Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

"Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same.

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?"

Well this review will be hard write because there are so many things I want to say, but I don't want to give spoilers!

Rose left the academy and is now on a crazy mission. She's stalking to streets and clubs of Russia trying to find a trail that would lead her to the love of her life - Dimitri. Along the way she'll befriend with some very special characters and find a lot more then she was looking for.
She will find Dimitri thought, and things surely don't turn out the way she planed.

On the other side of the world, Lissa and Adrian a grieving "the loss" of their friend Rose and it's not bright and shiny at the academy. They meet with some new friends but something seems really off, and they can't quite put their fingers on it.

Will Rose kill Dimitri? Will Dimitri awaken her? Will Rose come back to her friend Lissa? You'll need to read to find out =)

I was really feeling depressed reading the book, Rose was so drained of her fire and natural fierceness, she was drowning in grief and it was hard to bare.
Dimitri, oh fine Dimitri! He totally ripped my heart apart. He was so sweet, caring, knight-like and loving. All the magic is gone from him in Blood Promise and geez it hurts!
Lissa is becoming crazy and reckless, is spirit getting the best of her?

Most of the book was so sad it was a wonder the characters weren't putting a bullet the their head. The grief was so intense! I felt like crying alone with my book.
The end though, well I should say the last 200ish pages, WOW I was having a hard time sit still because I was so overwhelmed. I was feeling breathless by all the action going on.
And the very end.. oh.. my.. god.. Richelle managed to stun me. I mean really!
Richelle is good, oh so good! Why May 2010 is so far away? I want Spirit Bound now please!

Romeo and Juliet story's is out-shined by Rose and Dimitri's tragic love story. Hands down!

Read and excerpt:


Vampire Academy series:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Blood Promise
Spirit Bound

Book stats:

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Razorbill (Aug 25 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595141987
• ISBN-13: 978-1595141989
• Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.5 x 4.3 cm

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by Tynga at Monday, August 24, 2009

 Penguin, Review, Richelle Mead, Vampire, Vampire Academy, young adult  8 People left their mark

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Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

" What if following her heart means Rose could lose her best friend forever?

Rose Hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes the gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken…

But since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn’t been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy’s iron gates. And now that Lissa and Rose's sworn enemy, Victor Dashkov, is on trial for his freedom, tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever imagined . . .

Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there’s way more than friendship at stake. The immortal undead are on the prowl, and they want vengeance for the lives that Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most…but will her choice mean that only one can survive? " - book cover

**Do not read if you haven't read frostbite**

After what happened at the end of frostbite Rose will never be the same again. Mason's death is really hard on her and reality of guardian's life has hit her like a wall. She's having a hard time focus at school, having a hard time with her guardian ultimate evaluation and she's feeling stalked by dark things. She's wondering if she's becoming crazy and she feels like she can't tell anyone. She's attracted more then ever to Dimitri and can't deny it anymore, but what will she do about it? Problems with the strogois aren't over and more intense action is to come!

Shadow kiss is the best novel of the three, I couldn't put it down! The suspense is so intense I had issues containing myself, I couldn't believe my own eyes. You feel like you're on the edge the entiere time and the relation ship between Rose and Dimitri is awesome, Rose and Adrian have that special bound as well that leaves you hanging for more. The novel is over-the-top-awesome, it's really hard to find words to describe how good it was. I just can't wait for Blood Promise to release on August 25th.

Read excerpt

Vampire Academy series:

Vampire Academy

Frostbite

Shadow Kissed

Blood Promise

Book stats:

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 448 pages

Publisher: Razorbill (November 13, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1595141979

ISBN-13: 978-1595141972

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by Tynga at Sunday, July 05, 2009

 Dhampir, Penguin, Review, Richelle Mead, Vampire, Vampire Academy, young adult  10 People left their mark

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Frostbite by Richelle Mead

"Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose...

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... " - Book Cover.

Frostbite is the second book in the amazing Vampire Academy series written by Richelle Mead. The first book was great but the second one is even better. Rose is 6 months away from her graduation; she'll be a full fledged guardian. She has to meet a very well known guardian for an evaluation, and since he can't leave the moroi he is protecting, Rose and Dimitri heads out to meet him. Only what they found wasn't what they expected. The entiere royal family and their guardians have all been slaughtered, evidences points in the direction of an alliance between strogois and humans. School is now on a high alert and many guardians comes in to protect the young ones, including Rose's mother. All school is brought on a mandatory ski trip and Rose meets Adrian who's disliked by all her friends due to his reputation. He isn't the one who will get them in trouble tho. Everything goes wrong when 3 students leave the school wanting to take out a group of strogois by themselves and of course Rose can't let that happen. She's running after them with Christian and finds more then she wished for.
I am totally in love with Rose personality, her dilemma between Dimitri and Mason, her hard time dealing with her mother, her sense of honor and how she does everything to protect the ones she loves. She isn't perfect, she got her flaws and that's what makes her so interesting. You grow with her as the series develops. It is definitely my favorite series! Even tho it's young adult rated, I promise you adult will find their share of excitement in this novel. I was very glad I already had the third book of the series in my possession, waiting for the release would have been torture!

Read an excerpt
Vampire Academy series:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kissed
Blood Promise
Spirit Bound

Book stats:

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Razorbill (April 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595141758
• ISBN-13: 978-1595141750

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by Tynga at Sunday, July 05, 2009

 Dhampir, Penguin, Review, Richelle Mead, Vampire, Vampire Academy, young adult  1 Person left their mark

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Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

"Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires--the ones who never die.

The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.

After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking hearts.

Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir's – inside the Academy’s iron gates, their world is even more fraught with danger. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever..." - book cover

Rose and Lissa escaped St-Vladimir's not convinced of their security anymore, but after 2 years of run-aways they got caught and brought back to the school. St-Vladimir's ain't normal school tho, it's a secured area deep in the woods where Moroi and Dhampir learns the way of their society. And what a society! Richelle Mead builds an awesome world with 3 major races. Moroi are "nice vampires" they live in society, they have royalties, they feed off willing blood donors and their number are dropping insanely. Stroigoi are your classic bad vampire, they are undead, damned, can't be exposed to light. Storgois are either Moroi who killed while feeding, or a moroi/dhampir/human bitten buy a strogoi and turned against there will. Dhampirs are half-humans, half-vampires. They can go into the light, but can't use magic like morois, but they are stronger then both humans and morois. Dhampirs are trained to protect the morois.

Story takes place at St-Vladimir's and is built around gossips, parties, forbidden love and fear. The school still isn't safe for Lissa and Rose does the best she can to protect her. Unfortunately enemies ain't always the ones you think.

I had a hard time at the very beginning of the novel to understand the whole society evolved, but got taken by the story very quickly. The plot is awesome, characters are great. Rose is so clever, always that in-your-face funny answers. She's a thought girl but also has her own issues. Mead's description are so realistic you can pictures every single details, you can also feel the tension in key moments. I couldn't put the book down until the end and ran to the store to get the following book!

I actually loved this book more the twilight series.

In fact this series is my all time favorite.

Read an Excerpt

Book Stats:

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Razorbill (August 16, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 159514174X

ISBN-13: 978-1595141743Vampire Academy series:

Vampire Academy

Frostbite

Shadow Kissed

Blood Promise

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by Tynga at Monday, June 29, 2009

 Dhampir, Penguin, Review, Richelle Mead, Vampire, Vampire Academy, young adult  1 Person left their mark

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