5 Things Friday: 5 Best book series

Happy Friday!

Harry Potter: JK Rowling

Reading Harry Potter is not merely a simple pleasure anymore; I need to do it at least twice a year to ensure my eternal happiness. I have to start from the beginning, at The Philosopher’s Stone, and work through to the Deathly Hallows, or it feels like a fake book run.

A study recently found that children who read Harry Potter grew up to be more open-minded and liberal. I can really agree and that might even explain why I am a person who thinks everyone should be left alone to do whatever the hell they want, unless it actively harms other people.

Harry Potter has it all – the books are excellently written, the story unique and touching, the characters ridiculously funny. Rowling created magic with these books, and I am eternally grateful for it.

Bloodlines: Richelle Mead

For a while there it did feel like VAMPIRES, VAMPIRES EVERYWHERE type of situation in the entertainment industry. The dawn of Twilight heralded the universe desperately seeking fanged romance, and eyes were rolled by people who are desperately against the mainstream.

Every aspiring writer tried to recreate a world similar to Twilight, with enough changes to prevent a law suit. Most books failed and spectacularly so, because you will generally fail if you copy other people’s work.

However, Richelle Mead firstly came along and wrote Vampire Academy. Although not the best series on the planet, it was fresh and interesting and original. Then she wrote Bloodlines and I became successfully addicted.

My attachment to this series stems from my admiration of its lead female lead. Sydney Sage is intelligent, a leader and a problem solver and she will take action if needs be. The love story is developed at a fantastic rate and worked out really well, and the unlikely couple’s journey to finding each other is really nice to read.

Walsh Family Series: Marian Keyes

The series has a book for each Welsh sister: Rachel stars in Rachel’s holiday, Clare’s story is told in Watermelon, Anna’s in Is Anybody Out There? Helen has the lead in The Mystery of Mercy Close and Margaret is the main protagonist in Angels.

The Walsh sisters are incredibly messed up. Their mother, although meaning well, had a recurring tendency to put her feet in her mouth as her daughters grew up, and managed to pass on her bad self-image to all her daughters. As they all stumble in their lives, catastrophes happen, and they all have an incredible journey to get through.

Marian Keyes is an excellent writer, producing hilarious books that are full of detail as well. My favourite of the series is most likely Rachel’s holiday, and as it was the first book of Keyes that I ever read, the one I have read the most.

The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins

After the Vampire craze passed, Suzanne Collins created The Hunger Games, and dystopian fiction became all the rage. The world quickly changed its focus, and soon there were movies on the cards. The movies, including the books, are exceptional. Collins had a chilling idea and wrote to produce a truly scary story, and the world was fascinated by a post-apocalyptic place where people killed each other off in a televised “Games” broadcasted for all to see. While this book series is a great read and very compelling, it is also one of the few trilogies I have stumbled across where the movies are nearly as good as the books.

The Lord of the Rings: JRR Tolkien

Say what you want about the length of the books or the tedious amount of details, the Lord of The Rings was the Harry Potter of its time. Tolkien is also the creator of magic and it cannot be forgotten that he is the reason those EPIC movies exist. I only read this when I have a month of vacation time or something, you cannot be tired at all and have a drifting mind when attempting this.

Honourable mentions:

Divergent: Veronica Roth

Twilight: Stephanie Meyer

Vampire Academy: Richelle Mead

Those I want to read but haven’t started yet

A Song of Fire and Ice: George R. Martin

Southern Vampires: Charlaine Harris (I am actually starting this soon!)

What is your favourite book series? Tell me!

August 15, 2014August 14, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Books, Five Things FridayTags: A Song of Fire and Ice, Angels, Anybody out There, Bloodlines, Book Series, Books, Charlaine Harris, Divergent, George R. Martin, Harry Potter, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Marian Keyes, Rachel's Holiday, Reading, Richelle Mead, Southern Vampires, Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, The Mystery of Mercy Close, Twilight, Vampire Academy, vampires, Veronica Roth, Walsh Family Series, Watermelon 5 Comments

Best of 2013: Books

2013 has been the year of books for me. I have always been an obsessed reader, but when I created and took on my own challenge to read 100 books, I realized that while I would have to stay dedicated, it was actually possible. I think in a year’s cycle I would normally read about 80 books, so if I worked a little harder, 20 extra isn’t that much more. It is challenging to find new, interesting material all the time. With my book challenge, I promised to explore books I haven’t read yet, discover authors I haven’t tried yet, and look into genres I’m sure I wouldn’t love.

