Well Stephenie Meyer sucks. Twilight is so obviously taken from Vampire Diaries. 
 I always wanted to read this series, but I was worried that 
 1. It would ruin Twilight 
 2. It would ruin the tv show. 
 Both have proved to kind of be true... I still love Twilight, but I'm definitely upset with Meyer about her whole "the story came to me in a dream" thing cause that is obviously a load of bull. But whatever, it didn't hinder me from enjoying this series at all. 
 I started watching the show first. I watched the first two seasons, but then decided I would rather read the books. However, I immediately realized how different the two are. Elena is completely different then the way Nina Dobrev portrays her in the show, which is fine with me, it was just hard to accept at first (along with all the other character changes and plot changes). Really the best way to enjoy either series is to completely separate the two. But once I did, I loved this book and I am so excited to read the rest of the series.