Vampire Academy Movie Review

February 7, 20143 Comments

Wrapping up the day of Vampire Academy posts (check out my recap of the mall tour in Los Angeles here and my recap of the premiere here). Now a spoiler free review of the movie! Read on…

Vampire Academy

Rated:

Rated PG-13 for violence, more about bloody images, find sexual content and language

Directed By:

Mark Waters

Cast:

Zoey Deutch, Danila Kozlovsky, Lucy Fry, Dominic Sherwood, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Hyland, Sami Gayle.

Find the rest on IMDB here.

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. This is her story.

My Review:

I am literally blown away at how well they did with this movie. While it wasn’t absolutely perfect, I thought they did a wonderful job with it.

First off, I wanted to talk about going into the movie with an open mind. I do not say this to scare you, but I honestly think with that attitude, I enjoyed the movie more. I was high on adrenaline, after being on the red carpet and sneaking pictures with cast members in the lobby of the theater, but when I went into the theater, I told myself, “open mind”. And I’m really glad I did. I think there are too many people judging the movie by the stills and the trailer and I think thats detrimental to the success of the film. YA adaptations aren’t doing well in the theaters and unless we go out and support them, they’ll just stop making them.

Oh, one more thing, with the whole “Mean Girls” thing. A lot of people don’t like that they keep putting emphasis on that, but I like it. It has the humor of Mean Girls, which is GREAT. I think it was hilarious and I’ll talk more about that later. But also, like I said, we NEED this movie to do well to get Frostbite and people love Mean Girls and I applaud anything that gets them into the theater.

Okay rant off. That being said, I went in open minded, and also with the reminder that the first book is much more lighthearted than the rest of the series.

I was immediately struck at how well each of the actors understood their characters. I was amazed at how well Zoey was Rose, Danila was Dimitri and so on. I think I was most impressed with Dominic as Christian. Christian is one of the characters that I’ve always loved and I think he rocked it big time. After meeting the cast the day before, and seeing how nice and genuine they were, I was so impressed with how well they knew their characters and how well they portrayed them in the movie. I will now think of most of these actors and actresses when I go to read the book. They just captured them so well.

I also think there was an incredible balance of action and romance. The romance building between Christian and Lissa and the subtle one between Rose and Dimitri were just as how I’d imagine it in the novel. Its important and its there but its not overwhelming. The movie is not wrapped in the romance and I’m okay with that. There was a ton of action. I loved watching both Rose and Dimitri kick some serious ass in this movie. They really did the story of Rose’s return and work to become caught up on her guardian skills so well.

I really think the movie was about the friendship between Rose and Lissa, just as it should be. Vampire Academy is a huge story about friendship and loyalty, and that is definitely what they got. The friendship between Lissa and Rose has its sweet moments, it has the moments where Rose is protective and it has hilarious moments. Its perfect.

Which leads me to one of my favorite parts of the movie: the humor. The chemistry between the actors led to some well-placed lines and me laughing in my seat the whole movie. Myself and the 7 other people I was with were rolling around in our seats, laughing out loud. I’m pretty sure we were the loudest people in the theatre and I wish I knew the casts’ reactions to our reactions haha. It was a VERY funny movie. I really could not stop laughing.

There were minor things that bothered me. I was hoping for a bit more Mason, but if we get Frostbite, I have hopes we’ll get way more Mason. I think I need to rewatch the movies with subtitles because of all the accents haha. Dominic wasn’t too bad because he spoke loud and clear so I got all of his lines, same with Lucy. Danila talked really really low for some reason so sometimes I wasn’t sure if I was hearing what he was saying correctly. He just needed to speak up a bit but he really rocked as Danila. I thought the end scene (I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t read the book) was a little rushed, and the lust charm scene was a bit cheesy but all in all, it was only small details that bothered me and none of them were deal breakers for the movie in the slightest.

And now that I’ve watched the movie, I want to watch the movie again and I want to reread the books again. I’m all obsessed with VA right now haha.

