MUMBAI: Today, we kick off a 10-part series on the books that are being adapted into Hollywood movies in the Year 2014. Here's the first one from the lot...

Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

Higher Learning, Higher Stakes!

It’s time the Salvatore brothers took a backseat, for the students of St. Vladimir’s Academy are taking center stage in the upcoming big screen adaptation of the bestselling Vampire Academy series. The first book revolves around 17-year-old, Rosemarie “Rose” Hathaway, a half-human, half vampire Dhampir and her Romanian Moroi vampire best friend, Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, who return to St. Vladimir’s Academy after being on the run for two years.

The characters are smart, simple and very funny. The story has the right amount of blood, action and Gossip Girl-ing to make the book unputdownable. It has stark amount of detail and research the author has done about the Romanian vampires while still maintaining the snarky and sarcastic gift of gab.

The book received positive reviews throughout most of the literary review mediums, with a Goodreads average of 4.20/5, based on 2,15,253 ratings. In June 2010, Michael Preger’s Preger Entertainment optioned the film rights to the Vampire Academy series.

Australian actress Lucy Fry (H2O: Just Add Water) plays the royal Moroi Lissa and Zoey Deutch (Beautiful Creatures, Ringer) plays her Dhampir guardian-in-training Rose, who soon starts to develop strong feelings for her Dhampir mentor Dimitri Belikov played by Danila Kozlovsky, in his first mainstream English film. The two best friends begin to realise that the threat of the Strigoi (bloodthirsty, undead vampires) is bigger than ever. The film is directed by Mark Waters, director of the hit Lindsay Lohan teen romedy, Mean Girls.

Deepak Nayar, Owner & Producer, Kintop Pictures, one of the leading producers of the film said  adapting bestselling young adult (YA) series into film franchises is not new, citing the example of Harry Potter. “Already having an existing audience, we expect the $10 million in book sales alone to turn into $100 million in ticket sales. We’ve made this film expecting a certain degree of longevity and success once made into a franchise.”

Vampire Academy stakes Indian theatres Valentine's Day, 14 February.

(Watch out for the next one to add to your booklist…!)