Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Genre: YA Fiction

Author Website: www.richellemead.com

One Word Review: Good

First Line: “Once when I was in ninth grade, I had to write a paper on a poem.”

Synopsis: “Dimitri’s heart has gone dark. Now Rose must journey to the ends of the earth to find--and kill--her one true love... Or has the time come to join him? The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved? Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

Kathy’s Review: So, if you haven’t read the other books you may want to read this review with caution as there may be spoilers. So, Blood Promise was a lot better than Shadow Kissed, in my opinion. It was fun to get outside the Academy and see the world a little (although there were many times when Rose would “visit” Lissa, so we were still kept up to date on everything going on back at the VA.) Rose is as consistent and tough as ever. I enjoyed her journey, and things really picked up about 300 pages in! Which brings me to Dimitir…oh, Dimitri! To be honest, I really didn’t like him in this book, obviously isn’t quite himself. Three words that come to mind are: Creepy, sad and…hopeful. I’m hopeful that things will somehow work out, but I know it’s a LONG shot. This book ends with a little more closure than last time, but defiantly still left me wanting more. Look forward to reading book five (and I’m still wondering about the length of the series…).

FYI…As usual there is some swearing (at least one “f” word), and this book has a lot more sex in it, although no one actually has sex…if that makes sense?

Reading Order:

Book One: Vampire Academy
Book Two: Frostbite
Book Three: Shadow Kiss
Book Four: Blood Promise
Book Five: Spirit Bond
Book Six: To Be Announced

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Genre: YA Fiction

Author Website: www.richellemead.com

One Word Review: Okay

Synopsis: “Is Rose's fate to kill the person she loves most? It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason's death, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can't concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even bigger secret . . . .She's in love with Dimitri. And this time, it's way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever.” -GoodReads

Kathy’s Review: This was just okay for me. I still liked Rose, she is a pretty consistent character and yet has matured quite a bit since the first book, although she can still be impulsive at times. I like Dimitri as well, but they are hardly together so that’s a little disappointing. The overall story kept me interested and it moved along well. Some things seemed a little repetitive and I thought the book was longer than it needed to be. There really isn’t a whole lot of vampire stuff, especially in the first half; you’d almost think you were reading about any high school setting. The storyline was kind of predictable so I wasn’t surprised with how everything panned out but the ending is definitely a cliff hanger and left me wanting more. I admit, I’m a little nervous at the length of this series. I normally don’t like series that are more than four books long. They sometimes lose something along the way and I’m hoping that book four will be a little better than book three.

Reading Order:
Book One: Vampire Academy
Book Two: Frostbite
Book Three: Shadow Kiss
Book Four: Blood Promise
Book Five: Spirit Bond
Book Six: To Be Announced

Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Genre: YA Fantasy

Author Website: www.richellemead.com

One Word Review: Good

Summary: “It's winter break at St. Vladimir's, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy's crawling with Guardians--including Rose's hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if handto- hand combat with her mom wasn't bad enough, Rose's tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason's got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks....This year, St. Vlad's annual holiday ski trip is mandatory. But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price.” -GoodReads

My Review: I think I enjoyed this book a little more than the first. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect. It was actually pretty similar than the first but there were a few things that were different. In the first Rose and Lissa kind of have a weird bond which causes Rose to “enter” Lissa’s mind and experience what she is experiencing. It happened in this book but nearly as much, so that was a good improvement. A lot of the vampire elements in the first book weren’t as prevalent in this book either, so again that was nice. Rose’s character has grown a lot and is becoming more mature and responsible. I enjoyed her character a lot more this time around. There is some good romantic chemistry, although not enough as I would like. Overall, it was a good read and I’ll definitely continue with the series.

Like the first book, there is some violence and some swearing.

Reading Order:
Book One: Vampire Academy
Book Two: Frostbite
Book Three: Shadow Kiss
Book Four: Blood Promise
Book Five: Spirit Bond
Book Six: To Be Announced

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Genre: YA-Fiction

Author Site: www.richellemead.com

First Line: “I felt her fear before I heard her screams.”

One Word Review: Good

Summary: “St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . . Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.” -GoodReads

My Review: Before Twilight I had never read a vampire book. Now, I seem to be reading them a lot. Overall I enjoyed Vampire Academy. Unlike Twilight, it really had the feel of a vampire novel. It had a lot more vampires, more blood-sucking, human “feeders”, etc. Because of all this it really had darkness to it that some of the other “soft-vampire” books don’t have. Honestly, it was almost better that way. After all vampires are suppose to be creepy and evil, right? I liked the different vampire groups, history and background that Mean created. This is the first in a series so there was a lot of set-up for the next book. I admit, I was a little bored through some of it, and it wasn’t until the end that things really started to pick up and actually make me want to go pick up the second book.

There were a few things that I didn’t like. At first, and through a lot of the book, I just didn’t like Rose. She is cocky, brash, and a little easy (although, I guess she does have some standards since she hasn’t “gone all the way” yet). She starts to take her role more seriously and she did start to grow on me. By the end I was a fan. I liked the relationship with her and Dimitri. However, the relationship with her and Lissa was at times a little creepy. I didn’t really care for the passages where Rose would fall into Lissa’s mind, kind of weird.

I should mention, there is quite a bit of swearing, horny teenagers and lots of creepy vampire images.

Reading Order:
Book One: Vampire Academy
Book Two: Frostbite
Book Three: Shadow Kiss
Book Four: Blood Promise
Book Five: Spirit Bond
Book Six: To Be Announced