I've moved!

Howdy folks!  Just a note to let you know that, for reasons too vague and convoluted for me to explain, I will no longer be blogging here. But I will be making a fresh start in a new place, BookBorne. I hope some of you will choose to join me there. I've missed you.

BLOODLINES by Richelle Mead

Long story short: Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...

My thoughts: Vampire Academy is one of my all-time favorite YA series, and Rose Hathaway one of my favorite characters. So I feel a little disloyal when I say... I think I might like Bloodlines and Sydney better. That was a whisper, so Rose won't hear me and get her feelings hurt. She's sitting right there on the bookshelf, and I do have a heart, after all.

Sydney is just such a normal, snarky girl. She doesn't have any spectacular skills or powers, other than her brains and her chemistry set. And yet she manages to explode off the page and through the story, conquering obstacles and laying waste to every overpuffed ego in her path. I'm only sad that she doesn't get a romance yet, but I can see hints of one to come.

It was so great to revisit my buddies from VA! Jill, Eddie and Adrian obviously get a lot of page time, but there are plenty of cameos by familiar faces. I finally get Adrian this time around. He was just so wrong for Rose that he only annoyed me in VA, but I started to like him here. In my defense, I think he's also just BEING less annoying now, it's not entirely my bad.

Richelle Mead has done her usually fabulous job in providing a fast-paced, richly peopled story that hooks the reader in completely. Joe actually read this book before I did and loved it.   I'm right again! He should just do what I tell him in the first place, save himself all this tiresome "I told you so."

Final word: If you haven't read this book yet, why the heck not? I loved it from cover to cover and I think you will, too. 5/5 STARS

Find this book:
Author website

Amazon

Goodreads

BLOG TOUR STOPS:
My opinion not enough for you? Check out some of these fine bloggers...
Aug 23 Tynga's Reviews
Aug 24 Me On Books
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Aug 30 Just a Lil Lost
Aug 31 He Followed Me Home
Sept 1 Evie Bookish
Sept 2 Ever Expanding Library
Sept 5 Knit Purl Stitch Read & Cook
Sept 6 Wicked Lil' Pixie
Sept 7 Hands and Home
Sept 8 Snowdrop Dreams of Books
Sept 9 Just Another Story
Sept 12 Bibliomama
Sept 13 Esther's Ever After
Sept 14 Simply Stacie
Sept 15 Krystal's Stellar Book Blog
Sept 19 Lost for Words

On Hiatus

So, you've probably picked up on this by now, but I thought I'd make it official. I'm on a blogging break. Life is busy busy busy for me right now, and blogging seems to be the thing that's falling by the wayside to make room in my schedule. It was either blogging or reading that was going to go and, well, that's a no-brainer. My final post will be the BLOODLINES blog tour on Friday, and then it's "Sayonara!"  I'll miss you all!