Waiting on Wednesday #39

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4)

Author: Richelle Mead

ETA: November 19th, 2013

Description from Goodreads: In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn’t over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there’s still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

Pulses will race throughout this thrilling fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where no secret is safe.

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Review: “The Indigo Spell” by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead

Goodreads | Amazon

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch–a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood–or else she might be next.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.

Four stars

WARNING: If you haven’t read the first two books, there WILL be spoilers!

Please check out my reviews of Bloodlines and The Golden Lily for more of my thoughts!

There was almost nothing more important to me than getting my hands on this book. I mean, guys. It’s Richelle Mead. It’s Adrian. It’s Sydney. Despite my initial misgivings about this series, these two won me way over from the get go. I was good with Bloodlines, great with The Golden Lily. Sadly, despite the Adrian and Sydney scenes that I wanted, I have to say I’m back to being just good with The Indigo Spell.

The Indigo Spell starts off only short time after the great cliffhanger of The Golden Lily. Adrian and Sydney are acting all of the awkward, which is making Jill turn away from Sydney while Eddie and Angeline are off in their own little world. Sydney’s witch teacher is worried about a powerful, evil new witch in town and is obsessed with finding her, while Sydney is obsessed with finding Marcus. Adrian’s just obsessed with getting Sydney to see the obvious.

Let me just say, first off, that the Adrian/Sydney dynamic is the most adorable thing ever. You could say many things about Rose/Dimitri, but you could never really use the word “adorable.” Mead does a FANTASTIC job characterizing their relationship and their interactions with each other. Each action seems genuine and sincere. Every single scene with the two of them in it tugs my heart strings every which way. They aren’t just great as a couple; they’re great friends, too, and it shows. They really do act in a partnership, constantly making the other better. I should probably stop now before I just explode with happiness about these two.

My real problem with this book came in terms of the plot. There is just WAY too much going on. Sydney is after Marcus. Her professor is after a powerful witch who just happens to be her sister who just happens to be sucking the life force out of young, female witches.  Adrian is after Sydney. Sydney is trying to figure the Alchemists out for real. In the background you have Jill still mooning over Eddie and Eddie and Angeline having interesting problems. The different plots overlap in such a way that much of the characterization outside of Adrian and Sydney is entirely lost. You barely see Eddie, Jill and Angeline at all, and when you do Sydney is basically pushing them away. She knows there’s too much going on to deal with them. The different plot lines are constantly trying to push the other one out of the way until you can’t tell which one you should really be focusing on. In the end, the plots peter out in such a way that it feels like they were never important to begin with. The only thing holding the whole book together is the fact that Sydney and Adrian get to spend a LOT of time together.

I understand that as a middle book in a series, Mead had to throw a bunch of new plot in to reinvigorate the story, but I really missed the group dynamic that was prevalent in the first two books. Even the ending cliffhanger wasn’t as entirely engaging as the last ones. (Although, how do you top The Golden Lily, really?) Nothing particularly exciting or unexpected happened, as far as I was concerned, but I still really enjoyed it. Fans of Adrian and Sydney will NOT be disappointed. (Oh, and Rose and Dimitri fans will be happy to know we got another cameo!)

Book 4 in the Bloodlines series, The Fiery Heart, will be released on November 19th, 2013!

Waiting on Wednesday #31

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: The Indigo Spell

Author: Richelle Mead

ETA: Febuary 12, 2013

Summary from Goodreads: In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch–a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood–or else she might be next.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.

What are you waiting for?

Review: “The Golden Lily” by Richelle Mead

The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead

Goodreads | Amazon

Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students–children of the wealthy and powerful–carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead’s breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher.

4 1/2 stars

I picked up this book on the release date and proceeded to finish it in three hours. Despite the fact that I was supposed to be cheering on my brother at his Little League game.

And I regret nothing.

If you have not yet heard me fangirling about this series yet, well, you’re about to. Because *insert fangirl squealing here*.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t a fan of the idea of these books at the beginning. After all, in the VA series Adrian and Sydney weren’t really that big in my mind. I was a hardcore Dimitri/Rose shipper and found Adrian cute but in the way. Sydney I just didn’t find particularly interesting with Rose at the front and center.

Bloodlines, I have to admit, was good. The Golden Lily? BETTER.

I liked Sydney in Bloodlines. I loved her in The Golden Lily. I liked Adrian in Bloodlines. I LOVED HIM IN THE GOLDEN LILY.

*Mild spoiler warning*

Adrian turned into such a different person in this book. In the VA series especially, he was a big cliché of a slacker dude. In The Golden Lily, though, he really comes into his own. The depth that he shows and the personality past the snark and slacking was utterly amazing. Plus, it didn’t feel like this sudden turn around. Mead made me believe that this was really under there all along. I will never give up on Dimitri because HELLO SEXY but Adrian?

HELLO ADORABLE MARRY ME NOW.

I was really not expecting the Sydney/Adrian scenes to go like then did. I especially didn’t expect Sydney to get a boyfriend. That in itself was awkwardly adorable, but again DUDE IN THE WAY OF THE REAL LOVE. Mead, you love to torture us so. Adrian’s attempts to hang out with Sydney through subtle ruses was way too overt coupled with Jill’s apparent “crush” on Sydney, though. I mean, we got it, really. And Sydney, HOW DENSE CAN YOU BE?

Oh, oh, should I be talking about the other stuff in the book? Crap. Uh. I also enjoyed finding out what Trey’s sun tattoo meant, and seeing Jill grow up a little in regards to her situation. The whole Eddie/Angeline/Jill thing seemed a little contrived to me, but I’ll let it slide because I’m here for the Sydney/Adrian, really.

One of the biggest changes for me is the fact that there is a lot less action then I seem to always expect. After all, Rose was THE most active person ever, getting into fights at every chance. Sydney, of course, is the brainy chick who was not raised to be a fighter and that necessitates a different form of “action.” Because of this, it almost seemed like The Golden Lily moves slower than any of the VA books, when there really is a lot going on. My brain has yet to process this.

I really wanted the whole witch thing to be delved into a little more, but with everything else going on there wasn’t really room for it anyways. Still, the next book doesn’t come out til 2013, come o–

The next book doesn’t come out til 2013 and SHE LEFT IT WITH THAT ENDING? WHY, MEAD, WHY?!?

I may die of anticipation.

Also, by the way, if you were expecting a coherent review you weren’t listening to me when I said FANGIRL HERE.

And because the fangirl really is here now I … should probably stop typing. Bottom line?

Bloodlines < The Golden Lily

IT’S THAT GOOD.

Waiting on Wednesday #10

Waiting on Wednesday is a feature hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Title: The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) (Click for Goodreads)

Author: Richelle Mead

Expected Publication: June 12, 2012

Summary from Goodreads: The second thrilling installment in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy spinoff series
Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students–children of the wealthy and powerful–carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead’s breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher.

Why I’m Waiting: GUYS. I have NO WORDS to describe how much I LOVE the Vampire Academy series. In all honesty, when Bloodlines first came out, I was wary of it. My LOVELOVELOVES were Rose and Dimitri, and how could Sydney and Adrian even touch that? Well, it won me over, that’s for sure. Now I just want Sydney and Adrian to be a thing SO MUCH. Plus, it’s Richelle Mead. Rose was the perfect snarky narrator, but Adrian is almost as bad, so let the snark humor ensue! I CANNOT WAIT to get my hands on this.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Spring To-Be-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Okay, I have to face it, my to-be-read list is SKY HIGH. Picking ten for the spring is going to be … death defying. Let’s give it a try! (All links will go to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.)

1. Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

In case you missed my Waiting on Wednesday post last week, I WANT THIS BOOK. If Amazon’s shipping department wasn’t the worst, I’D HAVE IT BY NOW. But I don’t. And the wait is KILLER.

