Vampire Diaries is really good. But truthfully, it takes a while to get into and after awhile, like by the fourth part and the new series of it, its confusing and hard to keep up with. But I personally love the first three parts. The new series on the CW is definitely different though, with different character personalities along with adding and taking out other characters.
The books are definitely not lame though <33 but keep in mind they are almost 2 decades old- you usually can't tell though ^^