Book 4), Blood Promise (Vampire Academy

I thought this book was just as awesome as the previous ones. Richelle Mead has you wanting more right upto the last page and then you want the next book. I liked the twist in this one. Shadowkissed is still my favourite.

When I first discovered this series I knew that I had found something very special.I found the first three books easy to read with story lines that quickly brought the reader into Rose's life. This book does not draw the reader into the plot right away. It took about 100 pages for me to finally get into the story. One issue is that since Rose was not at the Academy she goes back to visit Lissa at the most inconvienient time;like commercial breaks. Best way to explain is when a show on tv wants to leave you hanging they take a commercial break..same thing here.
This became very,very annoying. In addition, both Lissa and Dimitri's behavior has completely changed;(sorry no spoilers here).
Finally, I could not connect with the characters in the book nor do I look forward to reading about them any more. That is the really hard part...All three of the previous books kept me wanting to see what Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and the rest of the gang were up to. This book left me not caring what happens to Dimitri, Lissa's behavior is explained away and huge drama ahead set up for next book. Fourth book for me was a waste of character development and my time.

This book is amazing...I didn't put it down until I was finished reading it. It has great characters, and the storyline is never-ending. I recommend this book because it fills you like a chilled tall glass of lemon-aide on a scorching summer day. I can't wait for book number six.

I received this book 3 days after I put my order in. I would have thought it was brand new even though it was bought as brand new. Not a crease or mark on it. I would not hesitate to order from them in the near future and will for the Christmas season coming up. I was very happy and definitly got my money's worth.

The whole Vampire Academy was good
would like to know if any more are coming
It is 4 books long so I will have to read them again to review them
It was hard to keep up the with the story line especially with Dimitri.
them hitting it off and he changed into sidgoi and then he went back to
being Humane, she returns home. when she is changing she got a tattoo
as part of being what she is turning into. damire, can't remember name
but anyway. she went through the trouble to save him in a slue of other vamps
and sidgois she kills a lot of them and Dimitri gets taken away and changes into sidgoi
which means he has to go after her to kill. she kills the queen .
There is alot to read but worth it. I sudgest getting the set for yourself.
It does get confusing at times.
Heartfulofmusic

I read this book in about 2 days. I couldn't put it down. I just had to find out what happened to Roza and Dimitri. I'm mad at myself for reading it so quickly. Now I have to wait til May for the next one.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 books in the series, so not sure what happened with this book. It felt thrown together without the depth I've seen before. Christian was hardly in the book and there was no real resolution. It felt like a filler book. I hope the next one is better.

Ok I love this author so much. All her books are well written and keep me hooked and wanting more. Unforunately, Blood Promise was just ok. I have many of the same complaints about this book as others here. First there was way too much talk of dimiti. I know she was always into him but I always felt the relationship stayed really professional and was fairly one sided. The book kept going back to memories of them together and I dont know if its just me but I dont remember most of these wonderful and heartfelt moments. I felt this was done to try and create a relationship that was always really under developed and try to justify Rose's complete change of character and obsession over him.

The book really dragged in some places and i found myself skimming over the book. I was upset that she didn't actually kill dimitri and as soon as she got back to school he sent her a letter announcing his plot to find her and kill her. Yeah right! I'm gonna read the next book but I hope rose gets her character back and there is something else to focus on beside dimitri. Anybody else will do as the focus..adrian, lissa, christion...He is DEAD girl...move on!

OMGoodness! The ending of this book is so exciting! The knife Richelle Mead plunged into my heart in Shadow Kiss is pushed in even deeper and then twisted in this book. BLOOD PROMISE is equal parts thrilling and emotionally painful as we see Rose travel across the world for the man she loves.

If you've read this series, then you know that the previous book (Shadow Kiss) has an ending that leaves reader stunned. Rose is trying to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, but she's not sitting around moping. In true Rose Hathaway fashion, she is getting down to business, which means she is out to give Dimitri something she knows he would want. In her grief, she travels across the world and serendipitously ends up meeting his family with the help of a mysterious man named Abe and her new Alchemist friend, Sydney. After meeting Dimitri's family, she comes face to face with the person she traveled thousands of miles to find. Suffice it to say that it was painful to read.

Mead ends this book with a HUGE reveal that left me shocked when I first read the series years ago. I didn't know where she was going to go after the events in this book but the last couple of pages is hopeful and terrifying at the same time. Even reading this book for the second time, it's still just as emotional, which is a true sign of a great book.

This book highlights the growth of Rose as a character since the beginning of the series. Historically, Rose is reckless and impulsive, often acting without thinking. But in this book, the strength and resilience she shows to leave the Academy behind and travel across the world, straight into danger and the unknown is

* I borrowed the audiobook and ebook from my local library.

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

Not sure where the Vampire Academy series would take its readers with this book, but eager to find out what was going to happen to Rose and Dimitri after the cliff hanger at the end of ‘Shadow Kiss,’ so I didn’t let a lot of time pass before I picked up ‘Blood Promise.’

This fourth novel is a departure to the narrative of the first three books. There is less of the light-hearted banter and boarding school hi-jinx. ‘Blood Promise’ leads us down a gloomy path. I loved following Rose into that dark place, how she had to battle with her strength of will more than her skills at being a Dhampir… and in more ways than one. (A bit cryptic, but I’m not about to blurt out any spoilers).

I like how we always see both Rose and Lissa’s abilities evolve, grow and add to their arsenal; and we get even more of that with ‘Blood Promise.’

Seeing the subtle and not so subtle differences between human and Strigoi was fascinating – loved the mimicry, the hints of emotion, but ultimately the Strigoi are consumed with power… and their need for blood. Scary. We glimpse into the organised side of theses killers, how intertwined they are into the human world, what their motives are. Up until this point, we only really hear about how much of monsters they are. Crazed. Predators. Well. This book adds another layer to our infamous protagonists.

I loved the intro of Sydney, and a society of Alchemists into this world and looking forward to reading more of her story in Bloodlines. Her presence helped answer many questions I had about the logistics of the VA world and its secrecy. Though it has posed a lot more I want to know. Let’s see just how much Mead will spill in VA, or if I’ll have to read Bloodlines to quench my thirst for knowledge.

Previously, there was plenty of mushy rose/Dimitri goodness to squee over – we see more exploration of a different side to their relationship here. Less happy, but more compelling.

There were a few plot twists I didn’t see coming, and others I saw a mile away. Richelle Mead really knows her craft when it comes to building a novel that his entertaining, easy to read, but still manages to shock you.

It’s all drawing to a close, with only two more novels left – and this series has improved with each installment. I’ll be sad to complete it – but then there’s always re-reading.

The only reason I was able to stand the ending of Shadow Kiss was because I had Blood Promise to pick up right after.

Rose is off on her own this time around and the world of Vampire Academy is about to get a whole lot bigger. Her drive to seek Dimitri out is relentless as she hunts the creatures that go bump in the night in her search for her former trainer and boyfriend (of sorts, don’t think they sorted out all the details on the label yet). While Rose is quite literally across the globe, Lissa is dealing with her own problems which we see through their bond.

Blood Promise helped to lessen the impact of the last book but at the same time also brought the series down. Of the first four, I would say it is the longest so far but also the weakest. The action scenes were great in typical Mead fashion but the space in-between became a bit boring at times. If I had to classify this book in the series, I’d say it was a filler (at least in part) to get ready for the next book. There’s a lot of flashbacks and world-building as Rose expands the world outside of the Royal Court and St. Vladimir’s to bring in Dimitri’s and Rose’s pasts and the Alchemists.

Which, I’m totally excited for because the Alchemists were pretty awesome in what they do. Plus, more supernatural beings and magic (of sorts).

But this book just didn’t have the spark that the others had and I think it comes down to Rose. She felt…off. Sure, she was dealing with some emotional s*** but I never felt like here character was truly in residence in that shadow-kissed head of hers. The story moved sluggishly along as Rose met Sydney and Abe and all sorts of new characters, through Lissa’s eyes as well, but they didn’t seem genuine. I cared little about any of them, really, though I did enjoy seeing more of her past.

Though we didn’t need to excessive series recap. In Frostbite, she used the prologue to summarize events from Vampire Academy which was fine because, reading back to back, I could skip it. Shadow Kiss had a bit more recap but still acceptable. But Blood Promise spent far too long detailing everything from the previous books. By book 4, if the readers are sticking with the series that far, you probably don’t need all the extra details.

Rose is a character that stuck with me through the first three books. I doubt I’m suddenly going to forget everything about her from reading book 3 to book 4.

I was disappointed in this book, especially after Shadow Kiss left an emotional scar on my heart. I’m hoping that the next installment skips over the problems with Blood Promise and uses all the filler provided to tell an amazing story. I love these characters and want to see them shine.

I can sum this book up with one word: SLOW. It just drags for most of the book. The author could have easily cut out 50-100 pages of this and made it a much tighter story. As it is, there was way too much unnecessary description of what Rose eats, what she is wearing, etc. Yes, some details are needed to set the scene, but this was excessive. Also, at the beginning of the book we are introduced to Sydney, an Alchemist, whose job is to basically "clean up" after dhampirs making Strigoi kills. That was somewhat interesting...and then Sydney leaves and isn't even mentione again until the very end of this book. That seemed very disjointed.

***SPOILER ALERT***
I really hated how the big, dramatic ending relied so heavily on coincidence working in Lissa's and Rose's favor. Oh, Rose just so happens to pop into Lissa's head at a moment when she is in serious mortal danger? And Rose just happens to have someone near her in Russia who is not only a spirit user, but can also merge with Rose and get into Lissa's head and remotely control events that are unfolding on Lissa's end? How convenient! Also, Lissa is a Moroi, a "living vampire" as the author states over and over. She isn't immortal but even Moroi are supposed to have fast-healing abilities. So how would a fall from a high window even kill her? Wouldn't she heal from that? And along that vein (no pun intended). how was Lissa's family even killed in a car accident? I mean, why even have Moroi be vampires at all if they don't have any special regenerating powers? What makes them vampires aside from the need to drink blood and heightened senses? It just doesn't make any sense and is one of the big plot inconsistencies in this series.

But back to this book... aside from the Lissa incident, Rose's whole escape is one big coincidence as well. Dimitir just happens to take out a whole room full of Strigoi who have been turned for longer than him in a major Terminator-style feat of strength and regeneration. Rose just happens to escape and manages to stay ahead of Dimitri, despite the fact that she is just a dhampir and even though he can apparently take out a room full of Strigoi, he can't eliminate her? Okay, sure, that makes total sense, right? (I wish there was a sarcasm font for that)

*** END SPOILER***

Overall, this book seems like filler in the series. Nothing much happens aside from the introduction of some new characters and a couple of minor revelations (i.e., who Rose's father is). Definitely dragged and took me way longer to read it than the previous books in the series - not because it was so long, but because it was so boring.

These novels just keep getting better. In most series novels tend to trickle off or go down paths that you rather they didn’t by the third book, but in Vampire Academy that isn’t the case. Each novel continues to grasp my attention and makes me want more.

In “Blood Promise” Rose Hathaway has run off to Russia to kill her former lover Dimitri. Dimitri who is now a strigoi. On the side lines Lissa gets introduced to new people and danger lurks in close sight.

I really enjoyed Blood Promise. It was a little touch and go at first because I was sad that Dimitri wasn’t at her side, but as soon as she met Sydney I was hooked. I felt this way because I discovered this world had more to offer and hadn’t plateau. To my surprise and enjoyment, it was the opposite and I was happy to learn about Alchemists, Dimitri’s family, Un-promised Dhampirs and re-discover Dimitri in his new state.

This novel was a great installment and contained its own story while moving forward with the overall plot of the series. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one: Spirit Bound.

After the Strigoi attack at the Academy it has effected everyone, however even though Rose tried her hardest to save everyone that she could she can't help but feel like she didn't do a good enough job as now Dimitri has turned Strigoi. Now that she knows Dimitri is still alive she decides to drop out of the Academy to go and find him so that she can kill him for good as it was once discussed that if it ever happened to one of them then they would want the other to kill them.

Rose feels like she needs to do this as just before the attack on the Academy they both had talked about how it would all work out as they both couldn't deny their feelings any longer. However now that this has happened she feels that this is the only way to help her rest her mind. Whilst searching for him she ends up meeting a Alchemist named Sydney and what they do is clean up all of the messes once a Strigoi has been killed. She also ends up meeting Dimitri's family who can clearly see that Rose loves him dearly, so when it comes to her telling them that he has been turned Strigoi they are honestly shocked.

Rose ends up finding Dimitri in the end but unlike any other Strigoi she has come across Dimitri still seems like him old self, as he still treats her with all the love he had for her that very last day they spent together. Will Rose be able to destroy Dimitri before it's too late or will she decide that she wants to be with him forever and risk everything that she knows just to be with him and turn Strigoi.

Whilst I was reading this book my heart felt for Rose as when you know what true love feels like, it's hard when something happens to the other. This book had me gripped and I couldn't put it down until the very last word. If you're a fan of Rose and Dimitri then trust me when I say you will want to pick this up to see how everything works out.

WELL. Let me tell you guys something. This book just about killed me. I was shocked and scared and worried and a host of other emotions. I didn't know what would happen next and I was just hoping for the best outcome. Richelle Mead completely outdid herself with this book and she knows how to play with her readers hearts because I was a wreck throughout it all.

Blood Promise follows Rose's journey into finding Dimitri and keeping their promise intact. Rose has to deal with her confusion and conflict of dealing with her thought and emotions towards what she needs to do. At the same time, she is torn in her decision of leaving Lissa back at St. Vladimir. Lissa has her own problems to deal with but, thankfully, she has Christian and Adrian to count on to help. We are introduced to Sydney Sage and to a host of new characters, several of which are very important later on.

Blood Promise is a journey full of heartache, hope, and resignation. Throughout Rose's whole journey of finding Dimitri, I experienced her grief and confusion right along side her. If I thought Richelle Mead had broken my heart in Shadow Kiss, this time she managed to take those mangled parts and set fire to any thoughts, hope, or dream I might have had of a good outcome. I was kept on the edge of my seat from beginning to end because I needed to know how it was going to end. And that ending! Good grief that ending just about gave me a heart attack. And I may or may not have flail. Just a tiny bit.

Oh Richelle, you slay me. I still don't know how I was coherent when I finished it.

You can check out this review at www.booksandswoons.com

Travel Companion:

If we traveled with the main character Rose Hathaway, she would be:
The Warrior

She would be the fighter. She would be the one to defend the weak. She would defend her loved ones. She would be a soldier. She would be a great soldier.
We would meet her on her leave. She would be teaching martial arts to children. We would join in on her class and see her fighting spirit. We would invite her to join us to see Russia. She would join because she had heard so much from her instructor Dimitri, and she wanted to see it for herself.

Rose went through so much in this book. She had to go through being a blood whore. She had to go through being addicted. Losing control. Rose didn't seem as reckless as before. She went through so much pain. I can't imagine experiencing the horrors she was put through. Her mind must be a battlefield.
Rose was grief-stricken. She was uncontrollable. As much as I love her character, I started to hate her a little bit. I didn't like her lack of contorl. But. She was grieving. I had to cut her some slack. All her actions were out of grief.
But Rose tried to keep her humor.

Okay, God, I thought. Get me out of this and I’ll stop my half-assed churchgoing ways. You got me past a pack of Strigoi tonight. I mean, trapping that one between the doors really shouldn’t have worked, so clearly you’re on board. Let me get out of here, and I’ll . . . I don’t know. Donate Adrian’s money to the poor. Get baptized. Join a convent. Well, no. Not that last one.
Page 411 'Blood Promise'

In all honesty, I thought that she could have been happy with the Belikovs. She could have patched up things with Viktoria. She could have finished her training and stayed in Baia. But Rose was never meant to settle down.
The Rose in this book was different than the Rose in any of the past books. She was weakened. I can't imagine Rose Hathaway ever being weakened, but it was possible. She changed. She was reckless. She pursued a dream. I felt like the strong and brave Rose was replaced by this maniac. Her grief made her do things she would regret later. She tortured people. She made them suffer.
And just to save the one she loved.

Read more at http://booksinmysuitcase.blogspot.hk/2015/07/review-blood-promise-by-richelle-mead.html

I can't get over how much happened.

Rose starts off wandering Russia in search of Dimitri, takes a family pitstop, gets abducted and emotionally trapped....and that's only half of it!
There were parts where I speed read paragraphs of her back and forth thoughts as a captive, otherwise I was completely absorbed. Literally read half of the book in one night, mostly because things just kept happening and you can't put a book down in the middle of action.

The ending leaves plenty of things to wonder about too.

I was slightly disappointed in the beginning, I must say. I felt like it was pretty slow to start. Yes, there was a lot of necessary set up, but after the way book three ended I was DYING to know what happened to Dimitri. Weren’t we all!? So we know that Rose is wandering about in Russia, but I was just like, “Come on, already! I’m dying here!”

Finally it start to get REALLY good. We finally get to know what happened to Dimitri, where he went, what his life has become now that he’s a Strigoi. And agh, it’s just so hard to review this book without saying anything about when Rose and Dimitri finally encounter each other since that would be like spoiler after spoiler. I guess the best thing I can say is that even as that part of the story was progressing, I still really didn’t know how it was going to end up. All the while I kept hoping for redemption for Dimitri, but we know there’s not way to “turn a Strigoi back”. So how could it end any other way except Rose killing him? It was quite the interesting situation to say the least!

In true Mead fashion, there were a few nice twists at the end!! Nothing quite as shocking as previous books, but still left me with a lot of questions that I NEED answered. Needless to say, I’m definitely going to pick up book 5 soon!!

Continuing my journey through the Vampire Academy series I’ve realized not all books can be great. Well, no that’s a lie, the Harry Potter series was pretty good in my opinion, even though there was a lot of filler. Point being, series have filler books and Blood Promise is definitely this series’ filler book.

The Strigoi attack on St. Vladimir’s left a dark cloud over the school, one cloud especially dark was hanging over Rose Hathaway’s head. Her mentor, Dimitri, was turned into a Strigoi, and after the first few months of getting to know him they were both confident enough to say that they’d rather be dead than be a Strigoi. Making it her personal mission, Rose set out to find him and kill him herself. But deciding to leave the school is one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do because it meant leaving her best friend Lissa without knowing whether or not she’d come back. While on this road Rose struggles with herself, as she ponders whether or not when the time came, would she actually be able to kill her mentor and the love of her life?

This book starts off right after the end of Shadow Kiss, Rose is leaving the school to go find Dimitri and presumably kill him, releasing him from his Strigoi body and setting his soul free blah blah blah. It all sounds amazing and exciting when you think about it, but the actual journey itself wasn’t what I expected. I found Blood Promise very long, and dull, and just fillery. I’m not going to sugar-coat it, I’m sorry but NOTHING HAPPENED UNTIL THE LAST 150 PAGES. There, I guess you could consider that a spoiler? Maybe?

There were some really interesting things that happened, interesting characters and IMPORTANT characters that we meet that I’m not going to tell you about. What was most disappointing was the lack of Strigoi in this book too, at least until the last 150 pages.

There’s always a reason for things to happen, and the people Rose meets will ultimately help her through her quest/journey to finding Dimitri, but I still think everything that happened just took WAY TOO LONG. A lot of the time I was sitting there going, “Yeah I get it…” or parts where I was hoping something bad would happen or at least something half-exciting. The overall tone of the book was very muted and droll, and the fact I had to read 350 pages of nothing to get to the action was a bit unnerving.

I think one of the things I disliked most about this book was the obvious LACK OF ADRIAN AND DIMITRI! OMG! It was so boring without them! I even missed Christian and his snarky sarcasm! Rose is pretty much on her own most of the book. She’s surrounded by people but it’s no one she really knows like a close friend or ally. I get that the whole point of the book was to find Dimitri but it could have been a little more interesting… She didn’t need to be so mean to Adrian too….and I liked him.

Let’s continue on the list of THINGS THAT IRKED AKI ABOUT BLOOD PROMISE.
Dimitri, who I loved, SOOOOO MUCH, was actually REALLY FREAKING ANNOYING in this book. I get that he’s a Strigoi now, so he’s all undead and evil and wants to drink people’s blood, but seriously, he was really annoying. Being a Strigoi changed all his morals, it made practically everything sexy about him just vanish, and he became this…really annoying almost whiny little boy who spouted about saying HIS RELIGION WAS THE BEST or however he was preaching that Strigoi life was better. I probably would have punched him myself, or at least called him out on being boring and annoying. I applaud Rose though, that girl has serious patience… DAMMIT DIMITRI why are you evil!?

On the plus side we do get to meet Rose’s dad which is super exciting! That’s hopefully gonna be important later, right?! Honestly, what’s the point…of getting together with a dhampir, having a baby and not seeing them again? It makes sense if you’re a Royal Moroi and you’re GOING to have a royal family, but I just…I can’t….WHAT IS THE POINT!? All these dhampir children should be in touch with their parents, even if they’re only half-children. I’m just not okay with child neglect…Bad form Rose’s dad…bad form.

Blood Promise was definitely not my favourite book in the series, it was long, it dragged on, and there just wasn’t enough to keep me interested. Hopefully Spirit Bound is an improvement, and then onto Last Sacrifice. I don’t think I’ll be moving onto the spin-off series though… By then I think it’ll be time to move back onto a romance novel.

3/5 Hearts of Love

I'm writing a review with the assumption that four books into a series, you're either reading and writing a review to see who shares your exultations in the book, or dismal disappointments. My rating might seem harsh compared to everyone who is exulting it. My friend convinced me to read these and lent me her Vampire Academy books- I owe it to her for finishing this series. On my own, I would've given up on the first book first chapter. The prose is a jarring contrast from what I normally read, but I have to assume based on all the positive reviews, this is what young adult writing is like. In this volume, Mead introduces some interesting characters: the existence of a group of humans known as Alchemists (wish she had went more in depth with this secret society), Moroi mob boss Abe, and another spirit wielding couple. Rose's interactions with Lissa is mostly limited to her bond spying, and these interrupted the main story arc quite regularly.

*spoiler ahead*
The story lingers too long in certain areas such as the Belikov hometown, and the captivity stint so as to help contrast Dimitri as a dhampir youth to a manipulative strigoi. But the execution was faulty- I don't need 100+ pages of sensual caressing in a drugged captive state to drive a point home. In my ideal world, the story would have ended at "A silver stake". Instead of allowing the reader's imagination to breathe, Mead feels the need to over-explain to a point where it becomes anti-climactic. Also the idea introduced on the last page of this book is too far out to be believable, not to mention unbelievably selfish and thoughtless on Rose's part.
*End of spoiler*

This series feels like it is losing steam to me, and struggling to pad its pages. But I've already made it this far- I suppose one more book won't hurt.

Blood Promise’s is the fourth installment in the Vampire Academy Series. The girls are dealing with the attack on the school by the Strigoi in their own way. Things are harder for Rose after all she lost the man she loved and thanks to Mason’s ghost knows he’s now a Strigoi. Now that she’s turned 18 Rose drops out of school and sets out to finish what needs to be done for Dimitri. They both had talked about it before and neither of them wanted to be a Strigoi they would rather die. The only problem with leaving the school is that she has to go alone. So she pushes Lissa away in hopes of avoiding hurting her instead she lands in the hands of Avery a new Moroi at school.

Rose assumes that Dimitri will return to his home area so she heads off for Russia. However she doesn’t remember the town’s name so she picks a club in hope of getting a Moroi to tell her how to find it. While in the city she dispatches several Strigoi even drawing the attention of Sydney a young alchemist working in the area. After saving Sydney from a Strigoi she learns that humans have Moroi magic and are working for them able to turn a Strigoi body to dust. When Sydney talks to her boss she’s directed to take Rose to where Dimitri’s family is but on the way they are attacked and Rose encounters Abe a mob boss type who wants to know why she’s in town. Will Rose find Dimitri? Will she be able to take him out? What about Lissa and the new girl?

I still think Rose is one of my favorite characters while the girls aren't together so we don’t see lots of Lissa we do have glimpses into how things are for her. Each girl will have their own challenges that they have to overcome. I loved the sweet relationship between Christian and Lissa so I’m a little annoyed that it went a little screwy with Avery’s help but I’m hopeful it will be fixed. As for Rose I’m so confused I loved Dimitri but now I’m leaning towards Adrian he’s just a good guy and I can’t help liking him more even if he is Moroi.

Blood Promise is action packed lots of undead vampires slaying to keep Rose busy while she hunts down the man she loves. I really love this series the characters are easy to connect with you can’t help cheering them on as they overcome challenges. I was drawn into Blood Promises right from the start it’s a fast paced story that keeps you on the end of the seat to the very end. Is it my favorite so far? No but maybe that’s because both girls have relationship issues but I’m hopeful that they will be fixed in the next book. I think the author has created a fantastic series mixing the vampire world with the human world that addition of the Alchemists was really exciting. Another beautifully written book it was easy for me to lose all track of time. I’m going right into the next one I can’t wait any long to see how it’s going to end. A must read series if you like vampires my favorite.

I typically feel like what I'm about to do is pointless, but the epicness of the cliffhangers between Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, and Spirit Bound are so huge, I refuse to ruin this series for anyone without ultra-fair warning. I mean it should be understood that if you haven't read book 3 in a series that there are probably spoilers for that book in a review of book 4, but as I said, I'm making it ultra-clear here. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR SHADOW KISS IN THIS REVIEW!!!!!!!! If you have not read Shadow Kiss (book 3) or any of the books in this series, PLEASE!!!!! Do not read this review!

Blood Promise was the first of the Vampire Academy books that I had to wait on for publication. Vampire Academy, Frostbite, and Shadow Kiss were already published when I started reading the series. If you've read the series then you know how torturous it must have been to have to wait between Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise to see what happens next. Shadow Kiss leaves off at this epic cliffhanger/twist that demands getting your hands on the next book as stinking soon as possible. And that's what I did. Blood Promise was bought and started on release day. I don't remember how long it actually took me to read it. Not long, I know. And I remember that I finished Blood Promise at work the first time because the last three to five pages were huge and I ran back to a co-worker's desk and said "I know you haven't read this series, but I have to tell you what just happened," because I just couldn't hold it in, and I didn't want to ruin it for my friends who I knew would eventually read it. Which as it turns out, when I acquired the audiobook versions of this series, I forced that same coworker to listen to them. Thankfully she didn't really remember what I told her, so it all worked out.

Enough background, let's jump into it the book itself. At the end of Shadow Kiss, we find out that Dimitri has been turned into a Strigoi against his will. And Rose has borrowed money from Adrian (which I don't think she ever repays) to hunt Dimitri down and kill him in order to free him from his evil state as the old Dimitri would have wanted per a discussion that Rose and Dimitri had back in Vampire Academy. This was a really difficult decision for Rose because it meant leaving Lissa behind, which she's never done since they've been bonded. Blood Promise picks up with Rose being in Russia on the hunt for Dimitri.

Rose's mission breaks my heart. I can't imagine suffering from the pain and grief of losing the one that you love, but also having to hunt them down and kill them. Even knowing that you're doing them a favor. It's an extremely emotional mission. And Richelle Mead does a great job weaving in Rose's emotions which range from hurt and grief, to anxiety and trepidation, to anger and determination. And the emotional parts don't stop at her mission alone. Rose also meets Dimitri's family in Blood Promise. And when she does, she realizes that no one has bothered to let them know what's happened to Dimitri. She's faced with being the only one who cares enough to share the truth with them. How hard it would be to tell your love's family that he's gone! And not just dead, but now evil.

We're introduced to a new character in Blood Promise. One that Richelle Mead ended up loving as the rest of us have as well. Sydney Sage and the Alchemists. Sydney is extremely smart and methodical. She's been raised to believe that vampires, Moroi and Strigoi, and even dhampirs, half-Moroi, are all evil and unnatural. Her unease plays into her relationship with Rose, even though the two do grow closer through their small journey together. Sydney isn't scared of jumping into the mix hitting that Strigoi in the back in the fight scene in the alley when she and Rose first meet. I never really paid much attention to that part before, but I was impressed by it in this reading. Richelle Mead does a really good job of establishing how much of a nerd Sydney is in a very short amount of time. Sydney is present in Blood Promise but not overly so. I love how Sydney does her part to take care of Rose in Blood Promise and as we come to see in the Bloodlines series, she takes care of everyone else. I was really impressed with Richelle Mead's ability to take someone who might not have even been intended as a main character and to keep her true to herself throughout the Vampire Academy series and the Bloodlines series. I do want to note how funny it is about Adrian and Rose having a Spirit dream with Sydney sleeping in the same room as Rose (on the train from St. Petersburg).

Another secondary character who continues through the remaining books in the series is Abe Mazur. Abe literally cracks me up. He's part of the comedic relief in this series, and in Blood Promise in particular, he makes up for the lack of comedy that we would normally get from Rose's interactions with Christian or Adrian. My first impression of Abe based off the description we get in Blood Promise is PIMP! He's an outlandish dresser and a mobster to boot. I won't say much more about him other than he's one of my favorite characters in the entire series, and that I hope the movies make it far enough that we get to see him come to life on the big screen.

We're introduced to so many other secondary characters in Blood Promise, but it didn't feel like character overload while reading, but when it comes to breaking it down in a review, it kind of does. There's Dimitri's family: Elena, his mother; his *THREE sisters, Karolina, Sonya, and Victoria; his grandmother, Yeva. There are the other dhampirs of the town: Nikolai, his brother and their band of merry men. There's the Strigoi: Dimitri, Nathan (which we met in Shadow Kiss), Galina, and that dude Rose tortured to send a message to Dimitri. There's Avery; her father, the new headmaster of St. Vladamir's; Reid, Avery's brother; and Avery's guardian. And we see a smidgen more of Jill who we also met in Shadow Kiss and who plays a role in the later books and especially in the Bloodlines series.

As always with Vampire Academy, Rose's ability to get into Lissa's head provides a way for dual narration without really being dual narration. Lissa seems like the weaker character like she was more from Vampire Academy and less like the stronger person she was becoming in Frostbite and Shadow Kiss. She's influenced by Avery and the loss of Rose. She makes some dumb mistakes that cause problems with her and Christian. But I love that when push comes to shove, Rose and Lissa can push aside whatever drama they've had and know the each has the other's back. They can trust that each other has their best interests at heart, and they are BOTH willing to work at their friendship to make it better and stronger. Not many relationships out there are so lucky.

Now let's talk Dimitri--because this review is getting way too long. The first time I read Blood Promise I was holding out hope that Dimitri the Strigoi wouldn't be as bad as Rose and the others were making it out like he would be. As far as the reader knows, we've never met a Strigoi that was turned by force on a personal level. Would any of who Dimitri was before remain? I'm not going to answer that question. But those were my thoughts going into my first reading. But the new Dimitri explores the ins and outs of love versus desire. The majority of what I want to talk about concerning Blood Promise revolves around Dimitri, and the last 30% of this book, but I feel like any of that would be spoilerish and I just do not want to ruin this series for anyone. So I guess that's all I'm going to say about this. Can I just add, "Rosa..." *sigh*

As I've said in every review of this series so far, Richelle Mead does a great job with the foreshadowing. And we get more of that here. Some of the things that were foreshadowed in earlier books come about in Blood Promise, and Blood Promise has more foreshadowing for things to come. It's brilliant, I tell you. Honestly guys, I have so much more to say. I have notes upon notes on this book.

Blood Promise is probably my least favorite book in the series--one of them has to be. Yet, it's still a worthy installment and so much is packed into it. As with Frostbite, Blood Promise is more of a catalyst than anything else. A lot happens that moves the story along and things are necessary for character growth, but Blood Promise really just sets everything up for the next book, Spirit Bound. Do beware, the last three to five pages of Blood Promise are bound to leave you wanting more. I'd advise having the next book ready to go immediately.

Blood Promise gets 4 stars from me. Have you read Blood Promise? What did you think? Let me know!

*Richelle Mead made a little mistake. In Vampire Academy, she says that Dimitri has two sisters. In Blood Promise, we see he does in fact have three.

This is the fourth installment in the Vampire Academy series. I enjoyed the first three and thought it was nice to see the story go in a slightly different direction than it had been previously. That said, it did feel a bit dragged out and probably could have been shorter. Rose was still kick ass and it was nice to see a somewhat softer side of her. It seems like things are going to get pretty crazy in the last two books so hopefully I'll be able to get to them soon!

As I said Rose is pretty bad ass still. She went through a crappy thing at the end of book three. We basically follow her around as she tries to fix the situation and find herself again in the process. She definitely shows more emotions than before and she does have many moments of weakness. It was nice to see a more realistic version of her-she suffered from the typical emotions any teenager would in a heartbreak.

The other characters were not the main focus in this one. It was definitely focused on Rose. Lissa does deal with some interesting things and of course Rose goes to the rescue. I'm curious to see if she becomes stronger and able to protect herself better in the future. Dimitri is obviously different. He has some of the same characteristics, but they are much more twisted. I know Sydney is the main character in the Bloodlines series so I'm curious to see what happens with her in the rest of this particular series.

Overall this was good. I feel like it could have been shorter, but I did still enjoy it. If it wasn't so dragged out in places then I probably would have enjoyed it better. I definitely plan on reading the next in the series, but it may not be anytime soon.

It was a little different than the previous book because Dimitri wasn't in it from the beginning. He had been turned into a bad vampire, a Strigoi, but later in the book he showed up when Rose went to find him. What also makes this book different is the Siberian setting. I think I like the books in the series where they are actually back in school (at St. Vladimir's, a.k.a. Vampire Academy) best. We did get to see characters such as Lissa and Adrian because of Rose's bond with Lissa, wherein she can peek into her head. I think the best and most exciting part of the book was the showdown with Avery. I didn't like that Dimitri was a Strigoi, but then again it's like a drama series and you need tension and excitement in order to have six books in the series. When vampires are involved bad things sometimes happen to good characters.

This is the second book in the series that I've read (after Shadow Kiss) and I intend to read them all and also Richelle Mead's Bloodlines series (I've read the first one and will be reading the fourth one soon). Sydney, who was introduced in this book, is the protagonist in the Bloodlines spin-off. The author does a good job of recapping events from previous books and also explaining about Moroi and dhampirs, which is good in case you skip around and miss a book and don't read them in order.

As you may have noticed already that this book fell one star short than the ones before hand.

The reason why this is because for most of the first part of the book it is soooo boring. I'm not saying that there wasn't a single thing I liked about the first half. There was. Rose travels to Siberia and stays with Dimitri's family. It was interesting getting to know more about him and where he came from, and to see how Rose interacts with a different set of people, a really normal tight knit family. Despite how her and Lissa are very close she really hasn't had any interactions like that. It was kind of heart warming.

You also get to meet some new people, like Sydney, and Abe. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love Abe. He is shown as a complete stalkerish and threatening mob boss type person, but I can see the jerkish charm underneath that can still be caring and is just funny. He and Adrian both share a likeness, and I spose tha'ts why that they are my favourites.

But despite that the first half of the book Rose was not herself. She was mopey and weak willed and should pretty much could have been more thrilling if she was dead. I get that she was in mourning and all but she really went into the whole thing just way to much. Dimitri's name came up WAY too much for someone that didn't pop up until halfway through. I just never picturing her being so weak that she pretty much died when her guy kinda did. Serious character drop.

I also think that things happen just too easily to her considering she really had no idea what on earth she was doing in a part of the world where she doesnt even speak the language.... I just don't think they should have gone that way. This messes with the time frame as well which I did not enjoy. Rose is only gone wondering the world and being kidnapped and tortured thing only happens just over a month. It should have been longer. There was a time where she was in Lissa's head and stuff was going on with her then she goes back to her world and stuff happens to Rose and she was like "I don't know how much time passed," but then when she next goes back to Lissa's head it was only if that the next day after the stuff that happened to her. This didn't make sense because in Roses world even though she said that she didn't know how much time had passed it was written like it was at least a few days longer than that. It was a serious flaw in the writing and really bothered me.

On page 386 is when Rose finally gets back to her old self, and where I started liking the story more. Lots of high packed theme moving stuff gets revealed and happens after this point and is what kept the story at a 4 star. The ending is a cliff hanger, but not as serious as the last one. This one you can see coming because its talked about, but the one at the end of the last book you just didn't really expect Dimitri to die.

Page 386. That was the turning point. Just hang in there for page 386.

Originally posted on my blog: [...]

This one destroyed me. It was like Richelle Mead was repeatedly staking me in the heart with a silver stake. Seriously.

While this is mostly just my reactions to the book, I am also purposely very vague on plot details because I honestly am not sure how I'd say anything non spoiler-y.

I loved it, I truly did. Even if I had to consume a bunch of ice cream in the process. There are flashbacks of scenes that we haven't gotten to see in the previous books and that was amazing. I thought it added SO much more emotion and also added another dimension to the story!

Also. By "SO much more emotion" I mean... burying my face in the book and going "gahh!!" Because apparently I do that when I'm emotionally traumatized. I may have cried at a few parts.

This book is VERY emotionally packed. Be prepared.

Besides going down the emotional torture path, this one is also action packed. While Rose is in Siberia, Lissa is having her own troubles back at VA and we see it happening through her bond. Because of that, you're left with almost a helplessness that you can't do anything because you're an ocean and a continent away! But I thought the flipping between both stories was great, they melded together awesomely and gave it that much more excitement.

Can I just say. I freaking adored Dimitri's family and I would've wanted to stay there forever with them too.

Abe is a fantastic new character! Totally complex and at first I didn't know what to think about him! Good? Bad? What?? But it works out and I thought his character was amazingly written.

There's LOTS more magic in this one, lots more depth, and it's all very intriguing. I was GLUED to the book. I freaking loved it all. Even though my heart broke countless times. *hugs book*

Rose is awesome. I want to be as badass and determined as she is. She has grown way more than she knows or credits herself for. *hugs book some more*

I got this as the six book set and I've been happy with the series so far. But I'm going to be harsh on this review because Mead's Blood Promise was a disappointment when compared to its three predecessors. There are a great many inconsistencies in this volume, it drags through the first third of the story, it over-simplifies many emotions making it difficult to feel what we are being led to emote, and it commits a terrible error in my book - seems to mirror or mimic Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (along with a whole host of "Scooby-do's).

I zoomed through the first three books and eagerly went for this volume, looking forward to following Rose Hathaway, our dhamphir, as she goes to Russia to put a stake in her old teacher and first real love, Dimitri, now a Strigoi (the most horrible of the undead). Unfortunately, I was bombarded with lots of new characters (most of whom are not important to the success of the series), and felt that important key players were shuffled to the background while a key event was taking place in the lives of those key players. Subplots this big shouldn't be buried.

There are a few nice surprises in this story, and that is the redeeming quality that will push me to read book five. Ms. Mead is a fabulous YA author and that is why I was so disappointed. But I tell myself that maybe this is a transition volume and so...well, hang in there. I'm sure we have more great stuff ahead.

Holy crackers! This book... This book was.. Wow! The beginning was definitely slow and boring. It was mainly information, traveling, meeting people, etc. But once you got into the book there was so much emotion and action.

Rose left Lissa to go in search of Dimitri's Strigoi form. The emotional toll this book had on so many characters was unbelievable. The addition of Avery was definitely unexpected but it was very exciting and proved to be very eventful in the end.

I do admit Rose was brave. Going to a place where you don't speak the language is very frightening to me. Telling Dimitri's family the truth also took a lot of guys. I am upset with how things were left with his family. Viktoria was definitely WRONG!

Dimitri definitely was changed. He had no feelings it seemed like and I don't understand how Rose let the lust get in the way of killing him. She faltered and that really made me upset because I loved the fact that she was so strong in the other books. If it would have been her LOVE for him that got in the way then I would have understood it. It was nothing but lust though.

I'm not sure how I feel about Adrian. He sounds like he would be good for Rose but I can't imagine her with anyone else but Dimitri.

Lissa and Christian... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Rose did do the right thing though. Dimitri was gone and I am so happy she finally came to that conclusion. The battle between them was amazing and I could tell that Dimitri didn't want to hurt Rose but he still wasn't the same person.

I didn't really enjoy when Rose was in Lissa head. It was quite boring for most of the time and it just distracted me more than anything.

The fact that Rose returned home was a good idea. Her mothers reaction definitely shocked me. A lot of the reactions to her return shocked me. But nothing shocked me more than the last few pages. I was seriously in shock and now I'm left wondering how? What? HUH?! Oh my god!

I have a lot of hopes for the last two books. I hope Dimitri and Rose find a way to be together. I hope Lissa and Christian are okay. I hope someone overthrows that damn royal court!

And I just found out that the book series in being made into a movie! I am so excited for that. I just really hope they don't mess Dimitri's character up. The books definitely focus on the height difference between Rose and Dimitri and I have a feeling the actor won't be 6'7".

Overall, I give the book 4/5 stars due to how bored I was for the first 200+ pages.

★★★★ ½
Well, this was another entertaining installment in the Vampire Academy series. The story opened with a great prologue summary. I really love
how Author Richelle Mead reminds series readers of what has happened up to this point. Some series readers may find that annoying, but my big picture memory appreciates it every time. 

It’s hard to say much else without spoiling what happens in this one. Therefore, I’ll only share that I currently feel just as conflicted as Rose does at this point about Srigoi Dimitri and Moroi Adrian. And poor Lissa and Christian! I wanted to shake them. I’m going to need them to sort their relationship drama out - like immediately please! That’s one relationship that I’m 100% clear on because they are so perfectly suited to each other. 

I’m diving right into Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5) next. I can’t wait to see how a certain imminent showdown plays out.

***WARNING: Spoilers ahead for previous books in the series***

We leave our lovely Rose when she is headed to her beloved Dimitri's birth place to find him and do what she thinks she needs to do, kill him because he's a strigoi. Now if you think the past books are insane and emotional roller coasters, buckle up because Blood Promise is truly psycho (in a good way). This book had me feeling every emotion from full blown joy to crawl up in a ball and cry sadness. Rose goes through a lot in this book concerning her emotions and relationship with Dimitri. I'm not exactly sure how to say what I feel about what happened without giving any surprises up but I can say my emotions towards Dimitri have definitely changed a bit because of Blood Promise. If you're Team Dimitri before reading this, bring your tissues ladies and remember that he's changed and he isn't himself. Which really didn't help me at all that much but it's worth a try. I thought it was really interesting how Richelle decided to incorporate Lissa in this book because it's difficult when Rose and her aren't in the same place, it was a clever way to use their bond. It was really sad for me seeing how Lissa acted and I had no clue what was going on but when that bomb was dropped I was blown away and totally surprised. I also hate seeing Lissa and Christian so blah towards each other, it's a bunch of crap. Honestly, this book was kind of that depressing installment in a series where everything is wrong but you like it anyways because if our favorite series were always happy and didn't provoke some tears out of us then they probably wouldn't be our favorites. The ending was a complete surprise to me, I didn't see it coming and most of the time I can figure out what's going on. It was bitter sweet for me and I'm hoping redemption is going to happen for the gang soon because I need my HEA.

I think my favorite part of this book was to see Rose interact with so many different people and watch her relationship grow with her Mom. It was really heart warming. Something I've learned from reading this series one after the other is that it's probably smart to read them all and then do mini reviews together (and probably easier.) The Vampire Academy series is definitely a learning experience for me but one that I'm really enjoying!

4.5 stars

Blood Promise was somewhat transition-like in that it introduces new characters into the series and raises a lot of new issues.

I just don't understand how the Vampire Academy series can be so good with such a compelling plot while Richelle Mead's adult books, the Georgina Kincaid series, fall so short. Vampire Academy's plot, character development, and writing far outweigh the Georgina books. Georgina has the emotional maturity of a 14 year old and absolutely no integrity, while Rose is far superior although she is so much younger. I'm just so disappointed by the Georgina books. Well, this is a review of Blood Promise; if you want my thoughts on the Georgina Kincaid series you can read that review, I guess.

Blood Promise made me tear up several times. I just feel so bad for Rose! I won't say more because I hate spoilers. If you haven't read this series yet, give it a try. It really is excellent. It's right up there with the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

Just One Gripe:
The first time through the book seemed a little choppy. I guess it was the fact that Rose is traveling around so much, and the new characters, but the plot didn't flow as well as the first three books. The second and third times through, however, I didn't feel that way. Maybe it was just because I was so anxious to get to the Dmitri parts of the book that I was reading too quickly the first time around.

The Best Thing About This Book:
Rose's decisions and Lissa finally growing up a little.

Appropriate for a younger audience:
Well, you've got teenage drinking, murder, and some sexual references here, so not as bad as other YA books, but not great either.

Omg. This series has me on an emotional rollercoaster!

In Blood Promise, Rose has set off on her journey to find Dimitri and kill him. She knows that he would rather be dead than live as a strigoi. Once in Dimitri's homeland she now has to learn the rules of Dhamphir's outside of the safety of the school... and she learns that she wasn't taught everything about their world in school.

I loveddddd Blood Promise. It was such a great continuation to this series. Richelle Mead's writing & story blends so well from one book to another, it's almost hard to tell them apart. She never leaves any gaps in the story, which I really like because I hate when series jump several months ahead with no explanation to what transitioned.

I didn't know it was possible but Rose keeps getting better and better, and Blood Promise she is at her best. Even though she is emotionally damaged from the loss of Dimitri and the fact that she had to leave Lissa and the rest of her friends, she is still just as strong-willed and feisty as the previous books. More so really because she has a job to do. We are also introduced to Sydney, an alchemist, whose job is to clean up the dead Strigoi left strewn around. Rose had no idea about alchemists as they are somewhat of a secret society, so it was interesting to see her reaction to this new part of her world. We also met Dimitri's family. Oh Jeez... my heart broke when Rose met them. They were so warm and loving, and completely accepted Rose from the beginning. The part where Rose had to tell them that Dimitri was turned and they had a memorial service was so sad, I was on the verge of tears We are also introduced to Abe, who is basically a Moroi mobster - he plays quite an important "part" later on in the story(which I won't spoil).

**Start Spoiler**

Rose does encounter Dimitri... and then he captures her and takes Rose back to his compound. It's soooo sad to see Dimitri as a Strigoi, and it's even more sad to watch Rose experience it. She tried to resist his charms, but it's so hard for her when she still loves him and he still looks like the same Dimitri. She eventually gives into him and becomes somewhat of a "blood whore". That is even more of a depressing part because we all know how against that entire lifestyle Rose is.

When Rose finally comes to her senses and breaks loose, I was on the edge of my seat. I obviously knew that she wasn't going to die because there are two more books left in the series but I had no idea what was going to happen.

When she thought she killed Dimitri, it was devastating. As much as I hated he was a strigoi, I held out a small amount of hope that maybe he wasn't... or something, lol.

And then you find out he is still alive !! Oooh.. *gushes*... I just cannot wait for the next book.

**End Spoiler**

There is also a new character back at the Academy - Avery. Avery is basically a fill in for Rose to Lissa and the two become quite close. But Lissa is on a self-destructive path and Rose is watching her from afar.

The Academy part of the story was the only part that I wasn't completely into, but it took nothing away from the book. I just was sooo into Rose's story that when she went to "visit" Lissa I wanted it hurry up.

All in all, this was a tremendously amazing continuation of the series. I absolutely loved it... and they keep getting better and better! I immediately started reading the next book as soon as I finished because the ending.... whooooo the ending. Richelle Mead did not disappoint.

I gave the first book, Vampire Academy 5 stars (a rarity among my reviews), the next two Frostbite and Shadow Kiss, a solid 4 stars. This one however, I had to give three stars. I'm a big fan of the Vampire Academy series but this book was a real let down for me.

I read it all in one sitting just like I had the previous ones, however, unlike Shadow Kiss, reading this book from start to finish was tedious work. It only took 17 chapters for me to truly get into the book and that was both with Rose & Dimitri's plot line as well as Lissa's. That's awful right? A big part of me wanted to skim ahead and get to the good stuff.

I was amped for Rose to go after Dimitri to kill him after reading the third book, however it seemed that once she got to Siberia, her actual purpose for being there disappeared and she settled into a mundane suburban life living with the Belikovas. Of course meeting Abe, and meeting Mark & Oksana (especially) were crucial to the setup for the end of the story and future novels, it wasn't until she got a first hand account of what the life of a blood whore was like that she remembered exactly what her purpose was, and by then I was 16 chapters in and practically pulling my hair out. Like I said... this was tedious reading.

But once chapter 17 hit and Rose starting being super bad-ass Strigoi-killing Rose, the book took a great uphill swing and I knew I could knuckle down and finish it in a few hours. For me, I was most anxious for Rose and Dimitri's interactions in the book and they didn't disappoint. Another reviewer mentioned they felt the essence of Dimitri was lost in this book. I didn't think so, after all he is Strigoi. It wouldn't make any sense for him to be the same, reserved yet amorous and compassionate guy that he once was. I liked seeing the darker "awakened" side of him. As always, Rose's undying, unquestionable love and loyalty to him had me cheering her on and wanting her to get the hell out at various points throughout their time together.

That being said, I predicted the ending. It was easy knowing what would ultimately happen between Rose and Dimitri since there's two more books in the series. I'm looking forward to reading the 5th book, Spirit Bound. Hopefully Mead has infused more action earlier into the plot and I won't be over 200+ pages in before I'm literally dying to read what's on the next page.

All in all, this book is necessary for advancing the overall plot of the series, but the first 16 chapters read like a melodramatic soap opera.

I absolutely loved this book! For one, I have been a fan of the series for a while and am SO stoked that are making this series into a movie. I started reading these books in 2011 and this book did not disappoint. Not only do we get to Rose (who I love because she's kick-ass) grow up, we see her battle with so many things: drug addiction, love, love lost, friendship, and family ties. All of these topics are handled in subtle ways that lend a greater effect. I found myself on the brink of tears many times during this book. It made me feel a lot and skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner to finish reading this book! I definitely recommend it if you like Blue Bloods, because it has a historical element (Vampire history, that is). It is also like the Vampire Diaries in that their are typical high school issues like boyfriends, drama, and binge drinking. It's the hunger games in that Rose is a kick-ass girl that doesn't bend easily. Seeing Rose succumb to her dormant addiction to vampire bites was unsettling because she's so strong, but her ultimate rise from the ether of the ecstasy was enough to make me whoop!

Also, I know they re-did the covers, but I buy the original copies because the original covers are SO beautiful!
5 STARS!

**Spoiler-FREE Summary**

This book felt like two treadmills to me sandwiching the most amazing tension-filled romantic scene in fiction. You gotta get through the first half to get to it... and then you have to get through the last half to get away from it, but that Oreo-filled middle is worth it.

My Rating: 3.695. My Breakdown - The filling (& romance) in this book sandwich is a 5.5. Wow. The treadmill leading up to the filling is an exciting 4. The exhausting horror after the filling was a frustrating 2.5 for me with a redeeming crescendo. The dreams and Lissa updates were a 3 for me.

**SPOILER-FILLED Review**

Now let's have a little fun, shall we?

I thoroughly enjoyed a trip to Russia in Blood Promise. I love the cultural setting and the visuals of the night clubs and alleyways. Plus... we got to meet our first Alchemist with the blood tattoo and feel the full force of their distaste for all things non-human. I loved how the Alchemists viewed damphirs in the same class as strigoi. It was a strong shift in perspective that prepared me for seeing Dimitri and Rose's hesitation.

Rose quickly grows into super-awesome-kick-butt-strigoi-killer. Seen through the alchemists' attitude of irritation, we skip the feeling of awe and dive right into "been there, done that". Strigoi are still a challenge, but I have real hope that Rose will take Dimitri out, like she needs to.

Meeting Dimitri's family is wonderful. It felt like a sidetrack, but lots of important things happened out there, in the middle of nowhere. Each member of the family become real and create this negative space of how awesome Dimitri was. Rose gets a chance to mourn his death, like she hasn't, yet. And it feels good. She meets other spirit users and her understanding expands as well as her grasp of the Moroi world politics. Then she even gets a glimpse of the dark side of "blood whores" and how wonderful people end up in that situation... and how close she comes to the danger of it.

I really enjoyed Abe, right from his entrance. He is soooo creepy in a mobster-type way. I love his mysterious power. He was one of my favorite surprises of the book. In the last battle (to skip ahead) he faded into a wallpaper, which totally irritated me. The Abe I knew would not sit around and ask vague questions while being content with no answers. Just sayin'.

Then we run into Dimitri... or he finds Rose, more precisely, as she draws him in. What a great scene!!! He is still Dimitri, and yet not, too. I love Rose's warring emotions. I love the ghost of emotions hiding deep in Dimitri. Maybe I was looking too hard, but in some ways... he's even better than ever.

I mean... in the first books, Dimitri is unapproachable, right? His sense of duty keeps him aloof and Rose's heart is almost cultivated into this strong, waiting, loving force. But then he gives into his feelings. Like a dam breaking, it's amazing. So, take that barrier of impossibility and times it by a bazillion... and we have Dimitri-the-strigoi. He's impossible, unreachable and yet soooo much more bad-guy than he ever could have been before. Really, really BAD. Bad.

I really, really like that. Lol.

Those scenes where the two of them were dancing around killing each other, drawn to each other and yet repelled simultaneously... just, WOW!! They are some of my favorite anywhere ever. Amazing.

But then... you know what happens. He bites her. She becomes a druggy. I think I got depressed. So much for two awesome people and an amazing kill-love dance. Now we have patient, sick, twisted bad guy and mega-sick, twisted, weak wet noodle. Yuck. I was sooooooo ready for Rose to overcome that sludgy feeling. That entire section slowed down to drowning in caramel syrup for me. Thick, slow, too sweet, a slow death.

The final escape was satisfying, but not exhilarating. Rose finds herself and even eeks out a response from Dimitri... she's even wonderfully kick-butt again, but she's so weak, it's exhausting - mentally & physically. Plus, I think I'm still in denial about Dimitri. He can't possibly have lost all of himself.

The final spirit-battle was creative, wasn't it? I liked the power struggle and all the extra insight into how the spirit magic works - both good and bad. There's lots of possibilities hiding there, you know? Plus Rose and Lissa got some stuff straightened out.

Speaking of Lissa... What did you think of the dreams and slippin' into Lissa's head? I liked getting a glimpse of the action back at the academy, but that was tedious. It really added to the treadmill feel. I did not catch on to why Lissa was acting so out of character and it really drove me nuts. This is, like, the book where the two friends are attacked mentally and really should see a psychiatrist afterwards.

I did not understand enough about Lissa's situation to care how things were going. Rose couldn't do anything about it which made me feel helpless, too. I can see why Rose cared, but I could have got a summary from her afterwards. As for the way Rose treated Adrian? I can't believe he gives her the time of day - or any attention - after that. She was really rude. Even if he's amazing, I want to see more grounds for continued friendship.

I really enjoyed this book. The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars were because of a few flaws.

First off, I felt like there were too many flashbacks to Rose and Dimitri's past. It felt a bit like Mead felt like she didn't give us enough of their relationship in the first three books, so she decided to backtrack and add in more detail. Some of these flashbacks were fine, but I didn't feel that they were all necessary and they certainly didn't propel the story forward. I also felt like the idea of the Alchemists was something that Mead just came up with and threw in - I didn't buy into the explanation about why Rose would not have heard of them before. Finally, I was sometimes confused about timing when Rose was seeing the world through Lissa's eyes. It didn't seem like time was consistent. While Rose said many days had gone by for her, it seemed like Lissa was still on the same weekend back in Montana, which didn't make much sense. It wasn't consistent at all.

Still, even though there were some flaws, I still enjoyed reading Blood Promise. While the first half of the story didn't have a lot of action, I appreciated seeing a new side of Rose as she explored her feelings for Dimitri's family and evaluated her life decisions. And the second half of the book was very intense. There were quite a few twists and turns in this book, some that I saw coming, but some that took me by surprise. I am definitely ready to continue this series! 4/5 Stars

I love this book, I am really enjoying how the story is progressing. I did not see Avery turning out how she did that completely surprised me, I enjoy how we are slowly seeing that spirit using is not as rare as we thought it was. I still love the character's and how we are seeing their personalities develop further into the stories. This book was so different to the other books so far, I really enjoyed how we got to see how Rose and Lissa were when they were separated. I enjoyed how we still got to see little flashes back to her through Rose's connection and wish that they could communicate between the link. I enjoy how many new characters were introduced in this book, we got to see the alchemists which have never been mentioned before and all of Demetri's family and the surrounding area, i feel that this made the book come alive more i read this book over two days, but i would more class it as about five hours reading time. It was so worth it. Yeva did make me giggle in the last scene with her. I did get the feeling that the entire family would have taken Rose in and made her into their family, but Yeva knew what Rose had to do and even though it must have been hard for her to think about Rose killing Demitri (can we class it as killing more like freeing I suppose) she knew that if Demitri was the one trying to find Rose it would be for the exact same reason. Abe shocked me as well. I couldn't get over the fact he is Rose's dad. I found it sweet that although he obviously has not been a part of her life that he does really care for her to go to the lengths that he did throughout the story, he was still creepy as anything though. I would love to see how this is going to develop. I like how rose has finally figured out that she really does love her mum and her mum loves her too, i feel the time rose spent with Demitri's family helped show her this. My heart did slightly break during Rose's entrapment because we saw for sure that Demitri is no longer the guy that i absolutely loved in the previous books. What is left is far from the sweet yet strong guy he was before. No way would he do the things to Rose if he wasn't Strigoi. Although i did enjoy the little snippets that Rose remembered I feel that we got to see their relationship on a whole new level. I do like and dislike how Demitri's personality has changed, I know it was to be expected now that he is Strigoi, but I want the old Demitri to come through. I really want to see how he is going to come across in the next book. The note was so creepy at the end.

See more at: http://nookreading.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/blood-promise-by-richelle-mead.html#sthash.8hLmbr3b.dpuf

**Spoilers for the previous VA books

Again the story continues where the last one stopped. All the same characters are back.

The story this time is Rose going off to try to find Dimitri, so she can kill him. He became a Stigoi in the last book... and she knows that he would rather be dead than be undead. So, off she goes to Russia in hopes he would have returned to his homeland.

We got to find out more about who Dimitri was. Where he came from, who his family is. Which was pretty cool. I liked his family, especially the Grandma! Ill be like that when im old!! Totally.

We also got to see memories from Rose and Dimirtis time together, which were only hinted at in previous books, but fully explained in this one. It was nice to see more of their romance, that I had felt was so lacking in the earlier books. That being said, it also pretty muched sucked... for 2 reasons. First, because obviously hes a bad guy now, and Im only NOW getting to like him more. BUT also bec it means you feel Rose's pain more, as she remembers things about him that she loved, and now mourns.

I liked Adrian ten times more in this book, than in any of the other books! You finally got to see a redeeming side of him, which was a nice change. There were also a few new characters, that aren't as rosy as they appear.

There was kinda a surprise ending... which is leading into the next book of course. Im curious how this series will end. There is little to no hope for Rose and Dimitri, yet Mead continuously dangles a carrot in front of the readers face with hope.

Overall, a much more exciting novel. Im still torn between the last book and this one- in which is the best!

Review by TheresaMJones.com

Rose sets off to hunt Dimitri and kill his Strigoi self. She decides the most likely place for him is Russa, since that's where he's from. She spends some time with his family, and meets an entirely new class of creature in this world: the Alchemist. These are humans who help Moroi and Dhampirs with certain things they can't accomplish themselves, keep other humans from discovering the vampires' existence, and also have potions to dissolve Strigoi corpses. Rose just keeps learning things in the real world before she has a chance to find out about them in school! However much ahead of the curve she is, she still has difficulty controlling her emotions and relationships. I'm going to stop right here with the summary, because the rest is something you'll have to find out for yourself!
This continues to be an awesome, excellent, fascinating series. I'm not even mad that I keep figuring things out before Rose does. (i.e. what the Mana were up to in the last book, that Adrian was a spirit user in the book before that, as well as the big revelations in this book) Mead's foreshadowing might be a little heavy-handed, but I don't care. I just can't stop reading these books.

One thing that I positively love about Richelle Mead? That she'll do what the book NEEDS and not what the fans want. That's clear because the ending of Shadow Kiss and nearly the entire plot of Blood Promise were NOT what I wanted. Not at all.

If I were in control of the series, the storyline would not be where it is righ tnow. Not at all.

I was going to try to write this review without spoilers for the previous books, but that's near impossible. So? If you haven't read the first three books of the Vampire Academy series? Do NOT click the spoiler

Quick spoiler (for Shadow Kiss, not Blood Promise really) :

While I was halfway through Shadow Kiss, someone spoiled it for me. They told me that Dimitri was turned, and that made me just set this series down for awhile. I didn't like it, I didn't like knowing and I didn't want it to happen. I was in love with Dimitri.

After about a month break, I finally finished Shadow Kiss and then picked up Blood Promise.

I was nervous for where this book would go, and it turns out I was right. I hated it - Well, I loved the book! But I was heartbroken through half the book. I was angry at Rose, angry at Lissa and irritated with Adrian.

But once again, Richelle Mead pulls us into the world of the Vampire Academy, a well built and intriguing world filled with teh characters we love! I am both excited, and scared to pick up the next book in this installment!

Before I finish my review; I have to make note that I listened to Blood Promise on audio from audible.com. I am really disappointed that I did. The narrator was HORRIBLE. (I listened on 2x speed, and her voice was ALMOST bearable then...) She was slow, bad with the voices and nasaly. I quit at about the halfway point and picked up the actual bok. I have never been so disappointed in a narration of a book as I was with this one. Add in the irritating music they played to "build tension" but really just distracted you during key points of the story. So my recommendation? READ THE BOOK!

Part of me really didn't want to write this reveiw tonight... mostly because I want to be reading the next book Spirit Bound. I don't know what it is about the VA series, but I devour these books in only a matter of days (sometimes hours!) and Blood Promise was no different. Once again, I will warn you that there may be some semi spoilers in this review. I've really enjoyed the dialog I've had with other readers on these books and so I don't want to be too cryptic about my opinions.

We meet our characters separated and unhappy when Blood Promise begins. Rose has put a great distance between herself and her home and friends as she sets out on a dark and deadly mission. Her quest leads her to Russia where she encounters an Alchemist, Sydney and a host of other characters who hep her and deter her on her path. Through out the book, Rose must choose not only between the right choice and the easy choice but she must also choose to turn her back on those that she loves most to sacrifice herself for love.

I will start off by saying that I didn't enjoy this book as much as the others for a few reasons. First and foremost, I felt that this one dragged a little. Blood Promise was more of a filler book that provided a lot of information and set up a wonderful book five as I can only imagine. That's not to say that things didn't happen in this book. Please don't get me wrong, there were some very emotional and intense scens, but I felt like there was more world building than actual story telling. This was not a bad thing per say. Mead has created such a unique and complex world and so it seems only right that at least a few of the books in her six book series be dedicated to giving some meat to the world of the Moroi, Strigoi and Dhampire.

If you've read my other reviews in the VA academy series, you'll know that I am quite in love with Mr. Dimitri and so I may not have liked this one because we do see quite a different side to this hunky Russian. I fell for his quite demeanor and restrained love for Rose and in past books, and in Blood Promise, well... he's a completely different man. Understandably so, but you'll understand when I say I was as sad and disappointed as Rose was when she met the new and improved Dimitri.

The tone of this book was quite different as well. It seemed that every storyline we were followng was full of sorrow and misery, which of course was the intention. This wasn't supposed to be the happiest of stories as tragedy has just struck, but it was a little monotonus to read as the characters were continually sad and upset.

In conclusion, this book just made me more and more excited for book five and I can't wait to get this next one underway!

7 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

Allison
[...]

This review was originally seen on acreads.blogspot.com!

It took me almost an entire year to bring myself to read Blood Promise... I know, I know. But after the events of Shadow Kiss, I knew that Rose was going to go on some big, giant quest that separated her from the world that she knows and, ugh... After Dimitri was turned into a Strigoi, I just couldn't handle the emotional stress of what was surely to come.

But, alas, I have finally finished Blood Promise and... eh... it was a 3/5 star-er for me. The synopsis that I included above is pretty adequate: Blood Promise picks up almost immediately after the events of Shadow Kiss (Dimitri and Rose finally well, you know..., a giant pack of Strigoi attack the Academy, Dimitri is turned, and Rose decides to go on a suicide mission to free Dimitri from the undead). Rose has been in Russia for some time (a few weeks to a month?), attempting to track down local Moroi and hopefully find her way to Dimitri to finish him off. Rose periodically checks in on Lissa via their connection and, other than some "dream visits" from Adrian, those are the only updates that we get about the gang still at St. Vladimir's. For the most part, Rose is on her own. After a series of events (omitted to limit the spoiler count), Rose finally finds herself with Dimitri, who gives her the choice between death or immortality as a Strigoi to rule along side with him as the leaders of a large clan.

In my opinion, Blood Promise functioned as a turning point for the entire series. The catastrophic Strigoi attack not only changes the Moroi/Dhampir view of their world but forces the main characters to, well, grow up. Each character realizes that they're not as safe as they thought they were and the strategic Strigoi attack hints that there is a much bigger and darker problem looming on the horizon (this last part is strictly me guessing). While a lot happens in Blood Promise to usher the plot line of the series forward, it also serves as a major character development book. The Rose that we knew from the first three books was immature in a lot of ways - stubborn, selfish, didn't fully think things through... But she emerges from Blood Promise as an older, wiser and much more mature young woman. How could she not? She gave up her entire world to hunt down the only guy she has ever had feelings for.

All of that being said, this book was just okay for me for a multitude of reasons. First, I simply didn't want the story to go in the direction that it needed to. The relationship between Dimitri and Rose was finally starting to get good, the craziness revolving around Lissa's spirit magic was finally under control... The dust had just settled... and then Shadow Kiss happened and everything was ripped away from me. I simply was not in the mood for an epic journey and that is basically what Rose embarks on. Secondly, the book is just so dang long. A lot happens and I'll give Richelle Mead that... but there were certain points of the story that felt stretched out and this made it difficult for me to retain my interest. Lastly, there is no freaking conclusion! I'm not going to go into too much detail... but I hoped that Blood Promise would wrap certain things up so that the characters could move on and move forward... but does that happen? Nope, not at all. Instead, I have to read another two books to figure out how everything ends!

Will I read Spirit Bound? Of course. I've already started *grumble grumble*. I just hope that I like this book better than Blood Promise. We'll see, I guess!

Leaving everything she's ever known behind Rose sets out on a quest to kill the man she loves, but even finding out his hometown proves difficult. Rose soon realizes she can't do this alone. Sydney a reluctant, yet useful ally finally helps Rose make her way to Dimitri's family. All the while dealing with grief and heartache, Rose also has to deal with her shadow-kissed powers which keep springing up surprises.

Dimitri's family receives her with open arms, and Rose almost loses sight of her purpose. The town's underground life and a mysterious man called Abe snap her back to reality. Rose heads back to the city with a band of unpromised guardians and starts hunting out Strigoi, leaving a message out for Dimitri.

But no matter how many times Rose told herself she could do it, it never prepared her for that first time of seeing him again. Now trapped in his world, and with mixed feelings, will Rose be able to fulfill her promise? Or will the new promise of "together forever" be too tempting?

The first half of the book goes pretty slow action-wise, but that's alright because it was like the first book giving info on a whole bunch of new interesting things. Although Rose's grieving annoyed me a bit, because she would go on and on and on, I couldn't really blame her. Her escapes were a nice distraction. Going into Lissa's mind leads down another plot that runs parallel to Rose's.

Also I've never seen this done before, but I absolutely loved the way Rose goes back to reminiscence and describe in detail events and conversations between her and Dimitri. It gives insight into their relationship, and lets us catch all those cute scenes we didn't see in the other books.

We've heard about Dimitri's scary grandma before, but after seeing her in action well...Yeva rocks! And Abe also rocks and you'll get why once you finish the book. Actually the end brings two surprises. And yes, thankfully I stayed away from spoilers for this!

My Summary:

Unbelievably, Rose has left Lissa behind and traveled to Russia to find the man she loves so she can kill him. She knows the man she loved would never want to be a strigoi, killing those who he would have once died to protect. Rose can't move on until she knows he's at peace. But when the time comes, will she be able to do it? Can she really win against him? They were so evenly matched before he turned - now he will have the strigoi speed and strength to help him. And even if she can do it, what then? Having turned her back on Lissa, she can't just drop back into her old like. And speaking of Lissa, what will happen to her while Rose is off hunting strigoi? All her choices haunt her as Rose fights to do the only right thing she knows to do.

My Thoughts:

5 stars - A MUST read

The Blood Promise audiobook again changed narrators. I looked ahead and it seems that Emily Shaffer will read the rest of the series. I did like the change this time. Emily added the Russian accents back in that the narrator from book 2&3 had removed. I like the Russian accents. Dimitri just didn't sound like him without one. Emily does a good job with all the voices and I was able to sit back and enjoy the book without being distracted by the narrator, highest praise I can give.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have witnessed my emotional breakdown during this book. I required much reassurance from trusted peeps that I could survive Dimitri as a strigoi. This book was sad. It's supposed to be sad. Rose is in the worst possible place in her life trying to do the worst possible task. What I really liked about this book was the path that Rose traveled. She dealt with grief and pain. She got to know the Dimitri of Russian, the young Dimitri and it was painful. She experienced such impossible situations. While she suffered and fell down many times, she was Rose. Her true heroism was firmly in place. I cried for her. I hurt for her. I was proud of her. She may have wished that she didn't do some of the things she did, but I thought she was noble in her efforts and accomplishments. Why do I make such a big deal out of this? Well, there was a series that I loved that the heroine didn't do what Rose did. She let the trials break her. I won't say what series but needless to say I was worried about Rose. It never happened. Rose is Rose - a kick butt badass in love with another one.

As for the plot, it was crazy intense. Just as I thought I had something figured out, everything turned around and I was reeling. There were so many twists and turns in this story, I was beginning to feel like I had lost my normally incredible ability to figure things about before they happen. Alas, I did figure out a few so it's not gone. Not many though. It's an emotional roller coaster that was so much fun to ride, I was quickly back in line for more. Bring on book five. So glad this series is complete. Don't think I could handle a year wait between books.

Just read it! It's fabulous.

If you haven't read Shadow Kissed, then you wont understand why I have been counting down the days until Blood Promise came out. Shadow Kissed had an ending that left me depressed and uneasy for days after finishing it, so much so, that when I picked up Blood Promise, I was almost afraid to start it. Would Ms. Reed heap more misery on her loyal fans?

I mean, it wasn't just the romance between Rose and Dimitri that has kept me riveted, but to see it end the way it did, was beyond painful.

Rose is hurting and it's awful to read about her broken heart as she tries to keep the most important promise she's ever made to the only man she'll ever love. Keeping the promise will probably kill her, literally and emotionally, but she's determined. She heads off to Russia, hoping to find Dimitri's hometown and thus him, but things don't go at all the way she's planned.

After a strange encounter with an Alchemist (trust me, it's an odd but interesting twist to the story) she finally tracks down Dimitri's hometown in Siberia. What follows is sad heaped on a weepy pile of despair as she meets Dimitri's family, visits places he used to go and finds a bonded pair of gifted moroi and dhampir.

Then the unthinkable happens; she finds Dimitri.

I wont say what happens next, just that it wasn't what I was expecting and it was the better for the surprise.

There was a lot going on at home too with Lissa, Adrian and a new person at the school who seems a little too good to be true.

All I can say about the ending is that it sets the stage for an exciting and hopefully happy book five.

Sigh, more waiting.

Fourth in the Vampire Academy young adult urban fantasy series revolving around Rose Hathaway, a young Guardian-to-be.

My Take
Oh man, I cried. It was so hard in Shadow Kiss when Dimitri was taken by the Strigoi but having to encounter him again with the promise of what could have been was just so sad. Mead did an excellent job of building tension and setting us up for the next in the series--I'm on pins and needles! Rose learns so much about herself, about Strigoi, about more advanced skills between a spirit user and the person who holds a bond, who is shadow-kissed.

She was also brilliant in creating Galina and Dimitri's Strigoi personalities with their contrast between the living dhampirs and their evil counterparts.

Thankfully, Mead created a believable scenario for death and resurrection in Blood Promise; so much more realistic than some "resurrections" I've read recently.

The Story
Torn between her love for Dimitri and her knowledge of his desire to not live as a Strigoi, Rose has left school and is hunting across Russia for Dimitri, the Strigoi. She can't bear to think of him as one of them and she can't bear that they will never have the life of which they dreamed. Seeing Russia without Dimitri's presence but with the memories of his reminiscences tears at Rose as she views the fairytale-like buildings of which he spoke.

Her anger lends her the strength to kill all Strigoi she encounters. A mess she spreads across the city until she comes to the attention of an Alchemist, Sydney. Seems there is some information Rose would have learned when she graduated. Now she'll have to figure it out as she goes.

Just as Rose will have to find the strength and the truth when she does find the object of her hunt. And an even greater strength when she must unite with Oksana to save Lissa.

The Characters
Rose Hathaway is a dhampir who has almost graduated as a full-fledged Guardian, one who protects Moroi. Instead, she is hunting across Russia to release Dimitri, her lover and her teacher, into a true death. Janine Hathaway is her mother and a renowned Guardian. Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir is Rose's bondmate, a royal Moroi and the last of her line. Adrian Ivashkov is another spirit user, like Lissa with whom he's working on using spirit at the academy but he copes with the side effects by smoking and drinking. He's in love with Rose.

Sydney is an Alchemist. A member of a human organization who protects humans from knowledge. Abe Mazur is a very powerful and influential unknown Moroi dealing in the legal and the illegal with an intense interest in Rose whom he progressively threatens more and more.

Dimitri Belikova was one of the best of the Guardians and worked one-on-one at the school with Rose as well as teaching the dhampirs in general. A Strigoi attack ended with their abducting him; the only outcome can be their turning him to Strigoi. Dimitri and Rose loved each other. Olena Belikova is Dimitri's mother, a healer, living in Baia, Siberia; Yeva is his grandmother, the witch with Sight. His three sisters also live with their mother with their children: Karolina with her son Paul and a baby daughter; Viktoria; and, the pregnant Sonya. Oksana and Mark are a spirit-using Moroi and her bondmate with some fascinating tricks to teach.

Denis, Tamara, Lev, and Artur are unpromised dhampirs in Siberia who are like Rose; they want to fight and pay no attention to strategy or practicality. When Rose leaves the Belikovas, she throws in with them believing she will have a better chance of finding Dimitri. Galina is Dimitri's old instructor back when he was in school; now she is the head Strigoi with her own estate outside Novosibirsk. Nathan is the Strigoi who awakened Dimitri and is now so angry because Dimitri has a higher status with Galina than he.

Eugene Lazar, a royal Moroi, has arrived to replace Headmistress Kirova; his daughter Avery and son Reed are with him. Simon is Avery's Guardian. Jill is a fourteen-year-old student at the academy who is interested in learning how to use her Moroi talent to fight. Alberta is the Guardian captain at the school who would love to see Rose graduate.

The Cover
The cover is a downcast profile of Rose in a rather dreamy pose above the wrought iron gates of the Vampire Academy.

The title is a Blood Promise Rose and Dimitri exchanged that neither wanted to live as Strigoi.

Like every other book in the Vampire Academy series, Blood Promise is an amazing book and a delightful read. In this book, Rose gets to know more about Dimitri and his family which is great for the readers as well since we get to also get a glimpse of a part of Dimitri's life. I think Rose grows a bit in this book because she has to deal with this heavy task in front of her and she isn't really prepared for it. I had to bookmark this book once or twice, which I hate doing, because I had other things to take care of first, but my mind would just wander back to this book. I would get antsy and just couldn't wait to open the book again and continue where I left off because I just had to know what happened next. I love all of Richelle Mead's books that I have read so far and Blood Promise is no exception.

THESE BOOKS ARE FREAKING AMAZING!! LIKE BREATH-TAKING GORGEOUS!! AND FANTASTIC!! I just read them Honestly, I cant be glad or thankful enough that I have read them. They changed my life. They added a whole different world into mine. They made my imagination and perspective bigger. They made me believe more. They made me excited, and happy, and sad and so many another emotions. If you haven't already read them, I'll tell you this; you're missing out A LOT. So hurry and read them. You wont regret it ;) I'm fifteen and I think these books are good for anyone and everyone. Rose's character is a whole another story,m she is amazing. Sometimes, I wish I was like her, she is so badass!! She is like a goddess, she's completely amazing!! And she is definitely one of the best narrators I have ever read!! I DO DARE SAY IT WAS PRETTY MESSED UP AT THE END OF THE LAST BOOK! I WAS REALLY ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED AND GOT QUITE ANXIOUS! I EVEN THREW THE BOOK AT THE WALL, BUT LET ME TELL YOU THIS RICHELLE MEAD NEVER FAILS TO SURPRISE SO IT DID GET BETTER, MUCH, MUCH BETTER ACTUALLY :D BUT THEN IT GETS MESSED UP AGAIN AT THE END, THOUGH A LITTLE SPOILER, IT GETS BETTER AGAIN ;)

PJVs QUICKIE POV:
An emotional wreck after reading Shadow Kiss, I put down Vampire Academy #3 and left it down for a long time. I couldn't do it. I couldn't read Blood Promise, no matter how much I needed to know what happened with Dmitri --- I couldn't find out. It was bitter sweet. It has taken me one year to pick up this book. These books invoke that much of an emotional response. On a petty note, I was also kind of peeved that Richelle Mead had pushed back the release of Iron Crowned to release Spirit Bound. My little temper tantrum to say the least. So, I waited and now I've been sucked back into the series. Hello, Rose. Missed you.

REVIEW:
Blood Promise picks up right where Shadow Kiss left off. Rose has left the academy, Lissa and her friends and is on a mission. Her mission is to hunt down Dmitri and stake the strigoi right out of him. She made a promise and she has to keep it, even if it means her own death.

Clues have led her to Russia and deeper, to Siberia, Dmitri's homeland. It's an enlightening experience as she soon discovers that she barely knows anything about her world...and her preconceived notions and misconceptions are way off track.

The discoveries Rose makes during Blood Promise had me really taking a second look at this series. She made a huge jump in this book and Mead kept me on my toes the entire time. It really had me thinking that the outcome might be very different than I had originally thought. Then like the dummy I am, I went and read the synopsis on goodreads of Spirit Bound. Well that ruined that. So don't read the synopsis! I would go into details, but that would mean a lot of spoilers.

My initial trepidations for reading this were not false. I knew my emotional outcome would end up being a dislike for Dmitri...and now with his new strigoi face, not feeling the love any more, but I do feel the emotional turmoil that Rose must feel as she contemplates staking him. Unlike other readers, I haven't latched on to a replacement for Dmitri. I think Rose might need to be single for a little bit. Find out who she is and not who she is +1. Highly recommended, but nobody ever follows my dating advice, right. Best way to get over someone? Replace them. I'm not buying it. I go for the eat lots of ice cream and get a massage by a hot, yet dumb man way of recouping, who is with me?
Nevermind. The book is good. Worth reading on. I need Spirit Bound, like right now.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
For mature teen audiences, there are sexual references, violence and questionable moral actions.

The cover:

This is one of my favorite covers. It holds mystery in it :). And it certainly says a lot about the book!!

The story:

As a huge fan of the series, I was somehow disappointed in this sequel.

The first half was going so slow, that I was that close to stop reading it. I hated how Rose got away from St. Vladimir and how she acted somehow selfish. I know she was trying to be strong and all but that wasn't cool at all.

The second half was better but I can split it into two parts as well; the first part was the worst part of the whole book, I completely hated Dimitri as Strigoi!!! Somehow, the chapters describing how had Rose gone as a Blood Whore for Dimitri were the longest and the bad part. I felt like he was using her. And unlike the other sequels, this one got me unease :s. The second part however was super awesome and cool, especially the fact that Lissa actually punched someone!! :D.

I loved the ending, it's one of my favorites. I loved how strong is the friendship between Lissa and Rose and how much they really appreciate each other. And the big surprise at the end, which I kind of expected, you know ;).

The characters:

This is where it gets better! I had the honor to meet the Belikovs whom I loved, especially Olena (Dimitri's mother). She was calm, nice and caring. His sisters were good too :).

Sydney was nice to meet, especially sine she's the narrator of Bloodlines, I had fun trying to figure her out. She's a nice person and a trustworthy friend :).

Adrian is my favorite one in this book. He was patient, funny, calm and caring. I like him very much now!

Ah, and Abe of course, I won't spoil this one (I already think I spoiled this review :s). He's a mystery uncovered at the end of the book and it was super fun to figure him out ;).

For the rest of the characters, and I mean the Lazar family, hmmmm.... I don't need to say a thing except that I'm happy we won't see them anymore.

Conclusion:

I'm really confused. I love the series but I have to be fair. I didn't enjoy this book at all until I was at the last 3 chapters, and I counted them. At least, I figured why it wasn't that much fun for me, it was because of Rose's friends. I didn't realize how much I liked Lissa, Christian, Adrian, Alberta and the St. Vladimir environment until they were almost missing in this sequel.

This entire book is about Rose on a mission to find and kill the Dimitri. Back in the first book they had a talk about what they would want if they were turned Strigoi and that was to be killed. So once Rose turns 18 she leaves school and heads to Russia in hopes of finding Dimitri.

While in Russia, Rose meets and Alchemist named Sydney while out staking Strigoi by a nightclub. Alchemists are humans who are there to keep the Vampire existence a secret. They dispose of the Strigoi bodies with a special potion. So when Rose starts leaving mass bodies in her wake Sydney sets out to find who's making her life difficult, which is how the two meet. When Rose tells Sydney where she's trying to go they set off to Dimitri's hometown. Which is where Rose meets his mother, sisters and grandmother. Being in his old home brings up a lot of memories for Rose. So even though Dimitri isn't in the book a lot, he is brought up a lot. As well as Rose checks in with Lissa through their bond. There is a new girl at the school who appears to be a bad influence for Lissa. Adrian makes appearances in this book both through the bond with Lissa and when he visits her in her dreams. So even though it is a book about Rose being out on her own searching for Dimitri we still get updates on the whole crew.

I must say though, the book takes a crazy turn when the Strigoi version of Dimitri does show up. He's still like the old Dimitri in some ways but he is really short tempered and... well.. for lack of a better word, bad.

Well here we are! Book 4 of the vampire academy, Blood Promise. Or as I like to call it the book of anticipation. After what happens in the 3rd book I wanted see strigoi Dimitri. But we would have to wait a bit. This book takes place a few weeks after the events of book 3. So Rose is in Russia and she is on a misson...sort of. She get caught by a girl named Sydney who is an alchemist and hates vampires. But they work together and she helps Rose get to Dimitri's home town. We are also have to endore Lissa POV from time to time and she acting werid and weak (what eles is new). Then we meet Dimitri's family. His mom is like a Russina Mrs. Weasley. His grandma like to make rose carry heavy stuff and his sisters we find are all hugh whores. No father. I thought for sure Dimitri's dad would come around. Hmmm...still no Strigoi Dimitri! Rose forgets about her mission and want to stay and mooch off Belikovs until they throw her out. Then one night she ruins Dimitri's sister plans of being a blood whore. She makes a deal with the alchemist/vampire mobster Abe to scare off the boy that got her dimitri's sister pregnant if she leaves. So she leave and join with a groups of unpromised vampires she meet at church to finally go find Dimitri. They kill a bunch of vampire's asking if they knew of Dimitri. Then one night she is walking outside by herself, and who should come? DIMITRI! In all his strigoi glory. Instead of kill her right there, Dimitri's takes her to hotel room so they can have some sexy time before Dimitri makes her a strigoi. Dimitri as a strigoi was okay. I expected him to be happy. I wanted Rose to be confused. I wanted her to think that maybe be a strigoi is a good thing, look at how happy Dimitri is. But Dimitri was just weird. He was happy, but he wasn't overjoyed. The ending was crazy. The final battle with Lissa was interesting. It was like a battle of the minds. I give this book a 4 stars. I give it four stars because i wanted to see Dimitri more.

from Murphy's Library

Oh boy... As I said on my review for Shadow Kiss, I started reading Blood Promise right away. I couldn't help myself, I had to find out what happens with Dimitri after he's been awaken. Rose is going to hunt down him--and kill him, no matter what costs to make it, she's gonna keep her promise. Even if she's pretty sure she's gonna die on this suicide mission too.

Rose goes to Russia, where she's sure she'll find Dimitri--but it isn't that easy to find a Strigoi. On her jorney, she meets Sydney, an Alchemist. The Alchemists have made a deal with the Moroi, they would help Moroi and dhampirs, their societies stay secret from humans, and in exchange, Moroi give the Alchemists a golden tattoo that make them have some of Moroi traits. They have got tricks and technioques to get rid of Strigoi bodies--and that's how Rose meets Sydney, she's been leaving a trail of bodies behind her, what's pissing the Alchemist off.

As planned, Rose ends up at Dimitri's hometown in Siberia--but he's nowhere there, to her disappointment. She meets tons of people there--his family, more dhampirs and even some Moroi, like the opportunist Abe. Meanwhile, at St. Vladimir Academy, Lissa's still dealing with the fact that Rose left her--and she also gets new friends. Adrian is still around helping Lissa with the spirit element.