Rating:

4 out of 5

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So get out there this weekend and see this movie! It was SO enjoyable to watch and, as a VA fan, I was incredibly impressed with it. I would love to see more of the series, I would absolutely love to see Frostbite (admittedly because more Zoey Deutch and we could cast Adrian!!!) and the only the way to get sequels for further movies would be to go out and see this one! So go go go go and tell me what you think when you do!

Vampire Academy Week: The Los Angeles World Premiere!

February 6, 2014February 5, 20144 Comments

Hello all! So you have noticed on the Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, decease or on the blog, recipe that its officially Vampire Academy week! Tomorrow is the official release of the movie, visit this site and I’ve been recapping the awesomeness that I experienced this weekend. Earlier today, I recapped the mall tour and afterparty, which you can read about if you click here.

Stay tuned later today for a spoiler free review of the movie!

For now, let’s talk about the premiere!

Me, Sylvia, Alex and Sylvia’s friend Alex met up with the rest of the gang from the day before and secured our spots on the barricade. We got some GOOD spots too. The security told us we couldn’t be on the barricade and get tickets to see the movie, but we’re fangirls and we so made it happen.

While we waited, we could see them setting up the red carpet. Its not that exciting haha. They all seem to look the same. Okay, I just realized how that made me sound and I immediately apologize haha. They just aren’t too exciting to look at until the stars show up haha. But it can be kind of pretty!

The movie theater looking all ready to go!

I was getting so excited for this :) We all started standing up, getting ready for the cast to arrive on the carpet!

Me, Alex, Mina, Sylvia, and Alex waiting for the stars! We had such prime spots!

Snagged another slightly blurry, but epic selfie with the gorgeous Dominic Sherwood!

I was SO excited when Danila came over to greet the fans. I had taken a picture with him at the afterparty the night before but I needed a signature on my poster! And okay, I was a brat and totally scored another picture. Who wouldnt!

I took about a hundred pictures of Danila signing. How often am I going to see this Russian god ;) He was SO sweet and tried to sign for everyone. I don’t know that he GOT everyone, but he definitely tried.

This is the only picture I managed to get of Sarah Hyland! She came over to the fan barricade later but I missed her when I went inside for the movie! I kept trying to track her down but it just didn’t happen :( That’s okay though. She looked gorgeous and ROCKED as Natalie.

Danila’s interview. He was SO sweet and genuine. When she asked him who his Valentine was, he asked all the fans to be his Valentine. And he talked so respectfully of Zoey. Its obviously that they’ve created such a great friendship together. If they weren’t taken, I’d want them together so bad haha.

Zoey and Danila. She was talking about him in her interview and was like “where he is” and he came running up to give her a hug, which was so freakin adorable and before he left again, he gave her a kiss on the hand, like a prince in a Disney movie or something. Everyone in the fan section sighed with happiness haha.

After we got some signatures and pictures on the red carpet, we went into the movie theater, and ran into some other stars…like a TON of Disney Channel stars.

First, Bella Thorne from Shake It Up!

Peyton List from Jessie!

Oh and then Cassandra and I ran into Cameron again!

So I just learned last night that Lea Thompson, the EPIC Lea Thompson is Zoey’s mom! So she was at the premiere. I LOVE the Back to the Future movies and died when I got to take this picture with her! DIED. So awesome. She’s super cute in Switched at Birth too.

Randomly ran into Holland Roden, who plays Lydia in Teen Wolf. My sister is a HUGE fan so I had to stop and take a picture with her.

Me and Zoey’s boyfriend, Avan Jogia, who has been on shows like Victorious and Twisted.

Me and Cassandra managed to catch Lucy Fry before the movie started!

After we tackled some of the stars in the actual movie theater, we grabbed our free drinks and popcorn and went to our seats to watch the movie.

There is a review coming soon, but I’ll tell you this: the movie was amazing. The romance and the action balanced each other perfectly, the actors and actresses really embodied their characters, and understood them and the humor was to DIE for. I could NOT stop laughing. I barely ate any popcorn because I was too busy laughing. Definitely check out my review later!

