The third book in the Vampire Diaries series, The Fury, is a real shocker. Elena appears to have escaped death but at the cost of her humanity. She wonders – is death the worst thing that could happen to me? Maybe, maybe not as she realizes that she is now a full-fledged vampire and nothing will ever be the same again. How will she survive without seeing her family again?

With both Damon and Stefan acting as caregivers, her transition to her new life is never boring to say the least. The evil force that caused Elena’s death and unintentional rebirth is still malevolently stalking her. When the animals in Fell’s Church start to attack their owners, the stakes are raised because it’s not just Damon, Stefan, Elena and her cadre of friends who are at risk, it’s now the whole town that’s in danger. Will Alaric, the mysterious history teacher, be able to assist them? Or is he behind the attempts to kill them? With Elena now one of them, will Stefan and Damon finally make amends and heal their bitter past?

With this final installment in the Vampire Diaries initial trilogy, L. J. Smith concludes her tale of a popular high school girl who gets caught up in the middle of a fantastical situation with two competing vampires. Through it all, this young girl maintained her composure because she is led by an inner strength which keeps her focused and firm in her convictions, namely that Damon has some good in him somewhere and Stefan is the love of her life. In addition, her friends all stay true to one another and to Elena no matter how much they change – like, one of them becomes a vampire? That’s one of the most likeable things about the Vampire Diaries series – how these teens are faced with such bizarre events but their friendship is what helps them make the right decisions. They accept each other for better or worse. But really, can The Fury truly be the end of the series? Let’s hope not.

Title: The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle

Book two of the Vampire Diaries, The Struggle, has Elena taking on Damon as she seeks to find out what he has done to his brother, Stefan, who is missing. Even though he is a very strong, very scary vampire, Elena does not care – she has to save the one she loves – and she will take him on, but at what price? Damon has decided that Elena will be the perfect partner for him, there is no way Stefan can truly appreciate this vibrant, spirited girl. And so begins a dance between these three – Elena, Stefan, and Damon – that will likely not end well. It usually doesn’t when two guys both want the same girl.

With her good friends supporting her, Elena uses Bonnie’s psychic powers to find out what happened to Stefan. But, she’s not to be left in peace in her search – Damon appears to have gained access to her house, and by extension, her family, which he uses to his advantage. How did that happen, she knows she did not invite him. What’s so scary is that no matter how hard she fights it, there exists some kind of attraction to this bad boy vampire which she refuses to acknowledge. Isn’t he the diabolical force behind the pages of her diary showing up everywhere at school? Pages that indict Stefan as the person who’s been murdering people in Fell’s Church?

Between fighting off Damon’s insidious advances, trying to figure out who stole her diary, and defending Stefan against false accusations of murder, Elena shows her strength and adaptability by handling it all with a steadfast strength that won’t be shaken because she follows her heart. Will Elena be forced to choose one of her two vampire admirers as her own? There will be no choice if Damon has his way. And, after several incidents happen that point to an even bigger evil than Damon inhabiting Fell’s Church, Elena is not sure that she and her friends will survive. What is targeting them? The action and intrigue are certainly ramped up in The Struggle, the second installment in the Vampire Diaries.

Inside the haven, things are not going too well. Marnie has killed Casey when she tried to attack her. All of the witches in the coven now know that it is Marnie who is being so cruel, not Antonia. Jesus hatches a plan to get Antonia away from Marnie by using Casey’s body and pretending she is alive. He uses herbs and Marnie’s scarf to fight her with her own magic.

Andy is walking home after his intervention with Terry. He’s mad about being left out in the middle of the woods and he’s talking to himself when some bright lights appear in the sky. It looks some fairies are coming to visit and even though Andy tells the fairy who appears that she will be safe, she attacks him with her bright light.

Marcus is still trying to convince Debbie to leave with him. He has kidnapped Emma and wants to get out of the country. He is preying on Debbie’s weaknesses and it seems to be working. Luna, Alcide and Sam are trying to find out where Marcus is when they get a call from Emma and Alcide realizes that the call is originating form his own house.

Sookie convinces Marnie to talk to the vampires outside. Bill is taunting her with her lack of courage and finally Marnie gives in and takes Sookie with her. Bill tells her to let Sookie go and Marnie agrees if Bill and Eric kill themselves to save her. Sookie is speechless when Bill agrees. She begs them not do it. Bill tells Marnie if she reneges everyone will be slaughtered. Bill tells Eric he will shoot him and Pam is to shoot Bill. Eric nods and Bill starts to shoot when Pam loses it and runs to the van for the missile launcher. She shoots a missile into the haven and the spell stops it and it explodes onto the vampires.

