The Vampire Diaries (in Brazil, Diaries of the Vampire; in Portugal, Chronicles of Vampires) is a series of horror and romance books by American author LJ Smith about the life of a girl named Elena Gilbert who finds herself dealing with two brothers vampires. The original trilogy The Vampire Diaries was first published in 1991, namely The Awakening, The Struggle and The Fury. Under pressure from readers, Lisa Jane Smith released another volume in 1992, Dark Reunion.
After a hiatus of almost 16 years of writing, Lisa announced that new books from The Vampire Diaries were in the works. The first part of the new books, entitled The Vampire Diaries - The Return: Nightfall, was published on February 10, 2009.