Marked By Books: Review of Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

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?

Ok, so now I have officially finished reading this book and I am already starting to read the second one, Masquerade, which I will be sure to post a review about when I am done… which will probably be in another 24 to 26 hours. No joke.

Now, I am sure that the whole “vampire” theory is getting old and stale and many of us are really getting fed up with the whole “I am a vampire and going to suck your blood,” scenario. Am I right? Maybe, because before I read this book, I was really starting to want to take a break from them. But now…. No offense to the classics but thanks, but no thanks. This new take on vampirism is really something to appreciate because it isn’t all that gory. There is no garlic, sun, or silver allergies to take into account like Hollywood seems to think. De la Cruz seems to have the perfect image of how to capture the attention of a teen audience when the rest of the world has us hanging by a thread to the wonderful world of reading literature. Granted, the vampire scenario is not exactly literature per se, but it’s fairly relatable.

Now, to start with the actual review….. WOW! Just WOW! Let me be honest, yes the beginning was fairly slow and there was not really all that much to capture my interest. But, I am not the type of person who starts a book and stops if it gets boring. For some odd reason, I finish the book even if I am literally falling asleep reading it, that’s how boring it is. That’s beside the point though. My point is, even though the beginning was quite slow, and boring, I was glad that I stuck with it.

As I mentioned before, De la Cruz has a whole new intake on the vampire theory. Yes, they still drink blood, as far as vampire stereotypes go. So, the Blue Bloods are the vampires who are reincarnated every century or so and guess what………..? Their blood is…… wait for it….. BLUE! Kinda obvious, but also really cool. The Red Bloods are humans. We have, quite obviously, red blood. And then there are the Silver Bloods who are rogues, for lack of a better word. Well, yes there are better words, but they aren’t appropriate. Now, the Silvers are the vampires who used to be Blue Bloods but then they realized that Blue Blood was better as well as more powerful than regular, ole human blood. So, I suppose you could call it a form of cannibalism. Now, the basis of the first book is to introduce the basics about the characters, Schuyler (pronounced Skylar) and her BFF Oliver, who is human.

Now, I have already given away too much about the book, so I will just go with saying that this new take on vampirism is refreshing because it is not all about drying up in the sun. It’s not all about blood. It’s not even all about murder. Granted, the Silver Bloods murder to get the Blue Blood, but that it is what draws the attention of readers.

So if you ever need a new book, look no further than this one.