Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Synopsis: "They come first.

My vision was growing dimmer, the blackness and ghosts closing in. I swore it was like I could hear Robert whispering in my ear: The world of the dead won't give you up a second time. Just before the light completely vanished, I saw Dimitri's face join Lissa's. I wanted to smile. I decided then that if the two people I loved most were safe, I could leave this world.

The dead could finally have me.


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?

Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead's international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series."

Title: Last Sacrifice
Series: Vampire Academy #6
Genre: Fantasy, Romance (BLUGH *pukes on Dimitri*)
Pages: 588
Ages: 13+ (read unless you want to get your heart stabbed into pieces >:(  )
My Rating: 3 Star
My Word: UGH
My Fave Quote(s): too mad right now to look for one...

REVIEW

Let's get this straight: the book had SO MUCH potential. The Keepers, SYDNEY, Sonya, Viktor, Robert, Christian and Lissa;), the queen trials, Lissa's secret sister, so. much. more.

...it would've gotten a full 5 stars if Richelle Mead didn't write such a crappy ending...

Spoilers coming. Do not read further if you haven't read the book!

Ok, ok I had a inference that the ending was going to be similar to the one that Richelle Mead wrote, but not like that.

The book was so good for the first 500 or so pages, Rose and Lissa were working their badass skills trying to help each other, Viktor Dashkov was in it, Sonya, some Lissa and Christian moments...the only problems were most of the ending, and the boy trauma.

Yep, that's my problem! You think that's not so bad right? COME ON. We all know you're deluding yourself if you thought the ending was good.

I'm just going to be blunt with it. Rose just wasn't Rose at the end of the book. She was wayyy to lovey dovey towards Dimitri and she was oh so philosophically romancey-mushy that I wanted to snap the book shut and run for salvation back to the fifth book. But of course I couldn't do that without reading to the end...

Then comes the break up part with Adrian. Those 5 pages or so... about 1/116th of the book instantly lowered it from 5 stars to 3. I mean seriously?! Rose would never say

"I don't know. I don't...I don't balance you like you need..."

Instantly, right when I read this, I was like "What the hell does that mean?!"

"...What the hell does that mean?' [Adrian] exclaimed."

*phew* I'm not the only one who thinks that. Then Rose says...

"The fact that you have to ask says it all."

I'm sorry...WHAT? What does it ACTUALLY even mean? I'm actually really curious, can you even BALANCE someone??

I was relieved when Adrian felt exactly what I was thinking in this sentence:
"You survived death and freed yourself from the bond. Lissa's queen. You got the guy and you're happily ever after... the next time when you're in bed with Belikov, stop a moment and remember that not everyone made it out as well as you did" (572-573).

All of those quotes were on the same two pages. TWO. And after this sentence, it was all it took to make me truly take Rose Hathaway off my favorite main character list:
"Adrian left, and I wondered if I'd ever see him again."

Well. That's just great; my favorite one true pairing was Adrian and Rose, and then Rose had to turn into some completely different person because Dimitri comes back into play. Dimitri and Rose are totally different people and are overly "romance-mushy" at the end it almost made me want to puke.

AND it was so twisted how Rose is so happy at the end of the book when she probably knows that Adrian is out somewhere in the court drinking his life away for what she'd done...

Overall, I'm so so so disappointed with this book, and it was just the ENDING that caused that. Big mistakes like that are not accepted in the last book of a series :(.
★★★

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead

Synopsis: "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?"

Title: Blood Promise
Series: The Vampire Academy #4
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Badass, Humorous
Pages: 503
Ages: 13+
Date I Finished: August 21st, 2013
My Rating: 5 stars (I feel like I just throw 5 stars at any book XD, but this book was seriously awesome)
My Word: BadassRoseAsUsual
My Fave Quote:
"I looked him in the eye. 'I will always love you.'
Then I plunged the stake into his chest
...His struggles stopped. His eyes stared at me stunned, and he parted his lips into a smile, albeit a grisly and pained one.
'That's what I was supposed to say..." he gasped out.
Those were his last words." (P.426)

Can we just take a moment to soak this all in?

Can we also take a moment to realize that the Vampire Academy movie: Blood Sisters is coming out this February?


After Dimitri became strigoi, I can't help but ship Rose and Adrian. I feel like I'm being a traitor towards myself because I used to love Rose and Dimitri, but now I just can't help how freaking amazing Adrian was to Rose.

I admit, towards the middle of the book, I was ripping through the pages just so I could find another Adrian dream. I half hoped Rose would be nice to him in her dreams, but after four books of Rose Hathaway, I knew that would never happen.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here. As much as I loved the Adrian/Rose moments, I didn't think that that was the best part. (or was it ;))

I think the best part was the ending. The brutal twist in the story was at the damn end and now I have to read the next two books to see what could possibly happen. I have mixed feelings for what could happen to Dimitri. I was sad when he supposedly died and I was relieved as well, and I'm not sure about this whole "get information from Viktor Dashkov and find crazy Robert Doru to see if this healing thing works" thing, but we'll see how it goes.

