The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Title: The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2)
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Release date: June 12th 2012

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

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?

The Golden Lily is the second book in the series Bloodlines, the spin-off of the Vampire Academy series, a series that I LOVE! and is among my favorites. And also the main male character in this series is Adrian Ivashkov! so be prepared because I can fangirl a bit.

Adrian is part of Moroi royalty and he is part of the group that traveled to Palm Springs to keep "hidden"Jill. The best thing about this book is definitely Adrian Ivashkov!, he´s the best part of the book, I laughed with him and I cried for him. Adrian definitely is changing and is more mature, all thanks to the good influence of Sydney and but also because he wants to change, be better (insert sigh). Now about Sydney, she is an alchemist and she almost always follows the rules and has beliefs about Morois, damphirs and magic that are deeply rooted and because of this I sort of understand her to some extent her behavior towards these races and to my Adrian. She is academically smart, but she is too oblivious to everything else and because of the last chapter of this book, she is not my favorite person right now. Without a doubt:  The best part of the book was Adrian Ivashkov!

The Golden Lily is a book for fans (like me) of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, it has some action, the wonderful sarcasm Adrian, suspense and a little bit of mystery, although it was too obvious who w were the "bad guys" in this book. In this second book we see a little more about the alchemist´s world and how are they "corrected" when they became too friendly with the Moroi and damphirs. And now I have to wait until February to read the next book in the series - The Indigo Spell.

Favorites Quotes

Day 24. Situation is growing worse. My captors continue to find new and horrific ways to torture me. When not working, Agent Scarlet spends her days examining fabric swatches for bridesmaid dresses and going on about how in love she is. This usually causes Agent Boring Borscht to regale us with stories of Russian weddings that are even more boring than his usual ones. My attempts at escape have been thwarted thus far. Also, I am out of cigarettes. Any assistance or tobacco products you can send will be greatly appreciated.
-Prisoner 24601

“He wasn't like anyone I knew. In fact I was fairly certain there was no one in the entire world quite like Adrian Ivashkov.”

Book teaser trailer

My fave scene of this book!

**Spoilers** don´t watch if you haven´t read The Golden Lily