Review: Frostbite

Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2), by Richelle Mead. The GoodReads summary:

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…

Considering not much happened in this book until the very end, I was surprisingly engrossed by it. Usually when I read an action-based book, I like it to be, well, action-y. But for this one, basically all that happens in the first three-fourths of the book is that the academy goes to a ski lodge for Christmas. And yet, I really couldn’t put this book down. I think the main reason for that is that Richelle Mead just knows how to tell a good story--her writing sucks you in, even when there’s not that much to be sucked into.

And Rose is continuing to grow on me. I could definitely tell that she’s maturing, so there was slightly less crazy impulsiveness to drive me crazy. Although her self-confidence in her appearance did still grate on me--I mean, she rates herself as a 10 out of 10 for looks. Who does that? But I do still admire her ability to face challenges head on and kick some major butt.

And of course, this book had me swooning over Dimitri again. Richelle Mead has the tension between Dimitri and Rose DOWN. Even though they were deliberately trying not to be interested in each other romantically, those two could probably start a fire with all the heated glances they had going on.

Although the book didn’t have much happening in the first three-fourths, the action in the last fourth basically makes up for it. I won’t spoil anything, but let me just say, it gets INTENSE.

So yes, read these books. I just finished this one and am so ready to jump into book three. They’re just so well-written and full of interesting characters. Plus they’ve got some awesome fight scenes.