Blood doesn't lie...

Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...


Okay, so before we begin, I’m going to remind everyone that this is a spinoff series of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series. If you haven’t read those books, you will be entirely confused as to what on earth is going on. From other reviews that I’ve read, this seems to be their main issue – they wanted a book that stood up alone from the VA series, and this does not, at all. The main characters all had awesome parts throughout the VA series, and that’s part of why this is so awesome.
I would also like to say that I really love Sydney. She is sensible, loyal, and brilliant. She’s also not a fighter, which is something that readers will have to get used to. It’s a very definite shift in perspective from action-driven Rose to pragmatic, logical Sydney. There’s also the difference in that Rose is always very sure about what she’s doing and very comfortable in the vampire world. Sydney is very uncomfortable with things relating to vampires –feeders, fangs, magic, etc.-, but she pushes through it to end up caring about Jill, Eddie, Clarence, and even Adrian. She’s somehow still loyal to the Alchemist order, despite the way they’ve dropped her every time she’s been in a trouble spot (which happened fairly often in VA). Another thing is that Rose is very sure of herself socially whereas Sydney is not. She’s shy, has a poor body image, and being homeschooled, she never had the “real school experience,” which makes it harder for her to fit in to the school in Palm Springs. Also, she drops book references and that makes me happy. I have those Captain America moments where I just smile and think, “I got that reference!”
From the beginning of this book, we know that Sydney hates Keith Darnell. When I found out why, it made my blood boil. From the beginning, I didn’t like him. I don’t generally like his type of person, and a person who did what he did? Not a chance in the world I’d like him, let alone trust him with power, as the Alchemists did. Of course, they had no reason to believe anything ill of him, but I feel like there should be some sort of character test. I guess that they have to be kind of hard to live the way they do, denying everything that relates to vampirism in their life, but they don’t have to be bad people, do they?
We also know that she’s afraid of Ibrahim “Abe” Mazur. Of course, everyone with sense in the vampire world is afraid of him, since being an unapologetic, non-royal Moroi mobster is terrifying. Well, everyone but Rose, Janine (Rose’s mom) and Adrian are afraid of him, from what I can tell. Adrian just gets annoyed with him, which is understandable, since Adrian dislikes taking orders in general.
I really wanted Mead to do more with Micah’s character. Micah is reminiscent of Mason, who I really loved in Vampire Academy and Frostbite. I really wish she’d done more with him than just made him Jill’s romantic interest. She could have developed a real relationship between him and Eddie. I feel like she also could have done more with Eddie in this book. While she does a great job getting us into Sydney’s head and letting us get to know Jill and Adrian some more, she doesn’t do a great job with most of her minor characters.
That being said, she does do very well with foreshadowing throughout this book, even for The Golden Lily. Things that might seem insignificant in the beginning… not so much so by the end, or by the next book. And there were a few minor characters that she did really well with, such as Ms. Terwilliger. History teacher, poker player… and a little bit more, as those of you who’ve read the book(s) know. SUCH an intriguing character, and I can’t wait to see more of her, despite Sydney’s issues with her at the end.
I have to say, even having read this probably four or five times, the ending still shocks me. I think my favorite moment was when I think Adrian first began to realize he loved Sydney.
“My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them?” … “The color,” he breathed. “When you stand in the light. They’re amazing . . . like molten gold. I could paint those . . .” He reached toward me but then pulled back. “They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
Just his blatant entrancement in as small a thing as the color of her eyes… it was so much the Adrian that we all knew was there, the part of himself that he hides. Also the fact that he’s okay with letting Sydney get away with having Keith’s eye taken.
I think my Bloodlines rating is gonna have to be 4 stars out of 5. She does great with her main characters and foreshadowing, though she could use some work on her minor characters. Also, whoever picks these covers needs to not. They’re legitimately terrible.