Blue Bloods (2009)

I wish that I'd read the other reviews on this site before I bought this book. Lesson learned. :)

I'm not sure about this book. Haven't we seen the waifish, beautiful but not to herself, hiding her light under a bushel heroine before? And the somewhat dorky, not in-crowd, but with secrete powers/abilities male best friend?

I didn't find anything in this book shocking, though I know I was supposed to. It just felt rehashed. Maybe I've been reading too many YA fantasies.

I will read the other books in the series only if they're available at the library. Not going to spend any more money on them. ( )

An interesting addition to the vampire literature with it's own mythology and a great mystery to got along with romantic teenage issues ( )

Blue Bloods is the first novel in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz.

Content Note: racism

Plot:
Schuyler Van Alen comes from an old family that traces back to the Mayflower. But they have since fallen on hard times and their wealth is pretty much gone. But Schuyler can still attend the Duchesne school, the most prestigious school in New York where she feels thoroughly out of place. Fortunately she has her best friends Oliver and Dylan to brave the school together. But her life gets thoroughly shaken up, when a classmate turns up and Schuyler learns that she is actually a Blue Blood: a vampire – as is the most popular girl in school, Mimi Force and her gorgeous brother Jack. But even though Blue Bloods are supposed to be indestructible, somebody is hunting them.

Blue Bloods is basically Gossip Girl with vampires and if that sounds like your kind of thing, go for it (my niece jumped at the chance). But be prepared that it is also, unfortunately, pretty badly written and racist. I won’t be continuing with the series after this first installment.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2020/08/27/blue-bloods-melissa-de-la-cruz/ ( )

I'm itchy for book two ( )

Taken from my blog: YumYA Books

My Summary:
In 1620, the Mayflower set sail, and it carried the men and women who would shape America: John Alden; Miles Standish; Constance Hopkins. But among the Pilgrims, some were not escaping religious persecution. In fact, they weren’t human at all. They were vampires, whom settled into the New World and rose to great power, wealth and influence. They were known as the blue bloods of American society.

The blue bloods swore to keep their kind a secret for centuries and until now, it was kept hidden. But, In New York City, it’s now finally beginning to seep out. Schuyler Van Alen, a sophomore at a prestigious private school where all her peers wear Prada heels and pearls, is a loner. She lives in a neglected mansion with her unsociable grandmother, and prefers wearing baggy vintage clothing to what everyone else wears. She’s happy with being a loner, and she doesn’t feel like she’d missing out on anything. But then suddenly, when she turns fifteen, things start to get strange. Rippling blue veins turn up along her arms, she starts craving raw meat, and she has flashbacks of herself in ancient times.

Then a popular girl at school turns up dead, fully drained of blood. Schuyler can’t help but hear what everyone’s saying: It’s not possible – she can’t be dead. And Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, believes it too. He thinks she was murdered, and he convinces Schuyler into helping him find the murderer, and uncover secrets they think the blue bloods are keeping. But what Jack and Schuyler don’t realise is that she herself is in danger…

My thoughts:

I first read this book just over a year ago and when I did, I loved it. But, reading it again recently, I’m not so enthusiastic. But still…

…Blue Bloods is an interesting take on vampires. Melissa de la Cruz’s ideas about them being an elite society is intriguing although she writes more about what the students are wearing than deepening the plot and building the characters. The book is written in third person, from the point of view of three main characters: Schuyler, Bliss, and Mimi.

Schuyler (despite being the most written about character in the book) is the hardest to figure out of the three. Mimi is an unpleasant and jealous person, whereas Bliss is a kind girl with a little sass, who wishes she could be more. Although, Schuyler is hard to figure out. At times throughout the novel she seems to despise the blue bloods and not want anything to do with the elites, yet at other times she seems as though she wishes she was part of them – she gets into modeling and befriends Bliss, the most popular girl’s best friend.

There are some strange ideas in Blue Bloods, though. Like the fact that vampires are not only vampires, but also angels. What the -?

Having said that, Melissa de la Cruz writes well, and (despite it’s couple of oddities), i’ll be following the series.
( )