Title: The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2)
Author: Richelle Mead
Release date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 417
Source: Bookstore
Reading level: YA
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.
The Golden Lily, the second book in the Bloodlines series, definitely stepped things up a notch. Richelle Mead knows how to hook readers and that is the case with The Golden Lily. While Bloodlines left me wanting more (not in a good way), The Golden Lily left me wanting more in the best way possible.
The characters in this series are still not quite as awesome as the characters in Vampire Academy. From the very start of the VA series I loved the characters and really connected with them. That hasn’t been the case with the Bloodlines characters. Sydney starts to loosen up a bit in The Golden Lily but not nearly enough for me to really like her. She’s a bit too rigid and set in her ways. Adrian, on the other hand, I definitely love. He’s so funny and outgoing and bold and just plain awesome. I can certainly understand why readers love him so much. Jill is a sweetheart but she doesn’t have much else going for her. I think there’s just not enough about her for me to really connect with her. Same with Eddie although I do feel like readers get to know him more than Jill. As for Angeline, holy crap. That girl is crazy. Her antics cracked me up but I don’t actually care much for her. I’m hoping I connect more with the characters in the following books.
The story takes a bit of time to take off. For the first half of the book I just wasn’t really invested in the story and I wasn’t really all that interested. I wanted more to happen and I just kept having to wait. Also, I felt like I ended up with more questions than I started and none of my previous questions were answered. I know it’s still early in this series but at this point my questions are just starting to pile up. I’m hoping for some answers sometime soon.
Overall, The Golden Lily was a bit better than Bloodlines but my expectations for this series have still not been met. I hope things take off in The Indigo Spell.
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Series:
Bloodlines (#1)
The Golden Lily (#2)
The Indigo Spell (#3) – February 12, 2013
The Fiery Heart (#4) – 2013
Untitled (#5) – 2014
Untitled (#6) – 2015
Other reviews for this author:
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Frostbite (#2) by Richelle Mead
Shadow Kiss (#3) by Richelle Mead
Blood Promise (#4) by Richelle Mead
Spirit Bound (#5) by Richelle Mead
Last Sacrifice (#6) by Richelle Mead
Shame you dont like Sydney, I actually prefer her to rose, I think because I relate to her more! Totally with you on Adrian though, love that boy so much. Plot wise these just dont live up to VA for me either, but I do have high hopes fornThe Indigo Spell which I absolutely cannot wait to get!
cait x
Good review. I so want to start this series argggghhhh
I actually love the characters in this series, maybe even more than her first series.
I really care about all of them and root for them and totally connected with them.
Lovely review 🙂