Luna, Alcide, and Sam arrive at Alcide’s house to find Emma. Alcide goes upstairs as Luna takes Emma outside. They find Debbie on the bed in her nightie with Marcus in the room. Sam tells Marcus it is time to die as he puts down his gun to do it man to man. Debbie tries to stop them and Alcide throws her back on the bed.

Andy is not too sad to find the fairy, Mirella, on top of him when he wakes up. She tells him how handsome he is and she needs to trust him. She talks of the dangers in the woods and her need for his protection. She makes him swear to the light and then wants to make love.

Sam and Marcus are tearing up Alcide’s bedroom when Sam gets the upper hand. He decides to let Marcus live but Marcus grabs the gun and Alcide saves Sam’s life as he takes Marcus’. Debbie is angry at first but when she realizes that Alcide is now looking at her with hatred she quickly changes her tune. Alcide washes his hands of her forever and leaves her crying alone in the bedroom with the dead body.

Marnie is ready to get rid of the vampires once and for all when she forces everyone to get in a circle and she begins a new spell. All the vampires outside begin being forced to move into the protection spell around the haven which will kill them all. Jason cannot stop them but Sookie hears him and uses her fae magic to stop the circle. Marnie is so mad she places Sookie in the center of a fire circle and Bill and Eric can feel her fear. Jesus uses his magic with the help of his inner demon to break the bonds between Antonia and Marnie and Antonia is finally free to go.

Marnie loses the protection spell and Bill and Eric come in. Roy jumps in front of Marnie to save her and Eric pulls his heart out and evil Eric is certainly back because he stands there and sucks the blood from the heart through one of the valves like it’s a straw – everyone looks grossed out. Bill finally finishes off Marnie with a bullet to the head. The big finish happens when Lafayette lies in bed next to Jesus who has fallen asleep and Marnie’s ghost forces its way into his body. Guess we have not seen the last of her. Next week (and it’s the last episode) should be really interesting.

Lorena finally gets what’s coming to her in True Blood Episode 7 as Sookie sinks a metal pole into her chest, turning her into a big pile of vampire mush. Looks like we are finally rid of that bitch. And speaking of getting rid of vampire assholes, the Magister loses his head after he is forced to marry Russell and Sophie-Ann. Sookie’s true identify is becoming the big mystery that everyone wants to solve in this week’s episode. Keep reading for some other highlights from Episode 7:

Highlights from Tonight’s Episode
Alcide and Tara rescue Sookie and a dying Bill from Lorena’s torture room and put them in the back of the van. Sookie opens up her wrist, pouring her blood into Bill’s mouth. He’s sucking for all he’s worth and then he starts biting. Wow, is this her thanks for rescuing him?

Sookie is dying when Alcide and Tara pull the van over and they race her to the hospital. Who thought it was a good idea to put a critically hurt vampire in the back of a van with a healthy human? Tara kicks Bill out of the van and he lands in the sun with little ill effects although he starts to smoke a bit.

Sam heads out to “redneck central” looking for dog fights. Sam the pit bull appears at the dog fighting ring and gets chained up, but Sam turns human and knocks him out with a punch. Go Sam! Sam pulls the alarm and rescues Tommy from the ring where he was getting his ass kicked by the rottweiler.

Eric brings Hadley to the queen, who’s sitting in a cage. Eric says he’ll drink from Hadley until the queen tells her why she has such a special interest in Sookie. Eric rips into Hadley’s throat as he continues to ask the queen about Sookie Stackhouse. Hadley says that she’ll tell Eric – Sookie is her cousin and then she whispers into Eric’s ear something to which he replies “well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that” and he meets the queen’s eyes.

Sookie is in emergency surgery thanks to Bill’s big drain-fest. Sookie has a major seizure and the doctor tells Tara and Alcide that they can find no blood type for Sookie – without one they can’t give her a transfusion and she’s in a coma. That’s when Jason notes that Sookie has never been sick, never been in a hospital – she was born at home. The mystery continues….

