Review: Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Frostbite by Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #2
Published by Razorbill on April 10th 2008
Pages: 327
Source: Purchased at Coles
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Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose...

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks... This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price...

Oh.my.God. I loved this book-I devoured it actually. Frostbite was sooo much more than Vampire Academy. I think this partly has to do with the fact that most characters were already introduced in the first book so you are already aware of their story. I really like the fact that Richelle Mead put a Prologue into this book quickly detailing what happened in the first book-not spend the first several chapters rehashing the previous one like some authors tend to do. There will be spoilers in this review so if you haven’t read it(which I’m certain almost everyone has by now!!)I wouldn’t suggest continuing onward 😛

Lissa pissed me off far less in this book than the first. The first book I found her needy, whiny, annoying and just not a great main(ish) character. Rose actually annoyed me quite a bit in the first book as well and to be honest the only characters I left actually liking a lot were Dimitri and Christian. I loved that Christian and Lissa are together now. I thought Christian was so dark and mysterious and the perfect contrast to Lissa’s bubbly personality.

The plot and storyline are great in this book. After the Strigoi joined forces with the humans and are planning attacks, all of the students and their families are packed up and sent to an elite ski resort. While there we meet Adrian. Adrian has the spirit power like Lissa however he doesn’t really know what it is until Lissa explains it to him. Rose is caught in a bit of a situation with three men in this book: Mason(who she has recently started seeing to try to get over Dimitri), Adrian(who she denies she likes but I know the real truth, lol) and Dimitri(who is amazing. Duh.).

A few students decide they want to leave the resort to chase Strigoi and prove they can defeat them with magic and early Guardian skills and Rose decides to follow. This is where the story really picks up and I could not actually put it down until I finished it. The entire hostage scene was very well written, it depicted a lot of emotion from the students and my heart actually shrivelled a little when Mason died trying to save Rose. I never would have thought I’d cry reading this novel, but I sobbed! Also Rose reunited with her mother and that is a very raw, realistic relationship. Her mother has essentially abandoned her for 5 years and knows next to nothing about her. Throughout the book it shows the struggle Rose has trying to connect with her again.

The end of the book is honestly the best part-Dimitri shows Rose for real, that he has feelings for her 🙂 The ending is great: it will keep me reading the series but it’s not something I would DIE to read right this second. I hate when there are massive cliffhangers in a book. I know I can just rush out to pick up the book now if I really wanted it but when the book was released that wouldn’t have been the case.