2. The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Really, as far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong with this book. It’s historical fiction in the fact that it takes place in Russia circa 1888. It’s fantasy because the main character is both a Duchess and a necromancer. This book’s blurb caught me on the first look, and I can’t wait to read it.

3. Die for Me by Amy Plum

Okay, Anna and the French Kiss maaaay have made me have an instant love of books set in Paris, which I discovered at line 2 of the blurb. Then I read the REST of the blurb and went DUDE. Let’s see if the plotline is cool enough to overcome the star-crossed lovers thing! You can bet you’ll hear which way this one goes as soon as I get my hands on it.

4. Balthazar by Claudia Gray

I’ll admit, my interest in the Evernight series continued to wane as the books went on, but it seems that this one is completley unrelated to the Evernight books and characters except for Balthazar, so sign me up! I was a huge sucker for this guy, and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

5. The Selection by Kiera Cass

Okay, this is one book where I read the blurb and I went I WANT NOW. NOW. I have no idea why, but I just fell in love right there. Plus, the CW is making it into a TV series so DUDE. I have to at least read the book so I can watch how much the series messes with the plot line. 😛

6. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

GUYS. GUYS. CASSANDRA CLARE. THAT IS ALL.

7. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

This is the sequel to Divergent, which I thought actually lived up to a lot of the hype it got. Enough is said.

8. The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

MORE VAMPIRE ACADEMY WORLD. MORE ADRIAN. GIVE ME NOW. If you don’t believe the CAPS is pertinent, read my review of Bloodlines!

9. Grave Mercy by R. L. LaFevers

Girl escapes arranged marriage, becomes assassin. Seriously, do I need to tell you anymore? Also, for the life of me I can’t get this cover to actually show up here, so you’re just going to have to click the link to check it out. 😛

10. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

I am a horrible person who judges books by their cover–only literally, I swear! However, CHECK OUT THIS COVER. Then CHECK OUT THE BLURB. Really interested in getting my hands on this one!

Books are the Best Medicine – Here’s My Preferred Prescription!

Today’s post is going to be a little bit of a shorter one, because as you may have guessed I’m so ill as to be seeing stars and hanging out all day in bed. Of course, hanging out in bed all day DOES come with the awesome upside of having a lot of quality time to spend with one’s bookshelf. Therefore, I decided today’s post would be all about those books of mine that I just read over and over and over again when I’m feeling down. After all, who needs meds when you’ve got books? (Let it be noted that the following are just a sample. My books number in the thousands. :P) If you have a book that helps YOU feel better, let me know in the comments! My cough tells me I’m going to have a loooot more time to kill before I get much better. ^.^

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This is probably the newest book I’ve added to this list, but I just can’t get enough of it. You can check out my initial review of the book here–it still shows how I feel about this book quite well. I just CANNOT get enough of these characters or the story or … anything. I actually reread it just the other day and discovered that–despite how many times I’ve read this–I still have to be careful while I’m reading, because I STILL laugh hysterically at the jokes that always happen to show up every time I want a drink.

Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins

Yes, Hex Hall too, but at the moment I’ve been reading Demon Glass a bit more with the reason that the third book IS coming out March 13. These books are action packed AND include cute guys and awesome one liners. I’m not one who easily laughs out loud at books, but when I’m STILL doing that on my one gajillionth reread, I know I’ve got something special that I just refuse to let go.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

I COULD have titled this entry “anything by Cassandra Clare” and still be telling you the truth, but I really have a thing for City of Glass. Probably because of all the Jace/Clary-ness but whatever. I just had a new urge to reread the entire Mortal Instruments series (if you want to know just what these are, check out my article here) again after going through Clare’s section of Goodreads quotes and laughing so hard I tipped over my chair. All that goodness undiluted can kill, I swear. These books are also so awesome and widely appealing that my brother read them, so we have quote wars. It’s amazing, let me tell you.

