REVIEW by Jena: The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead – Released 2/12 (@RichelleMead)

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch–a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood–or else she might be next.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK COMING OUT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I had requested an ARC of The Indigo Spell but since it didn’t arrive on time, I purchased the audiobook on release day and started listening to it immediately. If you’re not familiar, The Indigo Spell is the third installment in the Bloodlines series, which is a spinoff series from the Vampire Academy series. I loved the Vampire Academy series and when that ended and Bloodlines was announced, I honestly wasn’t sure how I would like it. I really wasn’t a big fan of Sydney Sage as a character but I LOVED Adrian Ivashkov. Since he made the transition to Bloodlines along with Sydney, I gave it a shot. I wasn’t blown away by Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1) but I ended up totally hooked with The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2). Out of the series so far, I can now say The Indigo Spell was by far my favorite installment and there’s a lot of reasons why.

One reason I want to mention is Sydney’s little eating disorder. It’s played out in the first two books as “normal” and that irritated the hell out of me. Finally, in The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2), Adrian calls Sydney out on the carpet over it, basically telling her she’s dangerously close to an eating disorder (dangerously close my ass) and that she could stand to gain a few pounds. Well, in The Indigo Spell, Sydney really took those comments to heart and did something about it. THANK THE GODS!!! Had she not, I was fully prepared to write Richelle Mead a piece of hate mail in which I demanded that the next book include a scene in which Adrian holds Sydney down and force-feeds her a damned cheeseburger. And a chocolate shake from McDonald’s. Such an infuriating part of the storyline. The Indigo Spell seems to have put an end to that and I couldn’t be happier.

We finally get the answer to the question that has been haunting all of us fans for the last year – Who is Marcus Finch? I can say that this storyline did not go the way I expected. At all. BUT I am ok with that. Even though it didn’t go in the most predictable route, I loved the way it did go. I dont want to say anything about what I mean due to spoilers so you’ll just have to go buy the book and get reading!!

As with all of her writing, Richelle Mead spun a great mystery in The Indigo Spell. I didn’t find that one at all predictable, which was a smallish problem in the first two books. Not that I knew how they were going to go from page one but mid-way through the books, I had an idea. That was not the case at all with The Indigo Spell. I was really happen with the surprises this one packed. It kept me guessing all the way through.

Once again, we have a great cast of characters. I have really grown to love Sydney, my major point of contention with her now seeming to be a thing of the past. She’s smart and resourceful and has become a lot of fun to read. Adrian is Adrian. I have loved him from the very first time I was introduced to him in the Vampire Academy series. He’s a witty and fun character and he keeps things interesting. Jill was starting to irritate me but she proved to be the sound voice of reason in The Indigo Spell and I admire her a lot for her wisdom in this one. We even got a few Vampire Academy alums that make a quick cameo in this book. That was kind of fun to have and really made me miss the characters a lot.

I know you’re all wondering what has happened with the Sydney and Adrian non-romance romance but I am not going to speak on it. It will ruin quite a bit of story line for you and TRUST ME, you want to experience this for yourself. I will tell you that The Indigo Spell featured one of the hottest non-sex scenes I have ever read!!

I am giving The Indigo Spell a solid 5 stars. Most definitely the best installment in the series thus far and I cant wait to see where Sydney’s story line goes!