Review: "Last Sacrifice" by Richelle Mead

From Goodreads:  Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.
Now the law has finally caught up with Rose--for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.
But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back . . . and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

My Thoughts:  This series was awesome and Last Sacrifice is a great finish to the series.  This installment of the Vampire Academy series is action packed and solidifies Rose as one of my favorite female characters.  I am hesitant to say too much because there are a lot of things that can be given away.  Needless to say, we find out who killed the Queen (and what a shocker that was!) and some characters from past books make appearances to help out and/or wreak havoc (some do both).  We also see Rose deal with some really dark issues that result from her dealing with the effects of spirit which was really interesting and I thought the author handled these situations really well.  I also really liked the conversations that Rose had with Dimitri and others about forgiving yourself and others for past misdeeds; it was pretty deep for a YA novel.  I was really mad at Dimitri in the last book because of his unwillingness to deal with his past but he definitely redeemed himself in this book by helping Rose through some pretty rough times. 

I must say if you have not read this book or this series, do not read a synopsis of Mead's book, Bloodlines.  There is a secret revealed in Last Sacrifice and if you read a synopsis of Bloodlines it will be spoiled.  I got really excited about another Vampire Academy series and ruined the big unveiling for myself.  Most of the loose ends are tied up at the end of htis book but there is just enough left open to leave room for the Bloodlines series.  Overall, I was very surprised at how good this series was.  I never planned to read it, let alone love it, but I am so glad I did.  4 1/2 stars.