Review of Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Title/Author: Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Mead
Publisher/Date published: Razorbill, 2008
How I got this book: own it

Goodreads summary: Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose...

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians — including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks... This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price...

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES***

So recently some of my Twitter buddies have been RAVING about Vampire Academy and convinced me to get my act together and continue with the series, and I still can't figure out why I hadn't sooner, because I loved the first boook! And *sigh* Dimitri! Seriously, as if I needed another reason than that man to pick up Frostbite.

And just because I remembered totally swooning at the ending of Vampire Academy and wanting to refresh my memory, I reread the last couple of chapters. They were as good as I remembered.

I love that because of all the worldbuilding having been established in the first book, Frostbite could focus more on expanding on that and just getting to know the characters better and just being full of good stuff.
Rose is my girl. She might not make all the right decisions, but seriously, I'm not gonna pretend I made all the right decisions when it came to guys when I was 16. There's some stuff you have to learn by making those mistakes and well, I liked that Rose realised it and wanted to make it right.
And I still find myself smiling everytime she kicks someone's butt. This girl has got bravery down and I love her loyalty to her friends and sense of responsibility.

And Dimitri... I wanted to strangle him and hug him and just *sigh*. That guy is just swoonworthy. He's wormed his way into my heart and he's just ONE OF THE BEST GUYS IN YA! There, I said it. He's just as hard on Rose as he is on himself, but he's fair and a decent guy.

I also kinda loved meeting Adrian, despite his intoxicated state most of the time, he seems like an okay guy and because I've seen people tweet while reading this series, I'm wondering to see what his influence will be and what I'll think of him later on.

As to the big event towards the end of Frostbite, pretty much all I have to say is: YOU DUMBASSES! Seriously? Can you say suicide mission? So I get that they want to do something, but REALLY? This seemed like the best idea? REALLY??

***SPOILER, LIGHT UP TO READ
I am pretty sad that Mason died though... Poor guy... I really liked him... Mead better not start murdering off all my favourite characters!
END OF SPOILER***

So yeah, I'm kinda obsessed with this world and if I hadn't been swimming in review books I would just read all the books back to back most likely. The moments between Dimitri and Rose made me cry, but basically I'm in love with all the relationships in the book, not in the least the one between Rose and Lissa. I could really relate to Rose's pain when she couldn't share as much with Lissa anymore because of Lissa spending a lot of time with Christian.

I just love this series and I'm itching to continue their story with Shadow Kiss!

My rating: 5 stars