Check out this review and more at On the Wings of Books 
 What I Thought... 
 * I devoured the Vampire Academy books and was looking forward to reading the Bloodlines series. I absolutely loved the world that Mead created and was excited to see it continue. I was unprepared for just how much I would love the Bloodlines series though. 
 * We first meet Sydney when Rose is hunting Dimitri and I was kind of meh about her, but as we get to know Sydney in Bloodlines I knew I was going to like these books better. I'm much more Sydney than Rose. Sydney is very strait laced and strongly believes in what the alchemists believe, that all vampires and dhampirs are bad. 
 * Adrian is way better than Dimitri. It definitely helps that we get to know him much more than we ever got to know Dimitri, but I just find him overall more likeable and interesting than Dimitri. Compared to Adrian Dimitri is pretty boring. Adrian is still struggling with spirit and it's hard to see the emotional toll that it is taking on him. Harder still when he starts narrating in The Fiery Heart. 
 * Mead builds on the Vampire Academy even more in the Bloodlines series. (view spoiler)[There are witches! (hide spoiler)] I love how she meanders about weaving new things into what already happened in the Vampire Academy series. They are still working on spirit and what happens when you change Strogoi and all sorts of other good things. 
 * In Vampire Academy we got a small glimpse into the Alchemist world, in Bloodlines we learn so much more. And not all of it will give you warm fuzzies. 
 * Bloodlines is still in a school setting, but one completely different from Vampire Academy. Bloodlines takes place at a human boarding school in California. This provides a different atmosphere for the books, as well as new challenges. 
 * We don't get to see too much of Rose or Lissa (or Christian, which makes me sad) but we do get a lot of Jill and Eddie and some new people, both Alchemists and vampires. 
 Overall I can't get enough of this series and I am so excited to read The Ruby Circle!