Review of Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1) by Richelle Mead

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.

(From GoodReads)

My Review

I originally had no plans to post a review of Bloodlines. From time to time, I buy books purely for my enjoyment. I consider it a reward for the massive amounts of time I spend on reading/reviewing books for this blog. But there were a few things I wanted to address about this book. In that respect, this is not my typical review. It's a semi-rant. But not a mad rant. Just my thoughts.

First off, I want to talk about body image. This topic was first brought to my attention by Ruby's review of Bloodlines at Ruby's Reads. I hadn't read Bloodlines yet, so I was hyper-aware of this issue when I started reading the book. Basically, Sydney is told she is a size four instead of a size two. She immediately is upset and wondering how it happened and how she can get back into a two. When she asks Jill, a super skinny Moroi what size she wears, Jill says a zero or two (darn memory!). That furthers Sydney's despair.

Okay, so I'm not quite sure why this is in the book. Maybe to show that even really skinny girls have feelings, too? To be fair, Sydney later goes into her past, her father telling her she isn't skinny enough. But Sydney's dad is an all-around ass-hat! Who care what that jerk thinks? Sydney does, that's who.

 Being a thirty-three year old wife (whose husband thinks I am one hot momma), mommy, and all-around badass (not really), I can handle it. I can say "Suck it, A-holes!" and go on about my day. But.... the teenager inside of me (who I bitch slap constantly) is a quivering pile of goo. I mean if a girl who is a size four considers herself fat, what does that make me, who is so not a four. Let the shame-spiral begin.

All in all, not a good message to send to teenage girls. They hear it enough from the idiots in the school hallways, they shouldn't hear it from a young adult book. Especially from an author as beloved as Mead.

Second. Well, I was going to do a little bit of ranting about sad-sack Adrian. But, I reminded myself of all he went through in the VA books, especially Last Sacrifice. And I decided to get over myself.  Because honestly, Adrian does rock it hard in Bloodlines. You can always count on him for a snarky comeback. He is quite awesome.

Even though I took issue with the "Sydney-is-a-big-fatty" scenario, I thought Bloodlines was pretty freaking great. I would be a liar if I said I didn't devour this delicious book.  I love Richelle Mead's writing. I love the world she has built. I love her characters, even up-tight Sydney. She has set herself up brilliantly for book two The Golden Lily.

Oh, and the last sentence of Bloodlines? Squeeee!!!!!

Favorite Quotes:

Really, I could fill a page or two with Adrian quotes. The guy is seriously funny, and snarky. But for this, I chose a quote about Adrian.

"...but in that moment, I suddenly gained a flash of understanding into the mystery that was Adrian Ivashkov. People didn't believe in him very often. They had low expectations of him, so he did as well."

Hardcover, 421 pages

Published August 23rd 2011 by Razorbill

You can find Bloodlines at:

GoodReads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

*Bloodlines is a book I purchased for myself.*