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The Vampire Diaries: The Fury - L. J. Smith

(this post contains spoilers!!)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Honestly, this book was so exciting. The first two books were already interesting, but this one only continued. The first two books were a bit more focused on Elena’s relationship with both Stefan and Damon, as well as school, while this one was much more focused on the Other Power that was threatening all of Fell’s Church, especially Elena and her friends and family. Having been someone that watched the show a couple times through, I knew what was bound to happen, but while reading, I didn’t think about it up until the end, so I genuinely did think that the Other Power was something else, and that maybe this character wouldn’t make an appearance after all.

!!Spoilers for next paragraph!!

The very end crypt scene, where Katherine makes her appearance, was honestly nothing like anything else in the series. The way she was written was honestly really cool, especially with the animal she shifts to. A white and golden tiger matches her personality, especially considering she was stronger than all of them from attacking people in town and presumably feeding on them. She knew everything that was going on between the main 3. She had planned it all, which was crazy. She led both Stefan and Damon to Fell’s Church because she knew Elena was there and looked just like her and she wanted to manipulate them into feeling bad, and then got jealous because they both fell for her instead, which, I’m sorry, what would you expect to happen if you’re already dead? It’s not their fault you faked your death for 500 years and did it way too well. I will say though, killing off Elena, though it was a heroic and honorable death, as she sacrificed herself to kill Katherine and save Fell’s Church, was really a good ending and made me really sad, I was actually attached to her character, damn it!! The touch where Bonnie wrote in a journal at the very end, describing life after Elena died, god that pulled at the heartstrings, and made it sound like the end of the story altogether, despite there being one more book in the main story. It is a good transition into how the next book goes though!

Goodreads

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last night my sister rescued some baby geese, and i immediately went over to take a look. did a bunch of research, and this morning got them in a little bucket of water to clean off any poop (only handled them with gloves), and got them in a little bucket and immediately took them to my local wildlife clinic.

these guys were so cute and i was honored to be the one to get them in professional hands so they can live (hopefully) long, full lives!

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also i just want to say i am learning so much on tumblr of information i didn't know existed about animals and bugs and taxidermy. tumblr has been the most productive website for me. i have a portfolio on here, i have my research on here, i just love it so much.

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a post of some of my favorite bugs

it's time to go full-autism and talk about my favorite bugs because I can. I have a side blog that has real research posts, as well as my bone-collecting journey where I take things slightly more serious, but man I love bugs and i just wanna talk about some of my favorites.

(photos under the cut directly taken from google searches)

literally all kinds of beetles. I haven't done that much research on them yet, but I have a preserved stag beetle and rhinocerous beetle and i love them. i don't know what it is about beetles in general, but these guys with their super cool antennae and horn-like pinchers are so awesome. their shapes are really cool too! I forget these guys can fly, and i'm 100% sure you could watch my soul leave my body if one of these flew towards me.

im obsessed with moths more than any other kind of bug, honestly. i first realized my obsession after looking at images of luna moths and rosy maple moths, and looking at their faces made me fall in love. the only moths i've seen personally are your standard small grey/beige moths, and then there was one time i was staying at a hotel about an hour or two away from home and saw an oleander moth chilling on a slanted part of the wall. i had never seen a bug that large before, and i took a photo of it, and i have never forgotten it. i've taken up an interest in raising moths and butterflies, and i still hope one of these days i'm able to do so, do research on them, and learn about theor behaviors. i'd have a nice greenhouse/shed just to house them all perfectly, and give them room to fly around :)

honestly, i don't even have words for these guys yet. i have a centipede tattooed on my arm, and these guys probably freak me out the most. but man, are they cool

I feel like this one goes without saying. they're pretty, so who can blame me? anything with large, beautiful, fragile wings capture my attention like no other. one of my favorite purchases from my first oddity show was a framed Rajah Brooke's Birdwing, and my god is it beautiful. i cannot explain just how badly i want to decorate a wall in my house with so many beautifully preserved butterflies and moths. i have so much love for these guys and so many other bugs, beyond just admiring them. i've done so much research on so many bugs, and yet i still don't know enough. i can't talk about them enough. i have to know as much information about these guys as i can, because it makes me so happy.

happy autism month LMAO

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I can't get enough of insects why are they so cool and yet I'm so terrified when they get near me. It's such a weird feeling. Especially like anything big, the bugs that fly and go right toward me, and yet you'll find me collect their carcasses and research them later. Like why am I like this?? just let me like bugs in peace!!

like i think carpenter beetles are so cool, but god forbid the ones that are living in my back porch come say hi to me i crouch and run away until they leave me alone

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🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨

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been trying to get back into more point-and-click photography, since i’ve been addicted to the grind of bringing my DSLR and finding/composing specific shots, using artificial lighting, etc.

we went on a small bone hunting trip, but found no bones :( did get quite a few railroad spikes though!

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day 27437 of watching my comfort character get beat up for no good reason (i’m watching wrestlemania)

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The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle — L. J. Smith

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

(Rating for The Awakening: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆)

Being that I don’t have a review for the first book, and that I’ve read these so fast that the story blends together and it’s hard to remember what happened in the second book and not in the first book, I’m just going to talk about them both, since they get combined into one book anyways. I watched the television show before reading the books, which does alter my opinion on the original story, but these books are still a lot of fun to read.

I really enjoy a lot of the differences happening in the book that weren’t in the show. Characters having different roles, characters in the book not existing in the show, characters in the show not existing in the books, etc. That plus the storyline is MUCH different in a good way. I don’t think either is better, I just think they’re both a different version of the story of the Mystic Falls/Fell’s Church universe.

Something I didn’t like in both the books and the show is the lore behind the Stefan/Elena/Damon love triangle. I’m not a big fan of the idea that two brothers fall in love with a vampire, fight over it, and kill each other, turning themselves into vampires, and disappear, just to find their ex’s doppelgänger and do it all over again, despite Elena saying she doesn’t want to do that.

The ending of The Struggle is what caught my attention the most, however. It’s where I think the plot finally starts to pick up and get exciting. We start to see some twists and some activity pick up, rather than it just being uncovering the mystery behind a new stranger in town, and having a character make the most change someone could possibly make in a plot line.

It’s really funny how I never finished these books when I was younger considering I finished this book in 2 days.

goodreads profile

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coyote skull i painted a while back.

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Jürgen Meßler

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genuinely really hope being on tumblr reinvigorates my motivation to get back into bone processing and making my goblin art <3

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abandoned asylum

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interview

the weather is so nice today, it really makes me want to sit and sunbathe. i can’t wait for it to be summer

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Spectra: Ashley Toliver

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The first time I’ve DNF’ed a book. It was almost impossible to read and understand what was going on. I was looking for a quick poetry book to get through and get emotional to, as I’d been trapped in 500-800 page books all of 2024, and this was not it, unfortunately.

The first time judging a book by its cover has proven me wrong. The cover is GORGEOUS though!

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the full moon behind a cloud from a few days ago.

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03-16-2025, 9 AM