April's review of 'The Golden Lily' bye Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead
Publication Date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Number of Pages: 418
Format: Hardback
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Description:  The second thrilling installment in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy spinoff series

Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students--children of the wealthy and powerful--carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead's breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher.

I absolutely loved Bloodlines. But with this one, I didn't have the same feeling. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. Put it wasn't one of those were I finished in a day because I couldn't put it down. I also feel like the only one that didn't automatically start shipping Adrian and Sydney before the first book came out. I do ship them, and ended up falling in love with them by the end of the book. What he said at the end on how he feels about her is exactly how he should feel, and what Rose at told him he should feel at the end of Last Sacrifice in the Vampire Academy series. I couldn't help but laugh on how clueless Sydney is though. Especially when Jill started acting like she develop a girl crush on Sydney, and she knows that sometimes Adrian's feelings comes on too strongly through the bond. 

I did enjoy seeing Sydney and Brayden together. I think he's exactly what she needed for her first boyfriend. Even though after the dance I started to like him less. At one point I did get a bad feeling about him and thought he was some kind of evil after her.

I wish there were more interaction with Dimitri and Adrian. I wanted some witty banter between them. And I'm hoping soon we'll able to see Sydney interact with Rose again. I loved that Sydney's eating habits reasons were pretty much confirmed, and hope to see that she sees beyond that. There's some twists throughout the book that give you the wow factor. Overall the book is an awesome read. 

Rating: 4/5