The fact that two young women decide to run away from their exclusive boarding school might not be extraordinary under usual circumstances, but Lissa and Rose are not your average school girls. Lissa is a vampire princess and Rose is her dhampir guardian. When Lissa begins exhibiting powers that have seldom been seen among the good vampires since the time of a vampire saint, and it seems that someone is trying to drive her insane or hurt her, Rose feels that it is her duty to get the princess out of St. Vladmir's.

Unfortunately, the adults in charge do not agree and bring them back to school where Rose is placed on under intense probation and finds herself training harder than ever for her role in life. The problems she sought to escape are still there, and might even have multiplied. Who is trustworthy is doubtful and the one person besides Lissa that Rose is sure will never betray her is a man she loves but is off limits.

Older teens and adults who want a tamer, but still intense novel will want to add this to their TBR list. Ms. Mead has completely re-envisioned vampire society, making it far more complex than most other authors do, which adds to the fascination. Rose is a very strong heroine, though she has a softer side it takes a while to discover. Her bad girl image does lead to some scenes that younger readers might not be ready for, or that their parents might not be ready for them to read, rather. The only real handicap in this story was the multiple flashbacks that sometimes made it unclear as to when an event was taking place in the timeline.