I have a kinda love/hate relationship with Blood Promise. I loved some parts, but I also hated some--especially Lissa's. I ended up finding myself wishing she would jump out of a window--uh, sorry, pun intended, I couldn't help myself LOL She's spoiled, selfish, annoying... I loved the fact that Rose left her, I was hoping she'd learn a lesson from it. And Rose... Oh, Roza. Nobody can blame you.

Again, I finished reading Blood Promise and started Spirit Bound right away. What can I say? I read the entire series in just a week, and I'd recommend anyone who's interested on reading it to start just after having all the six books. It gets better and better and you won't want to put it down until you're done. And after that, you'll probably suffer with a Vampire Academy withdrawal, as much as I'm suffering.

I was not prepared for this book at all. Putting down this series is IMPOSSIBLE. It is amazing, perfect, and everything you want novels to be. But, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster - more than you have experienced so far with this series.

*** BEWARE SMALL SPOILERS ***

Blood Promise picks up right after the Massacre at the Academy, including Dimitri's turn to becoming a Strigoi. To say that Rose is lost is an understatement. However, she made a promise to Dimitri that she would never let him "live" as a Striogoi. To fulfill this promise she must hunt him down... and kill him. Not know where to start she goes to him homeland, Siberia. There she meets unlikely allies and foes, including Dimitri's family. Rose grows more closer to Dimitri than she ever thought possible.

Blood Promise focuses on Rose's personal internal journey. She struggles with the task that she has set out in front of her: to kill the man she loves. On one hand she knows that Dimitri is no longer Dimitri but something evil, on the other hand she can't help but hold onto that small slither of hope that there is a part of him that is still the man she fell in love with.

While Dimitri himself is physically absent for most of the book, his "presence" is heavily present. And then of course he shows up! To be honest, it was weird seeing Dimitri as a Strigoi. Just like Rose, you know he is Evil and Dead, but at the same time, just like Rose, you can see small aspects that make him Dimitri the Guardian. Of course Rose is unable to kill Dimitri and falls into his Strigoi world, unable to escape.

Again and Again you become sucked into the worlds and characters and plots that Richelle Mead has created. There is something that you cannot put your finger on, that makes this series absolutely amazing!! Rose is a very strong character, both physically and emotionally. I love watching her grow from an immature child to young woman who does the right thing, never giving a second thought otherwise.

Then there are her amazing and complicated relationships and Friendships. Rose leaves Lisa's side in this book for the first time. Both struggle with their last visit together before Rose leaves for Siberia. But both characters find their own path while staying true to their friendship. I'll admit I have never really understood Lisa and why Rose is so dedicated to her, but you get a glimpse into Lisa's life in this novel that helps you understand her a bit more.

Again, if you have not read this book or series, get off your butt and pick up NOW NOW NOW NOW. You will not be disappointed. This is one series you don't want to miss out on!

Richelle Mead is the fabulous author of the Vampire Academy series. The series started with Vampire Academy (Book 1), was followed by Frostbite (Book 2) and continued with Shadow Kiss (Book 3). Each book became more and more intense as danger enters the lives of Moroi Lissa and her Guardian Rose. I admit that I was nervous about BLOOD PROMISE. It has been long awaited and we all know that far too often when we count down the seconds for a new book it turns out to be a dud. I gradually fell in love with Mead's books and was praying that BLOOD PROMISE would continue that fantastic story that Mead had laid out. By the end of the first page I could tell that BLOOD PROMISE was most definitely a winner.

At this point in the review I typically like to give you a quick synopsis of the book from my point of view. This review is going to be more difficult than past reviews for the simple fact that anything I tell you about BLOOD PROMISE will be a spoiler for the first three books. I'll do my best though.

In short, Rose has a personal quest that she must fulfill and the journey to complete this quest ends up changing her life. Lissa, being the important person that she is, yet again faces hardship and drama. As with the previous three books, the two girls love each other and must find a way to save each other. That's about all I can tell you without giving away the previous books and especially Shadow Kiss (Book 3).

What I can tell you about Mead's latest book is that it surpasses the first three by far. Mead has taken this fantastic world of the Moroi (living vampires), the Dhampir (half vampire), and the Strigoi (dead and cruel vampires) and taken it to a whole new level. The emotions running throughout this book are intense. I cried in a few parts, I laughed in others. Some scenes had my sitting on the edge of the seat in a near panic as I flipped the pages as fast as possible reading to find out what happens next. For me, this was the most surprising aspect of BLOOD PROMISE. While the first three books were good and entertaining, I would say that this book rivals some of the best Paranormals, Romances, and Young Adult books out there.

There were some tricky parts that Mead had to work through in order for BLOOD PROMISE to work. I was curious as to how this would work out, but in the end what she did to make the story work was seamless and worked nicely. Sometimes that's not always the case as the author ends up having to change some of the best parts of the world that have created in order to get the big twists and turns to work. The fact that Mead could create new and interesting ways to make the story work is a tribute to her talent as an author.

The character development in BLOOD PROMISE was absolutely fantastic. I don't really expect to learn much new about any main character by the fourth book, but that's exactly what happened in BLOOD PROMISE. We get a deeper look into many of our favorite characters but especially Lissa and Rose. Along with the introduction of some new characters, Mead manages to take an established series and still give it a new and fresh feel. That in and of itself would have been enough to continue reading BLOOD PROMISE. The stunning story between the covers was certainly icing on the cake.

Fair warning time: There are mentions of adult themes. There are no graphic scenes (in my opinion) and I would give this a sensuality rating of 3 like Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely.

What's not to love? I couldn't find any huge writing errors, the pace was beautiful, and the characters immediately came to life. It's obvious the love and care that Mead imbues her writing with. If I hadn't already been a fan of hers or a fan of the series, this book would hook me immediately.

I recommend this book to any fans of Young Adult fiction, Paranormal fiction, and Romance. This is not a lazy book that relies on cool imagery with a less than stellar plot. This has wonderful imagery, a killer plot and an ending that leaves me gasping and begging that the next book (Spirit Bound: A Vampire Academy Novel) was already in my hands.

There was SO much potential in this book, so many directions this story could have taken, and yet I feel like someone stuck me on a merry-go-round. For a book with so much happening in it, very little actually happened. I am disappointed to say the least.

There is very little that we learn in Blood Promise. We get insight into Dimitri's family, as well as a small glimpse into the fact that there are more Spirit capable Moroi, and of course the possibility that a Spirit Moroi MIGHT be able to heal the evil blood sucking crazy out of a Strigoi. Which, at this point, pretty much everyone had guessed that's what this book would be about anyway. We also get a little more insight on Adrian and just how much he cares about Rose, and at this point I'm voting on Adrian, honestly. But that's pretty much all this book is useful for. It's so much filler it drives me insane.

I did in fact, manage to read it in all of six hours, however, that was purely me wanting to know what was going to happen. I mean there had to be some action in there somewhere, right? Ehh... There was, but it was very little, and in fact, very little means: almost none. There were maybe two or three fight scenes throughout the entire book that were actually worth calling 'fight scenes.'

Also, we can't forget about Lissa? Right? Blood Promise doesn't manage to exclude her, she's well within our grasp, but it's sort of loosely tied together with the rest of the story. First of all, Rose just 'pops in' on her through out the book. Like.. oh say, while sitting out on a curb... where a Strigoi could pop up on her at any time... not too smart right? But, back to Lissa - I get that she's the last in her family, the last in her line, but oh my goodness. Could we try not to kill her for once? Most of the book seems like a big ploy to get Rose away from the Academy just long enough for someone to try and kill her again. Except this time Rose has to think of another way to save her since she's not actually at the Academy - and while, I'll admit this was interestingly done - still it's grasping at straws and was slightly confusing.

There is so much that I want to mention but it would give away a great deal of the plot, perhaps I will write another post about it specifically that isn't included in the reviews. But, Blood Promise? A Merry-go-round. We are right back at the same place we left off in Shadow Kiss: What's going to happen with Dimitri? Except now there might be a way to SAVE Dimitri... which... couldn't Richelle had just put that in Shadow Kiss somewhere? As I said before, most people had figured out that this is what Blood Promise was going to be about anyway! It would not have been that hard to include it, and would have made a perfect cliffhanger. 500 pages for one new development seems like a bit of a stretch for me. Blood Promise, to me, felt like the Jacob chapters in Breaking Dawn. Entertaining but mainly just useless. Unless of course you like to know every little thing about a character. In that case, you'll probably love it. Me, myself, I could go for a little mystery.

I was going to only give this a three-star because portions of the first half of the book dragged. I'm new to this series, so Roses trips back-and-forth into Lissa's mind were just plain annoying. I realize this is the Vampire Academy series so perhaps the author felt some need to keep the story connected the school, but it weakened the story. Compared to Roses quest, the intrigues of the Moroi court and the viper in their midst just seemed ... vacuous.

That being said, the last 1/3 of the book and the delicately woven details throughout the book of Roses trip through Russia earned it that fourth star. Rose went there to do a job and (sort of) did it (won't say more ... spoilers). Mead's description of Mockba, the Russian countryside, the mannerisms and hospitality of the Russian people were dead-on. Either she's Russian, has visited Russia, or did one heck of a job of researching the topic. Especially her description of Yelta ... stereotypical poccua babuswka.

Roses interactions with Dimitri ... hope ... grief ... heartbreak. I ran the full gamut of emotions along with Rose. There was a nice little curve ball at the end about a certain scarf-bearer (spoiler) and when a certain package arrives in the mail, I actually found myself shouting 'yes!'

I will be picking up the next book in this series and reading it. It has earned a place in my library.

Blood Promise, the 4th in the Vampire Academy series, follows Rose's mission to find and kill Dimitri. She withdraws from school and leaves behind Lissa, Christian, and Adrian. (Don't be too alarmed; her bond with Lissa allows her to check in on what's going on at VA.) This book is all about character development (Rose). She ends up in Siberia--or more specifically, in Dimitri's family home. Meeting his mother, grandmother, and sisters is both heartbreaking and soothing for Rose. I don't want to post any spoilers, but I will say that she does find him, and the story really begins from that point. She intended to end things simply, but she finds nothing is as simple as the first believed. Dimitri is a bit of a let-down. As a dhampir, he was a god. As a Strigoi, you expect him to be pure evil. It turns out he's neither of those things, which makes Rose's choice that much more difficult. Adrian changes in this book, too. I found myself rooting for him, because he was just so darn likable. Rose's love triange of sorts isn't resolved in Blood Promise, and I'm guessing it won't be fully resolved until the final book. With all the action and drama in each book, though, I don't mind reading two more installments before reaching a conclusion.

I am in love with this series. It's almost impossible not to care about the characters. Richelle Mead is a master at weaving together believable characters and suspenseful action sequences with gut-wrenching emotion. Her writing is getting better and better, and this is definitely a book you can't put down. I truly wish we could give 1/2 star ratings, because I would give this 4.5 stars. The only criticism I can offer is that the beginning drags. Dimitri doesn't even appear until page 282. I kept waiting (and waiting...and waiting...) for Rose to find Dimitri. Once she did, the action picked right up, and I was hooked.

WOW!!! Did I mention that I'm really into this series? Did I mention that there's something about Rose's impulsivity, sarcasm and will power that makes this book world go round?! And did I tell you that Richelle Mead is a goddess?! Well then...

The tragic and intense emotional scene written at the end of book 3 left me at the edge of distress. I wanted answers right away and so after a few minutes of finishing it I read it with careful scrutiny to make sure I don't miss any detail. And with that I have to apologize now, I won't be able to shut up with this book, so if you haven't read any of this series yet turn back now and come back later or stay read what I have to say and go running towards the nearest book store and buy the box set. LOL. Either way you've been warned.

When Mason nodded as an answer to Rose's question whether Dimitri is now a Strigoi, I've unleash a string of curses that even I made myself cringe. NO! NO! NO... how the hell can Mead let this happened? it was too much but again, it was brilliant. Rose of course knowing how she is decided that she will hunt down Dimitri and kill him herself. She dropped out of school and left her best friend Lissa to fend for herself. The conversation that they had made me want ot slap Lissa, what a selfish [...]! She didn't even offer to go with her. Why can't she be supportive? Are they going to lose each other too? But that was pushed to the side with the more pressing matter. Where on Siberia is Dimitri?

Rose had quite an adventure in this book she met a human named Sydney who apparently called herself an Alchemist. She knows of the world of Moroi, Dhampir and Strigoi and serves as the protector of their secret to humankind. She also found another shadowkiss and spirit user named Mark and Oksana who gave her good advice and help her save Lissa towards the ends of this book. She also met the Belikovs, it sucks that she has to be the bearer of bad news. They welcome her like a part of their family, the reception was heart warming, well until this shady character Abe, who later revealed as her father blackmailed her into leaving Baia. She still keep tab on Lissa and Adrian still visits her in her dreams. There was another enemy in the name of Avery Lazar, of course I never see that coming, I thought her plan was long term. I thought her goal was to make Lissa forget about Rose or break Lissa and Christian's relationship ordered by the Queen. The most heart breaking and intense thing that happened, was when Rose found Dimitri or should I say Dimitri found Rose, help her captive and persuading her to be "awakend" like I said, I cannot believe that this is happening, Dimitri was now truly a monster power hungry and selfish. The most depressing part of the book was what he did with Rose. Those were the pages that I pained to read. After summoning all her will power I was convinced that Rose is the strongest female character that I've ever read, how could anyone bounce back like that? She finally did what she came for, that bridge scene gave me hope that Dimitri will be healed some day. I believe that Robert can help them but until then...

The ending was not depressing like the third book, I was happy that Rose got direction in her life again and I am also leaning towards giving Adrian a real chance, hey it could happen when Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton started I never thought that I would become team Eric Northaman but I did. So Adrian-Rose is not impossible. But then again Dimitri-Rose might be really for each other we'll have to wait until May next year?! really?! *sigh*

We're finally at a point in this series where the author doesn't feel the need to fill us in on everything that has happened before. Readers, if you haven't read Vampire Academy, Frostbite and Shadow Kiss, go back and take a look at those first.

The action moves away from the school setting, when Rose abandons her best friend Lissa in order to track down her former lover Dimitri, who has been turned into a Strigoi. Rose and Dimitri promised each other that if they ever were to fall in battle, and turned into evil Strigoi, that they wouldn't stop until they'd put the other to rest, and Rose intends to make good on her promise. Having no idea where to begin her search, she decides to track down his family in Russia, hoping that maybe he would have returned there. Sure enough, she does find them, a strong family of women who eagerly accept her into their ranks. Spending time with Dimitri's sisters forces her to re-evaluate her harsh opinion of life outside of her professional duties. In them, she is able to witness warm family relationships for the first time. She also finds that Lissa's spirit ability isn't as rare as she thought, and meets a few more spirit users, including another bonded pair, who have discovered a completely different range of abilities.

Rose also runs into Sydney, a human "Alchemist" part of a secret order who helps hide vampires from the rest of human society by destroying Strigoi bodies. The sudden inclusion of a whole new class of vampire slayers stretched my suspension of disbelief. Rose is told that Alchemists are something that all dhampirs are told about once they graduate school and since she's a drop-out, that's why she hadn't heard of them. I thought it would have been a lot more believable if Alchemists were incredibly rare, or perhaps limited only to certain parts of Russia.

After Rose joins forces with a group of dhampir vigilantes, she finally does track down Dimitri and is disturbed by how much like his old self he still seems. She hesitates a fraction too long, and ends up susceptible to his bite which leaves her completely addled. She then spends several weeks as his prisoner, as he tries to convince her to join by his side as a fully "awakened" Strigoi. For Rose, this is a real look at what life as a blood whore might look like. Seductive, enjoyable... but ultimately, quite empty. Luckily, she is able to come to her senses in time, and aided by some of the ghosts that she is occasionally able to call upon she finds the strength to try and stake Dimitri. Shortly after, she discovers that there may be a way to use Lissa's spirit ability to reverse the change to Strigoi, but unfortunately it will be too late for Dimitri... or is it?

I will be interested to see how Rose will use her new hard-won knowledge of Strigoi physiology in the upcoming books. I'm also hopeful (though, I wouldn't hold my breath) that Lissa will finally start to show some battle prowess herself, wielding magic to destroy her enemies in future installments of this series.

When I first read the first three books of the Vampire Academy series approximately two and a half years ago I did not feel book withdrawals. Instead I experienced a disappointing anxiety that I would have to wait for the fourth book to find out what happens to Rose and Dmitri. When the fourth book came out, I had the pleasure of experiencing my first author event signing when Richelle Mead had a book tour in California and Books, Inc. in Palo Alto was one of her stops. It was incredible! I purchased two books for her to sign and I brought my previous three which she also gladly autographed! I could have succumb to my eagerness to read the fourth book, but I did not want the same anxious feeling to come back. I decided to wait for the fifth and final books to come out, and only then will I come back to the world of St. Vladimir's.

Unfortunately it did take a couple of years. The friends I have introduced this series to were ahead of me, and bless them for not mentioning their impressions or stating any spoilers. On my part, it also took a lot of control to avoid Richelle Mead's website in case I might get a hint of what happens next. Even the books I preordered would immediately find its way in the corner shelf of my library where I kept my other favorite Young Adult novels. I hesitated to even glance at the covers or read the synopsis. But finally at the end of the year 2010, the sixth and final book of the Vampire Academy series was released on December 7.

Because of the lapse in time, it was only fitting to begin the story again. I had to reacquaint myself with the characters, the surroundings, the plot, and build the momentum. Doing this did not disappoint.

Review Overview:

Slow beginning but halfway through the book, I couldn't put it down
I need to get my hands on the next book

BLOOD PROMISE doesn't quite start where the last book left off which left me a little disoriented as a reader. I actually had to look up the book I was reading just to make sure it was the right one. After a few chapters, I did start getting back into the flow of Mead's writing. I really loved the change of scenery. Rose is on a set to find and kill Dimitri and her quest takes her to Dimitri's home country Russia. I wouldn't say that I cling on to stereotypes of Russia as much as Rose did, but I do admit I thought of Siberia as some kind of barren wasteland. Based on BLOOD PROMISE, I take that back. There's a lot more to Siberia than I once thought.

The summary calls this a "nail-biting" installment in the Vampire Academy series. I won't deny that there were some parts that had me clinging onto the edge of my seat, but for the most part, the pace of this book was very slow. I felt that the story dragged on at some points, but just when I was about to lose my patience and put the book down for a while, the action kicks back up again. The beginning is slow, but I think that getting through it is worth it at the end.

About halfway through the book, I couldn't put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. I eventually did have to take a break for dinner, but I was so giddy with excitement and all I could think about was getting back to the story. Saying any more would give out too much for those who haven't read it, so I'll just leave it as that.

Throughout the book, Rose does check up on Lissa through her shadow-kissed abilities. It was nice to see the characters I grew to like during the series and it created a nice sub-plot for the book. It was kind of clever to use Rose's abilities as a literary device to weave in the sub-plot to the story.

The book doesn't really leave off in a cliffhanger, but Mead definitely wrote it well enough: I want to rip my hair out in frustration and quickly get my hands on the next book. I am craving for more and now I see why my best friend is obsessed with this series.

***slight spoilers***

This book was absolutely fantastic. I have been waiting for it to come out since about december when I finished reading shadow-kiss. As all of the vampire academy lovers know, shadow kiss left us with a huge cliff-hanger that broke everyones heart. Kind-hearted, protective, selfless dimitri riped away from his life and from Rose now supposedly an evil strigoi. I had my hopes for this book and was worried how Mead would continue her story line. Mead surpassed anything I would have imagined for this novel and for this story and she went in the direction I hoped she would go.

This fourth installment starts us with Rose having left the Academy, her friends and her bondmate and best friend Lissa in an attempt to find Dimitri and free him from his fate as an evil monster, by killing him. This journey takes her to Russia and Siberia where she gets to experience all the things Dimitri used to tell her about. I loved this. There wasn't a dull moment at all for me during any of her travels through the first half of the book. The emotional rollercoaster that she experiences while going through the very cities dimitri used to talk about and her time with dimitri's family was touching and a wonderful and neccessary edition to Rose and Dimitri's story. The acceptance and love she receives from the Belikov's and the emotions she shares with them only deepens her connection to Dimitri. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough of Dimitri in this story but the memories Rose has and flashbacks she shares keeps the Dimitri we all loved intertwined in her journey. The ability for Rose to enter Lissa's mind and check in on her was a great edition as well and kept Lissa, Adrian and Christian a vivid part of the storyline.

The emotions and confusion that rose experiences after she finds dimitri was heart wrenching, sad and completely understandable. I love the way mead wrote this. I also love the way she wrote dimitri. At first when beginning this book I was hoping that rose would find dimitri and his love for her would conquer the evil monster that he had become...as I was reading the story I realized that if she had the book would never have reached its true potential. Had she not made these changes in him the story would not have had the depth it did and it would not have seemed real.

I would highly suggest this book and the entire series in general. It's one of my favorites over all and definitely my favorite Mead book yet. I am counting down the days till May when the next installment comes out to see where the rest of the story goes.

To all the Mead fans I would also suggest reading both Storm Born and it's sequel Thorn Queen. These are the first two books in her Dark Swan series and also fantastic examples of her writing talent. They are more adult in content then the Vampire Academy though.

After finishing the third book in Mead's Vampire Academy series several weeks ago, I was really excited for Blood Promise. After finishing this fourth book, I can only say that I was rather disappointed with the turn the story has taken. However, I also know that I am most likely in the minority with this opinion.

I think my biggest issue is that everything just felt so predictable. In my usual fashion, I will try not to give away any plot lines or spoilers, but suffice it to say that Rose's quest to destroy Dmitri in his Strigoi form, her other discoveries along the way, and the ultimate outcome of events just felt so cliche and typical for a vampire romance that I found myself let down a bit from this series. Blood Promise definitely still has a page-turning quality that kept me reading, but I suspect at least some of that feeling was simply from the hope that the story would turn around and surprise me a little.

The other story line focused on Lissa but it felt like such an afterthought that I never found myself particularly interested when reading about it. Perhaps it was because Rose was not in the thick of things with her, but Lissa's own story seemed a little disjointed, as if it was added in to make sure we didn't forget about her. Finally towards the end of the book, everything started coming together more and making sense (not to mention finally getting more exciting). Ultimately, I think if the book had been even 100 pages shorter, it wouldn't have hurt the story too much and would have cut out some of the more draggy stretches. Now to be fair, there were several scenes and characters I enjoyed and thought really added to the story. We learn a lot more about spirit users in this book, as well. And the romantic in me does enjoy the possibilities that could come in book five, however much I might find that part of the story unsurprising. In the end, despite being a little disappointed with Blood Promise, I do intend to continue the series.

(NOTE: My actual rating was 3-1/2 stars, but I round up for sites like the store.)

In Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4), Richelle Mead's fourth installment in the series, everyone at St. Vladimir's has just come off the devastating Strigoi attack on the school. Most horrifying for Rose, Dimitri was turned into a Strigoi against his will. Leaving Lissa and school behind, Rose sets out to Russia to find and destroy him. In the process, she learns more about her shadow-kissed state, her relationship with Lissa, and just how much she can or cannot do (or resist) for love. Back at St. Vlad's, Lissa is experiencing her own problems as the burdens of being a spirit user begin to grow in Rose's absence.

BLOOD PROMISE is the lengthiest book in the series so far, and it suffers for it. The first half of the book is very slow, because, as readers, we know that the build will be to when Rose sees Dimitri again and what will happen then. The writing relies heavily on telling, instead of showing, and character development is limited, especially for Rose. In the second half of the book, her character takes a significant turn for the worse that doesn't mesh well with her personality found in the first three books. Plot devices, such as Rose being able to slip into Lissa's head, seemed obvious as ways to keep the story going, and there were continuity problems between the timing of events between Lissa's and Rose's worlds. In addition, there were repeated attempts at retroactive continuity in the form of flashbacks or memories, especially regarding Rose and Dimitri's relationship. The greatest shortcoming was the ending, which felt contrived; it provided no closure, just a predictable set-up for the plot of the next book.

On the positive side, the second half of the book was fast-paced and eventful. The distancing of Rose and Lissa as characters allowed them to make their own decisions and to be seen as individuals. Also, while it felt artificial, the use of flashbacks allowed me to finally feel the emotional connection between Rose and pre-Strigoi Dimitri, which had been lacking in the first three books. The introduction of many new characters (Abe, the Alchemists, Sydney, Mark and Oksana, the Belikova family) should add to coming books and provided some significant plot points. There was also character growth for Adrian, especially toward the end.

Even though I've felt let down by the past two books, I know that I'll continue reading about Rose, Lissa, and Dimitri until the series concludes. In Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, Book 5)and Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, Book 6), I hope that Mead brings better pacing, closure to Rose and Dimitri's relationship, and more consistent character development, especially for Rose.

This is my favorite in the series. Warning this review contains spoilers. The setting of this book is richly developed and so fun to read. Abe and Dmitri's grandmother add so much to the story line. I think I laughed out loud several times when Rose was "communicating" with Dmitri's grandmother. The scene where Rose had to carry the heavy boxes that turned out to contain bricks was just a great way to lighten a sad time in Rose's life. Seeing Dmitri's family was in a way like seeing Dmitri and I am glad Mead took the story line to Russia. Dmitri kidnapping Rose has to be the highlight of this book, it was so satisfying to finally *find* Dmitri and to have Rose and Dmitri engage in their battle. While initially Rose was not strong enough to overcome her love and Dmitri's power, eventually she uses her wits and instincts to get out of the situation that Dmitri has trapped her in. I couldn't help but root for Rose and feel proud for her. And I loved the ending, in a way a sort of climax with Dmitri's "love" note. What a great way to develop his strigoi character. Even though he is now one of the undead, he still feels the pull to Rose. When I finished this book, I could not wait to move on to Spirit Bound.

I'm staggered by how exceptional this book is. Mead has always been an engaging and clever writer, with a great command of conversation, plot, and point of view, but this is without a doubt the finest example of her work I've read.

You would think dividing the book and character interaction between Montana and Siberia would somehow detract from the book. And, because the majority of my fandom for Mead's books has nothing to do with Rose, and centres almost entirely on Vasilisa and Christian, I came into this book with the attitude I had to read it to keep abreast of plot advancements until Rose's return to school.

However, the sheer difficulty of what Rose had set out to do, along with the introduction to the rigid society of Alchemists (which struck me as good old fashioned serfdom), made the sections of this book which took place before Rose's encounter with Dimitri interesting. Before she ever made contact with him, we learned about the heartmelting kindness of the Belikov's, of Unpromised bands of Dhampirs and their reckless hunting, of spirit-user Oksana and her ability to charm silver with sanity-strengthening healing, and of Rose's mind-bending ability/disability to summon flocks of ghosts.

That's before what I have to call Mead's tour de force re. Rose Hathaway. From the moment Rose set foot inside the prision-like Strigoi house in the middle of a green maze, I was riveted. Never before had Rose commanded so much respect. I don't think I've read anything in YA in ages that sucked in my imagination like that run through the Russian woodlands, out of the maze, and over the bridge, where she finally faced the moster Dimitri. Wow.

In the meantime, for Vasilisa and Christian fans, there was a lot of plot action, and a very hard pill to swallow for the pair when Vasilisa, for whatever reason, confirmed Christian's fears for their relationship. Avery, meanwhile, was a clever and evil beauty, having even done away with her own brother to gain control over him. Lots going on for Adrian as well, who is less flowery, and more human in the course of this book.

The only complaint I have about this book is that though it settles many inequities between Liss and Rose, and brings the power of spirit to the fore, Christian is lost in the shuffle of these amazingly gifted people. On his introduction he was a dynamic and fiery character, and, after books of seeing him marginalized, I keep hoping that he will get his due.

Oh, I was SO excited when I got this and hoped the book would live up to the expectations the other three had set. Richelle Mead doesn't disappoint in the newest Vampire Academy novel, presenting another fast paced and exciting novel.

I was a bit hesitant at first, because many new characters are presented - Sydney, an Alchemist, Dimitri's dhampir family, Avery, a Moroi, and various other new characters. However, Richelle pulls everything together seamlessly, each of the characters flowing easily into their necessary place in the story.

I won't tell you what happens when Rose and Dimitri finally meet. That's one spoiler you're not getting out of this girl. What I will tell you - I didn't expect Rose to do what she did to/with Strigoi Dimitri quite as easily as she did.

Mad props to Richelle for managing to keep Lissa tied into this whole novel - giving her her own plot line that tied in so well to Rose's. Though Rose has always been my favorite female VA character, I loved being able to still see what was happening to Lissa and what happened with her spirit power.

