Falling For YA

I had to take a little bit to write this review so I that I didn’t just crazy gush about how much I loved this book. But I realized I’m going to do that anyway so why delay the inevitable!

The Golden Lily begins just where Bloodlines left off. Sydney is still posing as a High School student while helping to hide Moroi Princess, Jill, in Palm Springs. Eddie and Angeline are acting as guardians for Jill at school. And Adrian, Dimitri, and Sonya Karp are studying the effects of Sprit to determine why those who have been cured from being Strigoi are immune to the becoming a Strigoi later.

The Golden Lily follows all of these plot points as well as Sydney’s realization that humans can be crueler then any Moroi or Dhampir. It was great to see some of Sydney’s lifelong beliefs become challenged. It made me feel like she was not just a stagnate character with no personality. I was fearful of when I began this series that I would have trouble relating to Sydney. I should have known that Richelle Mead would write an amazingly rounded character that is smart, quirky, and despite lifelong reservations about certain things is willing to change.

Adrian, oh Adrian. I can not believe how much he has grown up! From the immature drunk bad-boy hottie we first met in Vampire Academy to this grown up college artist. Despite having this aloof attitude at times it’s obvious how much he cares about those in his life. (Well obvious to everyone but Sydney). Don’t worry though Adrian is still a bad-boy in The Golden Lily. I think he is just finally getting his priorities straightened out and getting over Rose. If possible I loved Adrian even more in this book. He was just so honest and vulnerable, a definite swoon-worthy male lead. It is no wonder he got the second highest number of votes in the YA-Sisterhood 2012 Summer Crush Tournament!

I also liked both Eddie and Angeline in this novel. Eddie is still crushing on Jill but he works so hard at being a guardian that he constantly puts her needs above his encouraging her relationship with a human even if it causes him pain. Angeline too in the beginning of the novel was still getting adjusted to life in Palm Springs and despite some initial struggles she begins to really take her job as guardian seriously and throws herself into training. I must admit, Angeline used to get on my nerves just because she acted so young but by the end of the novel I had really come to like her!

Overall, I absolutely adored this book if the gifs above didn’t demonstrate that already! I love Richelle’s style of writing it just instantly draws me in and makes me feel like I am right there experiencing everything along with the characters. I am now eagerly awaiting the third book in the Bloodlines series The Indigo Spell!!