The Golden Lily: Bloodlines, Book 2

This is – hands down – my new favorite book of 2012! My only complaint about Golden Lily is that it caused me to lose sleep. I finished this book in one day…and what an emotional day that was!

Normally I would write a little synopsis of the book, but not this time. Richelle Mead’s work speaks for itself. If you’re considering this book, chances are, you’ve probably not only read Bloodlines, but also the entire Vampire Academy series; if you haven’t…then welcome to the Richelle Mead fan club. With that said I’m just going to write a few little tidbits about some of the character development within this second installment of the Bloodlines series.

Richelle Mead leads us back to Palm Springs and back into the lives of Jill, Eddie, Sydney, Adrian, and Angeline. We also see more appearances from Dmitri (and his duster) and Sonya Karp than we did in Bloodlines.

Sydney goes through a lot of personal and emotional growth in this sequel. She not only learns more about the real history of Alchemists, but she also starts to realize that she has more loyalty and tolerance for the Moroi and Dhampir races…and that scares her because she doesn’t want that secret to get back to the Alchemists because they would send her to the re-education center (which she is terrified of). The prejudice that her upbringing taught her (both from her father and the Alchemists) is very hard for her to overcome and she battles with it every day. The decisions that she makes along her journey in this book will make you…. (Nope, not going to give spoilers, it’s MUCH better to not know what’s going to happen – trust me, it will be worth the wait.)

And let us not forget about the sexy, and ever-inebriated, Adrian. For anyone who fell in love with Adrian during the Vampire Academy series (or even if you just discovered him in Bloodlines), be prepared to completely swoon over him yet again. We’ve all adored this sexy man who seems like he’s in a constant battle with his mental health (thanks to his spirit magic), but in this book Adrian takes it to an all new level. I won’t give more details and spoil the plots twists & turns, but just know that hiding his feelings behind his sardonic quips and his constant smoking and drinking just isn’t going to cut it this time.

Also, the narrator, Emily Shaffer does (yet again) a wonderful job with this book. When dealing with a narrator working on a book series, I find that sometimes the characters don’t sound that same from book to book - Shaffer does not have that problem, she gave a seamless performance of all the character’s voices. Her talent for accents and having multiple characters that sound VERY different from one another is astounding.

Buy Golden Lily and get lost in between the pages. I will definitely be enjoying this book a couple more times before Bloodlines #3: The Indigo Spell comes out on February 12, 2013!!!

The narration ruined this for me. I couldn't do it. In the beginning I didn't like her voice for Sydney, but I thought I would get over it. (I thought she sounded far to naive, flakey and well frankly... Dumb, which if your familiar with the stories, is very much not the case.) But when the voices for the other characters came in (ESPECIALLY any male character.) I realised I wasn't being overly critical. It really was that bad. In my defense I gave it about a quarter of the book to grow on me hoping I'd get used to it. I couldn't take it any more. I bought the hard cover of the book and instantly deleted the download.

Suzanne Collins did a great job with the hunger games. Didn't sound flakey as the girl characters or overly compensate with the male voices.

I’d been waiting for ages for The Golden Lily to come out, so when it finally did, I downloaded it immediately! Again, Richelle Mead has failed to disappoint me. There are more character developments, more drama, more romance and more intrigue in this book. I couldn’t be more happy with how the story turned out!

In The Golden Lily, Sydney still makes decisions based on what she believes is right, but now she is beginning to open up and so we get to see another side of her. Sydney is extremely intelligent, but her innocence in certain areas makes me want to smile at her indulgently. Adrian Ivashkov is simply the most endearing character ever created by Richelle! I love his fierce loyalty and smart-ass comments. He keeps surprising me and I’m so glad he has a much larger part in this book than in Bloodlines.

I’m obsessed with this series and I wouldn’t change a thing about it!
Now, who is up for the next book, The Indigo Spell?

Yes, because this is just something that I could not stop listening to!!

Adrian, becuase I love his funny snakry comments!

Well... pretty much the whole 2nd half of the book.

Yes the end...I ended up crying a little

No I would not she slows the story down and sounds like a child I am unable to listen to this book to be honest.

The story starts off where Bloodlines ended. There is a lot more Adrian, which I LOVED! He is finally getting over Rose, FINALLY, and the romance really starts to heat up between him and Sydney, especially at the very end! I disagree with some critics who say that Sydney is not nearly as strong a main character than her predecessor, Rose. Sydney proves that brains, beauty,and strength can work together quite perfectly in the character of a heroine! The ending is definitely a cliff hanger, leaving us wondering how this forbidden romance can ever work. I am just sad that I have to wait until February to find out what happens next!

I find these Mead series a place to park all of the adolescence anxt that I lestened to for almost 20 years as a therapist. They are always current as well. This series reminds me of the TV series "Lost girl." I am waiting for book #3 to come out on 2/15. I also enjoy the characters from the past that show up. I know that we have not seen the last of Rose. Somehow I see Demetri as a Mr. Spock fiqure - don't know why ... enjoy!

I have become accustomed to Emily Shaffer's voice--it took me a little time, but I find her male voices very distinctive, which is hard for female narrators to do, and she makes Sydney really admirable and likable. Emilly is very talented, but I understand that no narrator is everyone's cup of tea. Loads of people love Dick Hill, and I like him, but I find his voice easy to tune out! Rather like a history professor I once had. Dick's voice hasn't grown on me, but Emily's has.

I like the two, connected series of Richelle Mead's, but, of the two, I find myself enjoying the Bloodlines series more. Sydney is confident, hard working, responsible and ingenious. It's been interesting watching her mature and grow--Mead is dealing with all the characters in this series really well. She seems to be allowing them to grow at their own pace, which is refreshing. I'll be listening to the third book in the series tomorrow--can't wait!

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Richelle Mead. She's an amazing author, and the narrator for this book does a terrific job.

Um, I'd compare it to books like Twilight, The Mortal Instrumentsor Evernight, because, yes, it's about vampires, and yes, it is about teenagers, but it's so much more than that. It's really interesting because it's a part of a spin-off series that follows Vampire Academy and it answers all the little nagging questions like, what happens next?

I listend to her in Bloodlines and I like her. I hope she continues to do this series. To be honest, I think she fits Sydney's voice. It was a little weird hearing her sample of Last Sacrifice. I also love the way she does the other charictors' voices.

Yes! It made me want to throw my reader across the room. I also enjoyed a lot of laugh-out-loud moments.

I absolutely, positively, without a doubt love this book!

Could not put it down - carried around the house - in the car - exercising