Am I looking forward to the next one? Two words:

Hell yeah.

In spite of their spirit based bond, Rose has left her best friend Lissa behind at St. Vladimir's to go off in search of Dimitri. She knows that he wouldn't want to be Strigoi and is willing to go to any legnths to find him and slay him. Even if it means she might get killed trying. But finding the former guardian is tough when her only lead is that he grew up in a dhampir village in Siberia. Has he returned to the one place he could call home? As she seeks out Dimitri her path crosses that of some very interesting characters from a manipulative Moroi gangster to a shadow-kissed and spirit bound couple her adventure reveals more and more about the world of vampires.

Yet when she finally does find her former teacher, the man she loves, will she be able to kill him? Or could Dimitri be the one man who could convince Rose to turn monster?

I really love this series and Rose as a character. But I've never been a Dimitri fan. I've been wishing he'd get killed since Frostbite. I know, I know, hate me all ya want Dimitri fans I just don't like him and Rose together, okay? That said, I wasn't sure where Mead was going to go with this book. I mean... I may not like Dimitri but Rose loves him! Surely she'll hunt him down and something epic will happen. It doesn't quite happen that way. I was a bit frustrated with how slowly everything moved along and with the secondary storyline happening back at St. Vlad's it felt like I was swimming through literary molasses.

I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending (which I won't spoil but the synopsis for Spirit Bound will so be warned) but I like where the storyline of the series is going. I also really liked the places that the series is going with spirit users.

Overall I would almost rate this one as just okay but I see this as kind of a pivot point book. That lets me like it more than I would have if this were more of a stand alone. if you're a fan of the series you can't miss this one and expect to read the next. It might seem a little like filler but some important things happen in this one, even if the story isn't as kickbutt as the first three.

I love this series so much. My previous reviews more than prove that (I hope)! But Blood Promise definitely took a turn for the worse. I didn't like where it was going for most of the book (although I did come around eventually), simply because it made me super sad and irritated and blah feeling.

This book totally broke my heart. Dimitri broke my heart. Lissa broke my heart. Christian broke my heart, and Aiden, and most of all, Rose. And of course, I understand it was all necessary, build up for the next books, etc. But this one was the one that I was closest to throwing against the wall angrily. That can be interpreted as good or bad, I suppose.

But despite the emotional bashing this book did, it was seriously good. I want to go to Russia so freaking badly after reading this. And the storyline, of course, was stunning, despite my "grrrrr! why are you so mean, Richelle Mead?" feeling about it. But it was thrilling and a roller coaster and I didn't see what was coming.

Overall, Blood Promise totally rocked. It's not often that a book will inflict as much emotional trauma onto the reader as this one does (and the whole series, really) but I think it's definitely the sign of a fabulous book.

Once again, I tried to take a break after reading this book. But I just couldn't do it. This series grabbed me by its teeth and wouldn't let go. If you read up to Blood Promise and stopped, pick up Spirit Bound! You won't regret it.

Well this review will be hard write because there are so many things I want to say, but I don't want to give spoilers!

Rose left the academy and is now on a crazy mission. She's stalking to streets and clubs of Russia trying to find a trail that would lead her to the love of her life - Dimitri. Along the way she'll befriend with some very special characters and find a lot more then she was looking for.
She will find Dimitri thought, and things surely don't turn out the way she planed.

On the other side of the world, Lissa and Adrian a grieving "the loss" of their friend Rose and it's not bright and shiny at the academy. They meet with some new friends but something seems really off, and they can't quite put their fingers on it.

Will Rose kill Dimitri? Will Dimitri awaken her? Will Rose come back to her friend Lissa? You'll need to read to find out =)

I was really feeling depressed reading the book, Rose was so drained of her fire and natural fierceness, she was drowning in grief and it was hard to bare.
Dimitri, oh fine Dimitri! He totally ripped my heart apart. He was so sweet, caring, knight-like and loving. All the magic is gone from him in Blood Promise and geez it hurts!
Lissa is becoming crazy and reckless, is spirit getting the best of her?

Most of the book was so sad it was a wonder the characters weren't putting a bullet the their head. The grief was so intense! I felt like crying alone with my book.
The end though, well I should say the last 200ish pages, WOW I was having a hard time sit still because I was so overwhelmed. I was feeling breathless by all the action going on.
And the very end.. oh.. my.. god.. Richelle managed to stun me. I mean really!
Richelle is good, oh so good! Why May 2010 is so far away? I want Spirit Bound now please!

Romeo and Juliet story's is out-shined by Rose and Dimitri's tragic love story. Hands down!

I am not going to post the official synopsis because it contains spoilers, rather here is my unofficial synopsis of Blood Promise by Richelle Mead: Rose leaves St. Vladimir's to go to Siberia. In Siberia she meets lots of people, adventures ensue. Lissa stays behind. Lissa meets new people. Hijinks ensue.

I am a bit torn on how I feel about Blood Promise. I mean, I am quite intoxicated by the Vampire Academy books and just want to know what happens. However, there were certain things which turned me off with this book. For instance, certain characterizations bothered me. I understand it was necessary to characterize someone a certain way to demonstrate the differences, but I just didn't like it. Also there were certain plotlines which I felt went nowhere in the book. For example a completely new concept is thrown into the mix and I thought oh, wow I'm really getting into this plotline I wonder where it's going to leave. Then, it just stops. No continuation. Nothing. Just ends. I'm going to try to reserve my judgement on that, because maybe Mead is going to reintroduce the plot line in Spirit Bound and it will serve some importance and it was just there in Blood Promise to introduce the concept.

Now, please don't think I hated this book, because I did not. In fact, I enjoyed the tug-of-war it played with my emotions. I got so hopeful then bam my hopes were smashed. Also some unexpected events occured, and I wonder how they will be resolved in the next book. Oh and did I mention that I cried during Blood Promise. Granted, it wasn't something to cry over, basically Rose is just pouring herself out to Lissa, but still I've had those friends where I can tell them anything and I know how it feels to have that release. Hence, the good cry. Let's see what else did I enjoy... The new setting was a great change, you should know I am a bit obsessed with Russia, I love reading about Russia and love Russian lit, so that part was awesome for me! Oh and there was some characterization that I did enjoy, someone becomes kick-butt, we get to know one character a little more, and again, Rose becomes more three-dimensional.

I've probably mentioned this an hundred times before, but I'm still going to for the 101th time because it's 100 percent true. Vampire Academy is by far my favorite vampire series out there and in the top three of my favorite series overall.

Blood Promise was just as amazing and mind blowing as the previous installments.

Richelle just has this talent to make you became completely intertwined in her books from the start. Since, she makes you laugh at the funny parts and your heart continue to ache as Rose went on the harrowing journey to kill Dimitri.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the new fabulous characters we met along with Rose as she journeyed through Siberia. I really hope Sydney, Abe, and a few others make appearances in the next two books, because I truly enjoyed reading about them.

I also liked how Adrian's character continued to grow throughout the story in way that showed he would never stop caring for Rose. This all made him one guy I wouldn't mind seeing Rose end up with. Well, only if the miracle I'm hoping for with Dimitri doesn't work out.

Lastly, I loved the twists and turns Richelle kept throwing in, especially towards the end, because they made the story go in a fast pace.

The one thing that I didn't fully enjoy about this was how Lissa got when Rose left her. I mean, seriously, it's time for Lissa to start standing up for herself. I do understand, though, that there were criticisms that made her act the way she did. But she still should had the common sense to not ruin almost all the good things she had going for her. Luckily, this didn't detract from the overall story too much and Lissa had already begun to redeem herself in my eyes by the last couple of chapters.

Overall, Blood Promise is a book to enjoy thoroughly and one that will make you sad when it's over. Since, all you want to do is find out what happens next as soon possible. Sadly, Spirit Bound doesn't hit shelves till next May, the 18th to be exact.

I highly recommend this series.

Grade: A+

Richelle Mead is one of the best new voices in fantasy fiction today. She literally rocketed onto the scene with not one but two successful series and characters readers are tied to by more than just rapidly turning pages.

In the third Vampire Academy book, SHADOW KISS, readers were left with a cliffhanger that had most of us in tears. Dimitri Belikov, one of the greatest guardians among the dhampir, was turned into a strigoi, the murderous and immortal monster of the three vampire races. Rose Hathaway, his lover as well as his protege, had made a promise to Dimitri that she'd kill him rather than leave him in this condemned state.

Her decision is to drop out of St. Vladimir's (The Vampire Academy) before graduation, leaving her bondmate Lissa, and fulfill her promise to kill the man she loves. She only has one clue as to the whereabouts of the strigoi that attacked St. Vladimir's and turned Dimitri, that's Omsk, somewhere in Siberia.

Setting off on her own, Rose quickly learns that the moroi and dhampir community outside the school is far different than what she'd been told. There is also a set of human 'alchemists' who while, despising the dhampir and moroi, will aid them in their battle against the strigoi. Dhampir society is also far different than she'd believed--her kind not promised to serve as a guardians to the Moroi Royals don't just have a choice of being sexual companions to the Moroi, many have gone out and fought the strigoi on their own in mercenary bands.

Meanwhile, Rose is also monitoring Lissa's mind through their bond and a 'spirit-gift' type dreamwalk that their mutual friend and ally, Adrian, can do. Her lifetime best friend and bondmate is having to go on with school and with her life without her. The Royal Court has assigned a new pair of Guardians to her to replace Dimitri and Rose. Lissa's making new friends and taking more risks than she should be, including flirtation with an old boyfriend and dangerous drinking.

All along Rose is going through this quest with divided loyalties. When she ultimately faces Dimitri, she's taken hostage and discovers while in captivity that Lissa is in danger. Can she make a choice between the man she loves and her lifetime friend? Is Dimitri even still the man she loves?

BLOOD PROMISE is definitely a testament to Mead's gift as a conveyor of information. I'm not sure anyone of lesser caliber could do the mind travel via dreams with Adrian and bond with Lissa interspersed with Rose's reality in Russia near as well as she did. Those segues had to be a true challenge to write.

This fourth book is quite a bit longer and allows more room for character exposition and growth as well as world-building. For the first time, Rose truly is out on her own putting the lessons she's learned to good use and exploring all three levels of vampire society outside the sheltered enclave she's mostly been in. We have a chance to see more of the various types of worlds outside the Academy, which I suspect is a prequel to Rose and Lissa's adventures post graduation. The duo definitely has more options available to them than the Moroi Royal Court's dictates of before.

BLOOD PROMISE is the fourth book in the Vampire Academy series, but thanks to the introductory chapters giving readers a summary of the previous works, you do not have to read the first three books to read this one.

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Book 1)

Frostbite (Vampire Academy, Book 2) (Bk. 2)

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)

Rebecca Kyle, August 2009

Ok so everyone that knows me knows that Richelle Mead is my favorite Author of like all time and Vampire Academy is my favorite series ever! So I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this novel! I mean it had me so on edge that I couldn't sleep the night before! So when the release morning came, I was pretty much first in line at the book store. The cover of the book is breath taking beautiful and best of all it's a hardcover! Although it does annoy me a little that the other 3 aren't hardcover but I think I could get over it. Anyway so this book is set in Russia, which was amazing! The people she meets, and of coarse the glimpses of the old Dimitri we get throughout the entire novel were very hard to read, well at least for me anyway. He is and will always continue to be one of my favorite characters in the novels, as well as Rose, Lissa and Adrian. This wasn't my favorite book of the series but it does come in second. I didn't want to read it fast as I wanted to be like Georgina Kincaid (reference to her other character in the Succubus series) who read only 5 pages a day because she wanted to savor the characters and events in the books, but after like chapter 10 or so I couldn't put it down and I ended up just reading the book in like 2 days. A lot and I mean a lot of the stuff that you end up finding out about you are like whoa! Didn't see that coming! Now I'm waiting yet again another 8 months for the next installment which is set for May 18th, 2009! Anyway, I don't want to get into all of the certain events without giving anything away just because I nearly died when I read a spoiler on goodreads before it was even set to release so I'll just stick with that. Anyway, I'll rate this book 4.5 out of 5 paws (or should I say fangs ;) )

Blood Promise was exhilerating, shocking, and downright awesome. (I will try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but if you haven't read the series...then it's all pretty much a spoiler)

The novel starts a bit slow, with Mead going over details from past novels (which may actually make this novel the easiest one for newcomers to jump into, but I would still recommend reading the last three).

Rose sets off in search of Dimitri, and I really have to say that it was these moments that were truly heartbreaking. Rose's pain and emotions were written well, and yet she was still strong, sassy Rose that I adore. And while there were plenty of sad moments, there were also humorous points where I couldn't help but to laugh.

Every time I read these novels, I always talk about Rose's growth in each one, and this one is no exception. She has her up moments, and her down moments, but she takes what she can from each and learns something. The other characters were still as amazing as before (except the reader doesn't see as much of the other characters as we used to).

Highlights: The emotions that this book makes the reader go through. It was heartbreaking to read. Mead took one of my favorite characters, Dimitri, and showed him to me in a way that just broke my heart right along with Rose's. The ending left me wishing there were more pages too!

And as shocked as I am to say this, I actually think Adrian is...okay. (I know! How did that happen???)

Lowlights: The beginning felt like a long recap. Seeing as I've read the last three books, I thought that the recap was just wasting time. I felt like the story did not begin until Rose finally ended up in the right area for her search. I didn't think this novel matched up entirely to the others.

4 stars - I do really love reading this series. It's always a rollercoaster ride of emotions that the author seems to hit just right. The characters are well developed as the plot and story changes, they change and adapt. Who ever knew that Dimitri could be written evil and done so convincingly. It was amazing, his transformation and the plot wrapped nicely around him. And Rose with her struggles to come to terms with things was just.... perfect.

I would have given this 5 stars however I felt that at times in the beginning and the middle of the book the story stalled while Rose just kind of wandered and really just questioned the same thing over and over again. I don't want to give to much away so I'll leave that there.

One major thing for me that the story was lacking was Adrian. I understand that this wasn't his story, it was far from anything really about him, but to me he's such a strong character that's been introduced to us that I felt he was lacking a bit. A character that has changed and not for the better is Lissa. I just have one question, what's happening to her? By the end was anyone else wondering what's going on with her?? I almost am wondering if there's more going on that we don't know about yet. At least I hope that's the case, because if this is the true new Lissa.... I'd like some of the old one back please.

All in all this was another great installment of the series, which left me wanting more and more. The end of the last page left us on somewhat of a cliffhanger, nothing compared to the previous book, but none the less there was a little one there. I look forward to the next book in the series - Spirit Bound next year, which as always can't come soon enough.

Blood Promise left me wanting, needing, more! Some people are over vampires, but I still absolutely love Richelle Mead's books! Blood Promise was an amazing continuation of the Vampire Academy books!

I always find it difficult to write reviews for books that are part of a series because I have a hard time writing around spoilers. That said, you can't fully appreciate Blood Promise unless you've read the first three Vampire Academy books. For that reason, this won't really be a review, but more of a recommendation to read the VA books!

I read the Vampire Academy last year shortly before the third book was released. I absolutely devoured it and rushed out to immediately buy the next two books (thankfully the third one was out at that point). I really hadn't expected to love these books as much as I do, but Richelle Mead's take on vampires is so refreshing and wonderfully imagined. The most notable aspect of these novels is that the main character isn't a vampire, she is dhampir, or a vampire guardian. I liked all the history that is involved in VA and how all the different characters and pieces of the story fit together.

My favorite part of the novels is the romance. I am a romance junkie and Vampire Academy is jam packed with sexual tension and tender moments. In many ways, I'd say that the VA books are more romance novels than vampire novels.

I love those strong male leads and bad boys, but Rose, even though she falls head-over-feet, still holds her own: she doesn't need a guy to define her!

The Vampire Academy novels are not to be missed! If you've read the first three novels and haven't gotten to Blood Promise yet, move it up on your to-be-read pile! I can't wait for the next novel, Spirit Bound, which will be out next year!

Rose's world shattered when Dimitri Belikov, her mentor and lover, was turned into a Strigoi. Now she's determined to find him and honor the promise they once made to each other that they would rather die than become completely evil and soulless. But her mission will prove to be harder to complete than Rose originally thought. Not only does she run into road block after road block, but Lissa is struggling to cope without Rose. Strange new forces are at work, and unless both Rose and Lissa watch their backs, they could end up dead.

The fourth book in the Vampire Academy series is probably one of the most dramatic yet. Rose is forced to face harsh realities and grow up a bit more in the process. She becomes more mature and a little wiser, but thankfully doesn't lose her tough, lovable devil-may-care attitude. This is the first book that isn't set at St. Vladimir's for the majority of the novel, and it is interesting to see how Rose handles the freedom and experience her new discoveries. At the same time, Mead packs in a lot of interesting cultural facts and tidbits, sneaking in a lesson in Russian culture and history without the reader even realizing it.

The inevitable meeting with Dimitri is farther along in the book than many readers would like, but it doesn't fail to disappoint. It doesn't go quite as expected, but is nevertheless entertaining and will leave you flipping the pages quickly, hanging in suspense. Mead wraps it up with a surprising turn of events that is unexpected on many levels. Blood Promise is certainly one of the better books in the series, brimming with revelations and more insights on this imaginative vampire world, but still containing the agonizing yet not unexpected cliffhanger ending. Spirit Bound is just as eagerly anticipated, if not more so, than Blood Promise.

And in a good way :) The way Richelle Mead tugs at your heart with the mere injustice of it all; Rose having to make good on her promise and liberate Dimitri's soul from the evil body it's in, is simply exhausting. I think it's rather skillful of a writer to constantly lay down what's at stake: Rose venturing off to end Dimtri's 'life' with somewhat wavering resolve. When she sees him, will she falter? Can she really drive a stake through his heart? Can she endure living out the rest of her life without the 'love of her life.' Along the way, we see Rose constantly battle between what she needs to do to be true to her lost love, while enduring the pain the idea stabs at her.

You can't help but feel her pain. Losing Dimitri means we do, too. :/ Can we handle not ever again seeing him laying against the ground reading a western novel? Or seeing his brave guardian ways fighting against the twisted Strigoi? Or the idea that he wished to have a future with Rose? Man, it's quite a heavy read. The driving force to get through the somewhat slow start, is the idea of Dimitri's appearance as a Strigoi. What's he gonna be like, what's gonna happen?

Throughout the whole book, it's so convenient for the reader to have Rose be bonded with Lissa. I'm sure you'd want to know what's happening back at St. Vladimir's. Fortunately, we get to (thanks to Rose) both situations: Rose's and Lissa's. And things are getting a little strange for Lissa. Some may be put off with their separation, but I think it's necessary to know what it's like when the two are not physically close together. Can they let it happen again?

In this new installment, we basically see the world outside of St. Vladimir's, which is quite eye opening. We meet new characters and compare them to what we find out about them, to how the world views them. Do the preconceived notions hold up? It expands, basically, the amazing yet dangerous world Mead has crafted. There are LOTS of twists and turns, stunning revelations, some character growth, and you can rest assured there will be enough material for Mead to continue with. Enough REALLY GOOD material to go on with and build from.

Just have tissues ready because this book made me tear up and actually cry so many times. It's simply heart wrenching. Who knew Rose and Dimitri would find themselves in such a tragic predicament? You never forget how unfair it all really is. Yes, no one ever said life was fair, but goodness it can hurt when the good ones get brutally tested. Also, a spoiler: We get to see previous moments of Rose and Dimitri together that we have yet to see! Which is beautiful in that aspect, but even harder to deal with when knowing that Rose is sticking to her promise.

Happy Reading.

Every time I think that Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series couldn't get any better, she pulls the rug out from under my feet and I'm left shaking my head at its awesomeness.

In Blood Promise, readers get a change of venue as we follow guardian-in-training Rose to Siberia as she hunts the love of her life and former mentor, Dimitri. Since he was forcibly turned into a Strigoi -- an evil, murderous vampire -- Rose can't forget her promise to never let him live that way, and is searching Russia to find and destroy him, no matter how much it hurts. To complete her quest, she has left her best friend Lissa behind to battle her own demons of spirit without her, despite the strain it puts on their bond.

Rose meets a lot of interesting and unexpected characters along her journey to find Dimitri, and eventually does track down her lost love. Mead does a wonderful job of showing Rose's conflict between her sense of duty and her confused emotions about Strigoi Dimitri. Readers also learn more about the Strigoi, the phenomena of being shadow kissed and the element of spirit in this information-packed novel. But the centerpiece of the book is love and loss.

I have really enjoyed watching Mead's characters evolve throughout the course of the series - I'm pretty heavily invested at this point. I'm so glad I looked past the YA label and somewhat-silly title, because it would have been a shame to miss this awesome series.

I definitely love this series! This is the forth book in the series. There's six books out so far, and i'm trying to catch up which I'm happy I am. Amazing. There's like no words to describe this freaking book or even this series! I love Richelle Mead's writing. I will definitely check out some of her other books. Now back to talking about the book, i mean the inside of the book. If you know what i mean xD

This book is about how Rose is trying to find Dimitri (which is Rose boyfriend) because he turned into a Strigoi. They both agree to kill Dimitri if he turns into one and he does. So now she's searching him to kill him. Macon gave Rose a clue where Dimitri was. It was his hometown in Russia. It took awhile until she finds where his hometown was but she doesn't meet Dimitri, instead she meets his family. She stays there for a while. In the meantime she looks through Lissa's mind, checking on her just to make sure she isn't in danger. Adrian keeps on jumping into Rose's mind when she's walking and she hates it! She meets a guy name Abe and he stalks her saying to go back to America. I really want to tell you who Abe is but I don't want to spoil it X)

I just can't give a lot of information about this book since this is the forth book and i don't want to spoil anything. I'm pretty sure everyone read this already, so that's why i didn't mean a youtube of this. No one will probably watch it. But anyways amazing amazing series! CHECK IT OUT :)

I have to say that I liked this book as much as I liked the last one. It was well written with good character development.

With that being said, it broke my heart.

Seeing Dmitri as a red eyed bad guy did me in. He was cold and calculating even if Rose didn't see that from the start. I really and truly wanted to see some shred of humanity in him and didn't even from the first moment he appeared. I spent several pages just felling my heart continue to splinter form the lack of any real emotion on his part. It all seemed to be strategic.

Lissa's slow downfall without Rose caused another part of my heart to splinter. It took a little bit for me to catch onto Avery, but she really was a little obvious. Lissa's flippant attitude and her unusually uncaring attitude were dead giveaways to her decline.

With all that being said, I do want Rose to give Adrian a try and have wanted it since his first appearance. Even if I do question his motives and the source of his attraction. Is she just a novelty? Or is he truly drawn to her?

Abe's appearance is one I hope will not be idolized. He is so like Rose that I hope they are able to have some sort of a relationship even if it isn't the typical father/daughter one.

I think Rose learned a lot about herself in this book. She is indeed in love with Dmitri and I can understand her single minded pursuit in saving him, but if it isn't possible, I do hope she has the strength to do what's right and extinguish him. His lack of understanding as to what he is doing is wrong makes me question if he would even be repaired if he was saved.

I can't wait to see what comes next. Writing myself, I know that you really don't have much choice as to where the story goes. You write what the characters tell you in your head; and no matter how much you yearn for a different outcome, it will never be right if you don't follow the constant chatter in your mind. To see what this author has already scripted in her head will be something I anticipate.

Blood Promise, the 4th installment, in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead is understandably darker and noticeably larger than the last three novels. It takes the the previous books to an all new level.

Rose Hathaway is back tougher and more vulnerable than ever. She's on a quest to find Dimitri, her love who is now a Strigoi; a dark undead vampire, a monster. At the end of Shadow Kissed, Richelle Mead threw in a plot twist that shocked the fan base. Dimitri Belikov played the hero in the battle launched upon St. Vladimir Academy. He fought and killed many Strigoi only to be taken and "awakened" to the eternal life of a murderer.

See in Rose's world there are two types of vampires, the Moroi who are predominately good, they don't kill; when they do need to feed they only bite from those who are willing to give it, they never end a life. The Moroi are also beautiful, but weak creatures, who are unable to fight harshly. They require the assistance of the Dhampirs - half Moroi, half human. Rose in a Dhampir. And then there are the Strigoi, the vicious eternal vampire. They are purely evil and live by killing Moroi, Dhampirs, or Humans. They live for little else. Dimitri is now one of them and Rose is on a journey to find him, kill him, and free his soul of the evil he has embodied. They made this promise to each other, if one was changed, the other would save them. But this is the man she once loved, and still does, she doubts herself if she can do such a thing.

Quickly into the novel Rose makes her way to Russia, staking out local hang outs that could lead her to Dimitri. Along the way she meets Sydney, a human Alchemist with a story of her own and leads Rose to the town Dimitri grew up in. We get to meet his family, which is quite is intriguing.

There are plenty of new characters in this continuation and also the same ones as before, Lissa, Christian, and Adrian have fairly nice size parts too. And the novel is thickly rich with memories of previous intimate encounters of Dimitri and Rose. Her mind rarely leaves thoughts of the Dimitri she once knew. When it does her thoughts fall upon Lissa and the bond they have by Lissa's power, Spirit. Rose was to be Lissa's guardian once both left the Academy, but Rose chose something for herself instead, leaving Lissa behind. She hates that she's hurt Lissa which is why when Rose is restless, she slips into Lissa's mind and watches what is occuring to her firsthand. She feels what Lissa feels. This particular ability can be both annoying and a blessing. For this time in Rose's life, it's a blessing. She feels it's her duty to check on Lissa.

The novel is constructed well, just as all of Mead's work is. She explains things thoroughly and her characters are three-dimensional. We know their hopes, dreams, and fears. Mead does this well without hindering the personality of the character.

Rose, hands down, has to be the best female character in young adult fiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading. She is strong, holds her own, and protects those she cares for. She makes mistakes, yes, she is flawed, yes, but aren't we all? She gives the female gender something to look up to.

The books does leave readers at a frustrating halt and May 2010 cannot come fast enough!

When we left Rose in Shadow Kiss her world had been turned upside down. The love of her life had become the definition of evil. Now Rose is in Russia hunting Dimitri down to kill him or to join him? What will see find in Russia? New friends, a new family, home, or death?

This is one of the few young adult vampire series that stands out from the hundreds. The fourth installment Blood Promise is no exception. Richelle Mead has already taken us on a wild ride with Rose in the past four books, it's about to get even wilder.

I was shocked, shocked! At the direction this book took. Not that it was bad, I loved it but this is definitely not a fluffy YA. Rose goes through some very difficult things and makes some very difficult choices.

I was happy that we still got to see a decent amount of life at the Academy with Lissa and Adrian through the bond. I was a little tiny bit disappointed with the lack of Christian, seeing as he is my favorite guy in the series but hopefully Mead will make up for that in Spirit Bound.

I really do love this series and if you haven't started it yet, what are you waiting for?! For anyone that is wondering if there is a cliffhanger, it leaves you hanging but nothing like Shadow Kiss did!

I think the only thing worse then pushing through a painfully slow and dull book is finally coming to the end to find that everything that happened in the ENTIRE book was literally pointless!! Rose ends this book in the EXACT same situation she was in at the end of Shadow Kiss...seriously. The only purpose this book serves it to spend 200 pages recapping the previous books because teen readers apparently have no memory and to introduce us to the main character of Mead's unneeded spin off series. Oh and lets not forget to spin this spirit magic into a bigger du ex machina then it already is. I'm fairly confident that I know exactly how this series will eventually end and I'm not sure it's worth my time to find out if I'm right.

I am a rather so-so fan of this series. I don't love the book enough to rant and rave about them, but I do enjoy them. Despite the semi-cheesiness of the titles, covers, and plot, they are fun to read, and are good to past time the time with. While never addictive enough to keep me up all night reading, Rose is a thoroughly kick-ass heroine. The writing is nothing special and isn't meant to be, but even now and then there is a good line. A good series overall.

This particular installment, I have to say, is the weakest. Definitely a bridge book meant simply to hold the readers over. It could have been severely condensed. Mead conviently used a whole variety of plot devices created just for this book. There was the bond between Rose and Lissa, which allowed the reader to see what was happening back at St. Vladimir's, there was the dispensable characters who only just served their purpose before being cast aside, and the little flashbacks of Rose and Dimitri's relationship to guaranteee that the reader knew they were in love (as if it wasn't obvious). The books plot really stretched in a couple places, but its all forgiven. It provided my Vampire Academy fix until the next one comes out.

