Young-adult books to sink your teeth into

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Young-adult books to sink your teeth into explains how 'Parents and grandparents who remember back in the day when television audiences yearned for the continuing saga of TV vampire Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows should appreciate the serialization of such new age vamps as Elena, Stefan and Damon in the 538-page mega book Vampire Diaries'.

[Julianka7]

Good pick MB. My daughter got me to read The Vampire Diaries by
L.J. Smith. Really a very good read. We went on to read her other
series too.

[ProfStokes]

Young-adult books to sink your teeth into explains how 'Parents and grandparents who remember back in the day when television audiences yearned for the continuing saga of TV vampire Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows should appreciate the serialization of such new age vamps as Elena, Stefan and Damon in the 538-page mega book Vampire Diaries'.

That mega-book is really a reprint of a 4-book series from the early 1990s, which I read at the time.  The cover of the fourth book actually says, "Not since Dark Shadows has there been such an original series."

I recently ran across another YA novel from the same timeframe called Blood and Lace where the author's dedication explicitly cites DS: "This book is dedicated to DAN CURTIS who created a landmark daytime television show that had me rushing home from school everyday as if my life depended upon it.  That show still holds a very special place in my heart.  Thank you, Mr. Curtis, for Dark Shadows."

Joseph Locke seems to have taken his inspiration from DS the same way that Curtis did from the horror/gothic classics: his two-part series features a wealthy Maine family who made their fortune in shipping; a vampire from the 1700s who masquerades as a great uncle to the family, has a pale, craggy face, slicked black hair, a deep rich voice, an Inverness cape and a shiny black walking stick with a silver snake's-head handle; and a beautiful blonde witch of French origins with spellbinding eyes who cursed said vampire when he jilted her centuries ago.  Oh, and the main character is named Sabrina while her boyfriend is Eric Jenning.

So I think DS has been influencing teen fiction for quite a while actually.

ProfStokes