I still can not believe what happened in Russia. All of the wonderful people Rose met, and... especially... that crazy stuff going on with Dimitri._. I'm still shocked that Rose could get so weak, yet it was the damn endorphins that did that to her, and it was all Dimitri's fault which is why I do not ship them anymore. The endorphins-drugged part was probably the worst part in the book--not that it was bad, but because I couldn't contain myself, watching Rose so weak and helpless. Also, Strigoi and Damphir pair just doesn't work out, and let's not even go near the "come be awakened with me" thing Dimitri was letting on. Ugh.

This book was freaking hilarious by the way. I couldn't hold my laughter in most of the time. Richelle Mead puts that awesome 'Rose Hathaway humor' into the book perfectly. I just wish I could crack her jokes and be so badass at the same time. Rose is by far my favorite fictional role model that I look up to. All of the zmey jokes were Rose's best, I must say.

"'Greetings, Zmey,' I said weakly...'Nice of you to slither on in." (P. 431)

(SPOILER QUOTE) "'Please don't tell me Abe is my father..." She didn't have to tell me. It was all over her face, her expression dreamily recalling some other time and place--some time and place that undoubtedly involved my conception. Ugh. 'Oh God,' I said. 'I'm Zmey's daughter. Zmey Junior. Zmeyette, even.' That got her attention. She looked up at me 'What on Earth are you talking about?'" (P. 489)

Anyway, I have to say, Adrian really filled most of those five stars up, including the escape, the ending, Sydney, and Dimitri's family. All in all, what a funny, suspenseful, love-driven story that Rose endured. I can't wait to read the next book this fall (I can't read it right now, or else my love for the series would be short lived!) and I will never forget Rose's amazing journey through Russia. (Next stop, Viktor Dashkov!)
★★★★★

Shadow Kiss (The Vampire Academy #3) by Richelle Mead

Synopsis: "It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She's having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all... might be seeing ghosts.

As Rose questions her sanity, new complications arise. Lissa has begun experimenting with her magic once more, their enemy Victor Dashkov might be set free, and Rose's forbidden relationship with Dimitri is starting to heat up again. But when a deadly threat no one saw coming changes their entire world, Rose must put her own life on the line - and choose between the two people she loves most."

Title: Shadow Kiss
Series: Vampire Academy #3
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Only vampire series I like
Pages: 493
Ages: I would say 13+
Date I Finished: July 16th, 2013
My Rating: 5 Stars
My Word: OHMYGODTHISCANNOTBEHAPPENING

Review

(I wrote this review on GoodReads last night at around 12:30 AM so excuse me for my written down crazy feelings...yeah...)

**********BTW SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERS DO NOT PASS THIS POINT IS YOU HAVE NOT READ SHADOW KISS BY RICHELLE MEAD YET**********

WHY?!?!?!

I'm seriously crying right now.

There are tears streaming down my face.

I thought....I thought there was supposed to be a happy ending.

I thought wrong.

Throughout this book, I had mixed feelings. Not about how I felt about the book, but about the feelings I felt as if I were Rosemarie Hathaway herself. I was so happy when Dimitri and Rose finally got to be together and decided that they shouldn't pretend like they didn't love each other as much as they did.

Richelle Mead, why do you have to twist my mind?!?! Everything went so smoothly, so perfectly until the DAMN ENDING.

How could Rose be so strong in the end? With no one, not even Mason's ghost to have as company on the beginning of her journey to kill the one she loved. And what she did to Lissa-ditching her like that-I felt so bad, but it had to be done because Rose needs to have closure.

Everything is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong!

I want the happy Rose back, I want Dimitri back, I want Mason's ghost back, I want everything to be right.

Okay, I'm sorry for the rant, but someone had to damn say it! The characters were PHENOMINAL. Every bit and scrape of each character's personality just made sense. Dimitri's hard, yet soothing when he wants to attitude (that's all gone now); Lissa's psycho, black, eery personality seeping in from her magic; Christian's sarcastic, sneery comments, but his understanding attitude; Adrian's fun, teasing love for Rose, only it was more serious than us readers thought for him; and lastly, Rose's crazy, badass attitude, yet understandable bursts of madness she got when Dimitri went all Strigoi on her.

The storyline was pretty much the best thing I've ever heard of. It's like a kid having ice cream before dinner: they get the delicious, cold dessert until they realize that they still have to eat their gross brussels sprouts afterwards. That's what it was like for me. Hard, cold, nasty brussel sprouts in the end, yet I loved it.

