Frostbite by Richelle Mead

#2 in Vampire Academy Series
Published in 2008 by Razorbill
4 Stars

Goodreads Review

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…

Review:  Frostbite is the thrilling continuation of the Vampire Academy series.  There is even more action, mystery, and suspense in the second installment of this exciting series.  Rose our heroine is still as engaging as ever, ensuring the reader will not be missing the atmosphere so wonderfully set up in the first novel.

Frostbite shows a lot of growth for our characters, especially Rose.  This is the first time she experiences true loss and she comes to terms with the full responsibility of being a guardian and that people could die if she doesn't take her role seriously.  She also grows a lot with her relationship with Dimitri and with love in general.   There's still tons of the sexual tension we loved so much in the first book, but now their relationship has reached a new level.  There's an understanding that if you love someone you need to be willing to let them go so they have can happiness.  Rose stops being so self centered and learns how to put others before herself.


I really enjoyed the action sequences in this book.  There are some great training sessions with Rose and Dimitri and Rose and her mom Janine.  The ending is way more exciting than Vampire Academy.  I found myself staying up late into the night because I had to know how it ended!


The only negative is this book takes a while to develop and is very slow at the beginning.  There are some side stories that I don't think are very important to the book nor to the series story arc.  I also think this book felt like a transition book.  Frostbite read a bit like it was just all of the information you needed before you could get to the real story in the next book.  However, it was still very entertaining and a great continuation of the series.


Overall Frostbite is an exciting second book in the Vampire Academy series that introduces new characters, information, and dangerous situations.  Fans of the first book will not be disappointed!