- Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4)

Why do I put myself through this? Why do I always pick the books that like to play havoc with my emotions? It seems with each book in this series, the emotional impact gets greater and greater. The author is a master story teller when it comes to this series! Each book is getting better and the characters continue to grow.Rose is on a mission to find Dimitri. She knows he is Strigoi now, and she needs to fulfill her promise on putting Dimitri at rest. She travels to his home in Siberia in the hopes of finding him and killing the love of her life. The first half of this book was focusing on Rose and her search for Dimitri. We get to meet new fighters and even his family. I loved his family and you could tell from the love the family shared that Dimitri grew up in a wonderful home and helped shape him into the man he is. The interaction between Rose and Dimitri's family was bittersweet though because you have to read about their mourning of his passing and how they needed to move on with their lives.The second half of the book brings Dimitri back into the picture. Frankly, I wanted him to be present for the entire book, but the author needed to go through the search for him first. When he appears though, you get excited to finally have him back in the picture, but you can also tell he is not the same. Aside from the physical appearance that has changed with him, you can also tell that he is changed emotionally. Like Rose discovers, he is Dimitri but he is also not Dimitri. My heart broke so much for him. There were moments that the old Dimitri would surface in his actions and words, but then he would do something that proves he is not what he used to be.When Rose and Dimitri finally have their final confrontation, after he has subjected her to being his play toy, I could feel the emotional turmoil that Rose had to go through because of the outstanding writing that the author provided. Seriously readers, this author knows her stuff.After finishing this book, I am a little hesitant in starting the next one. I desperately want to find out more but at the same time I don't. I am scared of what the author is going to throw at me next and I am hoping it is just as great as this one.

This book was my 2nd favorite of the books so far...I loved the flashbacks, getting a look at Russia, the conflict, all the new characters. I was trying to make this one last longer (since it is longer) and failed miserably (read it yesterday) but I really enjoyed it. I even tried waiting to read it til next week- I lasted about 4 ours before I gave up on that. I cannot wait for Spirit Bound!!! Waiting for books to come out is awful!! Especially when you're soo addicted! I totally read the ending twice too- I was afraid of what would happen at the end, so I re-read it to make sure I wasn't losing my mind!I was trying to wait to read this series until I had the 5th book, but I slipped up. I read the first book in about 4 hours, and couldn't stop til I finished the next 3. (Who needs sleep anyhow?) What a great series! It's interesting, engaging, & funny. You connect so easily with the characters and their lives, these books are just wonderful!I just read the 7 House of Night books, and these ones are so much better! The Vampire academy books are well written, dark without being too dark, filled with suspense & humor. They are scary- but not too much and have just enough romance- without being dirty. If you like vampire books, and need a light read, these are a great pick!

This is the fourth book in the Vampire Academy series. This is a series that has consistently blown me away; I just love it. This book was a good addition to the series; although I didn't think it was as good as previous ones.This book finds Rose in Russia on her quest to track down, and kill, Dimitri. We still see glimpses of Lissa's day to day life through Rose's eyes, as Rose visits her thoughts quite often throughout the book. Rose struggles with what she will do if/when she finds Dimitri. Lissa struggles with Rose's absence and finds herself spiraling into erratic behavior with no Rose around to shoulder the darkness for her. You learn quite a bit more about what it means for Rose/Lissa to be bonded and what the effects of Rose being shadow-kissed are.It was interesting to learn more about Dimitri. I also liked the plot that enveloped Lissa. It was refreshing to see Rose out acting on her own and having to make decisions with maturity; without Lissa constantly driving her decisions. Like Mead's previous Vampire Academy books this book was an emotional roller-coaster; will Rose kill the love of her life Dimitri, will she join him, will Lissa make it without Rose around. The strongest point of the novel was the wonderful characters and characterization. There were ample fight scenes and those were also very well done. It was also fascinating to meet the Alchemists; a new part of the vampire society that has previously been a mystery. Unfortunately unlike the previous novels, there were a couple things that bothered me about this one.Rose spends an awful lot of the beginning of the book wandering around and not making much progress. Gone is the hot headed, rashly decisive Rose of the previous books. She is replaced with a indecisive Rose, who questions her every decision and at times makes no progress at all towards her goals. I know that in a way this shows Rose developing a bit of maturity. At the same time though I thought some of this could've been omitted and the book would have been better for it. For me the first half of the book was very slow at parts and didn't grab me with the intensity of the rest of the book. At times it seemed that this book was just working to get things set up for the next book. That bothered me a bit because usually the Vampire Academy books are flawless in there pacing.Despite that complaint; this was a very good book. The ending was especially thrilling. The way that all the pieces came together was exquisite and makes me desperately want to read the next book. Even with the small complaint above; I read this book in a couple sittings and had trouble pulling myself away from it. Overall another good book in what has been a fabulous series.

This book was so intense and very hilarious. Gets the heart racing and it will leave you wanting more at the end.

Highly recomended!!

Ottime condizioni!

No me esperaba tanto de este último libro. De hecho, estuve a punto de dejar la saga al leer el tercero...Leí algunas críticas aquí y me sorprendió ver que a la gente le gustaba tanto, así que con bastante pena empecé a leer el libro...Para mi sorpresa, la historia se vuelve cada vez más interesante: por la trama, los personajes nuevos y algunas sorpresas.Sin contar con un giro romántico que parece que esté dando... que no me lo esperaba... pero me chifla!

Book four of the Vampire Academy series continues, and even improves upon the first three books. Blood Promise is an electrifying adventure from beginning to end. The main characters become more involved in the various plot lines, and events occur that are not obvious plot choices. This makes for a very interesting and fast paced read.Cudos to Rochelle Mead for a great book and series.