After the movie, we went back to the lobby and tried to find some more stars, and we did find a few!

First I found Ashley Charles, who plays Jesse in the film. He signed my poster too, so that was pretty cool!

I also got a picture and autograph from Dominique Tipper, who played Guardian Gabriella in the film. She was SO excited to meet fans, and she kept asking us how we liked the movie. She was seriously SO adorable.

I got three more autographs on my poster: Dominique, Danila and Ashley. I am SO happy that I was able to get Danila’s. That was my goal for the night, definitely!

So that was the red carpet premiere :) It was SUCH a blast, and definitely was up there with the City of Bones premiere back in August. It was amazing!

Don’t forget to check out the review of the movie coming later today and look out this weekend for a giveaway!

Vampire Academy Week: Mall Tour Meet and Greet and Music Afterparty!

February 6, 2014February 5, 20143 Comments

Hello there my friends! This week on What A Nerd Girl Says is Vampire Academy week. Monday and Tuesday was all about Vampire Academy. I spent hours waiting for a meet and greet, this partied with the cast, remedy and got to see the movie at the red carpet premiere and it was all incredible. Now I’m ready to share it all with you!

The first event of Vampire Academy week was the Mall Tour stop at the Grove in Los Angeles.

Sylvia (Fangirl Feeels), Erin (That One Geek Girl) and I arrived at the Grove SUPER early, around 6 am, and were by far the first people there. We have a tendency to do that. When we got there, they were just beginning to set up for the event!

They started an official line at around 9 am and we were able to get our wristbands! Yay for wristbands!

The day was spent with Sylvia, Erin, and my other fangirl friends, Cassandra, Mina, Jeanette, Jade, and Alex. We all had such a fun time hanging out and getting food and talking about fandoms and books. When we all get together, we have such a fun time. We all instantly bond because of our love for books and all things nerd.

Awkward elevator selfie….which is also SUPER awesome!

The Vampire Academy was really cool! They set up hairstylists and makeup artists to make us absolutely fabulous.

Me and my beautiful friend Cassandra after our makeovers!

The people that were holding the event had professional photographers and once you got all glammed up in your makeup and hair, you could put on some accessories (check out the tiara!) and take some pictures. They asked us to take a “serious” pose and it was just so ridiculous that I will never forget this picture. Its just too fantastic for life. It reminded us all of those glamour shots you could take with your best friends at the mall in junior high haha.

The VIPs were able to get these SUPER amazing Vampire Academy sweatshirts. My friends and I tried so hard throughout the whole event to get our hands on some and we all ended up with one! Which made me SO happy! I had to answer a trivia question and it was who wrote the books. Not exactly hard haha.

Then it was time for the actual meet and greet. Now I’ve been to a ton of signings and one thing that is always a bummer is the whole thing with pictures. Because most events get all LAME with photos and practically chop your head off when you even think of touching your phone while meeting the guests. This event was SO refreshingly different. They had a professional photographer taking pictures of us, and us with the cast. SO perfect.

My friends got some pictures too though :)

Me walking up to talk to Cameron Monaghan, who plays Mason in the film. He was SO incredibly sweet. He introduced himself, like “Hi I’m Cameron” and me, being insanely awkward, I just went “I know!” in a squeaky voice.

I think I’m discussing my tattoos with the cast. I was talking to Cameron and Lucy Fry when Dominic Sherwood noticed my Deathly Hallows tattoo and then Zoey Deutch (MY LOVE!) noticed my Divergent tattoo, and then I decided to show them the rest haha. It was funny!

I think this was when I told Zoey that I had a massive crush on her and Dominic started laughing and it was just all fun. Straight up, I do have a crush on Zoey. She was so sweet. I was like “I have a crush on you” and she was like “I have a crush on you too!” which I know she only said to be nice but pssssh I’ll never live it down haha.

It’s kind of blurry but you can kind of see me hugging Zoey Deutch. Basically the best thing that happened that night. I died.