Rose made the choice to hunt down Dimitri in the Strigoi form and kill him, but she has no idea how hard her decision will make her life. First of all, she has to leave Lissa. Then she has to find Dimitri. In a roundabout way, she ends up at his family home in Russia, where she tells them her story. They mourn his death and welcome her into the family. Anyone can see how she feels for him. Rose wants nothing more to stay there, but she knows she's just at the beginning of her journey. When she tracks down Dimitr, she can't help but fall under his spell as he keeps her prisoner. He wants her to turn to the dark side with him. Rose doesn't want to when she's herself, but then he comes in and confuses her. Is she strong enough to escape and do what she came to do?

I love this series. It's so full of twists and turns - surprising the daylights out of me. Plus each book hangs ona massive cliff hanger that makes the wait time very hard. I love the cover. I love the relationship between Lissa and Rose - and how that's changing.

Gold Star Award Winner!

Rose made the choice to hunt down Dimitri in the Strigoi form and kill him, but she has no idea how hard her decision will make her life.

First of all, she has to leave Lissa. Then she has to find Dimitri.

In a roundabout way, she ends up at his family home in Russia, where she tells them her story. They mourn his death and welcome her into the family. Anyone can see how she feels for him. Rose wants nothing more to stay there, but she knows she's just at the beginning of her journey.

When she tracks down Dimitri, she can't help but fall under his spell as he keeps her prisoner. He wants her to turn to the dark side with him. Rose doesn't want to when she's herself, but then he comes in and confuses her. Is she strong enough to escape and do what she came to do?

I love this series. It's so full of twists and turns - surprising the daylights out of me. Plus, each book hangs on a massive cliffhanger that makes the wait time very hard. I love the cover. I love the relationship between Lissa and Rose - and how that's changing. I just love it all!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Rose, after making the hardest decision of all - which is to leave St Vladimirs and Lissa behind - she heads to Russia in order to save Dimitri's soul by killing the monster he has become.

In the first three books the readers have seen Rose grow while undertaking her schooling at St Vladimirs, now she has gone against everyone and left the school, and even though she's on her own it doesn't mean she's forgotten about Lissa. Through the Shadow kiss bond the reader still gets to see the story that is progressing at the school.

Even though the beginning is slow paced, mainly because the reader has to be introduced to several new characters, both at St Vladimirs and at Russia, as well as introduced to the Alchemists, there is enough action and mystery to keep the reader interested and wanting to turn the next page, or if the reader's like me they're purely anxious to see if Rose will kill Dimitri.

Although not as action-packed as the previous stories, it will not disappoint the fans of the series and leave them wanting to read the next.

One of my all time favorite series. I have honestly probably reread this entire series at a minimum of 20 times. I recommend this series to any reader especially if you love vampires . I didnt put anything really in the book on this review as I had spoilers but you will love the main characters and their love lives. I was truly invested the entire series through.

Absolutely incredible! I was definitely hooked since the first book. One thing I dislike is how much time is spent in explaining the previous books. A slight recap is fine, but explaining and re-explaining what a moroi and strigoi are, and how she's shadow-kissed... that just gets really annoying. But this book was definitely the best out of the series.

With this book, it was clear Mead is definitely growing as an author. My favorite parts of the books are the suspense, and where the others lacked it, this book made up for!I just really want her to be with Dimitri. I was devastated when Dimitri was "awakened" and I just hoped she could somehow "cure" him. In the last book, I expected him to die, but I didn't think the author could first kill off Mason AND Dimitri! Two guys who were in love with Rose. Who's next, ADRIAN?! I can't wait to start on the fifth book, and I'm going to miss all these characters once I finish the sixth. <3

I would definitely recommend this book! Way better than the first 3, and more delicious than TWILIGHT!

Rose goes to Siberia, Russia to kill Dimitri as she promised and she also gets to know Dimitri's family. While in Siberia, she meets this strange older guy who shows up when she's in danger. She's captured by Dimitri but manages to escape later on. We see what's happening on Academy when Rose slips into Lissa's mind and Adrian pays few visits in her dreams. Can't really say much more without telling too much...

I think this was the best book so far. The book had a darker theme and I think Rose has (finally!) matured a little. She certainly didn't annoy me so much anymore! Didn't like Lissa at all this time, she was just a page-filler with her partying and drinking. The only good thing was that at the same time you get to see Adrian too. Somehow now that Dimitri is Strigoi, he's and Rose's age difference didn't disturb me that much.

This is the first book of the series that wasn't painful to be inside Rose's head. And a bigger shocker: I was able to relate with her! So, thumbs up for Mead. I was expecting for this throughout the whole series and it finally happened. We need to feel this connection to the characters to be able to care for them. Even Dimitri became an interesting character. So double thumbs up for the author.

The first half of the book was a really slow read but it didn't bothered me as much I would have expected.The second half was full of mysterious, suspense and expectations which was thrilling.

Blood Promise is full of surprises and I expect the same for the rest of the Vampire Academy Series.

Have you ever read a series that just sucks you in and won't let you go? Even weeks after you've finished your still thinking about it? Vampire Academy is one of these. It has to be one of my favorite series (next to Harry Potter of course). Rose is an amazing Heroine; courageous, passionate and strong with enough attitude to give her an edge. Mead's series just keeps on getting better and better. Every time I expect her to take the easy way out of a conflict (like most authors) Mead shocks me by playing out the conflict rather then just making easy saves (example Dimitri). And speaking of Dimitri I thought that section with him was the most intense and yet most disturbing part of the book. I loved it and i hated it.
Spoilers: My only complaint was the part with Lissa and Avery it was kind of a poor subplot in my opinion. I really didn't want her to be a bad guy or at least to maybe wait until the next book to kill her off as a character, I mean how much fun would it be if we had a little competition between Avery and Rose? Also i love Adrian and I really wanted to see him with someone. But instead Averys brain dead and we won't be seeing her again.

But other then that minor detail I just loved this book and the characters. I can't wait to read Sprit Bound!

Another great book in the Vampire Academy series, Blood Promise follows Rose's journey to find Dimitri and kill him. Throughout her quest we see her grieving over the loss of Dimitri and her agony over leaving Lissa behind in Montana.

While I still loved this novel, I felt there were too many flashbacks of Dimitri and Rose's time together--many of these could have been edited out. Furthermore, these flashbacks are of events that the reader never saw in any of the previous novels. Some of this understandable, but at times I was left wondering how these things could have possibly occurred without mention in the previous novels. One flashback, for example, is about a weekend trip that Dimitri and Rose were able to take alone together. It is unrealistic that Rose would not have told the reader about this trip in the previous novel.

I bought the complete collection volume after reading the first book. The first two were great, the 3rd very good and had some interesting and exciting action. This one has too many coincidences right from the start, nobody is as lucky as Rose.

The first maybe third of Blood Promise was a recap book and when it finally got down to it's own plot it made me mumble "perils of Pauline" several times. Some books I don't want to end, with this one I was afraid it would never end. I'll read the last two of this series but there is no rush since it seems that when most authors continue a series past 3 that the quality goes down. I was planning on reading the Bloodlines series but now I'm not so sure.

I loved this series (and I love vampire/paranormal books in general). It’s not completely out there from an originality perspective, but it is different enough from the seemingly thousands of vampire books publishing she’s around the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've been waiting so impatiently for this book to come out. The fourth in a series that just got better and better every volumne, Blood Promise does not let you down. It's worth every penny and gave such a full, complete sense of satisfaction, while still leaving you eager for the next installment. Okay small spoilers if you haven't read the previous books... which if you haven't, shame on you! Go read the first three!!! Okay last book, Rose was truly growing up and becoming mature in her world view and actions. She'd consummated her forbidden love with Dimitri before they went into a true battle with a small army of undead vampire Strigoi who'd managed to overcome the wards and invade the sanctuary of the school grounds. People fight, sacrifice, and die in an all out battle to drive away the Strigoi and to rescue the people taken captive by the monsters who torture, feed on, and worse to their prisoners. Not just random people, but persons Rose has gotten to know over the years she's spent at the academy, school mates, friends, loved ones... Including her heart, Dimitri, who selflessly risked danger in order to save others, and falls to the worst of fates... slain and made an undead Strigoi. The new book opens with Rose on her new mission, her promise to honor Dimitri and the man he had been when living, by destroying the undead horror he had become. She's sacrificed everything that meant the most to her, from her standing as a Guardian in training, the relationship with her bond mate the royal living vampire Lissa, her future that she'd worked so hard for and suffered so much for, pushed aside for this very personal and intimate quest of love and grief.

Rose goes to Russia, hoping to pick up a lead to where Dimitri has gone, and on her journey though a foriegn country she meets the mysterious humans who help keep the secrets of vampires from the rest of the mortal world, the Alchemists, and finds unexpected love and belonging among Dimitri's surviving family. Mysterious persons such as Abe, who she fears is a Russian Mobster take worrisome interest in who she is and what she is doing in Russia. Meanwhile Rose learns about the culture and lifestyles of other Dhamphires, those who had not dedicated themselves to becoming Guardians, including an underground of rogue Strigoi slayers. Rose finds different ways of belonging, showing that there are lots more possible futures for her besides being a Guardian available, but through it all she is still dedicated to her mission of finding, and slaying, Dimitri.

And then Dimitri finds her. Captured. Captivated... Rose is offered the unthinkable. Nightmare and dream bleed into each other as the most terrible fate becomes terrifyingly seductive when it means you can have your hearts desire, FOREVER.

Meanwhile Lissa also is dealing with temptations and hidden dangers as a terrible plot snakes around her and places her life and sanity at grave risk. It's up to Rose to accept or deny her heart's desires, and to either rescue those she loves most, or lose them to true evil.

****
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New Spirit Users! Dimitri's family! Rose in couture dresses! And it all hangs together solidly, a full story with loads of depth, all sorts of layers of meaning as the character learns, grows and becomes even more than she has been before. -- notes may want tissues for some of the parts, I cried my eyes out at some places. I want the next books now sooo bad!!!

Wow does Richelle Mead know how to end a book. I am going to keep this short because I need to devour the next book ASAP. The events with Dimitri broke my heart. Twice while reading I started crying because it was getting to me! And I am not one to cry! I had a feeling that something like it (the ending) would happen but as I continued to read I started to feel even more hopeless than the end of the 3rd book. I liked that Rose was out of the US and away from the academy (and Lissa, for that matter).

To be honest, the first half of this book was sad and boring, but the second half was back to form like the first three books. This is the fourth book curse, just like J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Authors are given a three book deal then they have to write the first three to the best of their ability so that they can get an extension on the series from the publisher. Thats my theory as to why this book was so different than the first three. But honestly, after all that is happened Rose doesn't have purpose in her life and she is mourning the loss of Dmitri. The last page ensured that I would read the last two books of the series, but I hope I don't have to force myself to read them like I did with this installment. The first three gave me reading headaches I read them so fast!

This book was a little easier to put down than the rest of the series but the story was still engaging. I think the shift in writing style/storyline threw me off a little. However, I think this book may be the most important one in the series as it shifts Rose into adulthood and shows that her outlook on life is forever changed. She has grown so much and I feel as the reader that I have grown with her. I can't believe the petty social circle/gossip issues held my attention so much when now there are so many other pressing events. It was interesting learning more about Dimitri's heritage and family, along with the potential of spirit users. I can't wait to see how this series ends!

Having been a diehard Twihard, I'm always looking for the next romantic fantasy to fill the void. I won't say the Vampire Academy series does that for me, but I am hooked and loving these books.

Blood Promise took me where I didn't think this series would. Many teen paranormal romance books are gratingly predictable and 'soft'; KILL SOMEONE OFF! BREAK SOME HEARTS! SHOCK ME! They barely challenge their characters or the emotions of their readers. Blood Promise does this.

Without giving anything away, I wasn't entirely sure what decision Rose was going to make. In my heart I want Dimitri and her to be together, for their love to be perfect and a happy ending...sort of. But the uncertainty and twists that come out of this story are much more rewarding to my imagination than the typically boring happy ending my heart wants.

The new characters that reared their heads in this book have also been a treat. Oksana and Mark, Sydney, Yeva, Abe...all add an exciting dynamic to the series, answering some mysteries and opening the door to others.

The entire VA series has been a fun, light read, but I've noticed a turn in the tone of Mead's story telling. It's gotten better. The humor and the emotions projected by her characters feel real to me, relatable.

My only complaint: ditch the ghosts. Ghosts are lame.

I've come to realize that the Vampire Academy series is not an action packed series that has the readers head spinning because so much stuff is going on. While those books a serious page turners, the plots can become mixed-up and hard to define after all is said and done. What is so great about this series is that despite the focus and narrative voice is on Rose Hathaway, the dhampir guardian that is shadow-kissed to her best friend and Moroi princess, Lissa, the story allows the readers to fall in love with all of the characters and feel what they are feeling - the hurt, confusion, love and even wild abandon. The series is more like a personal growth for these characters, but mostly for Rose, the narrator and central character of these books. Rose is strong-willed and sometimes short tempered but each book brings a new dimension to the character and you start liking her a little bit more with each page that goes by, not only because of her struggles but because of her strength against anything that comes her way (whether it be a vampire or a new dilemma she must face).

Blood Promise was a little slow to start for me, and I do not want to include any spoilers in my review. If you read book 3, you know what Rose sets out to do at the end of the book and the beginning of this novel picks right up with Rose's search. I was a good one hundred to two hundred pages in before I felt like anything of real resolve actually happened and then some good stuff started happening that the readers have been waiting on those last two hundred pages or more. BUT after I finished this book (in a day) I decided that I liked the ENTIRE book, even though I thought the beginning was slow. Once you read the whole book you realize where Ms. Mead was taking the reader with all of the stuff at the beginning and why each and everything thing was point in.

I loved this book and hate that I have to wait for the next book in the series to come out - especially now that the cliffhanger on this is so good and juicy.

Can't wait for more and I definately recommend!!

Wow! This book is not like the others. I was frustrated to discover that the story had separated Rose and Lissa - I was sure that this would negatively impact the flow of the story. It didn't - it is a little rough in the beginning to flow between the different locations (Lissa @ School and Rose on her adventure). Rose's adventure leads to future storylines; she meets new people and discovers things unknown to her - things that she is sheltered from. All of the wonderful characters that Mead created in previous installments are back, along with some new intriguing ones. I visited Mead's website today and discovered it is going to be a long wait, May 18, 2010, for the next book Spirit Bound: A Vampire Academy Novel. But I have no doubt that she, Mead, can deliver another winner!

This book would be slightly confusing to someone who has not read the others, but I sugguest you pick them all up - you won't be disappointed.

The other books are :
Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Book 1)
Frostbite (Vampire Academy, Book 2) (Bk. 2)
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)

My Thoughts: I found Book #3 (Shadow Kiss) completely mindblowing and didn't think the next book Blood Promise could make me feel as many emotions (angst, frustration, joy, heartache) just as vividly, but I was wrong. Blood Promise is just as intense and emotionally deep, so beware this is not a light and fluffy read.

*sorry for my disjointed rambling the memories and impressions are stil so vivid I don't know where to start*

I have to admit I found the beginning a bit slow and dragging, but I understand that Richelle Mead had to give an introduction to the story and show us Rose's grief. In my opinion the novel truly began when Rose landed in Baia and met Dimitri's family. And what a nice and warm family! I was so happy to see Rose enveloped in so much love, acceptance and friendship, it was truly great to see her protected and nurtured from/through her grief by the unconditional and honest love and affection of Dimitri's family.

I had this small thrill, you know that buzzing anticipation when you know something is about to happen and you feel like your skin is too tight? Well that's how I felt: holding my breath for the big facedown between Rose and Dimitri to see how it would go when they would finally see each other again. But what happened after was still unexpected...

Reading about Rose's captivity I had very ambivalent feelings. I was glad to see Dimitri's attachment (loved how his protective side always surfaced in connection with Rose) (and by the way I was completely surprised because somehow I thought that after being changed into a Strigoi they forgot their previous life, their friends, family and emotions /don't know why I thought that/, so when I heard Dimitri remember Rose I was flabbergasted) and that Rose finally got part of the happiness she deserved: they had a few stolen days/weeks(?) together, and it was good to see Rose happy without restraints, in the previous books she only had very brief moments of happiness but then real life and worries intruded. On the other hand it was painful seeing the strong, independent Rose reduced to a mindless, weak and drugged zombie. She was like a medieval concubine to a rich aristocrat: kept in a golden cage, showered with beautiful gowns and jewellery but she had to be available like some kind of personal sex (here blood) slave... It was stomach turning. And Richelle Mead managed to write this part so amazingly, that after the initial joy one Rose/Dimitri supporter might have felt at their reunion, the way they spent their time together and especially what it did to Rose got so revolting, that any true fan of either character knew that something must happen, that Rose had to get away.

And that escape/fight/bridge scene! I lack the words. I rarely cry while reading, but I teared up I imagined that bridge scene so vividly and especially poor Rose's doubts and questions afterwards, always going back to that scene.. It was heartwrenching.

The emotional intensity of Shadow Kiss was met in Blood Promise too, and I love how this series despite being a young adult series is definitely not a light and cotton candy fluffiness teenage angst story but is so full of emotion and heartbreak.

I was again guessing throughout reading the novel when the relevance of the title would be revealed and I was not disappointed. I love how the titles of Richelle's Mead Vampire Academy series besides being catchy have a deeper meaning conveying an important notion or momentum of the novel, and it was just the same here. The motive of promise reared its head many times and in different circumstances, but was always in the forefront.

I liked the storyline that Rose left the safety and mundane days of the Academy and went to see the world. I enjoyed reading about her enthusiastic exploration of Russia and how she saw Dimitri's comments and memories behind everything. (However I found it a bit irritating as it is so highly improbable as near impossible that not only do every Russian speak English in a remote village/town in Siberia, but that even old - I mean grandma old - people were bilingual! Come on!)

I missed Christian. :-( Through Rose's visits we felt as if Lissa was still next to Rose, and Adrian kept popping up in Rose's dreams, but Christian didn't get enough "screen time" for my taste. His snarky humour was sorely missed. And back to Lissa. *groans* After the small respite in Shadow Kiss, Lissa got back again on my "Characters-I-Most-Want-to-Knock-on-the-Head-and-Render-Unconscious" list. She made me so mad! How everyone is always melting on what a kindhearted, gentle and selfless person she is, well she only demonstarted that she was a spoilt, selfish, egocentrical and quite cruel person. She truly got on my nerves, I wanted to slap her so badly! But then she got again that last couple of chapters after the big Avery showdown where she redeemed herself. I hope she'll manage to stay on my good side by remaining a good friend to Rose and being a bit more selfless and attentive to her.

I read Blood Promise until 3 am on a weekday, meaning that in less than 5 hours I had to get up and go to work. But somehow that didn't daunt me. The story was fast paced and addictive (I start to feel that with each subsequent book Richelle Mead ups the addiction level..), and I just couldn't stop devouring the story and turning the pages fast enough!

Here are a few of my favourite quotes of Blood Promise:

1) Rose to Lissa after she came back from her Russian adventure and Lissa made Rose promise she wouldn't leave her out of her next mission:

"Okay," I said, clasping her hand. "I swear it. The next time I go do something stupid that might get me killed, you can come along."

2) Rose on discovering who her father is..:

"Oh God," I said. "I'm Zmey's daughter. Zmey Junior. Zmeyette, even."

3) Adrian and Rose after her graduation:

"Your mom seems like someone who gets her way a lot. It must run in the family. In fact, maybe I should get her help on something."

"Getting hold of illegal cigarettes?"

"Asking her daughter out."

I nearly dropped the plate I held. "You've asked me out tons of times."

"Not really. I've made inappropriate suggestions and frequently pushed for nudity. But I've never asked you out on a real date. And, if memory serves, you did say you'd give me a fair chance once I let you clean out my trust fund."

"I didn't clean it out," I scoffed.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Writing: 9/10
Cover: 9/10 (I think I like this cover the best in the series so far)

Giving my age, I really don't know much about authors and writing, but Richelle Mead is by far the best author I have ever read. Her words just sink into me and I feel like this story is actually happening around me. Blood Promise was amazing. I was so depressed after I was done with Shadow Kiss because it left me with so many questions and assumptions that I had no answers to. But at the end of Blood Promise, I felt that all of them were answered and it was really a relief. Of course, there are now a ton of new questions in my head, but I think I can wait. I had so many guesses of what was going to happen in this book and it was completely different from what I expected, I never would have guessed what Mead wrote. It was an emotional roller coaster, and I'm ready to read the next one and find out what in the heck is going to happen with... well I won't spoil anything, but you know who!

=)

A friend of mine got me hooked on this series. It's unique and intriguing. I often found myself so wrapped-up in reading that I would find myself done with the book with no clue what was going on around me or how much time had passed. I had grown to really enjoy the banter between Dimitri and Rose, so when he was "awakened" it was a heart-wrenching twist that continues throughout this book.

This book lacks much of the action seen in the previous books and is nearly all emotional. I found myself crying and aching for Rose, all the while agitated that she had failed to follow the most basic precepts that Dimitri himself had taught her. However, I do feel the author, Richelle Mead, created something that was very realistic even if it was by no means what you wanted to believe would happen. Through this we are also able to learn more about Strigoi and how they operate and think, which is something I believe is going to be very important for later books.

My only real complaint was the lack of time continuity when Rose would slip into Lissa's mind. At times, the events that would play out were hours or days worth of action in the supposed 10 minutes she was in her mind... or too much time had elapsed with Rose for Lissa to still be doing whatever she was doing at the time. While I was glad she kept the story with Lissa going, I did feel it was a bit contrived at times and that the timing was way off.

Just to put it out there, this is definitely not my favorite book of the series. This book turned out to be super slow and not as much action as I liked. It didn't even have the usual Rose humor that carried me through the previous books. No, what this book was a revisit of New Moon, in which I want to gouge my eye out.

First, we get the recap of previous books, which takes up a huge chunk of the beginning and happens throughout the book. It's not even exciting recaps, but just endless paragraphs reciting what had happened before. I know it's the 4th book, and readers are going to read through that or just skip it, but at least try to make it a bit less painful for us. After that, Rose spent the first half of the book brooding about whether she could kill Dimitri. Then there're endless flashbacks of scenes of her and Dimitri in the past that we never saw. Then there're times when she was just looking at Lissa to see what Lissa was doing, which was also nothing exciting until the very end.

The second half gets just a bit better. There was a bit more of Dimitri and them together, but also lacked action. I felt mostly that this book was just what Rose reciting the events to us. The best part of the book was when I reached maybe 75% when the action really started. I mean, by then, I couldn't put the book down because every word was important.

That's not to say I didn't like the book at all. It was an OK book. I loved Russia and Dimitri's family, but I didn't really see the point, unless they show up again later. The bit about blood whores always annoy me. I liked meeting Abe (that was the only curveball in the end). I liked seeing Rose kind of grow up and find purpose in her life. There're more spirit users and we find a bit more about spirit - well, let me take that back. Because spirit is so "new", the author can do whatever she wants with it without fully explaining anything. The best we get is "I don't know. That's never happened before."

Anyway, this is a great book for those of you that love Rose and Dimitri together. For me, their romance just never felt right or that exciting. It might have something to do with Rose always telling me about their connection every time they interact. Please stop saying that, let me judge by myself. OK? Dimitri is not my type of hero also. I love the sarcastic and witty with skeletons in the closet kind, but he's just there. I don't ever feel like he actually does anything. I like the current evil Dimitri more than the previous one. Now that's kick-ass!

Some of you might be mad that I'm giving this such a low rating, but seriously, after the ending, I felt like I wasted several hours of my life, because Rose didn't accomplish what she set out to do (I should've expected it), so what was the point of the book?

Ning @ Reading by Kindle Fire

The first half of the book, you won't care about. It was kind of interesting but it seems like the author was just trying to make the book longer and didn't care about the content. Now, the second part, that's the real beginning of the next "chapter" of Rose's life.
The first half has to do with Rose spending time with someone's family. I'm sure you know who's. Nothing significant happens here other than the family loves her yata yata. I recommend you skip this part or just skim a lot. In the second part, Dimitri comes in. You know that's the only thing you want to read, right? Even though it takes forever to get to Dimitri, the author still freakin' strings us along with a bunch of nonsense. Rose ends up in a bit of a jam for about 50 or more uninteresting pages. The ending, as always, leaves you wanting more. I hate and love that. I'm not ready to give up this series just yet, but the author's cutting it pretty close. I just want the continuation of the story Richelle Mead, don't mess with me chick! Authors of series tend to do this and it gets old very fast. If you, dear reader, are curious about what happens next check out the book from a local library. Again, beware that the first half is plenty pointless.

Note: I think Rose should be at least a little more sensitive towards Adrien. Man, poor guy :( She can be extremely mean with him and I do not like her personality for that.

I really love this Author. She deserves to have her fiction made into films.
I read a variety of non fiction and fiction and stumbled upon this book.
It was really entertaining. I have read all her work now, and I think she has an amazing gift.
She has a talent for making you laugh and keeping you in suspence.
I think these are smart and strong women characters.
This character doesn't need a man to rescue her, and yet the series is still romantic and sexy.
Unlike Bella in Twilight who almost kills herself when Edward leaves, Mead has a way of making her main character strong yet vulnerable in a very realistic way.
Buy them...don't download for free. Let's keep this Author happy so she continues to put out great reading.

First let it be known, I'm not a huge Vampire Academy fan. The books are good but they are far from my favorite... until now. This book was fantastic! Rose's time over is Russia has so many ups and downs. The emotions Richelle Mead puts us through just blows me away. There's action, humor, tender moments, moments that tear at your heart strings and even romance if you can believe it. I find it hard to believe that some people think this book is filler. It isn't. We learn more about Dimitri and even meet his family... FINALLY! Rose meets some people that will end up being important to her in the long run. (I hope) I just can't say enough good things about this book. Read it... I really don't think you'll be disapointed.

I wondered how Richelle could top Shadow Kiss.
I didn't know how the story could carry on.
I didn't know how Lissa would carry on.
Change the location atmosphere & how the characters work.
Take Lissa away from Rose & thinks can only take a twist.
This really worked and brought a fantastic new dimension to the story.
The previous stories had only really been set within the academy & the royal court
but with this twist a whole new world opened up.
It left you hoping and wondering.
The only thing is which way will it go?
I have to give the book 5 out of 5
I couldn't give it any less than perfection.

Wow ! There are some thing's that happen in this book that you never thought would happen. Mead does an excellent job of keeping her readers hooked.

This is definitely a major page turner. Suspense, romance , magic , what more could you ask for? You don't want to miss out on this book....

Another thing , I'll be nice and warn you about the upcoming seriously pain in the butt cliffhanger ending. Best get your hands on Last Sacrifice. You'll be kicking yourself if you don't. 

Rose Hathaway has left St. Vladimir's Academy and set off on a suicide mission to Russia; searching for Dimitri and his hometown believing that's where he would have gone. But not remembering the name of the town has made her search more difficult. So now she visits night clubs visited by Moroi and Dhampir alike, hoping to question the Moroi men thinking that they would know the town. But the information she needs comes from an unlikely source, a human. Sydney Sage, an alchemist, has been all over the place cleaning up the bodies of the Strigoi Rose has taken down. Both Rose and Sydney make their way to Baia, the destination Rose has been trying to get to.

The relationship between Rose and Sydney was basically my favorite in the entire book. Sydney doesn't exactly feel comfortable around Rose since she's a Dhampir. All that has to do with what the alchemists have taught her and what they know about the Moroi/Dhampir/Strigoi. Basically, they're all one in the same. (Which obviously isn't true) Their interactions, however, don't last forever since Sydney leaves a day or so after dropping Rose off. We only hear from Sydney one more time around the middle of the book and it's via a phone call, and that's it. It does sadden me, but I know that we'll get to see Sydney again. I just hate having to wait especially if it's for a character that you really like.

I honestly forget what happens while Rose is in Baia. For me it was dull and lasted longer than it should have. Actually, aside from Sydney, the first had of Blood Promise dragged on and on without anything to show except for the mysterious Abe. Abe was an interesting character to say the least. His portrayal was that of a mobster complete with the jewelry and the bodyguards. We don't find out more about the mysterious Abe until the very last chapter on the last couple of pages in the book.

I came close to throwing the towel in and calling it quits with Blood Promise, but then I got to the part where Rose finally finds Dimitri. Well, it's more like Dimitri finds Rose and the whole encounter isn't anything special. He basically knocks her out and she wakes up in a strange room. From the moment she wakes up onward I felt like I was reading bad fanfiction. Rose, what happened to you? Obviously you know this isn't the same person you knew before considering he's now a Strigoi. Not to mention if he hasn't killed you yet it's only a matter of time before he does, and he has plans for you if not to actually kill you.

