Bloodlines and Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead

In this spin-off of the beloved Vampire Academy series, Sydney the Alchemist poses as a bodyguard of sorts against the myriad of things that go wrong when Jill Mastrano goes into hiding at a human prep academy.

Plot:

While each book contains at least one thrilling, life-or-death battle, they seem to encompass less danger and excitement throughout in comparison with the Vampire Academy series. A prominent theme is Sydney moving from the humans = good, vampires = bad mantra grilled into her by the Alchemists, questioning the system she’s blindly subscribed to all her life, and overcome the racial barriers in a desired but forbidden romance.

Characters:

Sydney Sage is the polar opposite of Rose. Instead of shouting “Why did you do that, stupid?” every other chapter the way I did with Rose, I related to Sydney – she’s a lot more like me. However, Rose clearly makes the more exciting and unpredictable character.

Lovers of Adrian will rejoice in his prominence in this series. I wasn’t too fond of him in VA, but he quickly made my favorites list in Bloodlines, demonstrating a depth of character behind his devil-may-care attitude. Adrian is even more Sydney’s opposite than Rose, and Bloodlines has them bringing out the best in each other.  

I hope this in-the-writing series will see Sydney throw off the chains of the Alchemist cult (at least that’s what I see it as) and join the vampire cause.