Back from the wedding and review of Blood Promise by R. Mead

This was a good weekend for me. I went to my mother cousin's wedding who is closer to my age. It was lovely and the bride and the groom were so happy, that you could smell it in the air :) The decorations of the wedding hall were also beautiful and elaborate. I had a very good time...

Last night I finished reading Blood Promise by Richelle Mead. It's the forth book in the Vampire Academy Series and it's in fact YA. But I don't mind it, I like the whole series.
Here goes the blurb:
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?

The first part of the book feels like a recap of events occurred in the first three books. At first I like that, 'cause it made me fall back in to that mood and remember all the stuff I forgot since I've read the other books long time ago. But as the story advanced, this became boring and it slowed down the pace of the story. Things became interesting in the second half of the book. Maybe 'cause I'm European and live relatively near Russia, I found all the comments about Russians and their customs relatively uninteresting. I don't want to ruin the experience for those who haven't read the book, but I found Rosa's stay in Russia and especially with certain family a little bit boring. It felt like it's written just so that enough pages were produced. Also the ending and all the new possibilities with Strigoi's soul were little unreal and like something that was invented just for the Happy Ending's sake.
In spite of all said above, I recommend reading this series (in correct reading order!) and I can't wait for the fifth one Spirit Bound to come in May 2010.
I give this book 3.5 feathers.
For more information about the books and the author please visit http://www.richellemead.com/ - official website or http://blue-succubus.livejournal.com/ which is a very interesting author's blog.

Book details:
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: Razorbill (August 25, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595141987
ISBN-13: 978-1595141989