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brokenrecord 's review for:
The Golden Lily
by Richelle Mead
4.5 stars. Oh god, this book was EVERYTHING to me. I mean, the main plot was whatever (not, like, terrible, I just didn't care that much about what was going on), but SYDNEY/ADRIAN, GOD!!!!!!!!! This book was like my ideal for how a ship should progress; everything about it was just PERFECT. I loved how you can see that Sydney's attracted to Adrian and has slowly begun to develop feelings for him, but she's definitely completely in denial about it because she can't even fathom having a relationship with a vampire since it's been drilled into her for her entire life that that would be immoral and wrong. AND ADRIAN!!!!!! I really love how you can see him fall for Sydney even though you don't get his POV. How much it means to him that Sydney trusts him and believes in him, and the defense lessons where he tenses up after Sydney touches him (oh god, I was dying when Wolfe was like "You were totally unprepared for her," and Adrian muttered, "That's for damned sure." SO GREAT), and how Jill starts suddenly brightening when she sees Sydney and waxes on about how wonderful she is (AND HOW GOOD SHE LOOKS IN TAUPE) because she's feeling all of Adrian's love for Sydney. AND HE BOUGHT A CAR THAT HE KNEW WOULD IMPRESS HER AND PRETENDED NOT TO KNOW HOW TO DRIVE A STICK SHIFT SO HE COULD SPEND TIME WITH HER AS SHE TAUGHT HIM. And the kiss, and how she kissed him back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Other random things that destroyed me: THE EMAIL HE SENT HER SIGNED 24601 (and him calling Dimitri "Agent Boring Borscht," omg) and how she knew she shouldn't have responded to him because it would look bad to the Alchemists but did anyways. Adrian defending Sydney to Sonya and Dimitri when she didn't want to give blood!!! And how she told Jill after that she thought he defended her because he felt like he owed her, and Jill was like, "No, I think he would have done it for you regardless." And that moment when Sydney glances at Adrian after he defends her and sees safety in him. How Sydney tells Adrian how he's one of the most fiercely loyal people she knows, and he's like "But what are loyal and caring really worth?" and she's immediately like "To me? Everything," ughhh. How she goes with him to lunch with his dad and defends him and then buys him a slushee AND DRINKS ONE HERSELF DESPITE THE SUGAR/CALORIES just to cheer him up!!!! HOW HE CALLS HER THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURE HE HAS EVER SEEN WALKING THIS EARTH. AND HOW HE GAVE UP CIGARETTES FOR A WEEK FOR HER!!!! I also liked how his confession at the end emphasized how when he tried to change for Rose, it was because he wanted to impress her and get her to want him, but when he's around Sydney, he wants to be better because it feels right and she inspires him to become something greater. And seriously, that's one of my favorite shippy things, when characters change not because they want to make the other person like them, but just by being around the other person, it makes them want to be a better version of themselves, and I love that Adrian emphasized the distinction between those two things, and it just hit all my shippy buttons.
I didn't even mind the Sydney/Brayden stuff. I liked that Brayden wasn't this terrible boyfriend who Adrian was clearly superior to in every way (well, I mean, obviously Adrian >>>> Brayden, but Brayden wasn't secretly evil or anything like that), and I actually thought the part where Sydney disagrees with him and then is worried he's going to be mad, but instead he's super into it and kisses her and then buys her flowers was super cute. I also enjoyed how Adrian was, like, low-key jealous about them, but like, he wasn't a jackass about their relationship, and he wanted to make sure she was happy with him, but he also thought she could do better. And how he called her the second he found out about the date and grilled her about Brayden, and told her that he can imagine lots of guys being interested in her, UGHHH. (I was dying over everything in this book if you hadn't already noticed.)
And this book was also just nice for Sydney's development apart from Adrian. I liked her realizing that her Moroi friends in Palm Springs are a million times more moral than Keith, and that the vampires she knew were hardly monsters at all compared to the vampire hunters, even though the vampire hunters were human like her.
