Book Review: Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Mead

Note: This review may contain small spoilers for Vampire Academy so if you haven't read it yet, I recommend you check out my Vampire Academy review.

Goodreads Summary:

Rose Hathaway's got serious guy trouble. Her gorgeous tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, she keeps getting stuck in her best friend Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian.

Then a massive Strigoi attack puts St. Vladmir's on high alert, and the Academy crawls with Guardians-including the legendary Janine Hathaway...Rose's formidable, long-absent mother. The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks. This year, St. Vladmir's holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only provide the illusion of safety. When three students run away to strike back against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. Only this time, Rose-and her heat-are in more danger than she ever could have imagined.

My thoughts and review:

I liked Vampire Academy enough to try the second in the series although I wasn't enamoured by it. I'm pleased to say I loved Frostbite so much more and understand more about the buzz for the release of Last Sacrifice back in December and Jess from Jess Hearts Books wonderful guest post on why she loves the series so much here. With all the background to the story, setting and characters set up, the plot became much more juicy and action filled. I found  getting deeper into the story and I was gripped..... yes, to a vampire book! A few months ago I would never have picked one up even though I'd never given one a shot.What I love about this series is the world that Richelle Mead has created because her take on vampires and their society is believable and incredibly detailed.

When I was about halfway through, I suddenly hit upon what one of the things I was particularly enjoying was: Rose's voice. The way it feels like she really is talking to you is one of my favourite things and her sassy attitude makes it better.  In my Vampire Academy review, I mentioned that I sometimes found Rose to be very bratty and there were times I felt like this in this book too but I liked seeing here character development further throughout the book because of what she goes through and see her thoughts mature in her narration.
She learns many important new things and they help her to understand what being a guardian really means and improve the relationships in her life. I was especially interested in finding out more about her past with her mother and seeing the relationship between them.

Many of the characters that were introduced in Vampire Academy are present again but I really missed Lissa not being there as much as I would have liked.  I hope she is more involved in the main plot in the next book in the series. We are also introduced to other new characters such as Christian's aunt, which added more interest and complications to the plot.

The events in Rose's life became more exciting in this book as news reaches the Academy that Strigoi are organising group attacks to kill the Moroi royalty, something that has never happened before. For Rose, it means worry sets in about the safety of her best friend Lissa, the last remaining of the Dragomir royal family. Once the action starts, it doesn't stop and the pace of timing of it is brilliant and really got me hooked. I'm not the type of reader who loves fight and battle scenes in books but I thought they worked really well here because it was like the scenes were playing out before me.

The relationship between Dimitri was also fantastic because as much as they try to hide their feelings, the chemistry between them is very clear as is the desire that they have to be together despite the many complications that prevent this. I liked how that even though they couldn't be a couple, Dimitri was there for her the whole time. Rose also struggles with attention from other boys, namely her friend Mason in her class who is completely besotted with her and Adrian, a rather mysterious and flirtatious Moroi royal. Whilst she faces difficult decisions on her feelings, things become even more complicated when Dimitri experiences the same thing.

Verdict: Frostbite completely surpasses Vampire Academy for me and as soon as I'd finished it, I wanted to get my hands on Shadow Kiss straight away (although it will have to wait a bit now!) I'm told this series gets even better each book so if that's true, Shadow Kiss should be amazing!

I read this book as part of the Out Of Your Comfort Zone Challenge hosted by Danya at A Tapestry Of Words. It's out of my comfort zone because books with paranormal creatures (vampires in this case) are far from what I'd normally choose to read and as yet, I'm not completely comfortable reading them. However, as you can tell from my review, I really enjoyed this book and I've decided not to include the rest of the series as challenge books.