Review: Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Frostbite 

by Richelle Mead

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...

Paperback, 327 pages

Published April 10th 2008 by Razorbill (first published 2008)

A Long Story Short!

If you haven't checked out Richelle Mead's awesome Vampire Academy series yet, I don't know what you're waiting for. The second book, Frostbite had everything I need in a novel - realistic, funny characters, a great setting (this one especially this time), hot and steamy romance, but also a lot of action and an ending that blew me away. Nothing more to say, I guess, than start reading this series - you won't regret it!

RATING: 3/3 Smarties

Review for You:

Vampire Academy is one of everyone's favorites. Believe me. Ask around. I've never seen someone who could withstand this mix of boarding school, hot guys, vampires and danger that can give you nightmares and goosebumps. And believe me something else: this series catches everyone by surprise.

I'm sure that's mostly because vampires on a boarding school don't really sound appealing to anyone anymore (thanks to certain other books about one of those topics that made most of us a bit numb...)

Somehow, though, many turn to Richelle Mead's books eventually. 

For me, it was plain curiousity when I started Vampire Academy in December of 2011 (that feels so freaking long ago!).

Let's  just say I teared through that book in one night. Started at six in the evening and finished at 2 AM the next morning. Didn't take a break.

Frostbite, the second book in the series was just as amazing. There's something about Rose as our easy and sympathetic, but also highly sarcastic - and therefore entertaining narrator - that makes you - as I said on Twitter last night - want to crawl into the story and never come out of it again.

For all you action lovers out there - it takes a while until we really get there. Sure, the novel starts at a point that let my heart beat faster for a few minutes but after that it's boarding school life, boy and family drama, a little christmas surprise...nothing out of the ordinary. These parts of the book where it seems like nothing happens, are appealing in other ways, though. Rose's love life is, I might say, quite interesting. Or rather, the equivalent to a reality show - only in book version. Also, the characters Mead created - and we get to know quite a bunch of new ones in this book - are always good for a joke, a little more drama or simply the overall mystery the story comes with.

Now, I said in the beginning of this review that it's not just drama and teenage vampire problems that make out Mead's series. This becomes visible at the end - by the way, the second time Mead blew me away with the final showdown. Like in a good crime novel or show the action slowly increases, all of  a sudden you feel a certain suspense, you start feeling uncomfortable in your seat because you expect something bad to happen and then BAM - there it is. And that's when you start racing through the last few pages, experiencing - once again - everything as though you were right there, in Roses head and had to make your way out of this mess you are in.

So, yes, during the middle of the book there were sometimes moments and chapters that I thought would have been better off not being there at all, because it was a bit too much teenage hysteria and not enough story. However, looking at the big picture, those moments were rare and didn't matter in the end. An amazing, amazing sequel that I can only recommend you read!