Rating: 4.5 stars
Synopsis: 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 if far worse. The sister of the 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.
Review: Okay, so I picked this book up at my local library because I've heard so many amazing things about not only the Bloodlines series but also the Vampire Academy series which Bloodlines is a spin off to. This was the only book they had at the library but I picked it up anyway and I'm really glad I did. Despite not having read any of the Vampire Academy series the plot is easy to pick up straight away. There are a lot of references to events which happened in that series obviously because it's a spin off but Richelle explains everything so well that, if like me you haven't read the VA series, you can still follow the plot of Bloodlines.
Bloodlines occurs just after the events of the last book in the VA series with Sydney being torn out of bed in the middle of the night by her dad for Alchemist business. Alchemist's are people who protect humans from the dangers of vampires and Sydney isn't exactly popular with them right now. After helping Rose in the VA series, she's seen as being a vamp lover and her allegiance is called into question by everyone close to her. I loved Sydney as a character - she's tough in her own way but there's a vulnerability to her that made her relatable. She's not used to praise because her dad is so strict and rarely (if ever) praises her and because she's been home-schooled, there's a real naivety in how she handles social situations which leads to some decidedly funny moments. Despite her desperation to not be seen as a vamp lover, she can't help but care for the vampires under her care - and even those who aren't. Jill and Eddie do seem to become like siblings to her in some way, and she really does seem to care about them which is really sweet. What I did love about her was that she is selfless. Her whole life has been dedicated to the cause of being an Alchemist that selflessness is ingrained in her but it's a really interesting characteristic for Sydney to have because it provides so much conflict within the plot - her selflessness to help not only Jill but Adrian as well throws more confusion as to where her loyalties actually lie.
Her relationship with Adrian is brilliant. It's a typical hate at first sight relationship with Adrian being so hot and cold so fast it's actually quite impressive. He's sarcastic and witty and they both give as good as they get but, Adrian shows from the start that Sydney does mean something to him. He overhears Kevin arguing with her and, while he doesn't step in, he does offer some support in his own way. Watching the relationship grow over the course of the book is really interesting but what I loved is that even after we've gone through a few chapters with Sydney and Adrian getting along, Richelle reminds us that their personalities are quite similar in a lot of ways and, no matter the situation, an argument is likely to be close behind the pair.
It was almost heart breaking to see Sydney struggle with her relationships with both Adrian and Jill. She really does try to do the right thing - looking out for Jill's love life and trying to help Adrian stay in college but it always seem to backfire on her and you really do feel for her because we can see the good intentions behind the actions but obviously Jill and Adrian don't until after the fact.
The world building was really intricate. Obviously this world has already been set up in VA but it was still amazing to see how much work Richelle has put into this world to make it believable and it really pays off. The tattoo plot point was really interesting. As an Alchemist, Sydney has a gold 'tattoo' on her cheek which she obviously thinks nothing of, but once she gets to school she finds out that a lot of the kids have paid for similar tattoos to either give them a boost in sport or to just give them a high. When this plot point was first introduced, I'll admit I was slightly sceptical because it did seem a little strange even for a vampire book, but Richelle really made it work. It was intriguing and different and yet it seemed to fit seamlessly into the world that she's built which is something that's quite difficult to achieve.
The only reason this book got 4.5 stars rather than 5 is that it's obvious from the outset that both Lee and Keith are up to something and that Lee's father is somehow involved. While I didn't guess the ending in it's entirety - I didn't guess Lee's background for example - I did know that Lee would show up and would try to hurt Sydney in some way and Keith was just a moot point from the very start. Whether that was intentional on Richelle's part - I think Keith's character definitely was - or not, I did see it coming and, while it didn't stop me from ploughing through the book and thoroughly enjoying it, it was slightly predictable and so this stopped me from giving a full 5 stars.
I would definitely recommend Bloodlines - it's a fast paced, exciting read that is different from a lot of vampire books I've read. I can't wait to read the rest of the series to see what happens!!
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