Alice's Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Released: 23rd August 2011
Paperback: 421 pages
Price: AU$17.99
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Bought
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance
Series: Bloodlines
Series Order:
1. Bloodlines
2. The Golden Lily (review coming soon!)
3. The Indigo Spell (12th February 2013) 
Summary:

Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires.

But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.

The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathising with vampires. And now she has to live with one...

My Rating:

My Opinion:
In this book, a lot of mysteries are solved (albeit towards the end) and a lot of new ones start. First off: What's up with Keith's eye? Why is Jill acting all weird with Adrian? And can Eddie get any cooler? I've never paid any attention to Eddie, but this book made me realise how much I secretly love how awesome and cool and brave he is. Also, Adrian is a pretty cool guy.

I was looking forward to Rose and Dimitri's cameo! We got Rose but you'll have to wait for Dimitri. Here's a hint: His cameo is the last three words in the book. So, Dimitri fans, you won't get to see any sexy Russian in this book. (I know, I kind of teared up too!)

So there is always the notorious bad guy in books, and Keith is the one; Jill is the sweet, innocent one that the protagonist grows to love; Adrian is the potential love interest; Eddie is the loyal and faithful protector and friend; and everyone else is for story progressions. The story centred mostly around Jill, Adrian, Eddie and Sydney. I got to know Sydney in this book and whilst she is sometimes annoying, she is definitely a great character. I like how her values and fears are very realistically conveyed and shown, instead of us just being TOLD about it. Richelle doesn't just tell - she shows us. 

What I find an important factor in books is how emotionally invested in them I get: feeling emotional at certain events that happen throughout a book that I am reading makes me enjoy it that much more, and Bloodlines made me choke up a little at times, made me angry and made me smile. What also made me love it more is Eddie. He does something so selfless in Bloodlines and it made me all teary. I think out of all the characters in this book, Eddie is the one who made me look back and smile.

Okay, so this book has a loooot of things going on that mix into one big mess. Sydney is walking a thin line with the Alchemists and Keith is being a nasty bastard; Jill is getting bullied at school; Adrian is bored and moneyless; the students at school are raving about these special tattoos. This is all a big mystery and Sydney accidentally gets mixed up in it.

I thought this would be a romance but it wasn't! There was no room for romance to fit in anywhere, and that was completely fine. I'm sure that there will be some in the sequel, but there were no obvious hints at who the potential star couple would be. We obviously guess it's Adrian and Sydney, and I can see that happening... kind of... but Richelle does have five books to go!

My verdict: I cannot go on about how great this book is. I loved it and am so sad that I finished it so quickly! This is a must-read and will keep you up till the wee hours of the morning.

I needed to put my favourite parts in. These are two separate instances, by the way.

"They're waiting for you. Go on in." Adrian leaned close to Keith's ear and spoke in an ominous voice. "If. You. Dare." He poked Keith's shoulder and gave a "Muahahaha" kind of monster laugh.

Keith was just bringing the glass to his lips when Adrian said, "Mmm. O positive, my favourite."

Keith sprayed out the wine he'd drunk and promptly started coughing. I was relieved that none got on me. Jill burst into giggles, and Clarence stared at his glass wonderingly.

"Is it? I thought it was a cabernet sauvignon."