Shadow Kiss: A Vampire Academy Novel by Richelle Mead

Rose Hathaway hasn't exactly been having a good year. An attempt on her friend Lissa Dragomir's life caused her to flee school and look after her friend on her own for years. But now that they have returned to the bosom of the school, she had to catch up to the other Dhampir Guardians who were now ahead of her in her studied. But all that has passed, and through dint of fierce workouts and one on one training with a Dhampir Guardian named Dimitri Belkov, she is once again at the top of her class.

And Lissa is, too, and has fallen in love with another Moroi vampire named Christian Ozera. The two of them are lovers, and that really upsets Rose. Not because she is losing her friend, but because since Lissa brought Rose back from the dead, they are linked mentally and emotionally, and she can feel it when they make love.

Rose is in love as well, with her mentor, Dimitri. But because their love is forbidden by the school, with Rose being underage as well as because Dimitri is her mentor and they will both be guarding Lissa when she graduates, but their hearts don't exactly care about all the rules they are breaking by being in love.

But the war between the Moroi and the Strigoi is heating up, and when Rose finds out that her and Rose's old opponent Victor Dashkov is coming up for trial at the Moroi Queen's castle, but that she and Rose won't be allowed to testify at the trial, both she and Rose are incensed, and demand to be allowed to tell their side. Rose, though is undergoing difficulties in her test. She's seeing ghosts, and trying to understand their message makes her fail in her first test of guardianship. She is able to avert disaster, but just barely, and the other guardians are now looking at her in a much more unfriendly way. Can she convince them she isn't freaking out?

And ghosts aren't supposed to be able to get into the school, so how can she be seeing the ghost of her classmate Mason, who died at the hands of Strigoi. What is he trying to tell her? And does her seeing him have anything to do with the rash of beatings that the school is undergoing? Which of the Moroi are involved, and what exactly are they after, beating up other members of the school? Can Rose figure it out in time before another Strigoi attack decimates the school, and sends her life careening out of control once again?

With every book in the Vampire Academy series, the risks for Rose and Lissa increase as the threats ramp up, and this volume is no exception. Not only are their threats to their lives and freedom, but to those they love as well. The Vampire Queen has her eye on Lissa and this is both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because the Queen needs Lissa on her side, and so does things to please her. But on the other hand, the Queen also wants to use Lissa in ways that Lissa would not approve of, such as picking Lissa's husband, and Christian Ozera isn't even in the running for that particular post.

Worse, when Rose finds this out, the Queen threatens her not to tell Lissa, and Rose must agree, even though she knows the Queen is going to have a fight on her hands in this matter. She even accuses Rose of being in a relationship with the man that the Queen wishes to marry Lissa to, and won't accept Rose's denials. Worse, Rose can't tell the Queen who she really loves and is in a relationship with because her relationship is forbidden.

The ending to this novel was really a shocker, and I didn't see it coming at all. My heart bled for Rose and how she had to leave everything behind to redeem what she saw as her promise. But before when she left the school, she had Lissa. Now, she doesn't even have that, and I am anxious and afraid to see where all this is going and how and if she will ever repair her relationship with Lissa during or at the end of the next novel. Reading it will be like ripping out my own heart, but I can't wait anyway.