Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1) by Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill (August 2007)

Source: Bought (B&N)

Edition: Paperback

Pages: 332

Rating:

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.

I've owned this book for longer than a year now and kept putting it off because the synopsis didn't really pull me in as much as I would've liked it to. Vampires are fun and all but the whole guardian thing seemed a little unappealing at first. But, since I've heard so many people rave about it, I figured I would give in and finally allow myself to indulge in it.

The first few chapters were a little slow (just like mostly any other book I've read) but it finally picked up and I was officially curious about how the story was going to play out. I really like Rose's sense of humor and how she approached gossip situations... hilarious! (By the way, the whole time I was reading this book I saw Mila Kunis playing Rose and Skyler Samuels playing Lissa.) Dimitri was absolutely to die for. Such an swoon-worthy character whom I predict will get even hotter as the series continues.

So from the paragraph above, I'm sure you can tell that I really loved the characters. The plot? It was good. Wasn't the most exciting plot but I feel like it's going to get much better as the series continues. This is the start of a series after all which sometimes can be the least action packed. I definitely have high hopes for the rest of the series and can't wait to get started on them =)

Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love by Trisha Telep

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Source: Publicist

Edition: Paperback

Pages: 432

Rating:

For those who thirst for accounts of paranormal romance, Trisha Telep has compiled some of the most thrilling takes of forbidden love in this collection. First crushes and last rites; dark spells and bright magic; forbidden lovers and enchanted beings -- and always, always the hungry games of desire. Pucker up for a darkly sweet collection of ghosts, shape shifters, fairies, unicorns, vampires, and demons in tales from today's biggest writers of the paranormal persuasion.

I hate giving a book a bad rating, especially in this situation. I was pondering what I should rate Kiss Me Deadly because I really don't think it's a crappy book. Some of the stories were kind of interesting but the reason I'm giving this book such a low rating is because of the style. After reading this book, I've finally decided that anthologies aren't for me. I wasn't a huge fan of them before reading this book but I thought it was just the book itself I didn't like, not the actual format. After reading Kiss Me Deadly, I'm positive that I should probably just ignore anthologies from now on.

Confession time: Some of the stories I didn't actually read all of the way through. I just kind of skimmed through them which led me to getting confused which then led me to move on to the next story. Sometimes I read the whole story, sometimes I didn't. I'm not going to review each story because I didn't really read all of them... but my favorite was probably The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan because Peter Pan is in it =P

Like noted above, this book isn't bad! I just didn't enjoy the style but if you like anthologies and paranormal romance, then this may very well be the book for you! Watch out for a giveaway in the future!