Richelle Mead has been a prominent author for several years. Vampire Academy was published in 2007. In 2014, the movie adaption came out and really helped boost the series. I saw Vampire Academy in theatres and loved it. I bought the first book of the series on my Kindle and read it in record time. And then, for a reason that I cannot for the life of me remember, I only read the first one. At that point, the entire series had already been published.
At the end of June, I was flying up to Boise, Idaho to visit my best friend. For the flight, I wanted to download a movie or two on Netflix that I could watch. The night before my flight, I saw that Vampire Academy had been added to US Netflix. I remembered how much I enjoyed the movie the first time I watched it and immediately downloaded it. I watched it that Saturday and, after finishing my current reads, I started reading Vampire Academy on my Kindle app on my iPad. Then, I was hooked. I read all of the books (including two novellas!) within two weeks!
Vampire Academy
Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies…Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest 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 Lissa one of them. After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger… and the Strigoi are always close by. Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever…
Frostbite
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 hand-to-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…
Shadow Kiss
What if following her heart means Rose could lose her best friend forever? Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest 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 Lissa one of them. Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa – the last Dragomir princess – must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken… Then a strange darkness begins to grow in Rose’s mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy’s iron gates. The immortal undead are closing in, and they want vengeance for the lives 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?
Blood Promise
Bound by love, but sworn to kill…The world thought Dimitri was dead. And to a certain extent, he was. But I hadn’t been able to forget a conversation he and I had once had. We’d both agreed that we’d rather be dead – truly dead – than walk the world as Strigoi. It was time to honor our words. Guardian 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?
Spirit Bound
After a long and heartbreaking journey to Siberia, Dimitri’s birthplace, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir. It’s graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives outside the academy’s cold iron gates to finally begin. But even with the intrigue and excitement of court life looming, Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri. He’s out there, somewhere. She failed to kill him when she had the chance, and now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won’t join him, he won’t rest until he has silenced her . . . forever. But Rose can’t forget what she learned on her journey—whispers of a magic too impossible and terrifying to comprehend. A magic inextricably tied to Lissa that could hold the answer to all of Rose’s prayers, but not without devastating consequences. Now Rose will have to decide what—and who—matters most to her. And in the end, is true love really worth the price?
Last Sacrifice
Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come. Now the law has finally caught up with Rose – for a crime she didn’t even commit. She’s in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She’ll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir. But the clock on Rose’s life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back…and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?
Overall
This series was so much better than I expected. I completely understand now why this series was so popular. This series covers a lot of stuff–romance, family baggage, managing expectations, friend drama, action, and so much more. The summaries of each book is true to an extent, but honestly, I don’t think they did each book justice. Each book is so much more than it’s described and there are way more plot points than what are highlighted. I thoroughly enjoyed each book and the lowest rating I gave was 4.5/5 stars. I really recommend these books to anyone who wants to feel reminiscent of books published during this time! They are all available online at Amazon for Kindle (or your local indie bookstore!) and the novellas (The Meeting and Homecoming) can be found online in pdf format.
@high.lady.of.the.book.court
I’m so glad that I chose to reread Vampire Academy and finish the rest of the series! Each book was so good and unique in its own way that I could almost never predict how the book was going to end. The biggest spoiler (hint: D) was something that I was aware of going into the series. However, all of the other plot points, were completely new to me! I have a bit of a book hangover at the moment after finishing the series (but working on Lore by Alexandra Bracken, which I am enjoying immensely!). Have you read this series? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments! And, as always, thank you so much for reading!
Love,
Kaitlin
Kaitlin H Powell 