Review: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead

Title: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) 
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher:  Razorbill
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Pages: 503, Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 4.42 stars
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same. 

The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved? 

Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

MY TAKE

I really enjoyed this book. The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars were because of a few flaws.

First off, I felt like there were too many flashbacks to Rose and Dimitri's past. It felt a bit like Mead felt like she didn't give us enough of their relationship in the first three books, so she decided to backtrack and add in more detail. Some of these flashbacks were fine, but I didn't feel that they were all necessary and they certainly didn't propel the story forward. I also felt like the idea of the Alchemists was something that Mead just came up with and threw in - I didn't buy into the explanation about why Rose would not have heard of them before. Finally, I was sometimes confused about timing when Rose was seeing the world through Lissa's eyes. It didn't seem like time was consistent. While Rose said many days had gone by for her, it seemed like Lissa was still on the same weekend back in Montana, which didn't make much sense. It wasn't consistent at all.

Still, even though there were some flaws, I still enjoyed reading Blood Promise. While the first half of the story didn't have a lot of action, I appreciated seeing a new side of Rose as she explored her feelings for Dimitri's family and evaluated her life decisions. And the second half of the book was very intense. There were quite a few twists and turns in this book, some that I saw coming, but some that took me by surprise. I am definitely ready to continue this series!  4/5 Stars