Book Review: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Published June 12th, 2012
Razorbill
418 pages (Hardcover)

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. (From GoodReads)

 The Golden Lily was exactly what I needed The Golden Lily to be.

I had a hard time liking Bloodlines because of my complete love of all things Vampire Academy.  I'm a huge fan of Rose and crew, so the transition to Sydney didn't go as easily as I had hoped.  I literally read Bloodlines waiting for Rose or Dimitri to pop up.  The Golden Lily has quite a bit of Dimitri, and you cannot go wrong with that.

I don't know if it's because this is the second book of the series or what, but I found it far more enjoyable of a read.  I was able to invest more emotion into Sydney, and really began to like her character.  Richelle Mead did a great thing giving her an obsession with coffee (my weakness), but also with stronger expression of her issues around body image and food.  It makes her feel much more human.  I felt able to relate with her on a very personal level.  I also began to see her as being similar to Rose, a character I adore.

I'm going to avoid discussing much more about this book, because it's still new and I don't want to spoil everything.  I think I've made my point though, that this series isn't going to need constant help from Rose and Dimitri to keep me engrossed (not that I am opposed to more cameos, possibly some Christian, maybe?).

I am proud to say that I feel able to move on with my life, and that I am prepared to read The Indigo Spell (AKA book 3) without needing the original group to make book long cameos.  I'm also planning on rereading Bloodlines, and seeing if I enjoy it more now.

Much love, Samantha