Squire by Tamora Pierce

Now, throughout this post you’re going to notice I have a thing with rereading the final books in series. If you know anything about Pierce’s Protector of the Small series, however, then you’ll know Squire is actually the 3rd of 4 books. Don’t ask me why, but I just adore this book like nobody’s business. I actually broke the spine of the library’s copy before I realized I should prooobably get my own. But hey, how can you go wrong with Kel, Raoul and a baby griffin? (The answer is, you can’t.)

Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

Alright, here we go, back to the “last book in the series” trend. Well, I’ll be honest, any time I name one book in a series it’s a good bet I just spend all day rereading the ENTIRE series, but this is just my favorite. You’ve got the Shang Dragon AND George AND Thom AND Jon AND her friends AND–erm. Everything. This book has everything. I better just leave it at that…

The Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Full disclaimer: I usually don’t reread the entirety of this book. In fact I usually don’t read the entirety of this series. I reread all Rose and Dimitri sections and flip through the rest. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the other characters–Adrian especially after Bloodlines–but…AAGH. Rose and Dimitri. Never have I shipped a couple so hard. Seriously. (Although Sydney and Adrian are coming up close second.) I have reread this book quite a few times, but I have mauled the end pages that include Rose and Dimitri’s “happily ever after.” I may be a sucker, but you can’t tell me it isn’t reasonable with this two.

Book Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Timesbestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive-—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood. ~ (description from Amazon.com)

Shockingly, it did not take me very long to finish this book. I avoided my family last night to finish it. I am a HUGE fan of Mead’s Vampire Academy series (of which is this a spin off, for those of you not familiar with the books, and I was very excited to see the continuation of what seemed almost a closed book in “Last Sacrifice.”

Originally, I wasn’t sold on the idea of Sydney as the narrator. I liked her well enough from Rose’s perspective, but she wasn’t a character I loved. I picked up Bloodlines with the thinking, “Well, if Adrian’s in it, it’s worth it.” Given that, Sydney was a nice surprise. Now that you can see behind her ultra-all-business exterior, there actually is an engaging 3D character who loves to act passive until the second you can’t take it anymore and then she’s concocting potions to use on bullies. Her interplay with Adrian was great as well. Somehow she managed to fire back at him as much as Rose ever did, but maintain a completely different vibe with him then Rose. It was quite well done and very enjoyable to read.

SPEAKING of Rose – she DOES make a cameo in this book, near the beginning, and I was very excited to hear about that. However, the scene that she’s in is very … blah. Being a writer myself, the scene just made me feel like it was something Mead would have known enough to cut, but she couldn’t because it had Rose in it. Because of this scene(s), the book actually gets off to a rather slow start, which is something I’ve never known Mead to do. (Also, there is absolutely no interplay between Rose and Adrian, one of the touchstone points I would have expected to be made, given how “destroyed” he was by her. Sydney may be dense in social matters, but Mead didn’t even hint at it.)

BUT! Speaking of Adrian… Adrian fans, you will not be disappointed. He is back to his drinking, partying, druggy ways as much and worse as he was when we first met him, and it’s amazing. His smart aleckness hasn’t diminished a bit. Also amazing: there is actual growth for him in this book. I was never too sympathetic towards him before, because I wanted him out of the picture and Rose/Dmitri NOW, but I fell head over heels for him here. If you already loved him, well, you’ll probably worship this book. (Also, I am now shipping Adrian and Sydney SO MUCH.)

Now, enough about the characters… The book on a whole was very enjoyable and an easy read that flowed together. Like I said, the beginning was slow, but once Mead actually got to the meat of the story it only went up from there. Several of the key plot points were easy to figure out, but I did NOT expect the end, ESPECIALLY the cliff hanger she leaves it on. I don’t want to spoil it, but VA fans will want to shriek with happiness, and I myself need The Golden Lily in my hands RIGHT NOW because stuff is about to go DOWN. All and all, Bloodlines was a different tone from the VA series, but in a good way. It was a good set up for the rest of the series, and I know it’s only going to go up from here.