From the Bookshelf of Basically Books!…

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)

Richelle Mead

Start date: June 1, 2011

Finish date: July 1, 2011

Discussion: Former Group Reads

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 68 topics — 2,678 comments total

Former Group Reads

* Reckless by Amanda Quick (September 2013 Group Read)
By Rea , Ghost · 9 posts · 20 views

last updated Oct 26, 2013 12:24PM

* Beauty and the Bounty Hunter by Lori Austin (September 2013 Group Read)
By Rea , Ghost · 2 posts · 8 views

last updated Sep 01, 2013 07:24AM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 18, 2010 Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) rated it really liked it

I am going to be honest here and admit that the first time I tried reading this book I just couldn't get into it.
I am so glad though that I decided to give this book (and series) another chance because I really did love it.
Mead is such an amazing writer, I can't believe I almost missed out on this series. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2010 Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it it was amazing

This is the first in is series and a amazing series it is. I like the plot and the twist on the vampire lore in this book. Rose is a Dhampir trained to protect the royalty. After running away with her best friend Lissa, they were caught and brought back to school to finish their schooling. Rose is reprimanded, while Lissa is not. Rose ends up making a deal with a teacher by the name of Dmitri in order to clear her name.
Rose is bound to protect Lissa for the rest of her life. Lissa is rare. She i ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2010 Naomi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Just as good as Twilight Saga. It follows Rose the dhampir as she trains to be Lissa's guardian. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 08, 2010 Aimie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, i-highly-recommend, bad-ass-mc, young-adult, paranormal, action, rrrc-challenge-2012

This is my third time through this book. The last two times I only gave it 4 stars, this time I had to give it 5. I love the uniqueness about the vampires that Richelle Mead has created in this series.
There are so many fablulous characters in this book, I guarantee you will fall in love with at least one of them, if not there has to be something wrong with you... ;)
It is a young adult book but I would recommend to adults as well. In fact I am a few years passed being classed as a young adult an ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2010 Realteenreviews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: living-destinys-list, north-stars-list, dream-catchers-list, series-we-love

The Gist

Rose has only known a couple of people in her life, but only one of them matters and that is Lissa. Rosa and Lissa have been best friends ever since they were little and have never left each others side since, literally. Rose and Lissa are also both vampires. Lissa is a Moroi princess meaning she has two vampire parents but she is mortal and can tap into the earth’s inner magic. Rose is a Dhampir meaning that she has one vampire parent and one human parent. Dhampirs are extremely powerfu The Gist

Rose has only known a couple of people in her life, but only one of them matters and that is Lissa. Rosa and Lissa have been best friends ever since they were little and have never left each others side since, literally. Rose and Lissa are also both vampires. Lissa is a Moroi princess meaning she has two vampire parents but she is mortal and can tap into the earth’s inner magic. Rose is a Dhampir meaning that she has one vampire parent and one human parent. Dhampirs are extremely powerful and strong and have sworn since the beginning of time to protect the Moroi that they are assigned to. They must protect them from the deadly Strigoi because they are immortal and they are the fiercest of all the vampires. The only way that Strigoi can live is by feeding on the blood of Moroi and then turning the Moroi into Strigoi. Rose and Lissa have had a special bond to each other ever since they met where Rose can feel Lissa’s feelings and sometimes slip into her body. Due to an incident years ago Rose and Lissa escaped from St. Vladimir’s Academy and have been living on the streets, that is until they are caught and shipped back to the school. Rose is put under lock down for “kidnapping” Lissa but she is still allowed to see her in classes and all the free time Rose has she has to spend with Dimitri her new mentor practicing for when they graduate and Rose will have to protect Lissa 24/7 (not that she didn’t anyway). As the days pass on people start to accept the girls back into the school until the school learns some interesting information. Now Rose has to protect Lissa more than ever because if she doesn’t she could turn into a Strigoi and once that happens there is no going back.

What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
I picked up this book a few months ago because EVERYONE was telling me how amazing it was and how I had to read it. Knowing that I would most likely enjoy it because the story really interested me, the next time I went to the bookstore I picked up a copy. As predicated I really enjoyed did enjoy this book. It wasn’t the best book ever written or even one of my favorites ever but I was entertained. Friendship. That was the key word in this book. Lissa and Rose had such a strong bond and strong friendship that they would take a bullet for each other without even thinking about it. They probably couldn’t live without one another because they were so close. Richelle Mead also made it very believable. To me their friendship seemed very sincere and I knew from Chapter One that they weren’t going to ever leave each other’s side unless they absolutely HAD too. The other great thing Richelle Mead did was made things so they didn’t always turn out perfectly and didn’t focus on the love aspect. This book could have gone in a completely direction and having it be all about Rose’s huge crush on Dimitri and how much she loved him but their love was a side plot that most times I forgot about until he came into a scene. Lissa also had a couple of flings and a love interest but the whole book didn’t revolve around it. That is something that I really have to give her props for. The other thing about this book is that yes….it is a vampire novel… Don’t worry though because none of them sparkle. These vampires are the closest to traditional that I have seen in a long time. I really liked the fact that I got to learn about 3 different styles of vampires on the more traditional side.
The only bad thing about this book was that the author tended to repeat herself. She would go on about how feeding on other vampires was very bad and feeding while kissing was even worse and now for the rest of my life I will remember that because she said it every other chapter. I get the point that it is important but she doesn’t need to state it so much. Rose and Lissa would also get pranked and then they would prank whoever pranked them back and that little scenario seemed to happen quite a bit. It was enjoyable to read but after a while it would have been nice to read something else and she did change it up in the last half of the book which is what kept me reading until midnight to finish the book. Frostbite the second book in the series is very high on my list of to-read and I can’t wait!
Real Teen Rating~ A- : Read it ...more

Like · see review

Mar 03, 2010 Book Gremlin Reads rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

As I said before this was a very different take on vampires for me-- not in the they are the bad guys but in the terms used the "Strigoi" bad vampires, "Moroi" good vampires and the "Dhampir's" Moroi bodyguards-- that was very different in origin of where the terms came from. That just made it all the more interesting to me thought because it was new and unheard of too me.

Rose is a Dhampir, her best friend Lisa- who I founds I didn't really like-- was a Moroi. This book being the first one I th ...more

Like · see review

May 30, 2010 Minas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own, signed

I love this book! Love it, love it. You must read it if you like vampires and romance. Great series.

Like · see review

Mar 09, 2010 Sharon rated it really liked it

wow, I was really impressed by this YA. I had heard so much about it and it lived up to all the hype. I love the character Rose and feel sad for her situation. One of my problems with YA is all the high school girl drama. While I know it is part of life (watching my daughter go through it now ) I still find it so ridiculous as a grown up. But that aside this is a great story and I will be reading them all.

Like · see review