Vampire Academy

by Richelle Mead

Happy Birthday to me! This book was a birthday present from Dani (my often spoken of book-loving friend who never writes her own entries anymore!) :)

Before reading the Twilight series I'd never read any vampire novels. So when Dani gave me this book (the start of a new series) I wasn't sure what to expect. The vampire world that Richelle Mead creates is very different from Meyer's Twilight. This book is darker, and considerably more mature in language and content. I didn't really care for the language used in this book, but the story was interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading.

There are a lot of fun (and a lot of annoying) characters in this book. And I mean the annoying thing in a positive way - you're supposed to find them annoying. Rose was tough and sassy while Lissa was sweet and caring. The two creating an interesting duo. The male characters were also an intriguing lot. Dimitri, Christian, Mason, Jesse - all of them different and funny or sweet or interesting in their own ways.

While this book didn't have quite the mesmerizing "stupor" effect I spoke of with Twilight, it did suck me in, and I proceeded to read the next two books in the series in the next two days. I have not been very social, and my sleeping has suffered a bit, but it was fun!