The beautiful professional picture of me with the cast: Sami Gayle (Mia), Dominic Sherwood (Christian), Zoey (Rose), Lucy (Lissa), and Cameron (Mason). I was so excited that we got two more cast members in the addition of Cameron and Sami!

The photographer caught my hug with Dominic, which made me so happy. SO freakin cute.

After the actual meet and greet, we all converged to charge our phones and basically freak out about how awesome it was to meet the five of them. We waited a bit to go back, because we wanted to grab some extra posters for some giveaways (keep an eye out this weekend!) and then we got to take some selfies with the cast, which is always fun!

The absolutely GORGEOUS Dominic Sherwood. He was absolutely amazing as Christian. His eyes are mesmerizing. I can’t handle his eyes.

The super adorable Cameron Monaghan :D

After the mall tour stop, Sylvia, Erin and I met up with our friend Marla in Hollywood at this club called Lure to attend the SUPER awesome music afterparty, where the cast was going to make an appearance, and where Iggy Azalea performed as well. It was SUPER fun. We danced, and partied, had some free drinks (with red bull, which was SUPER weird haha and made me hyper).

Sylvia and I! We were so silly and accidentally grabbed drinks with whiskey in them. If you’ve never had whiskey before, its absolutely disgusting. We tried to handle it but…yeah, that didn’t go well. So we ditched the drinks and went to go get better ones. As we’re walking up to the bar, we realize the cast had arrived. It was so loud and Sylvia was pointing something out to me, which I thought was Dominic Sherwood. I was like “yes, I know, he’s there, he’s hot, we just saw him” and she was like “No, Sara, its Danila!!” and I basically fainted with excitement.

We weren’t expecting Danila to appear because he had just flown in from Russia. You could tell he was feeling tired and laidback, just in jeans, t-shirt and hoodie and he was hanging out with his friends. I was nervous and anxious to interrupt him but I knew if I walked away, all my fangirls friends (and YOU guys) would never let me live it down.

So I asked Danila for a picture and a hug and it was awesome. I didn’t think it was possible but he is even better looking in person than in the pictures. Seriously guys. Swoon!

Then I spent the next few minutes stalking the rest of the cast to get some selfies with them!

Me and the beautiful Lucy Fry!

I love this picture of me and Sami Gayle. I love that she plays Mia, who is SUCH a bitch, but she’s such a sweet person. Isn’t it funny how that works out haha.

I was SO determined to get a picture with Zoey and I got one! She is too beautiful for life.

They introduced the cast on stage, and I had to share this picture because Zoey looks so cute! She is seriously a goofball.

Then Iggy Azalea performed. I honestly had no idea who she was, and she’s not really the music I listen to AT ALL but she was seriously so pretty and so charismatic on stage and I super enjoyed it. It was fun to dance to, and I was hopped up on some red bull haha.

My poster! Signed by Zoey and Lucy on top, and then Dominic, Sami and Cameron on the bottom!

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All in all, Monday was a SERIOUSLY successful day! I had a blast, and meeting the cast and hanging out with my friends all day. I got no sleep, barely ate, and was SUPER exhausted by the end of the night but it was so so so worth it. And the next day was the premiere. Come back later for the recap of that event!

To see all the pictures of the event, check out the album on Facebook here.

Tuesday Top Ten-Movies to Look Forward to in 2014

January 21, 2014January 21, 20144 Comments

Hello everybody! How are we doing this week? We’re now a few weeks into the year, approved and a new year brings so much: new year, pills new goals, new you, new books, new movies!

I get excited every year around new year because I think…oh all those movies I’ve been waiting for are now closer than ever!

There are a TON of great movies hitting the theaters this year, and I’m excited for them. Here are my top ten:

10. The Giver

August 15th

I’m not going to lie, this movie makes me incredibly nervous. I love this book. This book was the first dystopian novel that I ever really read and that was when I was twelve years old. This novel has definitely stuck with me, and I’m hoping that when it hits the big screen, it’ll be as beautifully filmed as it was written. The fact that there are all these big names makes me nervous because none of the people who are being cast seem to fit what I’ve imagined. I’m also not happy that Taylor Swift has any part of this movie. I mean, I can’t even handle my disappointment in that. But I’m holding out hope that despite that, and despite the most random of an ensemble cast, it’ll be the script from a beautiful book that makes this a great movie.

