Review: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead

Blood Promise
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy, #4

Synopsis (goodreads): Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same.

The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

Review

 Oh dear.. How am I going to express my thoughts on this book without giving in to spoilers?? I suppose I will have to try. I must say, first off, that this was definitely not my favorite book in the series as of this moment. It started off very slow for me. I couldn't get into it. Maybe it's because of the events that happened at the end of Shadow Kiss, but my mind and heart just couldn't follow the story, so I took a break and read Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. After finishing that book within a matter of only a few days, I realized that it wasn't that my heart wasn't into reading, it was the book itself. I sat down and forced myself to continue on with the story. I had to. My love for these characters is too strong to not persevere through the daze the book was putting me in. And I'm very glad that I did. The story took a turn that I was absolutely not expecting. I was almost shell-shocked when it happened, and that's when things got really interesting. I had no idea how she was going to get out of the situation, but I knew that at some point she had to.

When the book begins, Rose has left the Academy. And she is in Russia, staking out one of the most popular clubs for Moroi and dhampirs to be. She is on a quest to find Dimitri, only she isn't having much luck. Until one night, someone follows her as she leaves the club, and it just so happens to be someone who could help her in the task. Only the girl doesn't seem to be very interested in it. She's more interested in the fact that Rose was leaving dead Strigoi all over the country. Leaving them for her to dispose of and assure the local human authorities that there was no foul play in the matter. 

Rose's task eventually leads her to the Belikov residence, which in turn leads to a string of events that I cannot say in this review because it would lead to far too many spoilers, but let me tell you, they are all a bit overwhelming to say the least. The love I had for Dimitri is sadly diminished during this installment of the series, however, my love for Adrian grew exponentially. I'm curious as to which direction my affections will turn in the next book. 

My admiration for Rose grew tremendously as the book went on. She was on a very difficult quest, one that I'm not sure I could have went through with, but she persevered through it all. Even at her weakest she didn't completely give in and finally made it through everything that she was hoping to do. And I certainly couldn't understand why Lissa had become so very rebellious in this book, but light is shed on that in the end as well. 

The ending... oh, the ending. Richelle you definitely did a wonderful job at turning tables. Just as things seem to be coming along nicely, a bomb is dropped and undoes all of the hard work that Rose did. Everything she went through to get to where she was, and now all of a sudden she must go on another quest to ensure her own safety this time. Not just physical safety, but the security of her heart and sanity. I am very much looking forward to opening the next book and discovering just how strong Rose really is. Not only how strong she is, but how strong Lissa is. I believe that finally Lissa is going to become who she was truly meant to be. Somehow, all of the spirit magic she has in her is going to come out, and she and Rose are going to make an amazing team. It will no longer be one-sided. They'll be in it together. I sure hope my assumptions are correct.

In all, this book was a very enjoyable read, once I got through the slow beginning.

I rate this book: