Blue Bloods review

Title: Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods #1)

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Published: March 1st 2010

My rating: 

What it’s about:

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, who 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 had sworn to keep their kind a secret for centuries and, until now, it had been 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’s 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 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 vampires 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 main 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. At times throughout the novel, Schuyler 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 modelling 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 its couple of oddities), I’ll be following the series.