ugh i get that some novelists are just Like That with the whole "your love interest is your entire world" thing but at the beginning of the book elena thinks if damon died too she would truly have nothing. she has three best friends! and a family! what! and bonnie thinks the same thing, that elena is left with nothing now that stefan is gone, like girl, YOU'RE something, YOU'RE part of her life. but yeah, this book having everyone all paired up and happy at the end lmao it's clear this author thinks the romantic relationships are way more important than any other. especially illogical bc in the last book elena was like "i can't be the entire world to you" to stefan, like it was a problem, and now she's acting like her significant others are her entirely world, bonnie and meredith who?

"He'd never really struck her as vicious, not before stefan died" do you not remember how damon acted after you chose stefan over him and he drained a girl of her blood because of it. do you not remember when he threatened your four year old sister to force you into letting him drink your blood?? god! it makes me crazy. personally, i think sure, damon has been on their side plenty, but he's proven how easily that can change if he decides he hates elena/the group now like sorryyyyy tv damon is better and tv damon/elena are actually similar, i'm tired of the weird book narrative that they're soooo alike (not that i think she and stefan are a great deal alike either, but not any less than damon and elena), i just do not see it

damon thinking if he can't have elena's heart because it still belongs to stefan (which?? how many months has it been since he died because i didn't think it was all that long but she sure decides on damon pretty fucking quickly like i know she's already been in love with damon as well the entire fucking time but it's still like...take a little longer to grieve the fact that you don't get to have the life you had planned for with stefan), then he has to let it go, and three chapters later he "can't resist anymore" also since WHEN did he care about respecting her feelings for stefan, he couldn't even do that when stefan was alive, continually pursuing her and pressuring her when she was with stefan, even when stefan was imprisoned and near death lmao

wait, elena mentions her job, what was her job, what was her major, did they ever tell us that about her or any of the others?? meredith is doing law stuff right? but everyone else, i have no idea

anyway, i don't really absolutely LOVE any of the book characters the way i do the tv versions bc the book versions just aren't as interesting, though i don't think anyone is as annoying as other reviewers make them out to be (except damon), especially not elena, the "she's so selfish" take is so weird most of the time, but JESUS, how unfair is this to stefan. i got annoyed with him, especially in the last book bc it was like, dude, you're friends with these other people, you care about other things besides elena (but again, i think that's just how this author is doing things) and when lj smtih had him call elena "lovely little love" it was as bad as damon's dark princess shit. but like....he was a lil annoying, he did not deserve to die JUST so elena and damon could end up together, and god, giving his blessing, that scene was so...weird and dumb. like YES absolutely he would want elena to be happy and move on, but like, again, take a minute more to GRIEVE, girl. and wouldn't it have been more impactful for her to have chosen damon over stefan once and for all, because multiple times she picked stefan over him and it's only damon now because stefan is dead. he's still gotta feel like second choice! (also fans said that wanting to write a damon/elena endgame was why lj smith was taken off the series so...lol at that clearly that was not the issue)

maybe the guardians move slow but bonnie's wedding was weeks after they killed jack and damon and elena being in paris must have been a bit after that, so like, they really just waited that long to show up and be like "elena has to die now :)" also i'd think the fact that damon didn't kill jack with his teeth or anything would be a loophole to be like "i didn't commit this murder as a vampire, that was the whole concern with why you made this connection between our lives in the first place sooo it's different"

separate thing but the version i read is different from the others where it doesn't have the faces (where i never know what character it is) and it's the red on black background and i looked at the others and one is literally an apple like it obvious looks like twilight which is hilarious bc the vampire diaries was first, the original series anyway, but also why would they try to make them look like twilight WELL after twilight's initial popularity. anyway it's embarrassing, and despite everything wrong with that series, i still think it's better than this one

anyway, one more book!! can't wait to be done and only let the show exist in my head from now on

It wasn't terrible, but I just cannot stand Elena as a character. I was kind of glad when Stefan died in the last book, but Elena just stayed so whiney and codependent. I also wasn't a fan of Jack as a villain, it was just forced and not planned out. Bonnie and Meredith were the only things keeping me going.

I was really surprised where this book ended. Yes, the entire book was a build up to the Damon/Elena relation, but it was a nice surprise that they went all the way. Just as it was a nice surprise to find out that Stefan really doesn't return (except for one beautiful scene as a ghost). Don't get me wrong, I like Stefan, and I'm still sad that he died, but I am surprised that they dared to leave him dead. That gives death more impact, and I like that.
Matt is finally happy, with a normal (albeit really strong) nice human girl, and I hope he will stay that way (ok, he'll get in danger, and it's always a much bigger risk because he is "just" human, but at least he's happy!)

I'm curious how the Meredith situation will play out. She's definetly not ok with being a vampire...
And I don't like Guardians... at least we have a build up for the next book, with a dying Elena because they killed Jack (which does kind of make sense for the Guardians, because his largest goal were vampires, the same goal as they have. But I still hate them for doing it ;))>

All in all an enjoyable read, and I really want the next book.

An amazing journey though the lives of our supernaturals again, but with the new twists of scientifically made vampires, as well as the threat of the Celestial Guardians ever present!!

Grade: C-

Y aquí pudo tener un buen final (no la gran cosa) pero decente. Aún así sacan otro.
Como dije en The Hunters ya no veo la peculiaridad y el lindo cliché romance tanto Stelena como Delena; personajes planos y escenas que suceden en un parpadeo. Más el hecho que ciertos personajes no actuaban siguiendo sus personalidades.
Vampire Diaries no me gusta para nada en estos libros pero se tiene que terminar la saga.

listen—i don't like stefan here. want to know what i liked even less, though? whatever treatment l. j. smith deemed wise to “bless” him with in the previous book. and the fact that they didn't even bother to correct their misstep? what?
generally, i enjoy love triangles. one thing i will never–ever fuck with, though, is authors acting like the only good way to resolve one is... eliminating the competition. if you know, you know. i find this so incredibly lazy, and infuriating. i hoped until the very last second this destiny wasn't going to befall stefan of all people, but alas.
i'm, like, 20%+ into “unmasked”—the last and final book in the series, finally!—and although i want to be positive about this and believe that l. j. smith will, kind of, repair this—i also don't have high hopes after this whole debacle.