Origins

Seventeen year-old Stefan thinks he is a typical boy living in a small Virginian town, waiting to marry and take over his father’s estate—until he meets Katherine. Katherine is no ordinary girl, and Stefan eventually realizes that he is in love with a vampire. Torn between being loyal to his father and being loyal to his lover, Stephan must decide what he believes about vampires. This fantasy novel’s pages are filled with romance and passion, and Stefan vividly describes his lust for Katherine. As the story progresses, the reader is exposed to Stefan’s inner turmoil, which comes to a tee when Stefan must make a hasty decision regarding who to side with. Stefan let’s us in, so that readers also experience the chaos and show more confusion that is his thoughts and feelings. The book does not end happily ever after, which may disappoint those readers who are looking for a fairytale-like romance novel. However, there is so much that happens in the last 50 pages, including twists in plot, which make the book impossible to put down. For those readers who are into the vampire craze—here’s another mouth-watering series for you to sink your teeth into! show less

This book ended up being a lot better than I initially had antecipated. It was not boring in any way and each chapter brought a little bit more excitement to it. I was personally not a fan of how Stefan only loved Katherine for her looks but either way I loved the last chapters where Damon promised a 'life of eternal misery' to Stefan for turning him into a vampire. Overall it was a very good book.

Reviewed by Cinnamon for TeensReadToo.com

Animals are showing up dead in the woods with their throats ripped out and the rest of their bodies untouched, and the residents of the little town of Mystic Falls are freaking out as they attribute the attacks to demonic activity. Through all of this mayhem, there is Stefan, who's led a relatively simple life. Until now, that is.

The boy suddenly finds himself faced with an unexpected arranged marriage and an equally unexpected visitor - alluring and orphaned Katherine Pierce. Needless to say, it is attraction at first sight, and when Stefan's brother, Damon, returns from the Army and appears to be quite taken with the young Katherine as well, trouble begins to brew. Two brothers and a girl: show more there has to be a winner, and there has to be a loser.

Based off of the hit CW television show Vampire Diaries, ORIGINS describes Stefan, Damon, and Katherine's mysterious back-story. There are countless differences between this book - co-written by the two TV show producers instead of L. J. Smith - and the original VAMPIRE DIARIES series. While both are enjoyable, I found ORIGINS to be slightly superior plot-wise, and L. J. Smith's original story to be better written and characterized.

One little quirk: we never really discover who the villain is because of the abrupt ending. A nice conclusion or revelation of some sort would have cleaned the plot up nicely. Overall, the book was still appealing - the latter half especially, as the story finally picks up the pace.

ORIGINS would be a great read for all die-hard fans of the VAMPIRE DIARIES series and TV show, as it presents an alternative view of the world and sheds light on the murkiness of Stefan and Damon's past. show less

Entertaining, just like the TV show. Too bad I already knew everything what's going to happen as I've seen it on the TV series. It is a great book for The Vampire Diaries TV show fans (just like me) who can never get enough of this story and prefer TV show's version over the original books by LJ Smith.

For those of us that have followed both the Vampire Diaries novels and the TV show:
I am surprisingly pleased that this book is following the TV series and not the novels. It's takes a bit to switch your mind over to ignoring the "facts" from the previous novels. However, this is one series that I have found that I like the TV adaptation better than the original novels. Those that know me may be shocked, since I hardly ever like film adaptations of favorite books. I have just begun to read this book, so I will be back with more of a review when I am finished.

Nice read.
It was fun to read the script as it was played in the serie with more story around it.
I had a problem though with the way Stefan 'the good guy' reacted on the death. You do read about some struggle but it vanishes quickly... that is not my idea about his personality..

I actually liked this book a lot. I think I prefer Damon to Stefan overall due to that whole bad boy thing, but Stefan as a certain charm to him that keeps you reading this book.