Name of the book: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Book publish year: 2011
Rating: 3 1/2
Brief intro: (Intro from Goodreads)
The first book in Richelle Mead's brand-new teen fiction series - set in the same world as Vampire Academy.

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

My review:
I have loved all of Richelle Mead's stories, especially Vampire Academy. I was very much looking forward to reading Bloodlines, so when I finally got it I was super excited. Before I read it I made sure not to compare it to VA because I knew it would be different as Sydney was the narrator instead of Rose. But it was really hard not to compare Bloodlines to VA, and I will start off by saying that it was interesting reading Sydney's view on the Vampire world and her way of thinking, but I just felt like it was missing that 'badass' Rose commentary from VA. I don't know if it was just me or if others felt like this too, but I did feel there was just something missing that could of made me like the book more than what I did. I'm not saying Bloodlines wasn't a good read, just that it wasn't as good as Vampire Academy was.

*SPOILERS*
There was only one small scene with Rose at the start and pretty much no mention of Dimitri at all until the last couple of sentences of the book. Even though I knew Bloodlines was focused on the side characters, I was hoping for a few scenes of Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and Christian, but we didn't get them - which sadly disappointed me right from the start.

I was also expecting alot more action than what was in Bloodlines, so I was a little disappointed after reading it when it only had the small action scene at the end. All of the VA books have been constantly action packed and on the go all the time and I felt Bloodlines didn't quite live up to their standards. The only real exciting part was the last 20 or so pages and I guess at times I was tempted to stop reading it, but I wanted to see how it turned out. I was also hoping something would happen with Sydney and Adrian because I wanted Adrian to be happy again after what Rose did to him in the last VA book. There were those few moments in the book where I thought there was some romance starting between Sydney and Adrian but it never went anywhere. Luckily at the end after the attack with Lee and the Strigoi, we see that Adrain and Sydney may like each other [and I love the part where Adrian tells Sydney she's beautiful, it was so sweet! ]

So overall I would read Bloodlines again, but I honestly was expecting alot more out of the spin off series and more ROSE AND DIMITRI scenes at least should have been put in! But even though I may have said alot of negative things about Bloodlines, I did really enjoy reading about the side charcters, mostly Adrian and Sydney's relationship (which I hope develops into something more) and also how we were introduced to Dimitri again, who will be working with Adrian in the next book to help research what makes the restored damphirs and morois immune to strogoi turning them.

The major positive I also have after reading Bloodlines is there was alot of Adrian in Bloodlines which was super good as I was having withdrawals haha!! You got to see a caring side to him and also how he can use a hobby like art take away his misery and spirit powers instead of using alcohol and cigarettes.

your review was great and i agree that i wished there were more rose and dimitri in the book.  I think this was a great start for this spinoff series.  It gave us a new insight to sydney and adrian that i didn't see or have before.  The ending was a great setup for the next book.  I can't wait till it comes out.

I appreciate the review but I confess I consider that this book is not about the main characters of the original VA series so it would not seem nice to say that the book misses the 'feel' of the original series. Yes, I agree that the 'commentary' and originally main characters are missed but I would also say that in its own way, it stands out from the others as we understand the life of the humans and vampires from the eyes of Sydney. She presents the beliefs of the alchemists about the vampires and their magic in such a way that you get to understand them too. Sydney is not exactly a fighter and so it would have been hard to design several action scenes but the suspense which forms the book is very good and makes up for the lack of the action.
To be honest, it is, in its own way, as good as Vampire Academy itself. Can't wait for 'Spring Lily'.

Thanks for the comments. I do apologise if I offended anyone in any way with my review, those were just my honest opinions and I guess I just liked Rose as the MC better than I did Sydney, but I DO LOVE BLOODLINES in it's own way and I do agree with you that it does show us the human and alchemists views on vampire life. I too can not wait for Spring Lily so we can get more of Adrian and Sydney

I understand where you guys are coming from with it doesn't feel quite like the VA series I felt the same way but then I just told myself again that it isn't VA it's Bloodlines. Rose and the rest of the other heavy hitters from VA wasn't expected to be in this book full force just as secondary characters.

I might be biased to the series though because I'm a huge Adrian fan but for the introductory book to the series it was a good one at least to me. I think that the first book was just like a teaser to the series not really a real book per se. There's five more to come so I'm waiting on at least Golden Lily to make my final decision on it. At least Dimitri will be in the series for a while, he was really the only one I could tolerate from VA besides Adrian

I might have been a bit harsh in my review, I guess because I had such high expectations after Vampire Academy, so hopefully this doesn't put anyone off of reading the book. I do agree, I think it was a teaser book in the series and I'm looking forward to reading more Adrian and Dimitri in The Golden Lily