If this book was entirely about Sydney/Adrian and no one else, I probably would have given it 5 stars, but like I said, I wasn't super into the main plot, and I am already tired of all the relationship stuff between Jill, Micah, Eddie, Trey, and Angeline. I don't really care who any of them dates, but I'm DEFINITELY tired of hearing about it, ugh. And it's not even that I hate any of those characters, but I just don't really feel any interest in any of those pairings, and every time the story spent any time on that stuff, I was always like, "CAN WE GET BACK TO SYDNEY/ADRIAN BEING SUPER ADORABLE, PLEASE???" But yeah, Sydney/Adrian has rapidly become one of my favorite book ships ever at this point, which is saying something. Definitely excited for the next book!!!!!!
Other random things that destroyed me: THE EMAIL HE SENT HER SIGNED 24601 (and him calling Dimitri "Agent Boring Borscht," omg) and how she knew she shouldn't have responded to him because it would look bad to the Alchemists but did anyways. Adrian defending Sydney to Sonya and Dimitri when she didn't want to give blood!!! And how she told Jill after that she thought he defended her because he felt like he owed her, and Jill was like, "No, I think he would have done it for you regardless." And that moment when Sydney glances at Adrian after he defends her and sees safety in him. How Sydney tells Adrian how he's one of the most fiercely loyal people she knows, and he's like "But what are loyal and caring really worth?" and she's immediately like "To me? Everything," ughhh. How she goes with him to lunch with his dad and defends him and then buys him a slushee AND DRINKS ONE HERSELF DESPITE THE SUGAR/CALORIES just to cheer him up!!!! HOW HE CALLS HER THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURE HE HAS EVER SEEN WALKING THIS EARTH. AND HOW HE GAVE UP CIGARETTES FOR A WEEK FOR HER!!!! I also liked how his confession at the end emphasized how when he tried to change for Rose, it was because he wanted to impress her and get her to want him, but when he's around Sydney, he wants to be better because it feels right and she inspires him to become something greater. And seriously, that's one of my favorite shippy things, when characters change not because they want to make the other person like them, but just by being around the other person, it makes them want to be a better version of themselves, and I love that Adrian emphasized the distinction between those two things, and it just hit all my shippy buttons.
I didn't even mind the Sydney/Brayden stuff. I liked that Brayden wasn't this terrible boyfriend who Adrian was clearly superior to in every way (well, I mean, obviously Adrian >>>> Brayden, but Brayden wasn't secretly evil or anything like that), and I actually thought the part where Sydney disagrees with him and then is worried he's going to be mad, but instead he's super into it and kisses her and then buys her flowers was super cute. I also enjoyed how Adrian was, like, low-key jealous about them, but like, he wasn't a jackass about their relationship, and he wanted to make sure she was happy with him, but he also thought she could do better. And how he called her the second he found out about the date and grilled her about Brayden, and told her that he can imagine lots of guys being interested in her, UGHHH. (I was dying over everything in this book if you hadn't already noticed.)
And this book was also just nice for Sydney's development apart from Adrian. I liked her realizing that her Moroi friends in Palm Springs are a million times more moral than Keith, and that the vampires she knew were hardly monsters at all compared to the vampire hunters, even though the vampire hunters were human like her.
If this book was entirely about Sydney/Adrian and no one else, I probably would have given it 5 stars, but like I said, I wasn't super into the main plot, and I am already tired of all the relationship stuff between Jill, Micah, Eddie, Trey, and Angeline. I don't really care who any of them dates, but I'm DEFINITELY tired of hearing about it, ugh. And it's not even that I hate any of those characters, but I just don't really feel any interest in any of those pairings, and every time the story spent any time on that stuff, I was always like, "CAN WE GET BACK TO SYDNEY/ADRIAN BEING SUPER ADORABLE, PLEASE???" But yeah, Sydney/Adrian has rapidly become one of my favorite book ships ever at this point, which is saying something. Definitely excited for the next book!!!!!!