The Golden Lily By Richelle Mead Review

   I am just going to flat out say it. I am in love with Adrian Ivashkov.Sydney as a character keeps surprising me with every book that comes out. She keeps growing, and her beliefs keep being slapped in the face so hard that she has to back off and really think on everything she has been taught her whole life. To see her struggle through these problems in a sometimes sensible and coherent fashion is very entertaining. I like Sydney when she makes sense, not when she is all *Oh god the vamps are going to eat me!*. But she is a work in process and I cannot wait to see where her character goes to in the next chapter of the series. I give Sydney a thumbs up.
     I liked the ending because it had a very serious confrontation between our love birds, Sydney and Adrian (I am actually impressed Sydney was able to keep her hands off Belikov, strong will, I must say.I really liked it, and I liked how Adrian was strong and stood up not only for himself but for Sydney as well, even though it caught her completely off guard.I know I’ve said this before but I love Adrian. He’s always been a tortured soul with the drinking, the smoking and all the bad habits but its what spirit does to him that makes my heart clench for him. As hard as it is for him, there’s finally more of an effort from him to try and change his ways.
      Although everyone writes Adrian off as a lazy, drunk, party-boy, only Sydney can look past all that and see the real Adrian. They spend a lot of time together in this book and I loved every single second of it! One of her school friends sets her up with Brayden, who is “perfect” guy for her. Yet, every time she spends time with him she just feels…blah, and ends up thinking about  Adrian instead.
      I never thought that I could possibly love Adrian anymore but once again Richelle does the impossible. She opens us up to a whole different side of Adrian that will leave even the most hardcore Dimitri fans swooning over him! He was very sweet with Sydney without losing any of his trademark snarky and witty attitude. Seriously, how Sydney could not realize that he likes her is a mystery to me. Unless she was just in denial… Their friendship was one of those slowly growing ones that can be frustrating at times, but you just know that it will all be worth it once they do finally come together. And like I said before, Richelle Mead can do cliffhanger endings like no other. The ending of The Golden Lily was no exception. I kept turning the pages desperately hoping that there might be just a couple pages left.
     As the follow-up to Bloodlines, The Golden Lily delivered a story with lots of action, romance, and drama…with hopefully more to come. Fans of Richelle Mead, you don’t want to miss this.