#vablappreciationweek

In The Fiery Heart Sydney is in full hormonal teen mode, unable to focus on the meeting where she's about to join a witch coven because she's distracted thinking about making out with her vampire boyfriend (look how far my baby has come):

After a lifetime of praising myself for stoically adhering to mind over matter, I was kind of astonished that someon as cerebral as me would take to physical activity as quickly as I had. Sometimes I tried to rationalize it as a natural animal response. But really, I just had to face the truth. My boyfriend was insanely sexy, vampire or not, and I couldn't keep my hands off him.

In Silver Shadows, on the other hand, actual physical descriptions are set aside in favor of ripping my heart out of my chest. First looking at a picture:

I had no idea where she’d gotten the picture, and I didn’t care. My heart leapt as I looked into their smiling faces, faces I loved and had missed so terribly. I’d imagined their faces countless times, but there was no substituting the actual image. I took in every detail: the way the light played off Adrian’s hair, the way Jill’s lips curved in a shy smile. I had to swallow back a wave of emotion welling up within me. Maybe Sheridan had meant to punish me by showing them, but it actually came off as more of a reward—until she spoke again.

Then when she actually sees him in person:

They fell out of my line of sight, and suddenly, my vision was filled with the most beautiful image I could have hoped for: Adrian. For a few seconds, that doubt plagued me again, that this was just one more deception on the Alchemists’ part. But no, there he was before me. Adrian. My Adrian, gazing down with those piercing green eyes. I felt an ache in my chest as emotion momentarily overcame me. Adrian. Adrian was here, and I fumbled to find something to say, some way to convey all the love and hope and fear that had built within me these last few months. “Are you in a suit?” I managed at last, my voice choking up. “You didn’t have to dress up for me.” “Quiet, Sage,” he said. “I’ll make the hilarious one-liners during this daring rescue.” His eyes, warm and full of love, held mine for a moment, and I thought I would melt.

The Ruby Circle is still kind of sad, since Adrian got hate crimed, but it's a sweet ending to this compilation:

There was nothing more I could say as I helped wipe blood and dirt from Adrian’s face with a damp cloth, brushing aside wayward pieces of chestnut hair. He gave me his devil-may-care smile and still managed to look dashing, despite his bedraggled state. [...] Looking at Adrian now, I felt a surge of love well up within me, despite our earlier tension. I could no longer imagine a life without him in it. It was impossible.

We start with cute for an evil creature of the night and end with I can't imagine my life without him.