Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily 
(Bloodlines #2)
by Richelle Mead

Release Date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 418
Genre: YA Vampires
Source: Gifted from Jen Ryland/YA Romantics
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
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Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist. But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age-old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her. When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she’s supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she’s been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her. Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?

ADD TO GOODREADS

Thank you again to Jen Ryland/YA Romantics for sending me Adrian for my birthday. She has listened to me ramble on about how much I love Adrian and how I would lick the ground he walks on and how I would throw myself at his feet, naked covered with alcohol and cigarettes and beg him to have his way with me. lol So she sent my husband to his rightful place :-D


Adrian, my poor, sweet, sexy Adrian, he goes through a lot in this book. Working with Dimitri continues to bring up how inferior he feels. Dimitri was rather rude to him a few times but then again I am very protective of my Adrian. Also a visit with his dad reminds us how much Adrian has been put down all his life. They will sure be sorry when Adrian cures all the Stroigoi, saves Moroi kind, and becomes a big hero and they build statues of him. Adrian is very smart, caring, loyal and talented and just needs someone to believe in him. And Sydney does. She continues to support him and I felt them grow so much closer but we still have a very long journey ahead.

I am not a big fan of Sydney but she did grow on me a tiny bit in this one. Trey sets her up with Brayden, her twin basically. Sydney tries to have fun with him since he is on her level intellectually but she finds herself worrying about someone else... I felt Sydney finally letting down her guard with the vampires and she really worried and cared about my Adrian, so big bonus points! As much as I am growing to like her, I was still disappointed with some of her actions. She does have a lot of lifelong prejudices to overcome. The alchemists are scary, bad people, and we see in this book what happens when someone is too friendly with the vampires. Sydney will need a lot of strength to break away from them like I hope she will eventually.

It didn't help that Jill was discussing her own troubled love life with her. Jill was a bit annoying to me in Bloodlines and while she is still naive, I found that she was maturing. She wants to date and thinks that maybe she can have something casual with Micah. She quickly realizes how difficult keeping secrets can be and that being with a human could never be a permanent thing. Jill begins to take her position as sister to the queen seriously and a human/moroi relationship is simply not allowed. I do feel really bad for Jill and the position she is in.

Eddie is still her loyal protector. I love Eddie and also felt a lot of growth with his character. I was very happy with all the character developments. In Bloodlines I really didn't enjoy anyone but Adrian and of course he is still the absolute best part, star of the show, wouldn't be anything without him, but I enjoyed everyone during this book. Eddie is so kind even when trying to keep the new frisky Angeline off his back. She likes to rub up on him during training and well who wouldn't. Angeline was so funny. She was completely out there and did whatever she wanted, causing a lot of trouble for Sydney.

I just want to go on and on, especially about Adrian, but I must stop myself. I've probably said too much already! I'm very happy it was the next level of action, romance, character development and Adrian awesomeness that I was hoping for. Adrian continues to swoon an amaze me. I shall head back to my Adrian altar and continuing worshiping until the next book. Feel free to join me. Can't wait to see what happens next.




Now enjoy some Adrian quotes! No major spoilers but feel free to skip them. I went a little crazy. My book has a million sticky notes lol




Day 24. Situation is growing worse. My captors continue to find new and horrific ways to torture me. When not working, Agent Scarlet spends her days examining fabric swatches for bridesmaid dresses and going on about how in love she is. This usually causes Agent Boring Borscht to regale us with stories of Russian weddings that are even more boring than his usual ones. My attempts at escape have been thwarted thus far. Also, I am out of cigarettes. Any assistance or tobacco products you can send will be greatly appreciated.
-Prisoner 24601

"Really, Sage? A date?"
I sighed. "Yes, Adrian. A date."
"A real date. Not, like, doing homework together," he added. "I mean like where you go out to a movie or something. And a movie that's not part of a school assignment. Or about something boring."
"A real date."

I'd mentioned this odd wardrobe choice to Adrian a couple of weeks ago:
"Isn't Dimitri hot?"
Adrian's response hadn't been entirely unexpected:
"Well, yeah, according to most women, at least."

"I'm not really qualified to install a security system," said Dimitri.
"Really? There's something that you can't do?" Adrian's voice was so soft that I could barely hear him, and he was sitting right next to me.

""You'd give up drinking to go see your dad?"
"Well, not permanently," he said. "That'd be ridiculous. But maybe I could switch to something slightly cheaper for a while. Like...slushes. Do you know how much I love those? Cherry, especially."

"I don't know," said Adrian thoughtfully. "I find prostitutes vastly important."

Adrian ordered a martini, earning disapproving looks from his father and me.
"It's barely noon," said Nathan.
"I know," said Adrian. "I'm surprised I held out that long too."

 "Never thought I'd see the day when you'd throw your arms around a vam - someone like me."

"Doesn't matter. I've decided I don't like him."
"Because he's too smart?" I said. I remember Jill and Eddie's early comments. "And unmemorable?"
"Nah. I just think you can do better."

"He shouldn't have said that," repeated Adrian, eerily serious. He leaned his face toward mine. "I don't care if he's not the emotional type or the complimentary type or what. No one can look at you in this dress, in all that fire and gold, and start talking about anachronisms. If I were him, I would have said, 'You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth.'"

"You're in an awfully good mood," he observed. "Was there a sale at Khakis-R-Us?"

"Why would you do that? Why would you act like you didn't know how to drive?"
"Isn't it obvious, Sage? No, of course it isn't. I did it so I'd have a reason to be around you-one I knew you couldn't refuse."

Rating: 5/5 Stars! 

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