The Golden Lily
by Richelle Mead
Published by: Razorbill/Penguin Group
on June 14, 2012
Source: bought from bookstore
Quick spoiler-free Bloodlines recap:
Alchemist Sydney Sage has been under suspicion since she aided fugitive Rose Hathaway in the Vampire Academy series. In Bloodlines, Sydney is sent to Palm Springs to protect Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the only living relative of the reigning vampire queen. So Jill and Sydney enroll as students at the exclusive Amberwood school. This assignment offers Sydney a second chance to prove her loyalty to the Alchemists. Syd needs to do her job as a bridge between the vampire world and the human one, while staying true to Alchemist principles, which consider magic immoral and vampires unnatural and dangerous. Still, Sydney can't help but become a little attached to Jill and her undead entourage, like eccentric reclusive Clarence and rakish bad boy Adrian.When Moroi girls start turning up dead in L.A., Sydney knows she needs to get to the bottom of what's happening.
Spoiler-free summary of Golden Lily: With the culprit from Bloodlines brought to justice, Sydney is looking forward to a normal life at Amberwood: going to class and working as a research assistant for eccentric Ms. Terwilliger. A Dhampir team has arrived in town to research the process by which vampires who have been turned Strigoi can be turned back by the use of spirit. The team need Sydney's help, but she's reluctant to provide it. After having to face down a murderer in Bloodlines, Sydney is also concerned with learning to protect herself. To further complicate matters, she's met the perfect guy. Brayden is smart and serious. So why does Sydney find herself drawn to someone else, someone completely wrong for her? Sydney also begins to suspect that there's a new group targeting vampires. When someone close to Sydney is abducted, she'll have to decide if she's willing to betray Alchemist principles to save a life.
My thoughts: I know that some readers find Sydney dull in comparison to Rose. Not me! I love Sydney. She's so responsible and serious, but underneath it all you just know there's a wild girl waiting to come out!
In Bloodlines, Sydney started out wary of vampires, then grew to know them as individuals and began to change her mind. In Golden Lily, she's getting more comfortable with the whole vampire lifestyle, but she's still struggling with the ethics of magic. She knows that magic saved her in Bloodlines, but her Alchemist upbringing is causing her a lot of internal conflict in this regard. Good stuff!
Adrian. AdrianAdrianAdrian. Were you waiting for me to say that?
Yes, he's in this book and just as hilarious and heartbreaking as ever. In The Golden Lily, I learned a little more about what makes him so tortured and brooding. He tries to straighten himself out, but don't worry! He's not going to go all straight-laced anytime soon!
That's all I'm going to say. I don't want to spoil anything!!! The book is great and Sydney does some stuff that might surprise even you Sydney-doubters!
Okay, now let's play a game. I'm going to give you six quotes, and you are going to tell me which were said by Adrian in the Golden Lily, and which were made up by me. Give me your best guess in comments!
A: "I've been known to roll the dice now and then."
B: "Sage, your new boyfriend is so excruciatingly polite that I'm certain he's a serial killer."
C: "Slushes. Do you know how much I love those? Cherry, especially."
D: "Believe it or not, I do think some women should keep their clothes on."
E: "I find prostitutes vastly important."
F: "I absolutely deny requesting a pirate tattoo. Because I already have one."
And now, I will tell you about one of my favorite bloggers: Jennifer M. of Some Like It Paranormal. She was one of my very first blog followers and she has been a wonderful follower and friend. She must never sleep, because she always leaves me these long, loopy blog comments in the middle of the night her time. She just had a birthday and I sent her my copy of Golden Lily because she loves Adrian Ivashkov more than anyone I know. Hopefully, she'll get it today!
Happy birthday, Jen!
by Richelle Mead
Published by: Razorbill/Penguin Group
on June 14, 2012
Source: bought from bookstore
Quick spoiler-free Bloodlines recap:
Alchemist Sydney Sage has been under suspicion since she aided fugitive Rose Hathaway in the Vampire Academy series. In Bloodlines, Sydney is sent to Palm Springs to protect Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the only living relative of the reigning vampire queen. So Jill and Sydney enroll as students at the exclusive Amberwood school. This assignment offers Sydney a second chance to prove her loyalty to the Alchemists. Syd needs to do her job as a bridge between the vampire world and the human one, while staying true to Alchemist principles, which consider magic immoral and vampires unnatural and dangerous. Still, Sydney can't help but become a little attached to Jill and her undead entourage, like eccentric reclusive Clarence and rakish bad boy Adrian.When Moroi girls start turning up dead in L.A., Sydney knows she needs to get to the bottom of what's happening.
