncle Joe. Was it really there? Or was Matt just imagining things? With Vampire Diaries, it's impossible to tell.
Plot: With the hundred dollars his Uncle Joe gave him *two years before he died* burning a hole in his pocket, Matt (full of nerves) goes to pick up his dream girl Elena. After showing off his poetic flow, he gets her friend's approval (Caroline, Bonnie, and Meredith) and they head for the fancy, French, restaurant Matt picked out. First tho they stop by a florist where Matt previously picked for Elena a white rose. However, the shop is closed. At the restaurant, they bond over talk about sports and cars. Matt excuses himself after making a spontaneous purchase of a rose from a gypsy lady to calculate the rest of the meal, but discovers the hundred-dollar bill is gone. He and Elena come up a plan to each get dessert items and share (to the disgust of the snooty waiter). An elderly couple comes over and compliments them. Then the man tells Matt the money was stuck to his shoe the whole time.
My Thoughts: On one hand, this was WAY too gushy and over the top! Matt and Elena’s date *was* cute. Matt’s infatuation was NOT! But amusingly, I think if the tables were reversed and I were to go on a date with the man *(* think is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, this is how a diary or journal or a blog entry would look like told from my POV. Interestingly enough my best friend and I had a writing contest just spontaneously who could write the best erotic story and the story I wrote about that perfect, gorgeous, man.. well let’s just say it was just as gushy just not as innocent. I was thinking wow is this the way *(* sound when I go on and on and on about that guy? Oh, and I was a nice little hint to throw in the gypsy giving a hint to come in the following books. I’ve only gotten a couple of books in still I know that Matt and Elena do NOT end up together and it’s a little sad because while Matt is all ga-ga that Elena is the perfect girl, he himself sounds like the perfect guy for Elena.
Such a wonderful look into Matt and Elena’s past before meeting the Salvatore brothers. It makes one wonder how Elena’s life would have been if she stayed with Matty Blue Eyes.
One being used to the television version of Elena, I feel like this Elena adds a whole new feel to the storyline. In the book series, she’s completely Mean Girls, but in the tv series the complete opposite.
Anyways, this story is cute, sweet, and simple. Simply put, the date might seem a bit cliche, but what makes it different is the reactions and solutions brought forth by Matt and Elena. Totally recommend if you ship Matt and Elena.
Probably a good thing I didn't rate and review this two years ago - I can't stand the popular girl version of Elena; Matt expects her to be perfect, like some pillow princess, and I may have considered three stars but ugh, the ending. (RIP to younger me, who may have considered a four-star review without a ranking system in place). It gets two stars because L.J. focuses on the small things over money and shiny object syndrome. Though I always feel bad for Matt later on, it's a good starting point to show character development the year before Stefan enters the picture.
Elena is extremely self absorbed and I wish someone would punch her in the face. Matt spends the hole dinner mooning over her and trying to justify putting her on a pedestal, she's rude to the waiter and when the waiter is justifiably pissy she finds it offensive. Matt says “Poor guy,” and she has the nerve to say “He is just a waiter, after all. Waiting is what heʼs paid to do." Even after that he's still saying she's perfect...Dear god Matt run.
This short story of Matt and Elena’s first date was adorable. It also really showed us how infatuated Matt was with Elena and how his love for her wasn’t just puppy love. I also enjoyed how well they both were for each other before Stefan came into the picture, and I also enjoyed the first introduction we received of her friends. This is definitely a must read.
I actually really enjoyed this little short story, it was the quintessential first date, the nerves, the laughter, the mishaps. No matter what anyone says no one's first date goes smoothly and I think that makes it all the better honestly.
oddly i feel the books are somewhat better written than this was, even though this was published almost two decades later, though maybe smith wrote it around the same time?
Such a cute little short story taking us back to the Elena before she met Stefan and Damon. Matt's nervousness shows but the date is still fun and they have a great time.