The whole thing was cringe worthy and I actually started to feel sorry for Rose. But then I came to my senses and realized that this is an eighteen year old who dropped out of St. Vlad's, leaving behind Lissa and everyone else, in search for her mentor and lover to kill him. An eighteen year old who is capable of making her own decisions. Especially if they're the bad ones. It's just hard for me to wrap my mind around, but that's just me. Personally, I would have rather been killed than to be used as a bloodwhore, living in a fantasy with a man who could kill you at any given moment.

What kept me from rating this book one star were a few things:

I enjoyed some of the parts away from Rose where she would 'visit' Lissa through the bond. It showed us how Lissa felt about Rose leaving and about the situation in general. We saw that major changes were happening with the arrivals of a new headmaster and students. We got to see Lissa practicing with Adrian about Spirit some more, I just wish there was more of it. Sadly, Christian wasn't really in the scene as much as he was before. Actually, he appeared more in Vampire Academy than he did in Blood Promise. It's kind of saddening to be honest.

Other parts I enjoyed was the bridge scene. I won't spoil it, but those who've read the book know which one I'm talking about. We also got to learn more about Spirit while on Rose's side of the world having met another spirit user and shadow kissed. I actually found that to be more interesting than the entire time Rose was in Baia.

The ending was one everyone saw coming from a mile away since hearing a silly fairy tale. This also means that we're going to see Victor Dashkov again. I'm actually excited about that since Victor is an interesting villain and something I feel like the series has been missing.

While Blood Promise isn't my favorite book in the series, those who are fans of Rose and Dimitri will enjoy this installment and their interactions.

***posted 1/29/14 not too sure why it's showing up as a 2009 review

Initially, I was worried when I started to read this book. But, after much thought and consideration of how the book ended, there may be a silver lining in the way this could turn out!!!! :) I hated the ending of Shadowkiss. I love love love Dimitri soooo much that I couldn't think of him turned. I found myself actually hating him in this book. I was also surprised to find myself wanting Rose to turn Strigoi!! I couldn't believe the emotional rollercoaster this book put me through!!! And now I have to wait until May? ..MAY???
UGH!!!

I gotta give it up for my girl Richelle Mead, who is an amazing storyteller! I cant believe how she sucked me in and wont let me go! MUST READ MORE!!! MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!@#$%

I am really curious to see what she puts Rose and Lissa through in the next book. I also find myself wondering an aweful lot.....WILL ROSE AND DEMITRI EVER BE TOGETHER????????? if not.........I will be very sad:(

"Blood Promise" is the 4th book in the Vampire Academy series. Most of the book takes place in Russia, as Rose searches for Dimitri. Along the way, she meets Dimitri's family & looks into Lissa's mind, so we know what is going on back at the academy. There are plenty of fight scenes but no real shocking revelations. I can't say too much more without spoiling it.

"Blood Promise" is my least favorite of the Vampire Academy books. Don't get me wrong; the book was good. But it was different. I felt that this book really suffered from Rose being alone. She does use her powers to look into Lissa's head, but it's just not the same. I really like the dynamic that all 4 (Rose, Lissa, Christian, & Adrian) have when they are together. We meet many new characters in Russia, the most important being Dimitri's family. The last half of the book was great, but I have to take away one star for the slow start.

I have to admit... I was worried when I started this series that I wouldn't like it because it was teen fiction. As a 26 year old woman I enjoy reading anything paranormal but wanted to avoid anything too "teeny boper". I was incredibly impressed with Richelle Mead's series thus far. Every book had me running to the bookstore for the next one. I was so disappointed when I reached this book and realized I'm going to have to wait another 7 months for the next installment. I liked the characters- most especially Rose. Her kick butt attitude is fun and entertaining. I ended up being as attached to her and Dimitris relationship as I was with Bella and Edwards. I liked how this novel had kind of a dark side to it... it reminded me of Karen Marie Monings amazing Fever series. And the ending... WOW! I'm so excited for the next book! I've already found myself guessing what will happen next. I highly recommend this book to readers of any age.

I love everything that Richelle Mead has written so far however I have to say that this was my favorite Vampire Academy book in the series. I don't want to give away any spoilers but just to say that my favorite parts were Rose remembering her past times with Dimitri - ones we had not seen before. To me it totally reaffirmed their love for each other. I think this book gives Rose hope for the future happiness that she definitely deserves - I'll just leave it at that! I cannot wait for the next installment of this series. I definitely recommend this book although I suggest if you have not already done so read books 1-3 in the series first. If you like the VA books I suggest you pick up her Succubus Series (Georgina Kincaid) and the Dark Swan Series (Eugenie Markham). Trust me - you won't be sorry!

I'm 16 and I recommend this series for anyone around my age and maybe older if you are interested in sci-fi/horror. I was 14-15 when I started the series and I bought the first two books to begin with. I had just finished all of the Twilight Saga and was looking for something similar to tide me over until the Twilight Movie was released. I purchased them at BAM! and when I went to the cashier to check out, I was asked if I had just read the Twilight Saga and was told this was the series everyone turned to next to help with their "withdrawals". I have to say everyone made a great choice! I read both books and could not rest until I went back and purchased the next book! I really hated the cliffhanger at the end and could not stand the wait. I have just finished the 4th book "Blood Promise" and cannot wait till book 5 hits stores! Every book had its own unique story, and helps flow at the end right into the next book. In each book, Rose is faced with a decision, each answer having major things at "stake" (thought I add that! haha). Yet, in the end, you seem to learn as Rose does what the right choices and paths are for her, no matter how much it pains her. Rose is not like most girls around her are supposed be, but her uniqueness is what makes her Rose and helps her along the way.

The series does have some language, but nothing extremely strong, but some prefer none at all (just thought i'd add that in). But, overall, this a very intriguing and interesting series that keeps you on edge as you read each line. It also makes you voice your thoughts aloud without even thinking! lol

One thing I suggested doing is finding a friend, co-worker, or maybe your daughter and ask them to read the series with you. Trust me, you will want someone to talk to about this series! I try telling some parts to my Mom or sister and they don't understand half of what I'm saying. lol

I hope this review helps you in making your choice on whether to purchase them or not! (Just do it! You know you really want to!)

Oh, and did I add that there is a Russian guy named Dimitri? %) Even the name sounds sexy! Picture it: tall, tanned, strong, outrageously gorgeous! If that doesn't make you want to read this series, then I dont know what will!

Richelle Mead has outdone herself yet again with this latest installment of the Vampire Academy series, Blood Promise. I was totally engrossed in the story from the first page and I found myself begging for more at the end. Truly a great installment to this wonderful series.

Blood Promise is a very different book from the first three. We really see the characters develop and come into their own in this one, which always makes for a better read. It's the first book that doesn't take place at the Academy which is a nice change. We get to see the separation of Rose and Lissa which was a pleasant experience. I really think that Lissa's character grows and learns so much in this books, ultimately making her stronger. We also get to see more of Adrian (which is totally my favorite character BTW) and see a different side to his character. Adrian is more sweet and lovable in this book, which gives it a nice twist. Now for the Strigoi Dimitri. What can I say, I loved this part of the book. I loved how Richelle took a character we all loved and turned him completely evil. It was just so interesting to see how his character evolved and I really think she made the transaction clear to the reader. Bottom line: Strigoi-Dimitri=evil, Dhampir-Dimitri=good.

I strongly suggest anyone who loves vampire romance novels to read this book. It's a wonderful mixture of love, loyalty, heartache, and pain. You'll love this boook from start to finish. Check it out.

This was arguably the best book in the series. I can see how some might think of it as less action filled than the last few books but let me tell you.... Rose is on her own, so is Lissa for that matter, and this children is the first time that that has happened since Rose became Shadow Kissed. Rose has set her self up for what I truly believe is a suicide mission. Dimitri is stronger, faster, smarter and older than Rose, now that he is a Strigoi there is no way she can defeat him, yet she packs her bags, hugs Lissa and heads off to Russia. Parts of the book were slower than others, yet I loved getting to know Dimitri's family and what a real Dhamphir's community was like. The time with his family helped heal Rose because she and Dimitri's relationship was acceptance, they treated her like a widow, not like a student losing a teacher she had a crush on.

Ok this is going to be really hard not to spoil the plot for you guys... the middle and end were so mind blowing, I was afraid then vindicated. Rose is lost trying to figure out who she is and what she really wants in life. Meanwhile Lissa is losing herself slowly to the darkness as well as something more sinister.

So does love prevail? Read the last chapter and you tell me, I can tell you that I think I know what the next book will be about. For those of you who have already read it, and for those of you who will, you will be praying and crossing your fingers that fairy tales do exist and that Lissa and Rose finds it.

I really wish it hadn't gone into hard cover price but Richelle Mead has just gotten better and better with each installment. Even if you don't buy it, read it. There were parts I gripped the cover so tight my fingers cramped with an effort to reach out to Rose, Lissa and Dimitir.

The first three books of this series were fast paced couldn't put it down books. I liked them in part due to the strong, while sometimes immature, Rose. I have no idea where she is at in this book. It's an incredibly slow read that makes her seem like a pathetic little girl, not the warrior she is. I've never given up on a book before but it's like a chore to keep reading this book. So I'm tapping out at only 40% read. Unfortunately that means I won't be able to finish what started out as such a good series, but I cannot sit through another page of this nonsense.

I checked out the audio book from my library and I thought that the woman who did the voices did a great job. Each voice was very distinct, when I read the books I didn't imagine anyone with an accent, but after listing to the audio book I feel like I have a better feel for the characters. The narrator read a little slow, but it wasn't too annoying.
I have read the all of the Vampire Academy books and this one by far is my favorite. Rose just seems like she grew up in this book.

First off, let me say, I love this series. I read the first three books a second time before Blood Promise was released. Entire time elapsed was approximately two days. Why? Because this series rocks.

The story starts off at a literal crawl, it was neither incredibly exciting nor stimulating. You do learn a few interesting facts about the Dhampir world.

The middle part of the book is more interesting, but has serious turtle issues. Honestly, Lissa's scenes were more attention-gripping than Rose's by FAR. I might even have skipped a few Rose paragraphs here and there because it was pretty much the same thought, just re-worded.

The last part of the book is much more tantalizing and fun. It had action and secrets and creepy people that you have to love.

Overall, I would compare this book to LOTR: The Two Towers--mindlessly boring at some small parts, but completely necessary for the setup of the next installment in the series.

Spirit Bound 2010--I will be waiting.

*EDIT* After a couple of weeks of deliberation, I have decided that all the incredible dullness of many parts of this book were not completely necessary as previously decided. Two Towers was the second book in a trilogy. This is the fourth book in a series. She has successfully written three other books with a fraction of the boring filler being present.

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead gives Vampire Academy readers new hope for Dimitri after the ending to Shadow Kiss, the previous book in the series. I was once again captured in the detailed twisted plot Richelle writes and left pining for the next book, a reoccurring pattern in the series. Richelle creates a new breed of vampires, some good and some evil. Moroi, are the tall, thin and pale, good vampires that are gifted in elemental magic, and only drink blood from willing "feeders", careful not to kill them. Damphirs are half-vampire guardians of Moroi. They look a lot more human, but they are also super-human strong. Being only half-vampire, they do not need to drink blood. Strigoi are the evil creatures that are the reason Moroi need protection. Strigoi are Moroi turned evil and feel no guilt from killing innocent humans and Moroi by drinking their blood until they die. They are stronger and faster than the Damphirs and anyone turned Strigoi is considered dead. In this book, Rose Hathaway finds herself heartbroken with a huge task ahead of her. Rose is a sassy, strong-willed Damphir and an excellent guardian-in-training. She has a reputation as a tough girl, having killed more Strigoi as a student at the academy than most guardians kill in their entire lifetime. I can't help but connect with Rose, worrying about her when she's in danger (which coincidentally happens a lot) and cheering her on in all her successes. At the beginning of this book the man she loves, Dimitri, is Strigoi. In an effort to keep a promise she and Dimitri once made to each other, Rose sets out on her toughest mission yet- killing him. She leaves the Vampire Academy and best friend, Lissa, a Moroi princess, to go to Dimitri's hometown, Siberia, searching for him. Rose finds herself unsure of and questioning her decision to leave. Will she be able to kill Dimitri? Or should she just leave like the mysterious stranger, Abe, is urging her to do? Worst of all, is Lissa already replacing her with another Moroi, Alex, who may not be as nice as she seems? My favorite part of this book is when Rose spends time with Dimitri's family in Siberia. I like how we get to learn more about Dimitri's past that he hardly ever talked about, and how Rose loves his family too. Part of the reason I liked it was because it was so emotional for Rose and the reader to remember Dimitri and imagine what it would have been like if Dimitri had introduced them.

This book was INCREDIBLE. And you probably don't even need to read the rest of this to figure out that I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it. Richelle Mead couldn't have done a better job on this book if she tried. This is probably my favorite series ever and a definite page turner.
The writing was excellent. It always kept me at the edge of my seat and turning the pages all the way to the end. Sometimes I even felt like putting off reading more because every second I read, I was that much closer to the end, and the anticipation that came along with waiting for the next book.
Rose is my favorite fictional character out of any book I've ever read. She's strong (both physically and mentally), smart, and sarcastic. And I happen to like Dimitri a lot too, so you can understand that they would also be my favorite fictional romance. Them together works so well, and I wasn't disappointed with their characters and the paths they took in this story at all.
The story was the best part about Blood Promise. It was very exciting, especially towards the last half. The fact that it took place in various parts of Russia added even more excitment to the already fast-paced story. And I was surprised the split plots between Rose (in Russia) and Lissa (at St. Vladimir's) worked so well throughout the book, and merging into one at the end.
Blood Promise was as realistic as a book about vampires can be, and lived up to all expectations I have of this series. I'll definitely be counting down the days to Spirit Bound.

(By the way, It seems that people who gave this book so low of a rating failed to see the purpose of this book and how important it is to developing the characters more. Maybe when reading this you just weren't in the same mood as you were when you read the last ones. That happens to me sometimes. But oh well it's your opinion.)

[...]

I WOULD SAY THIS VAMPIRE ACADEMY SERIES IS EQUAL TO TWILIGHT CAUSE AFTER READING BOTH I FELT CHANGED. I STILL FELT THEM IN MY SYSTEM FOR A WEEK OR LONGER AND WISHED I COULD NOT ONLY READ IT, BUT LIVE IT. WITH THIS SERIES, EACH BOOK GETS MORE AND MORE INTENSE AND I LOVE THAT! WHAT HELPED TWILIGHT WAS THAT I COULD PICTURE EDWARD AND JACOB WHILE I WAS READING SINCE I HAD ALREADY SEEN THE MOVIE, THEY'RE HOT. WITH VAMPIRE ACADEMY YOU DONT KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE BUT THE STORY SELLS ITSELF WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM HOT ACTORS.
LINDA, 27 YRS.

I squealed when the stake & note came!!!!! He's still 'alive' I'm excited for they belong together & the prospect of Rose finding a way to turn him back from being a Strigoi holds great promise!!! Eeeekkkss true love!!!! The characters are great & plot is so descriptive can imagine I'm in Russia with them!! Did not expect the twist with Abe, but I'm glad!! :) LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!!

4.5 stars

If Rose thought she had it bad in the past it was nothing like she had to face now. Now she is on a mission to kill the man she loves, a man that is no longer the same person but a cruel and soulless Strigoi. Having to leave Lissa behind is only one of the things that is breaking her heart.

I thought Rose changed a lot throughout this book. She knew what she had to do and how she had to keep her promise. Despite everything to grew into herself and even learned that she has to start trusting those around her. All of the plot developments in this book were purely delightful, some I was expecting or had previously anticipated but that didn't detract from the author's delivery of them. I also wasn't surprised by the ending but can't wait to read how it turns out!

**spoiler alert** Blood Promise unfortunately didn't pack the punch I was hoping for. I really expected to stay up all night and read this one but I found myself reading a couple of pages and then putting it down to read something else. The whole story seemed hastily put together and really the whole book could have been omitted IMO. Every time the story would switch to Lissa I would silently groan because I thought that whole storyline was boring and served no purpose. I guess the only part that kept me mildly interested was when Rose finally meets Dimitri even though I hated the outcome. I will continue reading this series but I doubt I will put it on the top of my TBR pile when the next one is released.

I enjoy reading all kinds of books, but a couple years ago, my daughter got me interested in this genre and since then I have read all the Twilight series, the House of Night Series, and now the Vampire Academy series. This one is by far my favorite and this book is the best of series so far. It kept my attention and had me on the edge of my seat. I bought it on Friday evening after it came out and was finished by Sunday night. Although I didn't read constantly for that amount of time, it was very hard to put down. If you have read the Twilight books or even the House of Night series, I recommend you give these books a try, especially Blood Promise.

So obviously something bad had to happen to either Rose or Dimitri so there would be a story to write...and what a story. Rose had some hard decisions to make. She finally was thinking about herself (well mostly) and what she wanted. Things don't go exactly like Rose wants but she learns a lot about Dimitri.

This is a really good turning point in the series. I thought some parts were a little rambling but overall there is a really great story here.

Wow! I just finished reading the fourth book, Blood Promise. Wow, I thought the other books were great and full of action. This is the best yet! I could barely put the book down but being a mom I couldn't read it all in one sitting but I sure wanted too!! The twists and turns of this book has you guessing what will happen next. The ending? That was a shocker, definately not what I thought would happen! I'll be impatiently waiting the next one! Highly recommended reading.

Once again hooked from the first paragraph. How is that being over 50 and enjoying a teenage novel, but I admit I'm hooked. Have to get to the next book to find out what happens.....biting nails already.

Great read, suspense, intrigue, sorrow, surprises, the list goes on. Get the series if you can it's well worth it.

Carmelle

Richelle Mead writes another amazing book in the Vampire Academy series. This book is all about Rose's journey to find her true love and do the unthinkable-kill him. Her journey leads her to meet many new and interesting characters that are once again easy to fall in love with. I fell in love with Rose from the beginning of the series and was still in love with her tragic story all the way. My only reason for not giving this book 5 stars was the fact that Rose didn't seem as strong as she did in the other books. I do understand why she wasn't her normal feisty self, but in some points of the story I wish she would have been a little stronger. Overall though, the story was still amazing and if you have read any of the other books than of course this one is just as good and I definitely recommend it.

Many series have one book which readers recognize as being a mere filler--that is, not much substance plot-wise and the writing is mediocre at best. BLOOD PROMISE stamps out that myth and shines like a beacon on its own and is a testament to Mead's growth as a writer and storyteller. The fourth novel in the six-part series outdoes itself with incredible fight scenes, mysterious characters, and fascinating plot-twists and revelations that bring more questions than answers.

The heart of the story focuses on the hero Rose Hathaway's journey to fulfill the promise she made to herself and Dimitri. During this journey, Rose finds herself in situations she would never have imagined--mob-like characters whose intentions are ambiguous, other aspects of Moroi life she was not privvy to, along with her first encounter with a dhampir commune, meeting other dhampirs with a vendetta like her, and finally, her heart stopping confrontation with Dimitri. No spoilers will be given, for that would take away at the amazing story Mead has created, but rest assured, you have seen absolutely nothing yet.

The novel was a mind-blowing experience full of amazing adventures and action that showed no signs of letting up at any point during the reading. Richelle Mead's writing has grown more sophisticated and despite the dark setting is full of humor and will make you race through the pages, leaving yourself blinking at the last page wondering where all the time went.

**Please note that I am a thirtysomething mother of 2 who loves this series and have quickly grown to love Richelle Mead as a writer!

I looked forward to reading this book as soon as I finished Shadow Kissed. I began reading as soon as I received my copy. I was glad to see that it picked up almost right where Book #3 left off. There wasn't much action in the first 250 pages, so I found it hard to get into, which was a change from the prior books.

(** SPOILER ALERT **) I did enjoy the chapters where Rose spent time with Dimitri's family - especially her relationship with Dimitri's sister. It was heartbreaking when she finally told them about what happened to him. Soon after that Rose finds Dimitri - I was so hooked from then on that it did not take me long to finish. Some of the "surprises" at the end I fgured out throughout the book (ie: Abe being Rose's father, Avery being a "villan", etc.)

While I didn't care to much for Dimitri in this book, for the fact that he was an evil Stergoi (normally I love the romance between them), I did come to love Adrian as a character. I have to admit I didn't care for him when he was first introduced, but the last 2 books have changed my opinion. I hope he stays around for the remainder of the series.

Like I stated in the title the book had a slow start, which is why I gave it only 4 stars, but it got better! I am now looking forward to the next installment. If you love this series stick with the book for the first half and you will NOT be disappointed!!

So I say this each time I read another in this series, but this is my favorite so far! Though I like Lissa, Rose just rules! She has so many sides to her, she's tough but sensitive and just feels real. Even though this book is fantasy, her character is relatable. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.

I absolutely loved this novel! I've loved every Vampire Academy novel so far, but this one is the best yet. It takes the main characters on a whole new journey, outside the academy, and you can see Rose and Lissa growing up and struggling with dark and emotional troubles. The fact that you can see what Lissa is going through through her link with Rose is a wonderful twist, allowing the author to focus the novel mostly, but not completely, on Rose. And what a wonderful, spunky, courageous heroine Rose is! Her journey through Russia is sometimes heartwarming (her stay with Dimitri's family) and sometimes heartbreaking - I cried through a lot of the book.
I read this 500-page novel in one day, because I just couldn't put it down; the twists and turns and the emotions kept coming. I'm SO looking forward to Spirit Bound - I can't believe it's still months away. Thank God for Richelle Mead's fertile imagination!!

This is one of my favorites from the series. My favorite part of this book is Rose's experience. She's in Russia! She's on her own, making it. Okay, so I will admit that I really like this book because she is rebelling. She's rebelling against her mom, her school, her expected loyalty to Lissa, and her expected career. She kicks so much butt in this book. I just loved it. I could read it again and again. The Vampire Academy series is too good not to read.

OK, I admit, there were a few things I didn't really like about this book, like the first part, which was quite uneventful, and everything with Lissa, who, truthfully, doesn't really intrigue me. But everything that had to do with Dimitri - I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing them together, even though things weren't exactly rosy. But still, I just want them to be together so bad... Tomorrow, the next book comes out, and I can't wait to read it :)

Best book of the series so far! It starts off a little slow, but once it takes off, it's hard to put down. You're wondering how in the world Rose is going to get out of the situation she is in....and then amazed at how it happens. Then, when you think she is safe,she gets a letter........and the book ends!

Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much from this series. Though this book hasn't been the favorite of the pack, it was still up there. It is much more complex than high school drama, and that took me by surprise. There are surprising turns that I try to predict, but I end up being wrong most of the time. There is some harsh language (the f-word) and many mentions to sex, but overall, great book.

This is the 4th in the Vampire Academy series. It involves Rose travelling to Siberia to stake and release the soul of Dimitri, her boyfriend who'd been turned Strigoi, the bad immortal vampire. Read them in order if possible.

After a rocky start, this ended up being one of my favorites in this series, right after Shadow Kiss. At first, the change of scenery threw me off, but Rose's flashes back to the Academy kept us up to date on Lissa's life. Rose's quest in Russia, however, is where the real action is. Richelle Mead does an excellent job of portraying Rose's struggle when she finally tracks down what she's looking for. The end was a little unsatisfying, as we're left with a huge cliffhanger, but the Russia scenes were so satisfying that I hardly noticed. I cried, I squealed with delight. I can't wait to see how the series continues when book 5 comes out in May.

I liked how Mead split the story, it was an interesting plot device. I felt as if Rose wasn't really the same person, but thought oh she's just numb from grief. I didn't mind the long recap. Anymore, it seems that all paranormal romance books has to have to love interests for the heroine. I don't want to give anything away, but I was "team" Dimitri for the first three books and after this book became "Team" Adrian. Until I read the new plot twist,I really hated the ending of this book. Now I kind of hope Rose's selfish ass ends up alone. She wants this "fairytale", that will only make her happy. I was hoping Rose would grow up a little more after having so much tragedy happen to her, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Hopefully the fifth book will see Rose mature and think about what others want.

Althought the beginning was a bit slow, with Rose trying to find Dmitri and meeting new faces. It was sort of like writing a new book without the same characters of her previous work. Although they are mentioned in the book, Read doesnt spend much time playing with that area. However, I still couldnt put it down.

The way Mead built her characters is awesome. I had a fun time reading all the books and am waiting for the next one to come out. Not wanting to give much detail, I think the relationship and concept of how she built her protagonists are great. However if you liked the who 'Buffy and Angel' relationship, it might be a good book to read. Rose is an amazing character but I found myself wanting to skip some chapters. Im starting to really enjoy Adrian and Christian in this book, hopefully there will be more of them in the books to come.

If you liked her previous books, this is one you wouldnt want to miss.

I counted down the days til this book FINALLY came out!!! I LOVED the first three books, I couldn't get enough of them, in fact i have reread them at least three times before this last installment came out. I will say that even though im in love with the characters in Ms. Meads books and i am thoroughly and completely hooked on this series, i don't think that this was the best book so far, it seems that im left feeling the same way i felt after i finished Shadow Kissed, waiting to know what is going to happen with Dimitri! Don't get me wrong it was still a great read and you do learn allot more about Dimitri's life and you are made privy to scenes between Rose and Dimitri that weren't part of the first three books, but hey i mean im a Dimitri fan, what can i say? All in all i think that Richelle Mead is a great writer. She is a very talented story teller who knows how to hook her audience. I would also recommend her adult series (the Georgina Kincade series, and the Dark Swan Sereis) they are amazing as well.

Love this series so much! This installment broke my heart, I want Rose to have her firsts love back so bad. He has tuned evil and cold, so heartbreaking! Rose must fight not only her love for him but him as well to get free. This series is just so good!

This series just keeps on getting better and better. If you haven't read any of the books by now, you are missing out big time. I just finished reading it and wow, I hope the fairy tale happens even though I'm rooting for Adrian. I really enjoyed her father playing a role in her quest and all the new characters that Rose met during her journey to find Dimka. This book seemed more intense than the other 3 books and I'm just shocked by everything that happened. I guess you have to read it in order to understand, but I'm still trying to register everything in my head! I mean one couple ends while another is about to begin! someone is dead but not dead!! ugh!! Richelle opened up a whole lot of new possibilities and now my mind is wandering and thinking ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

I'm so excited for the next book to come!!! can't April 2010 come any faster?

I thought the whole series was amazing the cliff hanger in shadow kiss made me want to keep reading. In Blood promise rose goes off to do what she promised Dimtri the love of her life. You can feel how much she's hurting through out the story, she changes throughout the first book. When she meets his parents thats when I really think you can feel how much she's hurting and then she can't stop thinking about Lissa. Lissa seems to think that Rose choose Dimtri over her with is not exactly the truth I just dont think she understands how much Rose is hurting.Throughout the book we meet lots of new charcters while Rose is away from the academy I wont spoil it for you but I think in the sixth the book she will have a happy ending be it with Dimtri or Adrian hopefully Dimtri

I have been waiting for months for Blood Promise to come out and I am pleased to say that I loved it!!! It was definitely a very emotional(I cried several times while reading it) book but in a good way-totally. I thought the story was well developed and it had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I can't wait to read the next installment!! The VA series has captivated me like no other. I just LOVE Richelle Mead's style of writing. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of her books/series and look forward to seeing what she has in store for her fans in the future.

The Blood Promise is the latest book in the Vampire Academy series and was my favorite so far. I read the book in 2 days (over a weekend), and cannot wait for the 5th book to come out. I have read MANY vampire love stories and this series rivels the Twilight books. I actually like these better if you twilighters can belive that. I could not put Blood Promise down and would wake up early to just to carry on were I left off. There are twist and turns and new people in this book that you will be happy have arrived in this one and oh the ending was a shock! A Great Shock! You will love it but start at the first book and read them all they are so well worth it!!!!!

Here is another one of these books at it's finest. I Loved it. Lots of twists and turns and less and less predictability which I am 100% thankful for.
However, the book in a few spots dragged. But overall amazing! Yet again

Book 3 was great. I was totally hooked at the end of that one and couldnt wait for book 4 to hit the shelves. I think this author is really good. Book 4 has some slow spots that lull a little bit and the ending was more predictable than book 3 (the ending of book 3 was just great) - so totally Rose. Anyway, Im hooked on this series. Looking forward to book 5.

I absolutely loved the voyage to Russia in this book. The character development also was excellent.

