Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, #4)

by Richelle Mead

[Angie]

The stakes keep getting raised! Pun intended. The best way to describe Blood Promise is intense. It was my favorite book the first reading this series, and while Spirit Bound stole that spot this time, I still love it to pieces! Rose has been through a lot, and she goes through even more. It starts out pretty slow. Rose is aimlessly wandering around Russia, either hoping to run into Dimitri or find someone who can point her his way. Eventually she does end up in his hometown, and stays with his family for a while. It's an emotional time for everyone, but she knows she can't stay and heads back out on her journey. It doesn't go how she's rehearsed it in her mind, because who can really prepare to face down the love of their life with deadly intentions?

Dimitri! He is the highlight of Blood Promise for me (and to Rose for a little while). I don't care that he's evil and doing bad, bad things. There's still that spark of Dimitri-essence in there that cannot be ignored. For three and a half books, we're told how evil Strigoi are and that they are no longer the people that they were. Well, Dimitri kind of proves that wrong, and Rose falls for it for a time. He's just so...persuasive. The venom from his bites help some, but still. I'm probably a very, deeply disturbed person but I love Strigoi Dimitri. The biting and the making out and the hunger for power and...SWOON! Then that scene on the bridge! My heart! I know what happened between them was wrong, but I loved every moment of it.

Given the massive size of Blood Promise, Dimitri (at least in his current form) is actually a very small part of the book. We're introduced to a whole mess of new characters as Rose travels through Siberia. She meets other rogue guardians, Dimitri's mother, grandmother, and sisters, an Alchemist, a Moroi mobster, and another Moroi-Dhampir bonded pair. It's a lot to take in, and most of them aren't really that important to the overall story. But they're all important to Rose's character growth. They each provide her with something that helps her in some way. Sydney, the Alchemist, is probably the most important one since she's the star of Bloodlines. I hated her the first time I read this, but I think since I knew what to expect, her rudeness didn't shock me as much.

Even though Rose is across the world, we still get to see what's happening back at the school with Lissa and Adrian. It's actually pretty interesting stuff, but I won't go into it. Let's just say, some spirit users shouldn't be allowed out in society. But all of this pales in comparison to Dimitri. Seriously. Blood Promise is all about Dimitri, even when he's not around, and I loved it.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.