Spoiler-free summary of Golden Lily: With the culprit from Bloodlines brought to justice, Sydney is looking forward to a normal life at Amberwood: going to class and working as a research assistant for eccentric Ms. Terwilliger. A Dhampir team has arrived in town to research the process by which vampires who have been turned Strigoi can be turned back by the use of spirit. The team need Sydney's help, but she's reluctant to provide it. After having to face down a murderer in Bloodlines, Sydney is also concerned with learning to protect herself. To further complicate matters, she's met the perfect guy. Brayden is smart and serious. So why does Sydney find herself drawn to someone else, someone completely wrong for her? Sydney also begins to suspect that there's a new group targeting vampires. When someone close to Sydney is abducted, she'll have to decide if she's willing to betray Alchemist principles to save a life.
My thoughts: I know that some readers find Sydney dull in comparison to Rose. Not me! I love Sydney. She's so responsible and serious, but underneath it all you just know there's a wild girl waiting to come out!
In Bloodlines, Sydney started out wary of vampires, then grew to know them as individuals and began to change her mind. In Golden Lily, she's getting more comfortable with the whole vampire lifestyle, but she's still struggling with the ethics of magic. She knows that magic saved her in Bloodlines, but her Alchemist upbringing is causing her a lot of internal conflict in this regard. Good stuff!
Adrian. AdrianAdrianAdrian. Were you waiting for me to say that?
Yes, he's in this book and just as hilarious and heartbreaking as ever. In The Golden Lily, I learned a little more about what makes him so tortured and brooding. He tries to straighten himself out, but don't worry! He's not going to go all straight-laced anytime soon!
That's all I'm going to say. I don't want to spoil anything!!! The book is great and Sydney does some stuff that might surprise even you Sydney-doubters!
Okay, now let's play a game. I'm going to give you six quotes, and you are going to tell me which were said by Adrian in the Golden Lily, and which were made up by me. Give me your best guess in comments!
A: "I've been known to roll the dice now and then."
B: "Sage, your new boyfriend is so excruciatingly polite that I'm certain he's a serial killer."
C: "Slushes. Do you know how much I love those? Cherry, especially."
D: "Believe it or not, I do think some women should keep their clothes on."
E: "I find prostitutes vastly important."
F: "I absolutely deny requesting a pirate tattoo. Because I already have one."
Put your guesses in comments! I'll tell you the answer on Sunday!
And now, I will tell you about one of my favorite bloggers: Jennifer M. of Some Like It Paranormal. She was one of my very first blog followers and she has been a wonderful follower and friend. She must never sleep, because she always leaves me these long, loopy blog comments in the middle of the night her time. She just had a birthday and I sent her my copy of Golden Lily because she loves Adrian Ivashkov more than anyone I know. Hopefully, she'll get it today!
Happy birthday, Jen!
Amazing review Jen! Hope Jennifer enjoys your book you gave her! And Adrian! I'll answer the quiz soon on a different comment! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review!! I still have not read any of the VA books. By the time I was interested there were already so many out and I don't have time to read that many books to catch up in a series. One of these days I will get to them and the Bloodlines series as well.
ReplyDeleteI haven't finished VA series but will this summer.
DeleteAHHH I'M SO EXCITED OMG I'M GONNA DIE. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG I AM FANGIRLING SO HARD RIGHT NOW THAT I AM GONNA PASS OUDGFBMDFD349U0TH NG
ReplyDeleteAhem, pardon me. Richelle Mead is my number one fave author, and Adrian is my number one love and I am dying waiting for this book and this a fabulous review and I AM DYING. Okay....I think I'm done. Wait, no...
ADRIAN IVASHKOV AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
okay, I am definitely done now :)
Hahahaha!!
DeleteYou really need to meet Jennifer M if you haven't already!
This comment made me smile SOOOOO much! I think... that I need to read these.
DeleteMe too (the smile and yes you should read them)
DeleteAw, what a good friend you are:) Happy Birthday Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited you got this book early and have read and reviewed it! I know exactly what you mean about Syd. I personally love her. And yes, she has got a dark side to her(yay! dark sides are so much fun to read about!!)
I warmed to Adrian considerably (once the Dimitri/ Rose thing was settled) and I can't wait to learn more about him!
Honestly, it looks like ALL those quotes were said by Adrian. But if I have to make a random guess I'll say A was made up by you!
Posting quiz answers Sunday!