Here is my list of the best books I read so far in 2013 

*These are all books I read for the first time this year, not necessarily brought out within 2013.

The Indigo Spell – Richelle Mead (2013)

Book three in the Bloodlines trilogy. I read the first two and anxiously waited for this one’s release. It was as good as I hoped it would be. Bloodlines is mostly about Sydney Sage, an Alchemist that had been taught to hate vampires, is forced to live with them to do her job. It puts a new twist on the vampire/human romance, because she really hates vampires. Her love story with Adrian keeps me glued to the pages. The latest book in the series, the Fiery Heart, has just been released, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

The Witness – Nora Roberts (2012)

Nora Roberts have written enough books to create her own universe. With over two hundred books her universe has good and bad parts. The Witness falls into the part which is equivalent to the Maldives – it is beautiful and brilliantly written. Elizabeth Fitch’s life goes horribly wrong the one night she chooses to defy her mother. She witnesses Mafia murders and is forced into witness protection. Her mother deserts her, and after the murder of the two Marshalls she trusted, she knows she must escape her name or die. Years later, Elizabeth has turned into Abigail Lowry, a brilliant computer hacker. She meets Brooks Gleason and has to decide whether she will hide forever, or come forward and imprison Ilya Volkov for his crimes.

The book is suspenseful and emotional. I pitied Elizabeth Fitch, a true pawn in her mother’s master plan. Nora Roberts spins a tale that keeps you up at night that haunts you until you finish it. This is one of the books I would really recommend to her new readers.

The Villa – Nora Roberts (2002)

Another brilliant book by Ms. Roberts, the Villa is about Sophia Giambelli and the Giambelli-MacMillan wine empire she will inherit one day. When it becomes obvious that someone is out to get her and her family, Sophia realizes she is in great danger and must be careful with her trust. Her love interest with Tyler MacMillan becomes intense, and together they must field the danger directed at their heritage.

The Villa is superb with its superb description of details, and an interesting mix of strong and weak female characters.  I am so glad I stumbled upon this book. It is a fantastic read and I would recommend it to everyone.

Veronica Roth – Divergent (2011)

Instead of being another Hunger Games knock-off, Divergent and the two other books in the series is original. Set in Dystopian Chicago, society is divided into factions – traits that represents the good in society. Beatrice, of Abnegation, is the main protagonist and Divergent follows her story how she changed factions to become Dauntless, what it means to be Divergent and how she witnessed the demise of her world.

Veronica Roth – Allegiant (2013)

This is the last book in the Divergent series. It is better than Insurgent,  and I enjoyed it more. Tris and her boyfriend Four help lead the resistance against Jeanine Matthews and the Er Finally,

Honorable mentions

*These are books I have read for a second time and enjoyed it more this time around (or books that simply didn’t make the first 5)

1. Eat, Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
2. Insurgent – Veronica Roth (2012)
3. Carnal Innocence – Nora Roberts (1991)
4. The Mystery of Mercy Close – Marian Keyes (2012)

December 18, 2013December 3, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: Allegiant, Best of 2013, Bloodlines, Books, Carnal Innocence, Divergent, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, Insurgent, Marian Keyes, Mystery of Mercy Close, Nora Roberts, Richelle Mead, The Witness, Veronica Roth Leave a comment

Reading list for the next few weeks

Since I am on my 60^th book as part of my book challenge, I decided to write down a list of books I am planning to read for the next while. I started the challenge in February, so it will expire in Feb 2014, which I am gobsmacked to say is in four months’ time. I am moving well, and have only forty books left, which means about ten novels a month if you don’t count the remainder of October.  It will be a stretch, but with vacation time coming up I am sure I will be able to do this.

