L. J. Smith

After returning from the afterlife, Elena is forced to battle an ancient evil when Stefan, her vampire boyfriend, goes missing.

Nightfall

Geoffrey Froggatt

** spoiler alert **
           When Elena sacrificed herself to save the two vampire brothers who love her, she was consigned to a fate beyond death. Until a powerful supernatural force pulled her back. Now Elena is not just human. She has powers and gifts that were bestowed on her in the afterlife. What's more, her blood pulses with an overwhelming and unique force that makes her irresistible to any vampire. Meanwhile, a darkness is infiltrating the town, and Damon, always the hunter, is now the hunted; he becomes the prey of a malevolent creature that can possess him at will, and who desires not just Elena's blood but her death. The first arc of The Vampire Diaries books was enjoyable, but they made me realize that I preferred the television adaptation over the books, and unfortunately, this first book in the second arc was far worse than the original books. This book made the transition of changing the setting to modern day as opposed to the initial 80s setting for the first books, and it’s a bit of a retcon as there is no time jump and the author wanted to pretend as if these books had been set in the modern day the entire time. I think the small mentions of technology and modern day references were minuscule, but I noticed how hard the author was trying to reinforce the retcon. I liked the initial idea of the Kitsune characters, but they didn’t feel like they fit into this universe as naturally as the Vampire, Witch, and Werewolf characters. I wasn’t a big fan of Elena’s new powers. Her Angel wings were a bit cringey for me, and felt like something out of cheap fanfiction. It was hard for me to enjoy any of the characters in this book series because of how extremely overshadowed they are by the excellent portrayals and depictions in the television show adaptation. While I do feel like I can usually separate two different versions of characters, I feel like I couldn’t do it as well here, because the book characters pale in comparison to their television counterparts and I was constantly reminded of how much I preferred the television show to the books. The transition from the books in the first arc to this book felt like the transition from The Originals television show to the Legacies television show in the sense that the quality of writing wasn’t able to pull off the large expanding of the original mythology and lore. This felt like a different book series with the same characters, and not in a good way. It was too clunky and cheesy despite being written by the original author. I still plan on continuing on and finishing all the books in the series, but I don’t recommend this book for fans of the television shows or the original books.

Alyssa 

OMG! this book was amazing! i found myself drawn into the book completely. i found shinichi and misao to be intriguing villains. and i found myself liking damon more, dispite him being a villain in the past. and...I missed stefan! when is he coming back? will he get saved? oh, no! i don't get to find out til february!

To save the two vampire brothers who love her, Elena Gilbert sacrificed her life. Now that a supernatural force has brought Elena back from the dead, all handsome, brooding Stefan wants is to keep her safe. But when he is lured away from Fell's Church, sleek, powerful Damon seizes his chance to win Elena over, unaware of the danger they're both in. A malevolent being has infiltrated the town and is growing stronger. Able to possess Damon at will, the creature is also drawn to Elena and the new power she has acquired. But it's after more than Elena's power: It thirsts for her death. Elena's story continues in shadow souls!

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

Caitlin Marie Fritza

Jade Flynn

The best one so far! I'm so glad L.J. Smith continued with the story!

2.5-3*
I really hate this book, but I do love the series, and Shadow Souls is my favourite, so I had to get past this book, since I decided to read The Vampire Diaries again.
 
First 60% of this book is really slow. There's not much happening. And it's boringish.

Even though I was not happy with this somewhat "forced" series continuation, I am a fan of Damon and I am happy that we got to learn more about his character, since first four books were heavily focused on Elena.

That's really the only thing that I loved in this book: Damon's chapters. We really get to see what's in his head. (view spoiler)[ Even though he was under kitsune's influence half of the book  (hide spoiler)] and his relationships with Elena and Bonnie get a little more depth. (I love you Lisa because you have given Damon a heart)

In conclusion. A boring book used ad a filler in the series, to set up a good base for future books.

Mia Jones

While I really like the characters and think that the concept itself has a lot of potential, I can't say that I cared much for this book in the series. 

It's a rather odd story and what they did with Elena in the beginning of it was just... strange. I can see what it was she was trying to do with it, but it just didn't work and I'm sorry to say that my 3 stars are only because I really like the characters, but definitely not in this book (which is in the same vein for me as Breaking Dawn in the Twilight saga, which makes me think of bad fanfiction). 

Sorry to L.J. Smith, but the magic just wasn't there in this one.

Lexi Vazquez

Elena Gilbert is alive - again. When Elena sacrificed herself to save the two vampire brothers who love her she was consigned to a fate beyond death. Until a powerful supernatural force pulled her back. Now Elena is not just human. She has powers. What's more, her blood pulses with a unique force that makes her irresistible to any vampire. Both brothers still want Elena to be theirs, but something bigger and more powerful than all of them may want her more...

Book 5

Hope Calder

Elisabeth Moum

Hannah Nugent

Katerina

Jane Eyre

Monic U

Desire JoRay

Briar's Reviews

Janna Romano

Kristen Domonkos 

A phenomenally popular vampire romance sequence - now showing on ITV2 - from the best selling author of Night World, L. J. Smith. Elena Gilbert is alive - again. When Elena sacrificed herself to save the two vampire brothers who love her she was consigned to a fate beyond death. Until a powerful supernatural force pulled her back. Now Elena is not just human. She has powers. What's more, her blood pulses with a unique force that makes her irresistible to any vampire. Both brothers still want Elena to be theirs, but something bigger and more powerful than all of them may want her more...