The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
Series: Bloodlines, #2
Genre: Paranormal | Fantasy
Age Range: Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 418 pages
Source: My Copy
Published on June 12th 2012 by Penguin Group
Richelle Mead: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. Alchemists protect vampire secrets – and human lives. Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California – tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist. But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age-old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and her sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi – the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that – special, magical, powerful – that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Braydon, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else – someone forbidden to her. When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she’s supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she’s been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her. Should she trust the Alchemists – or her heart?
The sequel to one of my favorite series ever, The Golden Lily continues a story about Sydney Sage and her friends. This book did not disappoint me. You can read what I thought about it back in 2018 here. This is part of my long Vampire Academy and Bloodlines buddy read with Ruby @ Ruby’s Books. Don’t forget to read her thought here.
“He shouldn’t have said that. I don’t care if he’s not the emotional type or the complimentary type or what. No one can look at you in this dress, in all that fire and gold, and start talking about anachronisms. If I were him, I would have said, ‘You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth.”
Sydney is thorn between her loyalty to the alchemists and her friends. She was raised to be dedicated member of their group but while other alchemists praise her, her father is awful for her. Sydney is never happy with her and then there’s these creatures Sydney was teached to hate but she can’t help but care for them and be always there to help them.
I know next to nothing about cars but I found it adorable how exited Sydney gets about them. I guess talking about cars was one of few good things about her childhood. Sydney thinks cars are works of art and engineering.
I love the romance between Sydney and Adrian already. She’s clueless of course but you could already see how much he cares about her by little things he does for her. Besides, you got to love how protective they are of each other. You could also see how high opinion Sydney has about Adrian even if she just thinks they’re friends,
“You asked about Rose? I tried to be a better person for her– but it was to impress her, to get her to want me. But when I’m around you, I want to be a better person because… well, because it feels right. Because I want to. You make me want to become something greater that myself. I want to excel. You inspire me in every act, every word, every glance. I look at you , and you’re like… like light made into flesh.”
All in all great read. This is a slow burn romance I can totally root for and never get bored with.
Jamsudreams 