9. Maleficent

May 30th

It seems to be the hippest thing now to do fairy tale retellings now. And I’m totally okay with that. I love Disney movies, and have loved them since I was a kid. All these retellings just make it so that I can enjoy those favorite stories again and again as an adult, in a new way. I’m not an Angelina Jolie fan, honestly, she kind of bothers me. I was telling my friend that if she wasn’t such a good mom (or at least she appears to be), I would probably really dislike her. However, I think she’s an absolutely perfect pick to play the scary Sleeping Beauty villain and I think it’ll be a great movie. It already looks super great, and I’m really really really looking forward to it. The teaser trailer is just enough to make me want to watch.

8. Love Rosie

No Release Date…Yet

I literally have such little knowledge on this movie, its ridiculous. I know that its based off a book, but most movies are, so that wasn’t hard to conclude. But it has two of my favorite people in the world in the movie: Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. Both of whom I’ve met too! Which I just thought of and totally made me happy. But this was being filmed around the promotion time for City of Bones so it came on my radar and I’m excited to see it. There is no real release date for it because I think its super indie but I definitely want to see it, and hopefully read it, as well. I think Lily Collins is a great actress who hasn’t quite caught her break yet, and I adore Sam, who ROCKED Finnick in Catching Fire. Its bound to be a good movie, in my head.

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past

May 23rd

I wasn’t a huge fan of the “original” XMen trilogy. The first one was decent and the other two were just a yawn. They just didn’t impress me much. So when the prequel came out, I honestly didn’t have a huge desire to see that at all. Eventually I did watch it and I was blown away. I think the prequel was infinitely better than the original trilogy and I loved the cast immensely: James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones and so on. I loved it so much. I would say they made one mistake in casting someone else for Banshee instead of sticking with their original choice of Robbie Sheehan. But that’s just because I’m biased and love Robbie. But because that first movie was absolutely incredible, I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the sequel. I think its going to be just as good, maybe better, and they got rid of Rogue and I’m SO okay with that.

6. The Maze Runner

September 19th

I really am looking forward to seeing this movie for several reasons. First off, I adore Dylan O’Brien. I wish that Teen Wolf would have grabbed me more than it did because he is SO great. So being able to see him as the main character of TMR is something I’m very excited about it. I’m also excited because it really was a good book. James Dashner is a great writer, and The Maze Runner is an incredible novel. Its also a really weird, bizarre novel, which leads to another reason I’m looking forward to seeing this movie: maybe things will make a little more sense to me when I can actually see them. Maybe seeing the maze and the Grievers and all that. I also think that its a very action-y book so it’ll work really well on the big screen. Thomas and his fellow Runners are constantly risking their lives to find a way out and I think that will translate SUPER well onto film.

5. The Fault in Our Stars

June 6th

Despite the fact that the fans of The Fault in Our Stars is kind of starting to get on my nerves and I’m starting to push more indie, unknown or underrated authors now, instead of just always John Green, I am looking forward to this movie. I enjoy John Green’s books and I did really like TFiOS a lot so I’m eager to see this movie. I also have a soft spot for Ansel, and I swear, it has nothing to do with his abs ;) I’m also excited because Ansel and Shailene will play brother and sister in another highly anticipated movie this year (look below!) and so I’m eager to see how they do both of them. They obviously have a chemistry on screen enough to be in two different movies together. I wish my favorites of John Green, like An Abundance of Katherines or Will Grayson, Will Grayson, on the big screen but there’s no way it’ll ever happen. So this is the next best thing. Let’s see how well they translated this book to the work of film.

