SHADOW KISS by Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy, #3
Publication Date: November 13th 2008 by Razorbill
Rating: 
Summary: For Rose Hathaway, everything seems out of kilter. Ever since she made her first Strigoi kills, a dark shadow has been creeping over her. Looming in the background, too, is another realization: If she follows her forbidden love for guardian Dimitri Belikov, she might lose her best friend forever. And these sleep-shaking worries couldn’t have come at a worse time. The immortal unloving are prowling everywhere, famished for vengeance against her. An adrenaline-laced episode of the teen pop favorite Vampire Academy.
Review Overview:
- Reluctant to read this one first, but I’m glad I did
- Found myself finally liking the series; the problems I had with the books are finally tackled!
- Rose/Dimitri relationship fails to disappoint
- I was hooked until the end
I was reluctant to keep going with this series because of my whole prejudice against all things vampires and paranormal but mostly vampires. But I was eventually coaxed to reading the rest of the series. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying this book tremendously.
So what made this book so different from the first two? Most of the problems I had with the series were finally tackled. The whole damphir subservience towards the morois just down-right bothered me. I was glad to see Rose finally question her life and the choices available. Secondly, I finally saw some morois stick up for themselves. Honestly, I was quite sick of the fact that they kept going on about feeling so helpless – when they were the ones with magic.
One of the reasons I did want to keep reading despite my vampire grudge is the whole forbidden love between Dimitri and Rose. I have to admit, Dimitri is kind of hot.
I had a feeling where this ending was going to go, since I think I’d inadvertently read the blurbs for the later books. Spoiled it for myself. Still, it was a rollercoaster ride getting there.
It’s been a while since I read the first two books so it may be just me, but I think Mead has grown as a writer. This time around, I found myself hooked until the very end and now, I am craving for more. I guess I have to let go of a few of my vampire prejudices as I am eagerly awaiting the chance to read the next book. If you’re a huge paranormal reader, this book is definitely for you.
A friend and I have plans to read the whole series this year. We read Vampire Academy and Frost Bite in Jan and Feb respectively and really enjoyed them and we’re starting Shadow Kiss this month. I’ll admit though I heard about this series a long time ago maybe 2 years? And just finally decided to give them a shot because I was also prejudice against vampires in YA but I am really enjoying the series so I’m glad I picked it up
I enjoyed the first two book of the series, but this is definitely the book in the series that made me sit up and think, “Oh snap! This is getting GOOD.” I’ll be curious to see how the next books work out for you!