Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead Ok, so like I mentioned above, I had some MAJOR deja vu going on while reading this book and I have no idea why. I'm pretty sure that I haven't read it before (darn mommy brain) but I'm not 100% sure. Regardless, I really enjoyed reading this book and I'm not sure why I didn't read it earlier. It might possibly have been because it had vampires in it. After the huge vampire craze a few years ago, I'm still hesitant to try a vampire book in the fear that it might not be on par with the ones I've read. That someone might have taken advantage of the craze and pushed out some sub par book. But now that I've started this series, I can see why everyone is obsessed. So basically, we have pretty much what I like in a book like this. There is a strong, kick butt female lead, even if she makes a few bad choices once in awhile, she's not perfect. She's got so much of a snarky attitude, and I love it! There is a steamy guy, Dimitri, who also happens to be "forbidden" in a way. He IS Rose's instructor after all. I like Lissa, she is a gentle and caring best friend. Then of course there's the bad guy who causes tons of trouble for the girls. The plot moves fairly quickly, although it did take a little while to get the Moroi, Dhampir and Strigoi straight. Basically, the Moroi are "good" vampires who are still alive and need blood and food to survive, they can also use magic and are sensitive to the sun but can still go out. The Dhampir are their bodyguards, raised to protect the Moroi. And the Strigoi are "bad" vampires. They are the walking dead from our horror stories. The kill to survive and can't handle the sunlight, they are essentially evil. Once I caught on to the terms, it was easy to follow along and I got sucked into the story. It was extremely hard to put down and I needed to know what happened next. I love the relationship between Rose and Lissa, and hated it when they fought. I think I might be a sucker for boarding school books and the drama that comes with them. Regardless, this is an addictive series that you should read if you haven't. I'm only sad that I waited so long!