Sam tells his parents that he’s taking Tommy away from them and for Dad to give Tommy his clothes – the poor guy once again ends up standing in his tightie-whities. As Sam and Tommy walk away, it’s funny to see how well Dad’s clothes fit Tommy, especially since Dad is about six inches taller.

Jason keeps talking to Sookie in her coma, telling her that she is all he has, she has got to come back. Then there is a flash of light around Sookie and she is in another, beautiful world where she meets Claudine who gives her something to drink that makes her look happy and healthy. Claudine says Bill will steal Sookie’s “light”. “What light?” she asks as all the beautiful people disappear.

Bill appears in the hospital room – it looks like he survived his fall into the sun. Bill says his blood can save Sookie and Jason gives permission for Bill to give his blood over Tara’s vehement protests. Bill is sitting by Sookie’s bed when she comes awake and he looks so happy until she start screaming in his face. I guess it’s not going to be a happy reunion after all.

The Magister is torturing Pam by putting sterling silver earrings into her eyelids. Pam is defiant and caustic to the end. Eric arrives in the nick of time, revealing that Russell is now his king. As Russell tells the Magister that he is the authority in town, he whips Pam out of the silver chains and puts the Magister in them. The Magister is forced to marry the king and queen, pronouncing Russell and Sophie-Ann to be husband and wife. It’s certainly nice to see Pam again – I missed her last week.

These 3 vampires live in a “nest” and are therefore more removed from humanity than vampires like Bill that are trying to mainstream. As such they think nothing of killing humans or using them for their pleasure. In fact, one of them orders the female human to accompany them to, let’s say, pleasure him. What’s amazing about this scene is its graphic nature and how the vampire (and the human) are so oblivious to the others around them.  During this scene Sookie discovers that one of the humans is infected with Hepatitis-D, a disease that affects vampires.  The vampires leave shortly thereafter and Sookie follows suit a few minutes later, rejecting Bill’s request for a kiss because she’s so grossed out at the behavior of his vampire visitors and because she learns that Bill had sex with the female vampire in the group.

In the meantime Sookie’s good friend Tara, who now works at Merlotte’s bar, provides more insight into her home life by way of a conversation with Sam, the bar’s owner. It seems Tara doesn’t want to go home after the bar closes because she doesn’t want to face her mother, an alcoholic. Tara often comes home at night to find her mother passed out in her own vomit; it’s Tara’s job to get her cleaned up. She confides in Sam, telling him how difficult it is to see her mother in that condition.  The actress Rutina Wesley does a good job of getting the audience to empathize with her character.  In the first episode I couldn’t stand her.  She was brash and rude. 

By now, in the 3rd episode, I’m a BIG fan of hers.  Her home life explains a lot about her attitude.  She’s never had much stability and structure in her life.  Think about it.  As children, most of us had parents waiting for us when we came home each day.  As such our lives were fairly routinized.  Tara’s life has been unpredictable; from one day to the next she never knew what to expect when she got home. Ii can see how someone like that would have a hard time keeping a steady job or having steady relationships.  Now that doesn’t totally excuse her attitude toward others, but it does help explain why she seems to have trouble in those areas.

The conversation between Tara and Sam makes its way from the bar, to the porch of Sam’s house, and eventually ends up inside Sam’s home. At that point Tara poses a very interesting and surprising proposition to Sam. He initially rejects her suggestion but when she introduces a “no strings attached” clause, he agrees. This is interesting because it NEVER happens in the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Mystery books, the urban fantasy series on which the HBO series is based. Sure, I don’t expect Alan Ball, the director, to follow the books verbatim, but I’m curious about where he plans to take the series. Actually, that adds to the attraction; people like me who have read the books don’t know what to expect from week to week.

Later in the episode Sookie returns to Bill’s house and tells him that, although she’s never been with a man before, she feels drawn to him and would like to know what it’s like to have sex.  Bill kisses her and begins taking off her clothes.  The next scene shows Sookie waking up alone in bed.  This whole scene may have been a dream because later in the day Sookie tells her grandmother about her internal struggles with wanting to have sex.  If this was a dream, it marks the 2nd scene in which Sookie is “dreaming” about having sex with Bill.  Okay, these “alleged” sex scenes between Sookie and Bill are getting a little confusing.

Meanwhile, when Tara comes home she’s attacked by her drunk mother.  Tara runs out and ends up at Lafayette’s house.  Lafayette looks her over, tells her she doesn’t need stitches, and proceeds to give her Vicodin (and some marijuana) to soothe both mind and body. 

