Blue Bloods (I Mean The Book, People)

Is it queer to say that the book ended differently than I remember…since this was maybe my fifth time reading Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz? I guess the reason being is that all the books just kinda mingle together now and I forget where one stopped and the next one began.

Since this was a reread I’m going to do my best to avoid adding spoilers from the rest of the series, but if I unintentionally slip up…my apologies. There will DEFINITELY be spoilers about this book though, Blue Bloods, because how can I give a review without spoilers?!

Melissa De La Cruz reinvented the vampire in a extremely unique way. (Vampire tangent begins now) I like to categorize my authors and their vampires, so I’ll being with

• Anne Rice– The original idea of a vampire, going along with the likes of Dracula except less ask to enter more breaking and entering.
• Stephenie Meyer– Pretty similar to Rice’s idea of immortality, with the obvious exception of the sparkling in the sun.
• P.C & Kristin Cast– Really interesting new take on vampires, however still similar to the basic live forever idea. They created a goddess type worship, being marked as a fledgling vampire, either growing into a vampire or dying as a teenager.
• Melissa De La Cruz– Not your traditional live forever vampires. These vampires take human ‘shells’ and expire from one lifetime to another and are reborn, but their soul and their memories live forever.

Vampire tangent over. My tangent had a point though, I was trying to show how different and unique Cruz’s vampires are to what’s already been written. The idea that the human form of a vampire lives and dies while the soul lives on forever is a new and refreshing outlook on the overused fictional creatures. As you already know, vampires live forever (duh), which is why all the richest, smartest and most famous people are vampires. They can remember all their past lives, languages, life lessons, they single-handedly helped create the new world and own most if it, and they’ve kept all the money they’ve been accumulating for hundreds upon hundreds of years. With that criteria in mind I think the only logical setting for a story about vampires is indeed New York, where young rich people thrive on life, food, and fashion. New York also ties into the story perfectly because of its old history, the settling of the new world, and the unknown origins of Croatan. The way Cruz intertwines the story of the past, of Plymouth, and of Roanoke, with what is happening in the present, truly makes her story eerie and puts her readers on edge.

I feel like doing my review a little bit differently today, since this is a series and there are six more books to read and review after this one. This is where the spoilers start, people.

Characters 

• Schuyler Van Alen – Half vampire/half human. Only one of her kind. She is a Blue Blood but at the same time she is not. Her mother, is Alegra Van Alen. She is 15 and attends Duchesne School. Her best friend and conduit is Oliver Hazard-Perry. She has a blood hound named Beauty. She is attacked twice by a Silver Blood. 
• Alegra Van Alen – Is also known as Gabrielle or Gabriel, an archangel that came down from heaven when Lucifer and his dark angels were cast out. Full Blue Blood, currently in the cycle but in a coma after her human familiar (Schuyler’s father) died and she refused to take more human blood. 
• Cordelia Van Alen – Schuyler’s ‘Grandmother’. Is the same woman who wrote the diary about Plymouth and Croatan. Is killed at the end of the book, but her blood was saved so her vampire soul lives on. 
• Lawrence Van Alen – Schuyler’s ‘Grandfather’. Hasn’t been seen in many years. At the end of the book Schuyler learns she must find him to get the answers she’s searching for. 
• Charles Force – Alegra Van Alen’s twin. He is the arch angel Michael, he followed Gabriel to Earth when the dark angels fell, out  of his love for her. Is the vampire Regis and cycle father to Jack and Mimi Force. 
• Jack Force – Schuyler’s love interest in this book. Jack is twins with Mimi Force. He is a Blue Blood and a Junior at Duchesne. In the beginning of the novel he was trying to solve the mystery of what is killing the vampires with Schuyler until Charles put a stop to it. 
• Mimi Force – The girl you have to hate. Okay seriously though. Twin to Jack Force. Uses too many human familiars and breaks many of The Codes. Most popular girl at Duchesne, a Junior.
• Oliver Hazard-Perry – Schuyler’s best friend and human conduit. His family has been in service to the Van Alen’s since (and perhaps before) the beginning of the new world. Oliver helps Schuyler uncover the secret of what is killing the vampires.  
• Bliss Llewellyn – Just moved to NY from TX. Her father, Forsyth is now a senator. She is a Blue Blood and was possibly bitten by her boyfriend Dylan, or a Silver Blood. Friends by appearance with Mimi Force, friends in secret with Schuyler and Oliver. 
• Dylan Ward – New to NY. Thought to be a human until Charles Force reveals him as a Blue Blood. He is thought to be among the predators killing vampires, however he is unaware that he is possessed. He may have bitten Bliss and attacked Schuyler and killed Cordelia. 

Okay so that’s ALOT of information. If you’re reading this book for the first time and you didn’t pick up on some of the details I mentioned, psht, DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. It takes a while to get everyone and everything that’s going on organized in your head, especially as the series progresses. 

Here’s a quick plot overview.

Aggie Carondolet, a Blue Blood, is killed outside a night club. Blue Bloods where previously thought to be immortal, so to the younger generation her death comes as a shock. Jack Force tries to tell Schuyler Van Alen that he believes Aggie was murdered. Schuyler attends a Committee meeting where she learns that she is a vampire and what the Blue Bloods are and how they operate. Schuyler and Oliver then attend the Duchesne school dance where they find Bliss and Dylan together. Jack Force asks Schuyler to dance and then rushes to help his twin Mimi when her human date collapses. A few nights later at a party Mimi walks in on Jack and Schuyler making out. Later that night Charles Force tells Jack the Schuyler should’ve never been born because she is half human and that the Elders are still debating on whether or not they are going to kill her, but for now they are just keeping an eye on her. After their talk, Jack refuses to talk to or acknowledge Schuyler. It isn’t until Schuyler is attacked again that they begin talking and working together, with the knowledge Schuyler got from Oliver, to discover who and what is preying on vampires. This leads them back to Charles who then shows them he is an archangel and incapable of being a Silver Blood, and that Alegra was his bond mate, his twin. When Schuyler returns home her grandmother is near death. At the same time Dylan (formerly thought to have killed Aggie) sneaks into Bliss’s room to warn her about the Silver bloods and admit that he thinks he’s been possessed. Bliss and Dylan are then attacked and the story ends at Cordelia’s funeral, where Schuyler not only says goodbye to her grandmother and only family, but she also says goodbye to Jack.

Blue bloods is such an amazing series, full of suspense, drama, love rhombuses, murders, and a whole lot of blood ties. The books just get better from here!