The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Source:  Purchased
Genre:  YA-Paranormal
Publisher: Razorbill
Date Published: August 16, 2007
Number of Pages: 332

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.  (from Goodreads)

I liked it, didn't love it, but I liked it.  This universe...I'd want to live here.  Every character has a slight story, which keeps me interested, but honestly, I was reading to see what would happen with Rose and Dimitri (no spoiler alert).  All of the characters were somewhat interesting, Rose and Lissa's characters were overly developed to me, and the flash backs to the same thing over and over again bored me.  

The ending wasn't unexpected, but those were the chapters I honestly loved the most.  The action was pretty spot on, and very easy to play in my head while reading.  While this novel didn't flow the easiest in my mind, the ending went flawlessly, and left me wanting to read the next in the series, Frostbite.

I would love to tell you that I'm going to read Frostbite, but that's a big lie.  I don't think I could stand to read it.  I read the goodreads on it, and it just didn't seem...interesting.  A lot of other reviewers are saying that it wasn't as good as the first one but the third one makes up for it.  I think I'd rather just skip it and move onto another series.

Not necessary a "quick read" but it's fairly interesting throughout.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I think it hits where it was aiming.  If you a true "twi-hard" fan (is that what they call them?) then you'll probably 

                                     4 out of 5 Happy Clouds :)