Blood Promise (Book 4, Vampire Academy Series)

Summary:

"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?"

I was really looking forward to Blood Promise because of how Shadow Kissed ended. So, I was a little surprised with how it began, very slow and there is this build up to the moment Rose finds Dimitri. There was a point where I was wondering what the earlier half of this book had to do with the story, but as you go on it very essential to the WHOLE plot line and to get you back into how you feel about Dimitri and Roses relationship.

Once Rose and Dimitri encounter each other I was VERY taken aback, cause 1) I was hoping Dimitri was not actual a Strigoi and 2) I was not happy with how Rose handled.  It gave me the same emotions that I had with the 1st half of Breaking Dawn. (if you have read the Twilight Series, than most you will get this) However, the build up to the ending was very perfect and as usual Richelle Mead is basically the devil playing a tiny violin with your heart strings!

You don't see much of the regular characters in this book, However due to Rose and Lissa's bond, we do get a pretty fluid sub plot on their end as well and I think that it was genius of Mead to tell their story that way.