#va reread

[retiredficwriter]

oh to be a fly on the wall whenever hathazur is together

[yikuaidanggao]

Me and my friend in our twenties reading VA and BL:

[gravedangerahead]

VA reread chapters 1 and 2

We just started doing a virtual book club, and here are a few thoughts:

I completely forgot that animals don't like dhampirs

I guess it's too early to dive into the taboo of feeding for dhampirs, but there's already that moment of Rose struggling against the fact that she feels anticipation before Lissa bites her, a sign of her addiction or just just of the guilt she feels for finding it pleasurable

It's nice that Rose and Lissa were going to school, what responsible little teen runaways

Rose feeds Lissa, then Lissa goes and gets her some food, I think it's a nice little moment of them taking care of each other

I keep switching to imagining the movie actors as I read, that's so annoying

Rose is really brave, and Lissa has so much faith in her

I still love this line, great establishing character moment:

Lissa and I had been best friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway was beyond cruel, and we'd - or rather, I'd - responded appropriately. I'd chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn't known what those words meant, but I'd known how to hit a moving target.

Kirova claims that Rose broke the sacred vow of a guardian, and that it was this teenager's duty to protect Lissa and keep her from doing something reckless, and then, basically one paragraph later, when it's no longer convenient, Rose is not a guardian at all, merely a novice

Also, Strigoi do also hunt Dhampirs, but apparently the academy has no obligation to keep Rose safe, only Lissa. She straight up calls Rose expendable

I'm gonna get a dhampir rights campaign going during this reread

I did NOT remember that Janine was Scottish, with an accent and everything

For Rose to stay, they make the argument that guardian numbers are low, specially girls. Rose says that few dhampir girls became guardians anymore, so is that a recent trend? Did there use to be more gender parity in like the 50's?

Rose worries about being shipped off to become a blood whore if she's expelled, and though she was probably being dramatic, there's absolutely no reason why the two career paths for dhampirs should be either sex work or bodyguarding! They don't have anything that would particularly stand out among humans. And also, they'd better not do that to a 17 year old.

I'm preparing my Dhampirs are an exploited under class banner

I actually wrote out all of this as I read and didn't say a word about Dimitri. Though I also really liked the friendship between Lissa and Rose, romitri was the thing I was most obsessed with when I read as a kid, and now I'm kind of uncomfortable with it.

I guess what I have to say about him is that he is very observant lol

I probably remember the first book way better than the rest, since I reread it before the movie came out. After that I only reread Bloodlines.

[pearl-stonecutter]

Dimitri: *stroking Rose’s hair* You’re so tiny and adorable

Rose: *half asleep* I could literally kick your ass right now.

Dimitri: *looking at her with heart eyes* I know

[skelelovely]

[retiredficwriter]

rose: i can’t believe adrian is flirting with lissa when he knows she has a boyfriend! how dare he!

adrian to lissa:

[retiredficwriter]

blood promise (2009) by richelle mead

[retiredficwriter]

this is what rose saw through the peephole when adrian visited her in las vegas: