Vampire Diaries: Shadow Souls

Elena, Bonnie, Meredith and the cooly handsome and deadly vampire Damon Salvatore are willing to go to great lengths to rescue Elena's love, Stefan. They'll go through hell for him - literally. And that's exactly where they end up, in the Underworld, an alternate dimension where they must scramble to track down two keys: keys that will free Stefan and outsmart the horrible, downright twisted Kitsune twins. And while they are busy trying to survive the evils of the underworld, Fell's Church is running rampant with the influences of the Kitsune. They must hurry. Stefan's life is on the line. And so are theirs.

My favorite book in the whole series is still the second installment - and this is technically the third, although it's divided into two "parts." I love Damon's character - and personally I think Elena has much more "chemistry" with him. They simply understand each other well in the books. 

The demons that are let loose in Fell's Church are simply quite grotesque. The entire Kitsune Twins influence is pretty extreme - I really wish they'd been left out of the book altogether. But L.J. Smith has an almost mesmerizing way of writing. Her descriptions are gorgeous - stunning! Damon is probably one of the best male protagonists and, in some cases, anti-heroes, I've ever read.  I sometimes get a little bit confused and lost in all the allusions that L.J. Smith weaves into her writing, but for the most part, Vampire Diaries is a lot of fantastical fun.