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

November 21st

Duh. I mean, do I really need to go into detail with this? When I first saw The Hunger Games, I definitely enjoyed it. Its a great movie, but it wasn’t…perfect, you know? There were things wrong with it, and I liked it but it wasn’t a huge favorite. When I saw Catching Fire though, it blew my mind. Its not perfect because a movie will hardly ever be as perfect as the book but it was pretty damn close. I wanted to stand up and tackle Francis Lawrence and all the brains behind CF with hugs and kisses because it was SO SO good. I was only partly looking forward to CF because HG was just okay. Now I’m dying to see Mockingjay because I have high hopes for it. I honestly think its going to be just amazing, and the casting they have been doing for it is great and I want to do fan camp again. The whole Catching Fire experience pulled me so much back into The Hunger Games world and I’m dying to see the first part of the finale. I still don’t know why its split into two parts but whatever. Let’s just enjoy it.

3. Vampire Academy

February 7th

This is only a few weeks away which makes me incredibly excited. I just read the books within the last six months but they have quickly become favorites of mine. The title and the idea of it sounded awful but Richelle Mead blew me away. Its an incredible series so I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. I’m so freakin excited. Plus I have huge crushes on both Zoey Deutch and Danila Kozlovsky and I want to see their chemistry as Rose and Dimitri. I am a bit nervous because it seems very “mean girls” but then I see a clip or a still of Zoey kicking ass and I get excited all over again. She’s super beautiful and perfect for the casting of Rose and I think its going to be a really fun movie. And I hope to get my butt down to the premiere so I can fangirl again and again over Zoey and Danila.

2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

December 17th

I wasn’t overly impressed with The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug but I still feel like I need to go back and re-read the book and then rewatch the movie so I can really see whether I like it or not. It just didn’t effect me as much as the first one did. That one was just so amazing to me, the fight scenes and the elves, and Rivendell and the riddle scene with Gollum. Agh. But I’m hoping with the conclusion, it’ll comes together nicely. The end of The Hobbit is great, and a whole lot goes down so I’m ready to see that. I’m ready to see Smaug destroy the town, and I’m ready for Bard and I’m ready for Thorin to kind of go crazy and I’m ready for Bilbo to become an even bigger badass than he already was. I have some seriously high hopes for this movie (I mean, it is number 2 on the list) so I hope I am not disappointed.

1. Divergent

March 21st

I can hardly contain my excitement for this movie. When they first started casting for it, I admit, I was nervous. I was not a fan of Shailene Woodley. All I had ever seen her in was The Secret Life of An American Teenager and…no, just no. But the more I saw her transformation into Tris, the more I felt comfortable with her as Tris. Then I saw The Spectacular Now with my boyfriend at a special screening and it was SO good, and she really impressed me. She did such a great job. That, combined with the casting of Theo James as Four, made me more excited about the movie. I mean, have you seen Theo James. I need a bucket of cold water to the face every time I see him. Since then, we’ve gotten a TON of stills, really amazing trailers and I am just so excited for this movie. Once I saw the first full length trailer, I really thought, “wow, this could be good”. I love these books, I feel like I’m one of a small group that absolutely loved the ending and I can’t wait to see my favorite Divergent characters come to life in March. And to hopefully be at that premiere because, come on, its Divergent!

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So there you have it! My Top Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2014! Check in next week to see my top Ten reasons why I want to be an author :)

What are some movies that you are looking forward to in 2014? Share in the comments!

Book of the Week-Bloodlines

December 19, 2013December 18, 2013Leave a comment

I am so proud of myself. It took me awhile to get back into the groove of reading, about it reading a lot like I do, adiposity but now I’m back in it. I busted my way through the last three Vampire Academy books and now I’m reading the fourth and most recent of the Bloodlines series, more about The Fiery Heart. Which means I have some SERIOUS catching up to do as far as book reviews go.

I absolutely loved the Vampire Academy series, more than I thought I would, because, honestly, I try to avoid books with vampires. And now that I’m reading the Bloodlines series, I’m even more in love. That may have something to do with Adrian Ivashkov, but hmm, I’m not sure ;)

For now, enjoy the book of the week.

