Vampire Academy

Written by Richelle mead

Narrated by Stephanie Wolf

Rose Hathaway and her better-than-best friend, Lissa Dragomir, are brought back to the place they'd run away from, St. Vladimir's Academy.

To catch up with the rest of her dhampir class, Rose trains with the best-of-the-best and hotter-than-hot guardian, Dimitri Belevok. Their goal: Protect peaceful, living vampires--the Moroi--from evil, undead vampires--the Strigoi.

Rose works to become the best guardian she can be, all the while falling for her mentor, Dimitri, who is off limits not only because of his age and race, but because he too has to put Lissa's life above his own. And Rose's. "They come first."

Forget that it's a vampire book. For one thing, Rose and her love-interest aren't even vampires. The world-building, character development, and story-telling throw out all cheesy stereotypes about the genre.

That doesn't mean there aren't sexy vampire scenes. We get to see a little fang action in the first book, but just keep reading, it gets so much hotter.

The epic-ness that is Rose and Dimitri is real. We all want to be her. We all want to be with him. It's Rose logic, don't question it.

“The only thing better than imagining Dimitri carrying me in his arms was imagining him shirtless while carrying me in his arms.” ― Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

Narrator: I give the series five stars, but I'll have to admit, I give the first book two stars and the second and third three. The last three are brilliant enough that I gave the series five. Emily Shaffer brings so much life to Rose's character and does a fantastic job of nailing accents, even ones that are made up. Better news? The entire Bloodlines series is read by Emily.

The series:

Vampire Academy

Frost Bite

Shadow Kiss

Blood Promise

Spirit Bound

Last Sacrifice

Other Books By Richelle:

Bloodlines Series--A Vampire Academy Spin-off

The Glittering Court

Midnight Jewel

The Emerald Sea