The best book in the series. I thought the murders were creative and the characters engaging.

A thinly veiled criticism of consumer culture dressed up as a period piece. The prose is good, but the preachiness overrides the book's assets.

This was beyond disappointing. All of the sacrifices Bella made in the previous books, all of the 'rules' that Meyer had set up about her world were completely thrown away. No one suffered, no one lost anything. Everyone got their happy ending and there was no cost. I'm all for a happy ending but you need to earn it. This was a clumsy, haphazard Deus Ex Machina.

This book is so impeccably well-written and touching. It lets us look at a family in mourning and watch how they grow and grieve and eventually live again. I love how they aren't perfect; how they mess up badly. It just makes them all the more tangible.

Another fascinating historical novel from Philippa. I admit to knowing nothing about this period in history, so it was a bit daunting, especially when so many of the characters had similar names. I love how she gives the reader the 'unseen' woman's perspective; a voice so often silenced in the history books.

I really enjoyed the world-building in this book; I'm a sucker for supernatural lore that's ancient and flirts with historical facts/people. Vampires as shifters - also a really interesting concept, since - more often than not - shifters and vampires don't get along.

There was a bit more romance/cheesy lovemaking than I'd prefer, but it is the genre and I suspect that I'm among the few who feel that way.

I enjoyed this short piece by one of my favourite authors. I was terribly sad to discover that the Hives referenced on the cover referred to bee hives and not vampire hives.

I was really disappointed in this adaptation. Vampire Academy is one of my favourite series and the graphic novel was choppy with plotlines and characters. The transitions weren't smooth. If the reader wasn't familiar with the original book, they'd be completely lost.