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.

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?