Publish date: April 2006
Source: Kindle e-book (only $2.69!)
"When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society.
The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapated mansion. Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?" (from Goodreads)
Firstly, this is not a book that I would normally pick up. I'll be the first to admit that I don't typically enjoy "vampire books." I gave Twilight a shot a few years ago while I was student teaching, wondering what was so great about this book that my students loved so much. Not much, I found out, but that's another story. Anyway, I found out that the Smart Girls Kick It tour is stopping in Lansing Tuesday night, so I decided to quickly read a Melissa de la Cruz book since she is with the tour. Blue Bloods was only 2.69 for the Kindle, so that made that decision pretty easy.
It was surprisingly enjoyable! I thought it might be cheesy since, you know, vampires, but it was quite entertaining. I think one of the reasons that I liked it was all the history that was interwoven in the story. I adore American history and love unsolved mysteries like Roanoke, so I really liked that aspect of the story. The present setting, though, reminded me of Gossip Girl with all the wealth and designer clothing and whatnot. It got kind of old after a while since it's not something that I can relate to, but it wasn't a dealbreaker.
One thing that I thought was confusing about the novel was the differing points of view. The chapters switched between third person narrators- Schuyler, Mimi, Bliss, etc. It got annoying sometimes; maybe I am a one or two narrator kind of girl? I also wish that de la Cruz had just gone more in depth with everything, but maybe that will happen throughout the rest of the series? I plan on buying the next book in the series tomorrow at the signing (and get it signed), so we'll see!
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