Contributer,
Yes, Elena does have family in the books, just like she did in the show. When the series was created, the family they gave her in the books (an aunt and a sister) were changed to the characters of her aunt Jenna Sommers and adoptive brother Jeremy Gilbert. Jenna died as a sacrifice in Season 2 and Jeremy was recently killed off in season 4. Now that both of those characters have been removed, she has no more family living to speak of. Casting any other family of Elena's for season 5 would be pointless.