May 3, 2012

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead



Publisher's Summary: 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.
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My Take: I totally LOVED this book! I know I’ve said this before, but I can honestly say, once again, that I love the second a whole lot better than the first. I’ve noticed this as a trend with Richelle Mead’s books. The first sets the tone for the series, and then each book tends to get better and better.

In The Golden Lily, Sydney (the protagonist) finally starts to think for herself and to think about what she wants. Before The Golden Lily, Sydney was always extremely paranoid, constantly worrying about what the alchemist leaders might think of her, always trying hard to do everything “right” and “by the book.” She still does, in a way, but now she's trying to live a little bit of a normal life. Only, her “normal life” keeps getting interrupted by issues with the vampires she’s supposed to keep under the radar, and I particularly found that to be quite funny.

Richelle Mead introduces a new character named Brayden. He’s the perfect match for Sydney, and when I say “perfect match,” it’s because he’s just like Sydney…to-a-tee! Do I like this new Brayden? Sure, but in my opinion, he is a little TOO much like Sydney. Brayden’s an even better Sydney than Sydney is! Yeah, I know that doesn’t make sense, but it does to me. Hehehe!

Now I totally have to talk about what I love most about this series! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian!!! I am quite the Adrian fan! I fell for Adrian hardcore in the Vampire Academy series! And now The Golden Lily has me seriously swooning over Adrian! I love you Adrian! He’s such a hottie!

The ending to The Golden Lily was utterly brilliant! A lot of craziness happens in the last few chapters, and the last chapter is breathtaking!!! But the very last page sucked…hardcore! Why oh why do I have to wait another whole year for book #3?

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10 comments:

Mariya said...

Aw, man! I'm sooooo jealous you've read this already! I can't wait for some more Adiran! ;))

Anonymous said...

Your excitement for the book is really contagious ! :)
It's really great that Sydney begins to think for herself in this book. I can't wait for more Adrian!
Awesome review, Mindy :)

Wordsmith Publicity said...

I can't wait to read this book!!!!!! Great review!

Kristina said...

I do need to start reading this series, so behind!

Jessica @ a GREAT read said...

Oh man! Now you have me wanting to and not wanting to read this! Ha ha!! Kind of glad I didn't manage to get an ARC at RT now. I am super excited for this one, but I hate cliffhangers and having to wait a whole year for the next one! Still gonna buy it and read it at some point! So behind on so many books!!

Lovely review!!

Elodie said...

OMG I'm so jealosu you got to read this one early : that's probably THE book I want to read the most right now !! The ending of Bloodlines was crazy with the arrival of one of my favourite characters !! I can't wait to know what happens in Golden Lily !! I'm glad you lved this one Mindy and I really can't wait to be in June to read this book!!!

J.R. (Romancing The Book & Bookish After Dark) said...

I REALLY need to get started reading this series! I've got the first book just waiting for me to read it but I'm soooo behind on reading the books I want to read for fun. :(

Unknown said...

I want to know what happened when Adrian saw Dimitri. Seriously. I've always liked Adrian, but I thought he was so mopey in Bloodlines. I know he had reason, and I'm glad he finally snapped out of it. And,,,,I'm not the biggest Sydney fan either. I hated how she complained b/c she was a size four. Gasp!! But, I have faith that I will eventually love the series. Eddie is my fav.
Thanks for the spoiler-free review!

Traci @ The Reading Geek said...

Yes love this review! It has made me even more excited for this book now. I loved Bloodlines and can't wait for The Golden Lily. I like that Sydney is doing more for herself now. I am also so ready for some more Adrian! Brayden sounds really interesting as well. Great review!

Traci @ The Reading Geek

Jaime said...

I didn't read your review because I am reading this book right now, unfortunately the last couple of weeks I haven't read as much I'd like but I'm hoping to finish TGL this week! As soon as I finish and write my review I will come back to check yours out again. :D
-Patricia

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