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Genre:

Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Part of a Series?:

The 1st Novel of the Bloodlines Series, a spin-off to the Vampire Academy Series

Please keep in mind that while this will not have spoilers for Bloodlines, there may be spoilers for the Vampire Academy series.

Age Recommendation:

14+

Plot Summary:

From GoodReads:

Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets – and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir – the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir – is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill’s guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty – a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning…

My Review:

I am blown away by the continuation of the Vampire Academy world. I am surprised any time that someone can write a series that is longer than a trilogy and keep it really good and awesome, keep it compelling, the story fresh. Richelle Mead definitely did that in the Vampire Academy series. I was interested from page one to the very last page of Last Sacrifice. I was even more surprised and blown away that she was able to continue the story in the spin-off. I currently am reading book four, but this is about book one, so we’ll focus on that.

First off, the characters. The main characters are Sydney Sage, who is the main point of view in the story, and her companions are Jill Mastrano Dragomir, Adrian Ivashkov and Eddie Castile. These are NOT new characters in the slightest. We have seen them all in the Vampire Academy series and got to know them, at least a little bit. Taking them away from the overwhelming personalities of Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and Christian though…we really get to learn about them more, understand them better, and fall in love with them the way you fell in love with the main characters of VA. Sydney kind of annoyed me in VA and I also have a ginormous crush on Rose Hathaway. Adrian seemed…likable but too tragic for me to handle. Jill and Eddie seemed likable as well, but distant except the parts they had in the vampire world.

But in this novel, you’re given the chance to love them all and I immediately do. I definitely am more of a Rose fan than a Sydney fan BUT I do love Sydney. I love that she presents such a contrast to Rose. She’s more of a strategy girl, using her intelligence and logic to solve problems, though she’s more than willing to fight when she needs to. Jill and Eddie prove their worth, and I love them both. I loved their humor, and their commitment. Jill has a lot to deal with. She’s an illegitimate heir to the Dragomirs, which makes her relationship with Lissa very awkward, and her life is on the line, and she has to learn to be a royal. She handles it with grace but you can see her youth and uncertainties and she’s a very real character. I also really liked Eddie as well, especially with the internal conflicts he has between his emotions and his duty. It was very real, and its was good to see a different point of view of a dhampir besides Rose or Dimitri.

But I think the character that really made me love this book (and the following books) is Adrian Ivashkov. In VA, he just seems…I like him, definitely but he seems to be going about things the wrong way, dealing with his issues, and his spirit with alcohol and cigarettes and dark humor. But getting to know him through Sydney’s eyes, especially when its so obvious to everyone except Sydney that he’s falling for her, was amazing. I am madly in love with Adrian, way more so than I was with Dimitri. Dimitri was too perfect, but Adrian has faults, and he has that wicked sense of humor. He’s the “bad boy”, and you all know how I feel about those guys.

I also really love the story. I love how Richelle Mead took a problem, an issue from the first series and made it very important in the second series, and put it in the hands of a different main character. I also like that it involves so much of the high school drama as well, and introduces the idea of magic. I love that we are introduced to such a adamant character such as Sydney, and hopefully will see her change as time goes on. I also think the story is great because we get to see problems solved by a totally different character. Rose always had a weapon in her hand, or was the weapon herself. Sydney is a weapon as well, but she is in a different way, and I love that. I’m interested to see how her mission to protect Jill from assassins changes her and her ways, and the way she was raised as an Alchemist.

Now, I’m on book four so I know a lot of what happens next, and let me just say this: this book leads into an incredible series. I am so glad I read this book as quickly as I did and I can’t wait to finish The Fiery Heart…but also not because then I have to wait months for the 5th book. I’m not excited for that. But I’m urging you all to get involved in both of these series. You will NOT regret it.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Definitely! I think you should the Vampire Academy series first, definitely but if you read that series, and didn’t read this one, you’re missing out. This book starts the story perfectly and propelled me into finishing the rest of the series as quickly as I could. I am now reading the most recent novel, The Fiery Heart, and am sad to finish it because I don’t want to wait for the next one! I adore Sydney, Adrian, Jill, Eddie and the rest of the Bloodlines cast.

