Book Series Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Series: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Books: Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, & Last Sacrifice
Rating: 5/5 stars- THIS IS THE SERIES MY DOG LOVES INTERRUPTING ME THE MOST WHILE I'M READING

Synopsis of Vampire Academy (as found on Goodreads):

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.


Review:

So yeah I'm kinda a late fan to this series. I CAN EXPLAIN.  (Skip a couple (a lot) paragraphs if you don't want to hear Carmen's reading problems in the past... LOL)

So let me make one thing very clear before I go into the story: I hate being wrong. I hate eating my own words. Yeah, arrogant, but there you have it, I hate admitting I'm wrong. I mean, it's not like I always claim I'm right, I'll say maybe if I'm not sure... anyways now I'm just rambling MOVING ON.

So when I discovered Vampire Academy it was went I first started reading YA which let's just face it, it was HUGE then, but then so was Twilight.

Around when Twilight hit, I started losing a lot of faith in the paranormal genre. It seemed like so much vampires and werewolves were dominating the genre, and many of which I've came across were TERRIBLE.

So I basically I just quit reading paranormal. I picked up reading chick-lit. (A decision that has forever changed my life. But more on that another time...) And I slated that all paranormal, vampire novels were bad.  I lost a lot of interest in that kind of novels.

I eventually did pick up paranormals again, not very long after, but I ended up holding out on vampire novels for almost year.
And actually werewolves too.

So yeah I had a LOT of prejudice against vampire novels. I figured the genre had been forever ruined, and I would never enjoy one again.
Then I picked up Julie Kagawa's The Immortal Rules. OH MY GOD. VAMPIRE DYSTOPIAN. Yeah so the dystopian part got me. Also, because I had a lot of respect and love for Julie Kagawa's novels.

So yeah that forever changed my views.

Sooooo I gave in and read Vampire Academy, because my friend was somewhat slapping me for not reading it on my prejudice because she had blown through the whole series in like weeks.

AND LET ME TELL YOU I REALLY TRIED TO HATE IT BECAUSE... YOU KNOW I HATE EATING MY WORDS.

But oh crap, I couldn't put the book down. I was gobbling word after word after word.

And then I couldn't deny it: I really really enjoyed it.

Now the first book didn't really have a cliffhanger, so I put it down for awhile because a) I was attempting to save a last sliver of pride (I'm sorry ok) and b) my library didn't have the second book in and I was just waiting for it to show up.

Let's just go through Carmen's fangirl reactions.
*********************************************************************************
Vampire Academy:
DAMMIT I TOTALLY DID NOT... UGH OK I LIKED IT OK NO DAMMIT I REALLY REALLY LIKED IT CRAP.

Frostbite:
Oh.

Shadow Kiss:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Blood Promise:
oh. Oh. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. OH. OH.

Spirit Bound:
Oh my. Oh my God. WAIT. CARMEN CONFUSED.

Last Sacrifice:
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

*********************************************************************************

Yeah. :D

These books just have so much UNPREDICTABLENESS THAT JUST HITS YOU TO THE CORE. (I think I just made up a word.)  I let out inhuman wails like every book. It's not normal. I don't think it's healthy.

And I think my dog can tell because EVERY TIME a fight goes down or a really tense moment.... my dog will start barking uncontrollably. Seriously, he won't stop, and eventually I'm so upset at being pulled out of the story and all those feels just start bursting and I just start yelling at him to shut up and basically start weeping on the ground and moaning and groaning and begging him to be quiet and bribing him with treats and just all around a mess.

Yeah. Welcome to my life.

Overall, I would say this is a fantastic paranormal series. The characters are all characters you love and hate at the greatest heights, and it's fun, sometimes humourous, lots of badass action, tons of paranormal, great romance and just the complete package. It's nicely written, and just ohmygod. SOME OF THE CLIFFHANGERS AND SCENES... you just. YOU CAN'T. ALL THOSE FEELS.

Go read this. Don't be me and have this ridiculous prejudice. (Well I mean, it's having that prejudice that Elizabeth got Mr. Darcy... CARMEN FOCUS) Just have fun with this series and laugh and cry and cry and cry with it. I'm super excited to read the spin off series, Bloodlines.


SPOILER PART CAUSE NEVER CAN CARMEN GET AWAY FROM GIVING AWAY SPOILERS:

ADRIAN. :( Just. Well... hopefully in Bloodlines. :)