Review: Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

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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? 

CAUTION: I may dissolve into a rant monster somewhere down this review, so please approach this post with caution.

I don't usually rant about books. It's not that I'm afraid to, it's just that I usually have a somewhat decent luck with books- meaning that I generally avoid vampire novels like a plague. Unfortunately, my friend and I decided to play the 'let's go on opposite sides of a shelf and pick out a book at the same spot as each other without looking at it' game. This usually ends up well, and I find out about some author I've never heard of before, but on this occasion I got Blue Bloods. It was either read the book or hand over the equivalent of about $6 US, and I'm pretty sure you know what I picked.

Looking back, I'd have given the money to my friend almost cheerily if I'd known how much I'd dislike this book.

I will say however that I did enjoy the plot to some extent- mysteries are cool, and I think that if the novel had focused more on the mystery, I probably would have enjoyed this a lot more.

Also, the spoilers begin here, as does the ranting.

Let's start with the whole concept of the Blue Bloods. The Blue Bloods are vampires who came from Europe over to America in search of new life. The thing about them is that they can't reproduce or anything, so when they die (and they die every 100 years or so), they get reborn into another person. Since you can't reproduce in a sense, you have a mated couple who you are always destined to be with. This is fine, until you realize:

One of these mated couples in the novel are twins. Yes people, twins. Exact chromosomes and all. You'd have thought that sibling rivalry would have helped, but no, they are all over each other. Take into account that the boy is a stalkerish love interest to the main character, and this is how I feel:

Speaking of the main character, I'd like to introduce you to our dear heroine, Schulyer. She's... boring. She's supposed to be cool and all hipster, but what she ends up to be is basically another 'mysterious outcast'. There was just no personality there, and I couldn't connect with her. I wish she was quirky or had an attitude, but she ends up being a reincarnation of Bella Swan with an unpronounceable name. 

Another thing I didn't get about the Blue Bloods is how they were ALL RICH. ALL OF THEM RICH AND BEAUTIFUL. Why are they all so coincidentally rich? Where did the money come from, and seriously, being a vampire cannot be all about partying and having sexy time ALL THE TIME, as it appears to be in this novel. I was so aggravated by this part of the novel that at one time I actually wrote a declaration in my journal. It goes like this :

'I, Hayley W. promise that on the event of my transformation to becoming a rich and beautiful vampire, that I will do useful stuff. Like donating my endless pit of money to charity instead of spending it on clothes.'

Okay, I've definitely reached a stage now where coherent thoughts are impossible.

In conclusion, I felt as if there were just too many issues with the ethics and the overall plot of the novel wasn't meant for me. If you're a large fan of vampire and stories about prep school, it might be more to your liking, but unfortunately I just really disliked it. I don't think I'm able to give this novel a rating.