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I hope you enjoyed this week’s featured book. Stay tuned for more reviews soon!

Happy Reading!

Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice Book Reviews

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013Leave a comment

I don’t normally do dual book reviews but I read this so quickly, case and they sort of blended together, so its easier for me to do that. Also, since then, I’ve read three more books and I need to review those as well, so it would just be easier for me to review them together.

Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

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GoodReads Summary:

Please keep in mind that while there will be NO spoilers for these two books, there will be spoilers for the previous four books. You can read the reviews for Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise by clicking their titles.

For Spirit Bound:

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.
She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won’t rest until Rose joins him… forever.

For Last Sacrifice:

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.
Now the law has finally caught up with Rose – for a crime she didn’t even commit. She’s in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She’ll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose’s life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back…and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

My Review:

I am incredibly impressed with how much better each of these books get as the story goes along. I’ve made it clear before: series that go longer than a few books don’t usually hold up. At least I don’t tend to think so. Its hard to continually keep a story going. But Richelle Mead does it, and does it very well. After the complete heartbreak that was Blood Promise, I was immediately hooked back into the story, and finished these two books quickly.

The characters become so much better than what they were in the first four books. They become more complex, they are more than just teenagers. Rose and Lissa and Adrian and Dimitri and Christian, and all of them, its more than just the typical teen problems. They are now so much involved in their world, in the politics and the sort of dramatics that are going on that they just didn’t see when they were in school. I also think this is the novel where they begin to grow up. They are starting to experience things that make them older, wiser, smarter. Rose went through the entire experience in Russia with Strigoi Dimitri, and that has changed her. The journeys that the characters take as Dimitri returns, as a murder occurs and Rose is framed for it, as Lissa embarks on a challenge that will change her life…they all change. I think Richelle Mead really realizes that her characters are not children anymore and she reflects that so much in these last two books.

I also really enjoyed how she wrapped up these novels. I didn’t expect the things that happened to happen. I know that’s very vague but I don’t want to ruin the story in the slightest for those of you who have never read it. I think she creates all this drama, in the unexpected plot turns, like Rose being framed, and Lissa’s…challenge and I didn’t expect the outcome for any of it. I was gripping my Nook in excitement, staying up until all hours to finish the books. There was so much tension, so much mystery to the end, and it keeps you wondering how on earth it was going to end. I honestly didn’t see it coming at all. I also love all the feelings the books gave me. There was so much heartbreak but also romance, and happy endings too. I had these times of emotions that I could barely handle. There is a part with Dimitri, Rose and a little boy….and that part drove me to tears.

I think that Richelle Mead creates an incredible world, with really well developed characters. Her books have it all: action, romance, politics, coming-of-age-ness (yeah, I just made that up), humor, and so much more. It took me years to read these books because I don’t read vampire novels, but these are so much more than vampire novels. In fact, it wasn’t hard for me to forget that these characters were vampires. Her world is wonderful, and I love Rose and the rest of the characters. Its no wonder that she returned to that world for the Bloodlines series. Its addicting and fun, and I am truly in love with these books.

My Rating:

Spirit Bound: 5 out of 5 Stars

Last Sacrifice: 5 out of 5 Stars

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What A Nerd Girl Says

Nerd Life is Just So Much Better Than Regular Life

Tag: Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy Movie Review

Vampire Academy

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Vampire Academy Week: The Los Angeles World Premiere!

Vampire Academy Week: Mall Tour Meet and Greet and Music Afterparty!

Tuesday Top Ten-Movies to Look Forward to in 2014

10. The Giver

9. Maleficent

8. Love Rosie

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past

6. The Maze Runner

5. The Fault in Our Stars

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

3. Vampire Academy

2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

1. Divergent

Book of the Week-Bloodlines

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

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Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice Book Reviews

Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

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