Reading list

Richelle Mead

Currently – Blood Promise

Shadow Kissed

Last Sacrifice

Once released – The Fiery Heart

JRR Tolkien

The Hobbit

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings

Francis Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

Paulo Coelho

Eleven Minutes

The Devil and Miss Prym

Veronica decides to die

 

 

October 20, 2013October 18, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: 100 books, Bloodlines, Book, Books, JRR Tolkien, literature, Lord of the Rings, Paulo Coelho, Reading, Review, Reviews, Richelle Mead, The Hobbit, Vampire Academy Leave a comment

Weekend 11-14 October 2013

Friday

Friday night I babysat my friend’s daughter. She is six months old, and an absolute sweetheart. I am sure that she is the sweetest, most well behaved baby on this planet. She may be the reason that will convince me to have one of my own one day. Sneaky little thing, I tell you.

Saturday

Saturday we went to Gilroy’s brewery. It had the most wonderful atmosphere. The place was packed, and it was enormous fun. It is sadly too far away to go frequently.

I am really enjoying summer. The weather has been great – it is not scorching yet.

Watching

My new obsession at the moment is Friends. I am now at season two. I have seen bits over the years, but have never made a real effort to follow it. It is so amusing.

Reading

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It is good, but I find myself vacantly staring into space sometimes. Perhaps it is one of those books who would have been great had it been better edited. Finished the second book last night, Frostbite, and took out Shadow Kiss to start on if I have time today.

Eating and Exercising

I have mostly gotten my outrageous need for food under control. Mostly. Some people tell me it is the heat; some tell me it is the frequent exercise. But the truth is, I need to plan my meals better then I won’t be hungry all the time. Starting today, I am eating better, and keeping up with the exercise, which is going great.

Studying

Exams are getting close – my first one is the 1^st of November. It is chemistry, so I am stressing and studying to the maximum. I try to put in at least an hour each night, and have so far been {mostly} successful.

Irritating

Men. In general. I’m sorry, but dating and relationships are just frustrating. Contemplated giving it up permanently, then remembered that I don’t want to be old with fifty cats and a bad attitude (I already have a bad attitude, just scared of the fifty cats)

Religion

Not a huge blogger on religion, but I have thinking about all the different types and what it means a whole lot lately. Am told that it is normal with my current age to question everything. So at least I am normal in the sense that I question everything. Will let you know my conclusions.

Charlie Hunnam is not Christian Grey anymore

He dropped out. I am happy because I love that man, and I loathe those books. Yes, Charles, you do not want to lose your badass persona from Sons of Anarchy because of this. No, you don’t

Block

Not feeling the writing bug today, which is weird since I had it the past two weeks.

Nearly voting time

In South-Africa, we vote around April. A relatively new democracy, SA hosts a bunch of the most ridiculous political parties you can imagine. The latest one now is the EFF, started by the suspended ANC youth league president Julius Malema. I cannot accurately describe the antagonism I feel towards this man. I have very ugly thoughts about him and his ideas. Read about the joke of the DECADE here.

To sound off, here is a motivational pic, because we all need it on a Monday.

(image source)

October 14, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, Reviews, Unisa, WeekendsTags: 100 books, Bloodlines, Book, Books, Charlie Hunnam, Dating, Democracy, entertainment, Exams, Fifty Shades of Grey, Fitness, healthy lifestyle, healthy-living, Inspiration, Julius Malema, literature, Men, politics, Reading, Relationships, Religion, Review, Reviews, Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy, vampires, Voting, Weight loss, Writers block Leave a comment

Weekend and stuff

Morning

This weekend felt like no weekend at all. This morning when my alarm clock woke me up, my first thought was: “Why is my alarm clock going off at five on a Saturday morning?” I know. Sad.

On Friday night we went and watched The Big Wedding. What a great movie! I was so impressed with the fine balance between comedy and drama. Superbly done. And Robert deNiro acted in it, which of course is 90% the reason it turned out great.

Saturday we shopped, and I finally got in the weekend nap I had been pining for the past few weekends. It was awesome. I then proceeded to loaf the entire day, but got in an hour on the stationery bike.

