2024 (4 stars): Rereading this exactly 10 years later is wild. I loved this series as a teen and I still really enjoyed it now. It's a fun YA urban fantasy book with high school drama alongside vampire drama with a slight sapphic vibe. Compared to other 2000s YA I've reread this one surprisingly held up and I didn't find many problematic things besides the dating-your-teacher trope with a 10 year age gap between the underage MC and her instructor 💀.  The plot is fun and well written and the characters are also pretty alright.
The plot follows Rose a dhampir girl, a half vampire/half human that guards the good 'Moroi' (sorta like vegan Cullens) vampires from the evil 'Strigoi' vampires (sorta like red-eyed Volturi vampires). She shares a special bond with Lissa, the Moroi vampire that Rose unofficially guards. They both attend a vampire school in the middle of nowhere Montana 😂. Lissa has a special power unlike other Vampires, she's able to heal and use compulsion, but as she uses it it harms her mental state and makes her extremely depressed. After running away for a year Lissa and Rose are captured and returned to school and now need to blend back into the cliques while also dealing with a series of mysterious dead animal threats directed at Lissa. 

2014 (5 stars): such a good book! im excited to read the rest of the series and see the movie.  I like how Rose's character isnt a helpless little girl and neither is Lissa's they both stand up for eachother and get stuff done, yes they are not invincible they have fatal flaws but they work hard and can protect themselves to an extent.  The plot twist at the end was really exciting but i thought they should have left natalie alive so that they could have another antagonist and it was sad to see her go.  i really love the bond between lissa and rose which is sisterly and really nice. i just love this book.