The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead

Blurb: 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. They 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 the 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 Brayden, 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?


Review: Here's the deal: I loved Vampire Academy and Bloodlines. But my love for those books were nothing compared to how I felt about The Golden Lily. It was breathtakingly awesome and I adored every word of this book. Sydney is one of my favourite characters that I've read in a while (apart from Rose, of course) and she just totally makes these books. The storyline alone is great, but Sydney's character just makes it that much better! I know I'm gushing, but seriously, I waited a year for this book (and I have to wait another year for the next one. Grrr...) and it had to be worth it! And it was it was worth me depriving myself of chocolate for three months so that I could afford it (even then I had to borrow a dollar off my little sister!) because it is just that great! The romance between Sydney and (WARNING: Spoiler!) Adrian was so perfect that the ending  made me want to throw the book across the room when she stuffed it all up! And the fact that I have to wait until Feb next year didn't help matters at all, but oh well. I'll just have to deal. As well as the Sydney/Adrian romance there was the Sydney/Brayden relationship. I didn't really give Brayden much of a chance though, because I am 100% Team Sydrian and that would be so against what I think should happen (Sydney and Adrian get together and triple-date with Rose & Dimitri and Lissa & Christian). But they were cute together, even though it was killing me that she was hurting Adrian like that even though she didn't realize it! It was definitely a relief when they split up. As always, if you haven't read it, then hurry up! Not every book is flawless and excruciatingly addictive and thoroughly romantic while being packed with suspense and a little bit of action! (This one is, though.) So my verdict is: one of the best books I have ever read!


Rating: LOVED IT