Sunday I finally managed to get my butt into church. It has been a while, especially since the morning services starts SUPER EARLY. I really enjoyed going though. Afterwards, I went into work, where I seem to be spending an insane amount of time at the moment. And after that, I went to a small meeting for the wedding. I am nearly done with the bachelorettes invites (FINALLY) and will be sending them out this week. Whoop!

My little sister, Melissa, is having her birthday this Thursday (the 18^th).It also is our retired, world iconic president Mandela’s birthday as well. It has become a habit for South-Africans to give 67minutes of their time to charity to honor the 67 years he spent in prison for our freedom. This year, here at work, we will be painting a hospice as our tribute to him.

On Sunday I read about the death of Cory Monteith. I felt so sad. He was such a talented guy, and by all accounts a very decent one. Whether you liked Glee or not, you have to respect that he took part in a show which told kids that it was okay to be different. You will be sorely missed.

On the book challenge, I started reading a Cathy Kelly book. Its progress was somewhat interrupted by the fact that I am re-reading Bloodlines (by Richelle Mead) again. Also, I found out that JK Rowling had been sneaky and had produced a crime novel under a pseudonym. It is called The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Gailbraith, and I am ON IT.

 

Last week I managed to exercise four times. Exercising at the moment means that I am doing an hour each day on my bike. Which is good, but I am craving more intensity. I am re-joining the gym today, but I really need to get there from now on. The last time I left because I was just wasting my money.

 

Technology is still pursuing its hateful revenge stint against me. My BlackBerry is now officially closer to being thrown against a wall. It just dies all the time. My Alcatel T10 tablet needs to be lauded as the toughest creation of our age. It survived its second crash to earth this weekend. I am most impressed.

*The Alcatel OneTouch Tablet #amazeballs

What did you do this weekend?

July 15, 2013 by Natasha Categories: MoviesTags: Alcatel T10, bachelorettes, Bloodlines, Cory Monteith, Excersise, exercise routine, Fitness, JK Rowling, Mandela day, Nelson Mandela, Richelle Mead, The Big Wedding, The Cuckoo's Calling, Weekend 2 Comments

Book challenge: Progress part 4

Morning 🙂

I am finally done with 20 books in my challenge. I really can’t believe it! I really love tracking how many books I read in a year. I have always wondered, knowing it is a huge amount, but now I can finally know. I cannot wait until I am done with exams. It feels like all the studying is severely affecting my reading.

Here is my completed reading list so far:

     Chasing Fire  – Nora Roberts
The Search– Nora Roberts
Hidden Star– Nora Roberts
Fallen Star– Nora Roberts
Captive star- Nora Roberts
Richelle Mead – Bloodlines
Richelle Mead – The Golden Lily
Richelle Mead – The Fiery Heart
Nicholas Sparks – The Guardian
Stephen King – Carrie
Lewis Carrol – Alice in Wonderland
Nora Roberts – Montana Sky
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Nora Roberts – High Noon
Nora Roberts – Carolina Moon
Nora Roberts – Tribute
Nora Roberts – Black Hills
Nora Roberts – Angel’s Fall
Katie Fford – Love Letters

Currently reading:

Kathy Reichs – Death duJoir

Planning to read:

Susan Collins: Hunger Games

Susan Collins: Catching Fire

Susan Collins: Mockingjay

Stephen King: The Green Mile

Lewis Carrol – Through the Looking Glass

JK Rowling: The Casual Vacancy

Marian Keyes: The Mystery of Mercy Close

KhaledHosseini: A thousand splendid suns

Richelle Mead: Vampire Academy (Books 1-7)

Have a splendid Monday!

May 27, 2013 by Natasha Categories: UncategorizedTags: 100 books, Albus Dumbledore, Bloodlines, Book, Books, Harry Potter, harry potter series, high noon nora roberts, Hunger Games, JK Rowling, Lemony Snicket, literature, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, nora roberts carolina moon, nora roberts high noon, nora roberts montana sky, progress, Quote, Quotes, Reading, Review, Reviews, Richelle Mead, Romance, the golden lily 1 Comment

Book challenge: Progress part 3

Happy Wednesday everyone! Guess who is going on study leave again from tomorrow? ME! I will be posting, but just not as much as usual.

