Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Author: Richelle Mead
 Published: Razorbill

Page Count: 418 pages, Hardcover

Date Published: June 12th 2012 

Find it on Goodreads: The Golden Lily

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.

My Thoughts: ASIJBADLKGNOISBJOFNOG!!!! Words cannot even describe my feelings for Richelle Mead's books about the Moroi and Strigoi.

You may or may not know that I originally had a page on this blog dedicated to a countdown to this book. To say I was excited for this book is an understatement. Richelle Mead's writing has a way of drawing you in and keeping you immersed in her world. It's extremely hard to resurface from the story until you're done.

First of all, I'll start with the characters. I know the big question with the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines books is Team Dimitri or Team Adrian. Well, in my opinion, Dimitri will always be for Rose and Adrian has to be with Sydney. I love Adrian a a character. He's funny and charming and an all around likeable guy. Then there's Sydney, whom I adore. I relate with her so much more than I did Rose, so reading these books are extremely enjoyable. The rest of the characters are all amazing as well. I adore Eddie. He is a character filled with emotion and he's extremely complex. Then there's Jill who is very loveable. That's really the only word you can use to describe her. And then DIMITRI! We actually don't see a lot of him in this book, but boy, what we do see of him had me longing for more. He's still that protective western-loving Dimitri that we fans of VA know and love.

The story in this book was, of course, really well done. Richelle Mead has such a great imagination. There's a huge new twist that will definitely change a lot in the upcoming books. I've always loved books set in boarding schools, so I'm so glad that Richelle has continued that aspect in this series. TGL is no different. It is also really nice that Sydney is able to drive around town so that we are not stuck on campus the whole story. One of the reasons that I love Richelle Mead's stories is that she always plans everything out so well and everything fits. There's never loose ends hanging that you know won't be resolved in later books, unless they absolutely need to be left unsolved. I'm excited to see more of what Sydney can do with the magic her teacher is forcing her to learn, as well as what will happen between Eddie, Angeline and Jill. Plus, of course I'm so anxious to see if Sydney and Adrian will end up together or not! PLEASE RICHELLE MEAD!

If you have not yet read the Vampire Academy books, go do that now. They are incredible and now this follow up series is just as amazing. I know some people may be reluctant to read them because of the vampire aspect, but it's so much more than that. VA is one of my top ten series I've ever read. So then if you read VA, you can read Bloodlines!!! I'm so so so excited to read The Indigo Spell now! I, once again, threw the book on the ground when I finished it because I really don't want to wait another year... But I know it will be worth the wait!

Happy reading everyone!
-Kristy