DeleteI love this review! I can't wait to read The Golden Lily. And I'm going with Heather's guess of saying all of them were said by Adrian except for A. ;)
ReplyDeleteCheck back Sunday and see if u were right :)
DeleteAdrian <3 What a lucky Jen is... Happy bday!
ReplyDeleteMy guess would be all but D ;)
Diana
Hmmm... You'll find out Sunday!
DeleteHappy birthday Jen!! yey you're so lucky to have Jen R. as a friend :D Free books! lol
ReplyDeleteOkay, let's see if I can guess these quotes...
B - sounds like Adrian to me.
C - I thought maybe this one, I mean, he could be unpredictable lol
E - he wouldn't be Adrian without this quote.
F - trick question. he wants one.
Wait, are all these quotes trick quotes and Adrian actually said all of them? hmm.. I'm too excited to find out already!!
I wanna know what Jen will say :D
He did say some in the book and others I made up!
Deletecan't wait for the actual answers!!!
Deleteawww Jen I love you so much!!! Adrian showed up literally wearing a bow and I almost peed my pants! LOL Really I should have went to the bathroom before opening hehe
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job with the quotes. It's hard to tell. How many are not his?
I'm going to guess that A and F might not be his. But they all sound like things he would say.
About the review, yeah I'm not a huge fan of Sydney. Mostly I think because she is no where near good enough for a god like Adrian! But if she continues to grow and gets over the vampire prejudices then maybe I will like her. She needs to be loving vampires and worshiping at Adrian's feet! As I would be doing. I would just be lying naked at Adrian's feet everyday begging him to bite me lol okay maybe I went a bit TMI with that but well it's true! Thanks again for the book. I'll definitely email you my thoughts when I'm done.
Hope you like her more in this book!!!
DeleteJennifer!!! You are so funny!!!
DeleteYou're officially Adrian's wife in my mind :D
But I still do want him and Sydney to get together in the books. Sydney needs to break off from the Alchemist and be a rebel ;)
I would have wanted to see your face when u opened your package!!
Happy birthday again!
Hi Jen!
ReplyDeleteI love Adrain and The golden lily too! I find Sydney a wonderful main character too!
I absolutely adore the quotes you made up, they are so Adrain!
Thanks! Some of them are really his and some not. I'll post the answers on Sunday
DeleteLoved your review and your quotes! I must say that you never bore. :) I haven't started this series because I've been waiting until it gets a little further along so I don't have as long to wait to read them all. I just get so involved in books. I think all of them could be him, so I won't guess, I'll just enjoy reading the answers on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks!!
DeleteTo me, B, C, and D sound like Adrian. I want to read this book so bad now! :D
ReplyDeleteNot long to wait!
DeleteAll I can say for certain is that D sounds like me & I would love to be brave enough for a Pirate Tattoo.
ReplyDeleteMarybelle, I was sure that you already had one too!
DeleteI wish!!!
DeleteI have this book on hold. I have to admit I didn't like the first one but I am willing to give this one a second chance for the series. I LOVED VA in a pathetic, ridiculous way and want to like these books more than I do. Here's to seconds being better than firsts!
ReplyDeleteI didn't review Bloodlines because I don't usually review audiobooks. Not sure why that is, but so far I haven't. When I read other people's Bloodlines reviews there were two main complaints: 1) too much time spent setting up the story and 2) Sydney isn't Rose. Neither of those things were an issue for me, but everyone's different.
DeleteTry it and let me know what you think! We seem to agree on most books, but this could be a series could be the exception :)
I think for me it was the time spent on the set up. I loved Rose, even when she was annoying but I am ready for Sydney's story. Also, the voice on the audiobook was awful (in my opinion) and really pushed me over the edge!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines, and can't wait to read The Golden Lily and get more Adrian goodness! Gosh, all the quotes seem like something Adrian would say, but I'm guessing he said A, D and F?...
ReplyDeleteOMG! I actually hated Sydney in the VA series, but I really, really love her now. Bloodlines kinda did it for me :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, ADRIAN ADRIAN ADRIAN *drools/swoons/flails/drools some more*
FANTASTIC review!! I seriously can't wait to read it!
I'm naming my kid Adrian. I can't wait. I wonder what would happen if the Alchemist found out about Sydney and Adrian. And I also wonder if Sydney will be able to leave the Alchemist if she chooses to. If not then she and Adrian are screwed. Especially if she gets pregnant and has Dhamphire children. Dang my minds wondering. :)
ReplyDelete