[Book Review] Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Summary (from Goodreads):
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?

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: Vampire Academy (Book #4)

Edition: Hardcover

Pages: 503

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Published: April 6, 2010 by Razorbill

Reading Level: Young Adult 

I’ve been reading the Vampire Academy for almost a year now. However, with the Vampire Academy movie now out, I’m making it my goal to read all six of the books as soon as possible.  

With that being said, Blood Promise was the hardest of the four that I’ve read so far to get through. It was a good book, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t like the first three books. 

Plot: One of the reasons I found it difficult to read was because Rose, the main character, was separate from the rest of the main characters. Because of the events of Shadow Kiss (book #3), Rose is left on her own for a majority of the book. 

Although Rose has to take her own journey apart from the people she cares about, I really like where he journey takes her. Here’s a little spoiler alert for those who have not read the book, Rose meets Dimitri’s family. Before this book, I didn’t even consider it something that would happen yet. After reading the book, I realized why Richelle Mead wrote that into the book. It was needed.  

Characters: The thing I love most about the Vampire Academy series is Rose’s sassy girl attitude. While that was another thing that changed in this book, I was still able to enjoy the characters. 

Dimitri’s character stood out for me in this book. Mead wrote his character in a way that it felt like this story was half in his point of view. He doesn’t really censor himself and it allows the reader to see what’s going on in his mind. 

Relationships: Rose and Lissa’s relationship took a strain in Blood Promise, but at the same time, it was because of that strain that I believe in book #5, I believe their relationship will be stronger. 

I love Rose and Adrian’s back and forth banter. I ship Dimitri and Rose so I don’t really see the romance side of it.  

Romance: Two romances are put to the test. I actually like it more like that. When it’s all happy and lovey dovey, it can get pretty boring. While, the two romances that are put to the test are put to the test in two very different ways, the core of their problems is a personality change given because of supernatural reason. It sounds complicated (and I like that), but it made the story come together in the end.

Creative Way of Writing: Since I started reading the first page of Vampire Academy, I’ve loved Richelle Mead’s writing. She is not afraid to go all in. She kills characters off that we love. She breaks our favorite couples up. Yet, she does it in a way that the readers (or at least myself) don’t hate her.

4 out of 5 stars for Blood Promise by Richelle Mead. 

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[Book Review] Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Summary (Amazon):
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…

Having just read Vampire Academy, I was thrilled to dive into this second book. There were so many things about the first book that I wanted to know about. Actually, I’m making it a goal to finish all six books before the movie starts shooting (end of May). 

Plot: Unlike the first book, Vampire Academy the events of the book don’t spread out to be months, but just a couple of weeks. It made the book feel different. At some times it did feel like it dragged, but the feeling did not last long. 

To me, the book had a darker feeling to it. It felt like there was more at stake in Frostbite than in Vampire Academy.  

Characters: With that different darker feel to it, the characters were put in a different place. Each of the characters (at least the main ones) has grown since the first book. That’s very important for a book to have, in my opinion. Without character growth, the storyline, relationships and even the romance tends to become ruined.  

Relationships: I stated in my last review for Vampire Academy that I loved Rose and Lissa’s best friend/protector/sister relationship. Another relationship I like is Rose and Mason’s. To some that could be considered a romance, but the aspect of their relationship that I like is their friendship. Richelle Mead does a really good of entangling all these different types of relationships whether they be strong friendship, strong enemies, or strong romance.

Romance: I ship (can you ship a book romance, I don’t know) the main couple, which if you’ve read Vampire Academy, you know it’s Rose and Dimitri. However, I enjoyed that they each went their separate ways. It allowed them to explore themselves, but also miss each other.  

I’m still reading the series. I’ve had to slow down and take a breather because of classes, but I still have that excitement. My curiosity to read these books has not died down and I don’t think it will. 

5 stars for Frostbite by Richelle Mead.