I loved the way Rose thought she was insane when she first saw Mason's ghost. I loved the airplane ride back where she started screaming from the "hallucinations". I loved Rose's outburst of anger when Lissa passed on her mad, crazy anger to Rose, and I loved when Dimitri saved her from it. I loved the intimate moment with Rose and Dimitri ;). I loved the damn Strigoi attack, and Christian and Rose killed half of them together. I loved the way Rose would never give up. I loved it when Lissa finally realized that Rose loves Dimitri.

I loved all of it.

Just not the damn ending.

I have to kill myself if the next book is just as depressing as that ENDING.

That's all I need to say. The books have never gotten worse since the first one so far, so it better not in Blood Promise!!!!

**(Yeah, like I said...I get crazy sometimes when I just finished a book at 12 in the morning, and I decide to write a review right after, sorry.)

★★★★★

Frostbite (The Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Mead

Synopsis: "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..."

Title: Frostbite
Series: Vampire Academy #2
Genre: Speculative fiction, Urban fantasy, Young adult literature, Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance
Pages: 327
Ages: 12-17
Date I Finished: October 6th, 2012
My Rating: 5 Stars
My Word/Phrase: IENVYYOUROSE

Okay I realized that the star thing (*********blahblahblah*******) doesn't help anything because it makes it stand out more, rather than hide. So I will discontinue that and make it easier for everybody and have no spoilers. If you've already read the book and want to see the spoilers (I've only got a few) than you can click here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/291451167 and the spoilers are hidden with the spoiler tag. But now let's begin the review:

Review: Guys, is this bad that I seriously don't know who the guy on the front cover is? It could be Dimitri, or Isiah. Wow I must be dumb lol.

Anyway, I originally wasn't going to do a review on Frostbite, but the ending was phenomenal. It literally ripped my heart in pieces (I cried while reading it :'( ) and wove the pieces back together legit on the last page. But to get this striaght, there was literally not a single boring page in this book.

The mix of the characters' personality were like a sweet drop of sugar on this book; it really halped the book become it's fullest. I say this because of the brave and badass Rose, calm and encouraging Lissa, sweet and rebellious Mason[:'( (hide spoiler)], controlled and powerful
Dimitri, and the list can go on and on.

The plot was alright. It didn't kick up until the last 50 pages or so, but it was still full of emotion which is what I love. Also, the love triangle, or square I should say, with Dimitri, Tasha, Mason, and Rose was just simply amazing. It was pretty suspenseful (yeah, I know, a suspenseful romance :O ) and the last couple of pages made it amazing. I almost cried with happiness hahaha. But surely the next books will screw that up again DX. Anyway, without this lovefest I might've given this book a 2 stars because the romance in this series is more than half of the story.

Loved the past two books and many more to come aha. :P

Vampire Academy (The Vampire Academy #1) by Richelle Mead

Synopsis: "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."

Title: Vampire Academy
Series: Vampire Academy Numero Uno
Genre: Roamnce, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy
Pages: 332
Ages: 13+
Date I Finished: August 24th, 2012
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Format: Paperback (Library)
My Word/Phrase: BAD-ASS ATTITUDE (You'll know what I mean once you read my review ;) )

Review: Great start of a new series that I am DEFINITELY going to read :D! The best part of this book was Rose and her kick-ass attitude. This was also probably one of the first books that literally made me laugh out loud. IT WAS HILARIOUS. That might be over exaggeration, but I was laughing so hard throughout the story. I would put a little funny blurb on the book, but I couldn't find any funny parts right away, and I'm too lazy to look through the book like a usually do, so just read the damn book! :P

Anyway, the whole story plot was well thoughtout. At first I had no idea what they meant by Strigois and Dhampirs and Morois, but as the story went on, I finally started to understand it. HUGE twist in the end :O I'm not even going to talk about it as it will take away too much.
The characters! Rose is definitely my favorite. (as I said in the first paragraph) She's got that bad-ass attitude and she is super funny and can sometimes be reckless. I have to say, I'm nothing like Rose, but I wish I were! Lissa, on the other hand, is usually (not really in the story, but from Rose's perspective :D) calm and collective. She's cautious about everything, which is the opposite from Rose. As the stories rears, though, Rose becomes more and more protective of Lissa, and Lissa becomes a little more reckless. Moving on to Dimitri! Dimitri's the Russian mentor of Rose's and they both start liking each other (like like)even though Dimitri is 7 years older than her. They then realize it couldn't possibly work out since they both gaurd Lissa. BUT I HOPE THERE RELATIONSHIP CONTINUES IN THE NEXT BOOKS! Christian, oh my god I want to marry him! I'm less complicated than Lissa (I hope) and maybe he'll notice me HAHA! I LOVE Christian, but Lissa and Christian are PERFECT for each other in the story :).

This book had me on my toes (is that even an expression? :D) the whole time reading it. The font was actually pretty big so I read it almost in one sitting. (No complaints) I give this book a smacking 4 stars.
★★★★