This is Book 1 of Vampire Academy and with the same title.

Summary from the Author’s Website: Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires–the ones who never die.

The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a Dhampir; she is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.

After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking hearts.

Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir’s–but their world is fraught with danger both inside and out of the Academy’s iron gates. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals and their secretive nature and love of the night creates an enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever…

The story’s quite good – but it’s more like paranormal-action-chicklit because it didn’t dwell as much as it should on the romance between Rose and Dimitri. His name isn’t even mentioned in the summary so that’s quite telling. She could be following the footsteps of Sherrilyn Kenyon or the Anita Blake series of Hamilton. Or maybe Aisling Gray?

Mead was great in creating a new and enthralling vampire setting. Her female lead is fun, too, and the male lead is absolutely adorable.

Rating: 8.5 / 10