Jason Stackhouse arrives a bit later asking for Viagra.  Jason (both in the books and onscreen) is the resident “ho” in Bon Temps.  This guy sleeps with everyone.  He’s looking for Viagra because he’s unable to perform with Dawn, one of his women (while having sex he imagined he was having sex with a vampire, which killed his mood).  Lafayette doesn’t have any Viagra but he does have vampire blood, which is known to be a libido enhancer.  Because it’s so expensive he proposes a trade: he’ll give Jason some of the blood if he strips and dances in front of a video camera.  As you can guess, Jason agrees.  I mean come on, this guy has no shame. But guess what? I LOVE JASON’S CHARACTER! He doesn’t pretend to be something he isn’t. He’s a ladies man/horndog/ho and he’s proud of it!

Before I end this review I have to say a few things about Lafayette, the gay cook that works at Merlotte’s.  I love the way he’s portrayed on the screen.  He’s a free spirit that clearly loves to party but he also shows lots of compassion for others, based on his kind treatment to both Tara and Sookie. He’s the funniest character in the series to this point.  I hope we see more of him in the next few episodes.

That’s basically what happens in Episode 3.  I have to tell you that I find it hard to write reviews of these episodes because each show is comprised of a series of very brief scenes.  It’s not like a regular drama series; it’s full of short takes.  Additionally, the scenes don’t always occur in sequence.

Having said that, the shows are interesting to watch and I plan to tune in each week.

See also:
HBO’s True Blood Series: Episode 2

True Blood Episode 4: Meet Eric the Vampire

Check it out:

Here’s what you need to know about the Hunter series from Sherrilyn Kenyon:

• Acheron (“Ash”) is sexy as hell. He’s a drop dead sexy bad boy. And I do mean bad.
• This quote accurately describes Ash: “he had been built to please, and trained to pleasure. Everything about him from the sleek muscles that rippled to the deep, erotic timber in his voice seduced anyone who came into contact with him.“
• The Dark Hunter books represent steamy paranormal romance at its best.
• The Dark Hunter series is an incredibly popular vampire fantasy series that has sold millions of dollars. The “Hunters” have fans worldwide.
• Acheron is available now at Amazon.

Get Acheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)

In this installment of the series (Book 3) Anna mistakenly shows the violent side of herself to two humans while attempting to rescue someone. You see vampires have two personas or “faces”: the one that they show humans and the one that comes out when they become violent and out of control. Anna showed her vampire face to the humans which makes her a prime target for the Revengers, the human group that hunts down and kills vampires. As a result, the chief of police, a fellow vampire, orders her to go underground for her own safety.

There are quite a few plotlines present in this book. Stein successfully blends mystery and suspense into each of them:

• Max, Anna’s DEA boyfriend, has suddenly gone missing. This may be linked to the fact that:
• The Mexican drug lord that Max was working to put away has recently escaped apprehension from federal authorities. He realizes Max is responsible for his near capture is hell bent on finding Max in order to exact a little revenge.
• A mysterious FBI agent is also seeking Max for questioning and thinks Anna knows where Max is hiding.
• Anna’s shape shifter Mexican friend Culebra appears to be in trouble. This worries Anna greatly because he’s someone that can take care of himself.
• A crazy witch plans to summon a demon and unleash it’s powers on humankind. She also thinks the event will go down near Culebra’s bar in Mexico.
• Someone is trying to kill Anna and possibly her bounty hunter partner as well.

So when the chief of police tells Anna to disappear she chooses to hide out in Mexico and do a little investigating at the same time. That’s what I like about Anna: she’s a smart heroine. Yes, she’s incredibly stubborn and not without her flaws, but she’s head and shoulders above those ridiculous heroines that walk blindly into a dark alley with a broken heel and a cell phone that doesn’t work and literally wait for the bad guy to jump out at them.

Kudos go to Jeanne Stein for successfully juggling so many plotlines in the book. Lots of writers wouldn’t have a clue about pulling all of these storylines together into one 291 page piece of work. Stein does it seamlessly and maintains a proper balance of action and suspense to the very end. Since I read the book over the course of a few weeks I had to backtrack a couple of times in order to get back up to speed but I sometimes have to do that when the storylines are less varied. This book falls firmly into the action-adventure urban fantasy subgenre and is another winner for Stein.