Here is my book challenge progress so far – one of the reasons I do these posts is to keep track… it is really hard to remember everything!

Here is my completed reading list so far:

1. Chasing Fire- Nora Roberts
2. The Search- Nora Roberts
3. Hidden Star- Nora Roberts
4. Fallen Star- Nora Roberts
5. Captive star- Nora Roberts
6. Richelle Mead – Bloodlines
7. Richelle Mead – The Golden Lily
8. Richelle Mead – The Fiery Heart
9. Nicholas Sparks – The Guardian
10. Stephen King – Carrie
11. Lewis Carrol – Alice in Wonderland
12. Nora Roberts – Montana Sky
13. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
14. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
15. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
16. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
17. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
18. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
19. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
20. Nora Roberts – High Noon
21. Nora Roberts – Carolina Moon

Currently reading:

Nora Roberts –Tribute

Planning to read:

Susan Collins: Hunger Games

Susan Collins: Catching Fire

Susan Collins: Mockingjay

Stephen King: The Green Mile

Lewis Carrol – Through the Looking Glass

JK Rowling: The Casual Vacancy

Marian Keyes: The Mystery of Mercy Close

Khaled Hosseini: A thousand splendid suns

Richelle Mead: Vampire Academy (Books 1-7)

Nora Roberts: Three Sisters Trilogy

Let me know if you have other good books I should try!

May 8, 2013 by Natasha Categories: UncategorizedTags: Bloodlines, Captive Star, Carrie, Chasing Fire, Fallen Star, Fiery Heart, harry potter series, Hidden Star, high noon nora roberts, Hunger Games, JK Rowling, lewis carrol alice in wonderland, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, nora roberts carolina moon, nora roberts high noon, nora roberts montana sky, Richelle Mead, Stephen King, stephen king carrie, SusanCollins, the golden lily, The Guardian, The Search Leave a comment

Book Challenge – Progress, Part 2

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all are planning to have a lovely weekend. I myself am planning to rest, enjoy the colder weather here in Johannesburg, and get some of my university assignments done.

Here is my book challenge progress so far – one of the reasons I do these posts is to keep track… it is really hard to remember everything!

Here is my completed reading list so far:

Chasing Fire– Nora Roberts

The Search– Nora Roberts

Hidden Star– Nora Roberts

Fallen Star– Nora Roberts

Captive star- Nora Roberts

Richelle Mead – Bloodlines

Richelle Mead – The Golden Lily

Richelle Mead – Indigo Spell

Nicholas Sparks – The Guardian

Stephen King – Carrie

Lewis Carrol – Alice in Wonderland

Nora Roberts – Montana Sky

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Currently reading:

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Nicolas Sparks – The Lucky One

Planning to read:

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Susan Collins: Hunger Games

Susan Collins: Catching Fire

Susan Collins: Mockingjay

Lewis Carrol – Through the Looking Glass

JK Rowling: The Casual Vacancy

Marian Keyes: The Mystery of Mercy Close

Khaled Hosseini: A thousand splendid suns

Let me know if you have other good books I should try!

And here is a quote, because I like them.

April 5, 2013 by Natasha Categories: BooksTags: 100 books, Bloodlines, Captive Star, Chasing Fire, Fallen Star, Hidden Start, Hunger Games, JK Rowling, lewis carrol alice in wonderland, literature, Marian Keyes, Montana Sky, Nicolas Sparks, Nora Roberts, nora roberts montana sky, progress, Reading, Richelle Mead, stephen king carrie, Susan Collins, the golden lily, The Indigo Sp, The Search 1 Comment

Book Review: The Indigo Spell (Richelle Mead)

Book: 13/100

When I finished the second book in the Bloodlines series, The Golden Lily, I was super excited to get to the next novel. Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered I had to WAIT for Indigo Spell to be released! It was horrific. There is a specific reason I make sure the entire series has been published before I start reading – when I am into books, I cannot put them down.

