REVIEW: Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) by Richelle Mead

Title/Series: Silver Shadows | Bloodlines #5
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: July 29th 2014
Format: Hardcover | Pages: 380
Genres: YA, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Romance
Source: Amazon
★★★★ (4/5) Stars!

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In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive. 

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off.

Oh what a rollercoaster this book has been. As much as I tried to avoid seeing people discuss their feelings on this book after they read it, sometimes things like that are just unavoidable. I never saw anything spoilery, like I said, it's all just been about feelings. It was enough though to have me really afraid to start reading it. After finishing it, my own feelings are very mixed. The first half of the book was heartbreaking and torturous. The second half had me on the edge of my seat with both excitement and frustration.

She could've done the extraordinary. I couldn't even handle the ordinary.

I feel like from beginning to end there was nothing but one form or another of frustration. Frustration with the characters, frustration with the situations they were in. With Adrian and Sydney being ripped apart at the end of The Fiery Heart, you had to realize that the beginning of this one wasn't going to be pretty. The only outcome of Adrian losing Sydney would be his dark slide into depression and all his old habits. Even though I knew it was coming I couldn't help but be so disappointed in him throughout quite a good chunk of it. He eventually turns things around but it still hurt to see him so out of control especially with what was going on with Sydney at the same time.

I woke to darkness.

Sydney was a whole other form of frustration and heartbreak all together. Unlike with Adrian where it all stemmed from his character, with her it was the situation and what she was going through. Having to read the things she was forced to endure brought tears to my eyes. Her strength and resilience though, completely blew my mind. The average person would have cracked early on but no matter what they put her through rock star Sydney would not break. I swear this girl is my new hero. I never thought I'd grow to love Sydney's character as much as I do.

And so, it was more than a little surreal when I stepped into the store and saw Sydney... 

...and time as I knew it suddenly froze.

I feel like I'm making it sound like all I ever wanted to do was throw my book across the room and that wasn't the case. There were still moments of the humor we've come to expect from these characters. As well as there being plenty to swoon over...eventually, in the most unexpected and surprising of ways. It was more than I had ever hoped for and my feels are still all over the place.

And that's when things went bad.

There was definitely more of a darkness to this one, so much action and danger. Every time I would start to relax something would happen and get my heart racing again. At five books now we have already been through so much with this series and yet...it's not over. There's one book left and still so much left unfinished. And that cliffhanger just added one more huge loose end into the mix. Though this was my least favorite book in the series I still, by the end of it at least, loved it. I just hope that this feeling will stay to the end.