One of the teachers I work with (yes, you Amanda K.) has been bugging the crap out of me to read the Vampire Academy series, so after finishing the Sookie Stackhouse novels and Evernight (I’m on a vampire kick, apparantly), I started this series.

Summary from Richelle Mead’s website:

Two races of vampires walk our world. The Moroi are alive and wield elemental magical, while the Strigoi are undead and evil–feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway–a half-vampire with poor impulse control–is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose’s real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors…

I really liked the first one and it drew me in (I’ve actually finished the second one already and started the third).  The reason I liked it so well was that it focuses on the growth of Rose and you can really see her change and mature as the book progresses.  It also focuses on the relationships of the students, but not so much that it reads like a romance novel.  It definitely has the right amount of sexual tension that makes a great read, though.  I did notice at least two glaring typos, which drove me nuts, but that is more of a reflection on the copy editors and not the author. 

In my non-professional opinion, I would definitely suggest this series.  It’s one of those that I can’t wait to get home and keep reading to see what happens.

Vampire Academy gets:

4/5 Cupcakes (because I love me some cupcakes)