So when it was finally released (In February) I eagerly got a copy and started reading. I wasn’t disappointed. I enjoyed it as much, or probably more than the first two books.

What happened:

There was no huge time jump between the books, and we meet Sydney again were the Golden Lily left off. She is still at Amberwood prep, in charge of keeping Jill, Adrian and Eddie in check. Another dhampir has since joined their group, Angeline, who gives Sydney more headaches than the other three combined. Raised in a primitive community, she is wild, and thinks violence solves problems. She is routinely in trouble, but shows some development when she starts acting as a true protector towards Jill, leading Eddie to see that she wasn’t as terrible as he initially thought. They start dating, and this starles Jill into realising she cares for Eddie.

Ms. Terwillinger wakes Sydney up at night to have her perform a location spell. Sydney is still training her magical abilities, but she manages to get a view the city where her enemy lie. Ms Terwillinger confides in Sydney that her sister Veronica is an evil witch who steals powers and youth from young, unsuspecting witches. Her concern is for Sydney, who is in danger if Veronica finds out about her.

Sydney still has problems of her own as well. After her kiss with Adrian, and her subsequent denial of feelings, he is now angry with her. She needs to face Jill as well, since Jill witnessed everything because she is spirit linked to Adrian.

Sydney leaves Amberwood for a short while to attend Sonya Karp and Mikael Tanner’s wedding – possible because Sonya had been returned from a Strigoi to Moroi. She is joined at the wedding by Stanton, her boss at the alchemist, and an alchemist Sydney’s age, who has a crush on her.

At the wedding, Adrian causes a stir (as usual) by asking Sydney to dance with him in front of everyone. Refusing would cause further strain on the Alchemist-Moroi relationship, and she agrees, although reluctantly, since being in Adrian’s arms are the most confusing place in the world for her.

Afterwards, Sydney and Adrian set out together to warn other young witches against Veronica, but most often they are either too late or the young witches ignore her warnings. Adrian and Sydney barely control their feelings towards each other, and Sydney constantly fights against it.

When Sydney finally finds Marcus Finch, an alchemist who managed to break the compulsion spell Alchemist are placed under, she is irritated by him already. He is a cocky rebel who loves to break rules and has ton of girls fawning over him. He in turn is fascinated by her, because she doesn’t fall for him or gush when he is around. He tells her how to break the spell, by injecting a liquid into her tattoo that dissolves it. In able for him to help her with that, she needs to do something the Alchemists would never do, to prove that she is really willing to be free from their compulsion.

Sydney manages to get the information Marcus wants relatively easy, and he helps her break the compulsion. She doesn’t feel a startling change in her, but immediately phones Stanton to ask why things are happening behind her back. When Stanton gets angry with her, she immediately realise that she is pushing things to far, and narrowly escapes trouble claiming that she is only worried about Jill’s safety.

On the magical front, Sydney and Adrian eventually track down the witch who is stealing all the younger witches’ powers. It isn’t Veronica, but another witch completely, who attacks Ms. Terwillinger to gain her powers. They manage to save Ms. Terwillinger, but the witch escapes, and now Sydney has other problems, since she managed to anger the witch by hurting her.

Sydney and Adrian agree to start a secret relationship, but when she arrives back at school, Sydney gets a big shock: that the alchemists sent her little sister Zoe to be part of their team. Now the question is: Can Adrian and Sydney keep their love hidden from Zoe, who is desperately seeking acceptance in the strict Alchemist world?

Rating: 7/10

I really enjoyed this book when I finally got my hands on it. Richelle Mead managed to make good books by taking characters from another series (her own Vampire Academy), which I didn’t believe entirely possible. Sydney and Adrian become heroes on their own, and their relationship is so fascinating because they are so different from Rose and Dimitri.

I have to admit I was hoping Marcus Finch to be more like Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games trilogy, but he was somewhat disappointing. He seemed to revel in being the rebel, instead of doing what he did because he truly believed it.

I found out the genre these books fall under, which is apparently YA (Young-Adult). well, you learn something new every day!

