Having just finished The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight. I found that it was lackluster in comparison to the previous "The Return" books, especially Shadows Souls. Without creating too much of a spoiler, the plot twists did not seem developed enough and resolved the issues in way too simple and easy a way. The whole side storyline with Meredith seemed ill-constructed and nonsensical, and was not fleshed out nearly enough to seem like more than a poorly constructed anime. As far as the plot line with Damon becoming human from the prior book, L.J. Smith could have done a LOT more with it, instead of resolving it quickly and progressing what seemed like "business as usual" a quarter of the way into the book. The whole ordeal with him speaking to the "Princess" was cheesy at best. 
 As a whole, I was disappointed with this book, having such high expectations from Shadow Souls. Will I be reading the next one when it comes out? Yes, but only because it seems like a shame to leave it on a cliffhanger after so much of a time investment reading all the other books.