There are some very complex issues that were brought up in this book: friendship and its boundaries, obligations, revenge, obsession, love vs. obsession, morals and society expectations.
Thank you, Ms. Mead for such a wonderful story!

Rose has a promise to keep--kill the love of her life. Rose faces many hardships on her journey to kill Dimitri. Can she do it or will she give in to the forces of darkness? Is her jealousy over Adrian's new love interest enough to make her head home?

I have A LOT of mixed feelings with this novel.

Good Points:

The memories of Dimitri constantly flooding Rose's mind was heartwrenching. God, I weeped and weeped and weeped. Seeing the constant reminder's of him in his family was so upsetting that I had to put the book down at times. You can truly feel the loss Rose has suffered. And, Adrian, well, let's just say he's getting on my good side. His feelings towards Rose really move forward in this novel and we see a little sparks igniting between the two. We finally get to see less of Lissa and more of Rose's feelings. Constantly referring to her best friends thoughts and feelings was getting old fast. She's not the main character, yet at time I used to feel like I got into more of her mind than Rose's. DEFINITELY NOT GOOD. Blood Promise is all about Rose and her constant worries over whether or not she'll be able to kill Dimitri when the time comes.

While others didn't like some of her memories because they hadn't been mentioned in the first three novels, I found them intriguing. We all already knew a lot of their moments. These new ones were a great addition. It makes you cherish even the small moments with someone.

Around page 300, Rose finally faces Dimitri and she hesitates. Her reaction to seeing his face was expectable and wouldn't be believable if the series of events that come next folded out any other way. Letting a Strigoi drink from her should have disgusted the readers, but since it was Dimitri I felt so sad for her and desperately wished she would severe that never-ending bond between them. As much as I wanted to scold her for it, her actions were real. She's not perfect and the fact that she finally sees the difference between the old Dimitri and the one in front of her thrilled me. I found myself agreeing with everystep a hundred percent.

Then the ending came. . .

(Spoilers below)

Bad Points:

Then ending didn't seem to agree with me. It's hard to explain. I agree with the ultimate ending, but didn't like how the author kept twisting and twisting every chapter. I found myself saying "enough already! either she kills him or not!" Of course, I was glad to see that her Fairy Tale might come true, but I was also sad to see all her strength in finally staking him diminish. Now, she's going to have the same worries about whether or not to kill him. The bridge scene didn't sit with me well.

HOWEVER, the scene where she's on the ebd with him, kissing him and crying as she prepares to stake him in the heart. That one was AMAZING. I would've liked to have that one to mesh with the moment on the bridge. I couldn't feel such strong emotions when she stakes him on the bridge. Don't ask me why.

The writing seemed a little off, too. Maybe she had a rushed deadline. I don't know. I could see her dazzle me with descriptions and feelings in the first quarter of the novel, but then it slowly went downhill. There were some good moments though. Towards the end I noticed Rose's narrative voice differ. She began saying, "Good God" and things like that. Rose had always said things like "Oh God" and things. Maybe it's because I only started reading this series this month and that's why I remember quirky things like that. No big deal. Just something I picked up on is all.

The story was still amazing though. I recommend any paranormal lover to pick up this series. It's such a true series that I rarely seem to find. When it comes to conveying genuine emotions and struggles, this author has it down. I've often heard people say that New Moon in the twilight series is one of the best depressing love books, but it has NOTHING on this one. I've read Harry Potter and haven't even cried half as much in the whole series as I did in this single book. Seeing a twisted, evil lover plot line is a refreshing change from the normal teen "love triangles" that seem to crowd the young adult sections these days. I enjoyed watching Rose grow up and get in touch with the inner strength I always knew she had.

Can't wait for Spirit Bound--April 2010.

The first 3/4 of this book is slow and obvious and self-gratifying. Still readable, though I was anxious to just get on and see what happens next! But good plot twists at the end, and good set-up to continue the series.

If you enjoyed the first few books in this series then you're going to love this one. It's the perfect setting for this special time in Rose's relationship with Dimitri. It leaves you with hope and a genuine good feeling about how all this may come together. You meet some amazing characters who help you build on who Rose and Dimitri are.

I am addicted to this series. The characters and the things they have to deal with and the pain that they go through, just sucked me in. In this installment Rose goes off to find and kill the love of her life because he was turned into a Strigoi, one of the evil vampires, against his will. I can't imagine having to do something so heart-breaking. Richelle Mead has created a world that is utterly believable populated with people that I would love to know. I can't wait for the next book! Highly recommended!!

This book started out slow but quickly redeemed itself. Ended with suspense to leave you wanting to immediately pick up the next one. I didn't think i would care too much for this series but it has been a pleasant surprise.

I randomly picked up Bloodlines a couple weeks ago, and read that series, and then I figured out that this series happened before. I especially liked the ending of this book because you can tell what Rose will do next. Now I have to find the next one! This was such a good book. I would totally recommend it to someone else. :)

Who would have thought that this late in the series that even more interesting characters could be introduced? That is one of the things I love most about these books. The character development is superb. Rose is one of the best heroins I have had the pleasure of being able to follow and all the other characters in the books are just as complex and make you want to keep on reading. This is the kind of book that makes you guess and second guess where you really want the story to go and it is hard to guess what is coming next.

I must admit I was so scared to start this book because I knew that Dimitri was a strigoi now and I just couldn't take it..When i started reading the book I just wanted her to find him, I just wished that by some miracle I was wrong.I was so emotional I just wanted to throw the book at the wall sometimes because I so wanted him back.Finally the last chapter gave me some glimmer of hope now i am anxiously waiting for the next installment and this time I pray that fairytales do happen eventhough I have warmed up to Adrian, I like Rose can't let go of Dimitri.

Wow this series has kept me entertained non-stop. once i started i couldnt put the books down. i loved the action yet romance side of it. when i started the third book i had already fallen in love with the relationship that formed between Dimitri and Rose. I was also heartbroken to find out he has been turned, as i read i had tears flowing out from my eyes. this just goes to show what a great writer richelle mead is. im starting on Blood Promise tonight and i know that i wont be disappointed~

After reading the twilight series I was looking for a new book series to get into a researched a few but none of them looked worth reading until I came across this series, I love this series its a little more adult and passionate. I think Richelle should think about making it into a movie series once all the books have come out. There is no way it could be a pg-13 movie though lol. Blood Promise is a great addition to the series if you liked the first three you won't be dissapointed I bought this book and finished it in one day. I agree though half way through grab a tissue the part where she is with Dimitri's family remembering him is sad.

I have enjoyed all of the Vampire Academy Books, but I must confess "Blood Promise" is my favorite so far!!!!
This book will keep you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to the end. It touches so many aspects of life such as, Love, Friendship, Sacrifice, Loyalty, Commitment, Personal Growth, Loss, and Hope. The characters are very interesting and they hold your attention. You will feel their emotions!!!! I went through a box of tissue! Richelle introduced us to some new characters which added to this great story. I could not put this book down. "Blood Promise" is a book for all age groups. I highly recommend this book! I love Rose and Dimitri and I can't wait to see what lies ahead of them. Their love story will touch your heart. In the end, I have much hope for them. Thank you Richelle for one of the best books I've ever read!!!!!!!

so i went in reading this one thinking it was the last one but low and behold there is another one!!!!! i just want to know what the heck is going to happen i cant wait for the next one. This is a very good book. Make sure you have time because i read it in a day in a half i couldn't put it down very good!!!

Without going into too much detail, I thought this book was a good 4th book, opening the series for the next books quite nicely, however I wasn't as emotionally attached to this book as I have been with the previous three. I liked the action/drama between Rose and Dimitri but the characters were different. Mead has done a great job with Rose's character development, however she may have lost too much of her edge. Some parts it was nice to see the old reckless Rose combined with the new Rose who has matured with her experiences, but other parts I miss Rose's quick one-liners. It is almost like she lost some of her hardness which I would have expected her hold onto with everything that has gone on.

Dimitri lost a lot of his stoic character in this book. He just wasn't the same for me, too much of a change from the first three books where he was stoic warrior to the fourth book where he was this sapp yet heartless (the heartless part I thought was good for Mead to have done though) power-hungry guy. I anticipated a change in his personality, but it made the scene's where the characters were together less personal.

I grew bored with so many long flashes into Lissa's head. I know that it was necessary to have the flashes to move the plot along and what have you, but I grew bored with them and just wanted to get back to the Rose action. I think that this is the main reasion why the book was just good and not great for me. It could also be that there was so much build up in anticipation for this book to come out after how book 3 ended.

overall good read. Still can't wait for the next one!!!!!

Seriously.... How could this series get any better??? Okayyy okayy... Maybe if Adrian found a another girl (maybe quiet and mysterious Sydney perhaps?) and I didn't have to worry about him and Rose breaking my Dimitri's heart.. But that miniscule fact aside, this series is amazing!!!!!!!! The entire book had me.. It took me three days to finish with the way I've been working this week and seriously its all I thought about while it wasn't in my hand.. The last like 200 pages.. Ugh, I dont even know how to describe it with out giving away spoilers.. It made me cryyyy, It made me happy, I was jumping out of my bed with excitement, I was throwing it against the wall.. LOL. Just amazing is all I could say!! Pick up this series!! And start from book 1!!

I borrowed this series from my daughter, I must say I felt a little silly about that but got over quickly once I realized I was totally and utterly engrossed in this series. The only young adult I have read since not being a young adult is the Twilight series which I loved and thus why I gave the Vampire Academy books a shot. I absolutely loved Blood Promise and on a whole I think this series is even better then the Twilight's, the writing and proofing far better. I also felt that each book was just more enthralling than the previous but none weak. I'm sad I have to wait 6 months for the new Vamp Academy book.

My favorite book in the series so far! Loved Rose's emotional and action-packed journey to find Dmitri - great twists and heartwrenching scenes. Definitely would recommend to those who enjoy vampire action/romances.

If a promise you made to your lover was that you would kill them if they went evil, would you hold to your word? Who wouldn't want to read what happens to Rose and her lost love? This series gets unbelievably dark as Rose makes her decision and decides that she alone has to find Dimitri's family and tell them of his death and find Dimitri and kill him. No one reading this book should be able to put this book down. Recommended for action and romance lovers. 4th in a very intrigueing series of vampire life and romance.

Just finished Blood Promise and I really liked it. I liked how it wasn't at the Academy this time, it really mixed things up. Loved all the characters, and liked the plot and the outcome. I didn't know what would happen throughout the whole book. I thought this one would be the last book in the series, but I am up for another one...like right now!

This book had me crying, biting my nails in anticipation, and laughing out loud. It doesnt get much better than that. I have read all of the books in this series and by far this was the best! I loved the constant plot changes and cliffhangers. I am glad she ended the book the way she did, but I wont spoil it and tell you what I liked about it, you will have to read it :)

I'm another 40yr old that has been waiting what seems like forever for this book to come out! Like the others, the book was not what I'd expected... I knew it would be good, but she's such an amazing writer!!! the things she came up with in this 4 book, well, it was amazing!! I can't beleive I have to now wait AGAIN :) for the next book! and to think we'll have to WAIT again!!! for the last! The thought of this series not ending till this time next year is messing seriously with my head! LOL! Anyway... young or old (like me) it's a great series to read! counting down the days for the 5th book.... May seems so far away!

I had been warned in advance that, give my reactions to the first three books, this one might not be my favorite. At the same time others encouraged me with the promise of a measurably higher Adrian quotient in this installment, which might well factor into shoving the Siberian chunkmeister that is this book to the forefront of the series. Either way I was very interested to find out just how Rose handled the fallout from the painfully messy end of Shadow Kiss.

A WARNING: beyond this point lie unavoidable spoilers for the series. Proceed at your peril.

Rose is leaving St. Vlad's once again, this time on her own and possibly for good. Against everyone's wishes, she leaves her best friend and charge Lissa behind and heads for Siberia, where she is certain Dimitri would have gone after becoming Strigoi. Once there Rose manages to infiltrate the local dhampir culture and relentlessly hunts for someone to direct her to the home and family Dimitri described to her in such loving detail. Eventually she succeeds and is forced to meet his family and explain to mother and sisters just what happened to their beloved son and Guardian. Meanwhile, back home, Lissa and crew are failing rather spectacularly to cope with life without Rose and post-attack. Lissa and Christian are on the outs, there are a couple of interesting new characters in town, and Adrian is the only one who seems to grasp what is happening. He appears in dreams to Rose, urging her to tell him where she is and to impress upon her the importance that she not throw away her life and that she return as soon as possible. Everything, of course, changes when Rose finally encounters Dimitri once more...

So there were some ups and downs with this one. I missed St. Vlad's. I really did. I like the school, I like the world Richelle Mead has created there, and the majority of this book took place on the frozen planes of the Middle of Nowhere, Russia. Since I am no longer a Rose/Dimitri fan, it was not a fun process watching Rose relive all their precious moments together in the presence of his family and mourn for what seemed like endless pages the loss of the love of her life. Honestly, Dimitri sort of fell out of my head with surprising rapidity what with being absent for so much of the book and then present in his evil Strigoi form. I looked forward to every scene in which Rose psychically eavesdropped on her comrades back home and her dreammeets with Adrian most of all. Call me crazy, but the dude gets more interesting with each passing page and, for the life of me, I can't understand the undying Dimitri lovetorch everyone seems to be carrying. Along those same lines, why must they all persist in being so oblivious? These are smart kids. Sure, they're blinded by love and daily scrapes with death and dismemberment, but I would think by now they'd have learned to trust each other a little bit more than they do. Most of all I was bothered by a particular turn Rose's character takes in the latter half of the book. I mean it rubbed me so wrong I was livid. And, though I feel things ended on a strong note (minus one annoyingly predictable twist at the very end), I hated seeing Rose that way. Perhaps I'm merely too impatient and things will progress more apace in the next installment. My anger on her behalf does seem to indicate I'm on her side. We shall see.

The vampire academy series was by far the best books I've ever read and I read a lot! I am in love with Rose and I think she's such a strong individual! She kicks butt in these books and I love her and Dimitri together! I loved all the characters in this book. Lissa was also very interesting. :) loved it!

So, I will admit I didn't read the entire book. I wasn't sure I would even get into the whole vamp teen thing...but I've really enjoyed this series. I read book 3 in one day and started on Blood Promise the next day. I LOVE Dimitri! I am not your typical romance junkie...I normally find it completely boring...but I really like the chemistry between Rose and Dimitri. I ended up skipping through parts of the book just to get to the part where they finally meet up.(not b/c it is lacking in any way...I was just being impatient!) Looking forward to book 5!

My 19 year old son gave me this set of books to read. After I read the third one, I was heartbroken about Dimitri. Knowing I had to wait several months for the fourth one to be released was hard for me. I just knew something would happen to make what Mason told Rose not be true. No way was it true. It would be author suicide to have this happen to Dimitri. I pined over this for months. Me, an almost 40 year old hopeless romantic. I couldn't wait for the book to come out. I picked it up the day of its release. I started it as soon as I got home and finished it in 24 hours.

All you people who want to micro-analyze the plot twists and the technicalities can go on being bitter about what you find doesn't make sense or fit into your little box of rightness. I want to take this for what it was - an emotional roller coaster and a great read AS PART OF A SERIES OF BOOKS. Trying to make the books what you want them to be makes you the author and not Richelle Mead.I wanted to hate the book at times and I wanted to believe so many things were going to turn out to be true. Somehow Richelle Mead would make it all turn out all right in the end. I had to rationalize it somehow because my heart was breaking. The further I got in the book, the more my heart ached and somewhere down inside I knew how it would turn out. Just when you think you know and you've cried and cried, you find the author has let you have a glimpse of salvation. Just a morsel to hold on to.

Perfection in any author is not possible. Said author will never be able to please all of the people all of the time. At one point in the book I was so heart broken that I realized I could never read another of her books. After the final words were read, I knew it would be a tough nine months for me to wait, but wait I would, because I will be grabbing her next book as soon as the release date comes along. It is rare to have so much emotion in a book, and maybe some of that is of my own making. Sometimes I am a sappy romantic. I guess that could have clouded my judgement a bit, but if you are looking for a good read and aren't expecting "War and Peace" you won't be disappointed in this book. Just keep a Kleenex handy after you get about half done. When she starts sharing with the family about Dimitri, it can be gut-wrenching at times.

Do I recommend it? Yes, but only if you've read the other three first. Don't over analyze it either. Just read it and enjoy it. It is worth it.

"Shadow Kiss" left us with Rose on the way to find and kill her beloved Dimitri who had fallen during a fight with Strigoi. "Blood Promise" picks up where Rose is in Moscow, looking for traces of Dimitri. Needless to say, she finds him, but I will not go into any more detail to avoid spoilers.

I hate to say it, but I am fairly disappointment by this book. In my opinion, it is by far the weakest in the series. It is by no means the worst book ever written, but the fact that Richelle Mead didn't put much work into it is obvious.

Let me start with the positives however. Upon finishing the book I am slightly less devastated than after reading "Shadow Kiss," so here is an improvement. Some action sequences are pretty good. Unfortunately, that's about it for the good stuff.

On the negative side, the book really suffers from separation of Rose and Lissa. In this book Mead attempts to have two story lines going simultaneously - Lissa's and Rose's, but neither of them is particularly exciting. Plus, because the series is written from Rose's POV, the difficulty of relaying Lissa's story is solved by utilizing Rose's spirit-bond ability to get into Lissa's thoughts. What doesn't work however is that somehow Rose can not only see what's going on with Lissa at the moment, but she can also "rewind" her experiences and thoughts. This seems like a pretty poor plot device in my opinion. Plus, Lissa's story is rather lame and takes away too much from the final altercation between Rose and Dimitri - the best part of the book.

The familiar characters we met in first 3 books - Christian, Mia, Eddie, even Victor Dashkov are amiss. Instead we are introduced to an array of new characters both in U.S. and Russia who don't really serve much of a purpose for the main story line, rather they are created to fill in pages, and it is very apparent.

Mead also relies very heavily on flashbacks and memories of Dimitri that were never mentioned in previous books and at some point I started wondering, do I really want to know this much about Dimitri? I already love him and adding info like "he bakes bread for himself because he loves it so much" is not really necessary, in fact it almost kills the mystery around his persona.

What else? The story drags in some parts, the "spirit battle" is too confusing, quite a few inconsistencies. Overall, just a lazily written book IMO.

I think when the series is finished and we look at "Blood Promise" we will think that this book could have been easily omitted. Maybe I will feel differently about "Blood Promise" when I re-read it, but as this point I am rather saddened by it...

Omg! This book is SO FREAKING FUNNY! 'Last night, Lissa and others had been busted for breaking into the library of all places and having an impromptu party complete with alcohol and destruction to some of the property. Good God. My best friend needed to join AA.' I fell down laughing.

This book far surpassed my expectations. I read it all night long until i finished just now, dont want to say anything that may give a postive or negative ending but if you have read Shadow kissed, then this is a must read buy it now! You will be just like me soon, eagerly anticipating when the next book in this installment comes out!!!

This book is like a piece of art. The thoughts and time put into such a masterpiece, many might wonder how such is possible. I can not think of a reason to degrade this book. I acctually was loan this book from my library to my kindle and it was awesome.

Love the series but it drags on to long. They have you thoughts going this way and that way so many times you eventually stop caring what happens.... Until the end of the book where it everything gets back in pace. Stick it out, it's worth it!

This is really 2.5 stars.

So 1st I have to say that I LOVE Mead as an author. One of my all time favorites- but this book was only OK to Good for me which I guess was a disappointment. I think she could have & has done much better. To summarize, I didn't feel as emotionally connected to the characters & I expected to be, esp after the last book. But also - I think structurally, the book was too condensed & didn't have to be.

OK so here I go:

I felt there was far too much recap of the previous 3 books. Literally - it was the entire first 25% of the book. Actually a bit more. I felt she wasted words, describing scenes & scenarios that didn't need to take up that much space & there could've have been far more time spent on the meat of the story & character development - to me (Rose esp) stayed very.....level. There weren't major emotional ups or downs & when the 'epiphanies' came, I didn't feel that were as startling & profound as they could've been.

The ending, I felt was all very rushed & wrapped up, the make-up with Lissa, Adrian, the school, Christian, her mom & even Abe. In order to get to the 'Surprise!' ending that Dimitri is pulling an Angel & coming after Rose. How predictable. Like we didn't know he was still alive? Esp. after that anti-climatic bridge scene? And then the whole "it's a fairy tale" bit about the ring.....?

But the fact that Rose didn't have really have an emotional aftermath after doing something like killing D. especially after leaving everyone, hunting him for 5 weeks, being held captive for days by him as a Strigoi & being made a blood [...]- was not only a bit shocking for me, bit tipped me off that he wasn't really dead. That & also, knowing Rose is getting 7 books, I figured Mead wouldn't have him die so soon (although, I think she should have done it - it would've wiped out the major Buffy storyline comparisons that are coming).

And I get it.... Why Rose wasn't allowed the emotional aftermath & the reason is b'c Mead spent too much wasted time the 1st quarter of the book, so by the end, she had to cram all the action in (Avery/Lissa), in order to get Rose home pronto & have everyone forgive her quick.

So here's the thing - did Rose have a lobotomy? Where was she? Throughout the whole book I felt she lacked energy & no... not b'c she was in a blood induced haze. She was just not believable. When she was recounting her times with Dimitri(at his funeral) - it was funny b'c Rose asks Sydney how everyone seemed to know about her & Dimka & Syd says - it was written all over her face. And I thought - I assume so. I guess you had to be there b'c I'm with Rose, how the hell could they even tell, b'c judging by her words, her grief was totally underwhelming.

Even when she encounters Dimitri for the 1st time - it lacked the full emotional impact for me. And her dream sequences with Adrian?....she was acting liked a spoiled child. Had she learned nothing over the past 4 weeks (& that's the other thing - I figured she was gone for like, 3 months - 5 weeks??! That's it!)?

Dimitri as Strigoi? There were parts that were genuinely chilling but I felt it really could've been much more intense. Much scarier. Much more confusing for Rose. Sorry Mead - but if you're gonna pull a 'Bad' Angel before he gets his soul back again - you should've taken better notes. But...obviously, THE Hunt is for the next book. But I'll get to this...

I'm annoyed by her use of Adrian - I feel like he is more of a prop than anything else. Which is a shame. To me - he shouldn't be relegated to Scooby Gang/Xander status.

I thought Christian not really cottoning on & giving up on Lissa so quickly was yet another fault of early plot timing being wasted. He tells Lissa it had been rough b'c the time before the Aaron incident, she got so mad b'c he wasn't going to the Royal party with her (like that's new). Umm.....that was ONLY one other time. AND It didn't get bad for Lissa until Avery was there - so presumably that was the only major fight that we saw (& it was barely even a fight) . Christian is smarter that & knows Lissa better than that! He knows all that she has been dealing with in battling the darkness of spirit. Yet, another quickly dealt with scenario I didn't buy.

And really - how stupid could Rose be?... she was in Lissa's head for god's sake - not to realize that there was something very wrong. It bothered me that she didn't smarten up until it was almost too late. These people are supposed to be BEST FRIENDS. Not only that but BONDED by something hugely mystical. Are you kidding?

Personally - I think if Mead spent less time recapping the 1st 3 books, she could have had a narrative prologue about what happened & left it at that. Then - started off the book with Rose grappling with her grief more genuinely & had Dimitri enter earlier. I think it would have been more successful suspense wise, to have had his capture of her happen quicker & her kill of him happen much earlier.

The reason being - I think it would've been much, MUCH more emotionally impacted on if Mead showed the dramatic aftermath of Rose killing Dimitri & her return to school. All the new adjustments & more personal growth that came as a result & then...once she starts putting her life back together, things are starting to look a bit brighter, she starts dating Adrian, the reader thinks things are looking up, they've had time to believe & adjust that Dimitri is actually dead?....THEN pull out the big surprise gun & have Dimitri's hunt of her & her loved ones begin. Even better - have it start anonymously for the last few chapters & at least then the big cliffhanger would've been the package & note.

That would've been seriously cool & chilling. But - instead the book left me feeling it lacked the usual thoughtfulness & heart - I just emotionally plateaued the whole time. Yeah, I was disappointed. It was like a version of Buffy Cliffsnotes.

There were also continuity issues. For example - When Rose is held captive, she was clearly there for a few days & yet when she enters Lissa's head, Lissa was feeling guilty for the kiss incident from the night before.

I seriously hope Mead loses the need for such heavy recapping 5 books in. I have no idea why the publishers make author's do that. I mean - I do but it's a HUGE waste of talent & smacks of money grubbing & I hope Mead doesn't buy into it as much with the next book. Anyone that is going to pick up a series which is NOT stand alone, should have the smarts enough to read from the beginning. It's the reader's own fault if they're too lazy not to.

(BIG SIGH) - I just love Richelle Mead so much as an author. I just wish this was up to her usual standard.

AS an adult who loves this genre, this series is my favorite. The characters, mythology, action, description, and plot are the most interesting and well developed compared to the other young vampire books out there. I love this series, and I loved this book!

Blood promise by Richelle Mead was epically thrilling. I loved this book just as much as the last 3, and it kept me turning page after page! I finished the book in 3 days. Exceptional writing, and an amazing story all in all. I'd recommend this book for anyone who loves a good romance/kick ass vampire-ish novel. Its the perfect mix of not-vampires with vampires/damphires/all kinds of creatures. I'm still reeling happily over the ending of this book and already pre-ordered the next one:)

Richelle Mead does not fall into the trap of having a weak fourth novel in a series like so many other authors. Blood Promise is as exciting as the previous installment, Shadow Kiss, and continues the style of the series in that it is very emotionally powerful to the reader. If this is a sign of things to come, then the Vampire Academy series will be one of the best supernatural YA series of all time.

This series is addicting, powerful, well written, and has a love story to die for!!! I can't say enough good things about this series. I actually stayed up nights thinking about what the characters were going through. I'll be on pins and needles until the next one comes out. A must read!!!!!

many of the reviews for this book rate it as a five or four, expressing their love for this book. however i dont think the book deserved that much praise. the book had a good plot and a interesting character but it was boring at some parts. it wasnt as thrilling and exciting than the other books in the series.

This series is a very entertaining summer read. There are many times that I have found it difficult to put the books down. The characters are engaging and charismatic and this book was, so far, the best in the series.

I LOVE all of the books in this series, but this one is my favorite. I could not put it down! I had to find out what would happen with Dimitri. And wow what a roller-coaster ride! Loved every word and every page. Very happy with the way Richelle writes, and I can't wait for the next book to come out. Totally cheering for Dimitri & Rose to work out.

The things that are accomplished for love. This book shows where love is willing to take you. Love never dies even when you lose that person you feel you live for. Very profound. Takes the series to a whole different level. Even maturity. Love the characters.

I thought that this book went nowhere with the story line. Although it was nice to get a history on Dmitri's live before he was "turned". It wasn't my favorite, but am waiting to read the next one to see where the story's going.

So I love this story, I understand it's a ongoing tale, but wow, this was like getting a tooth pulled. I caught myself speed reading through most of this book because it went on FOREVER... Look, the buildup happened in book 3; all that filler in the first 50% of this book was just annoying. Cut to the chase next time. About 50% of this novel could have been edited out and you'd have an excellent book, but dragging it out like this is an insult to the reader, and the author should know better. But, of course, I'm going to be reading the next book because, as I said, I do love this story.

This book was really slow. I enjoyed the first three but this book to me just felt like a filler. Nothing really happened. It was just all drawn out with the same points being made over and over. The first three I read in quick succession, staying up to all hours of the night to finish them, but I found myself skimming Blood Promise. It was just to... unremarkable. Very dull.

I love the Vampire Academy series and I was practically counting down the days until this book came out after the heart-wrenching ending of the last one. But...this was just plain boring. It was actually tedious to read. The contents are basically a rinse and repeat of Rose thinking-and-not-thinking about how torn up she is about the whole Dimitri and Lissa situation. At the end of book 3, her sadness was a palpable emotion but in this new book it feels superficial and forced.

This could have been a great book, but unfortunately it falls flat on its promise. It's only worth reading to continue the story line of the series......and for the ending ("that's what i was...") and the last stake, which made me smile.

I still love Dimitri (even though Mead seemed to have really lost his character this time around) and I'm excited about what comes next.

i love all the vampire academy novels! trust me, when i started reading it,
it was so hard to put it down!, you wont regret it.When you get the chance to read blood promise, you'll see what i mean!. dimitri heart has gone dark. Now Rose must journey to the ends of the earth to find,and kill-her true love....or has time come to join him? Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4)