Now I just have to wait for the next book…

Read about the two previous Bloodlines novels here:

Bloodlines

The Golden Lily

April 4, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: 100 books, Adrian Ivashkov, Bloodlines, Books, Golden Lily, literature, Reading, Review, Richelle Mead, Sydney Sage, the golden lily, The Indigo Spell, vampires, writing 5 Comments

Book Review: The Golden Lily (Richelle Mead)

Book: 11/100

I have been meaning to blog about this book for ages, but I am always daunted by the task as soon as I start typing. I loved this book, but there are so many things that happen in it that my post would become either very long or boring. Also, I don’t want to say too many things, because I think it would be awesome if some of you gave this series a try. So here is it, without any spoilers J

The Golden Lily starts almost immediately where Bloodlines ended. Sydney is instructed to go to a underground bunker during the night. She arrives, and sees what has happened to Keith Darnell in the past few months that he has been detained in the re-education camps by the Alchemists. Keith seems crazy and even Sydney, who hates him, feels sympathy towards him. She testifies that she knows he hates vampires, but he is still rotten as a person. It amazes her that Keith’s father couldn’t care less about his son’s terrible personality, as long as he remembers to never accept vampires. This makes Sydney realise once again how serious it would be to allow her to become more attached to her vampire friends.

Back at Amberwood Prep, she deals with Jill’s heartache over her dead (and crazy) boyfriend Lee Donahue. When Jill starts dating a human, Micah, Sydney decides not to interfere, seeing it as a teenage romance and knowing that Jill is a very responsible Jill. It is obvious to Sydney that the dhampir with them, Eddie, is still in love with Jill, even though he chooses to protect her instead of acknowledging his feelings.

While they have time off, Sydney helps the team, led by Sonya Karp and Dimitri Belikov, a dhampir and Moroi who were once Strigoi, to search for the explanation to why a being returned from Strigoi state to their natural forms can’t be turned into Strigoi again. As they remember the Strigoi not able to drink blood from Sydney, they want to take some of her blood to test. This freaks her out, and when they try to pressure her into it, Adrian explodes in her defence. This startles Sydney, and starts to awaken the girl in her, and amazes her that he could feel that protective towards her.

Sydney is incredible naïve towards men. When her friend Trey introduces her to a work colleague, Brayden, she is stunned that he likes her enough to want to date her. Brayden is like Sydney in male form – controlled, highly intelligent, serious. They start to date, and when he finally kisses her, she is let down by how she is unmoved by him. On a trip with Adrian to see his father, it turns out disastrously. Adrian and Sydney briefly touch, and she feels everything she is supposed to feel with Brayden.

When Sonya is attacked and taken captive by a break away sect of the Alchemists, the Warriors of Light, Sydney realises she needs to save her friend. When she finds out that Trey is part of the group, she organises to go speak to his leaders to save Sonya. She arrives at the building, and even with her master negotiating skills she is unable to convince them to let Sonya go. Just when she thinks it is too late, a bunch of Dhampir guardians storm the building to save them both. Sydney nearly doesn’t escape, but once outside, she is found by Adrian who helps her get out. When she learns that they had planned the rescue all along, she is angry with them all, especially Adrian, for having no faith in her skills.

Sydney and Brayden eventually break up, and instead of being sad she is delighted when he calls her irresponsible. She goes to tell Adrian what happened, and they finally kiss. The book ends where she tells him no matter what happens, she will never be able to be with him.

Rating: 7/10

I couldn’t stop reading this book! I finished it in two days, then repeatedly went back to rehash it all. It was really mesmerising and well written. The character development is done so well. Adrian becomes the hero, and his courage is just so hot (haha). Richelle Mead really did a great job with him and Sydney. Everything for impossible romance is there: two totally different people, opposing beliefs and impossible circumstances. I really think many people would like these books, because it really isn’t just another romance vampire book. Ultimately, it is about a girl who realises that even that she was taught something her entire life, she doesn’t need to ultimately stick to it.

Read about book one: Bloodlines, here

March 27, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: 100 books, Adrian Ivashkov, Bloodlines, Books, Golden Lily, Reading, Reviews, Richelle Mead, Sydney Sage, vampires 3 Comments