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young adult book reviews & more

Guest Review: Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

Part of Plenty of Paper's Hiatus Tour, info here.


Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1)Schuyler Van Alen is an outcast. She dresses funny. She lives in a creepy old house. She's too shy to talk to anyone except for her best friend Oliver. Oliver is: sweet, skinny, brown hair, dorky glasses. A very intelligent nerd type with good taste in music and movies, who is- you guessed it- hopelessly in love with Schuyler. And get this: she has no idea.

On the night that our story begins, Schuyler is on her way to a club with Oliver when she witnesses a should-have-been suicide: a boy throws himself under a cab, but is perfectly fine when he walks away, just minutes later. As he walks away from the cab, Schuyler recognizes this boy, who is no less than Jack Force, the (blond, charming, and athletic, but deep down, really sensitive) most popular boy in school. He proceeds to actually speak to her. Flirt, even! Schuyler is shocked. Reader is not.

At this point, I was a little bit skeptical. I mean, the author's other titles didn't appeal to me at all, so I couldn't really decide whether or not this book would either. So the generic beginning was a bit of a let-down, and made me even more wary than before. But, other than a certain fixation with semi-colons, Melissa de la Cruz's writing was good, so I continued.

Brilliant decision, on my part.

As it turns out, the love triangle between Schuyler, Oliver, and Jack was where the predictability ended, and where the story shifted into one of the most original takes on vampires I've ever read (second only to Scott Westerfeld's Peeps). Manhattan's elite 'Blue Bloods' have been being reborn since they came over on the Mayflower- the same people in the same place, over and over, for two hundred years- and Schulyer is one of them.

Blue Bloods is a fast-paced page turner, full of interesting twists and suspense. My only complaint is that, as I said before, the characters are kind of typical. Schulyer, Jack, Mimi (Jack's twin sister, the blonde, bitchy popular girl) and Oliver, anyway. Great, but not very unique. Maybe all of de la Cruz's creative energy was spent on the fantastic plot, but more interesting characters would have been good.

All in all, Stephenie Meyer keeps her Queen of the Fictional Vampires crown (Scott being the king), but Blue Bloods is great if you want a new take on the bloodsucking creatures, as well as a quick and thrilling read that will keep you guessing until the end (and after!). The sequel, Masquerade, is even better than the first.

Blue Bloods gets three and a half cups of coffee. :)

Caroline

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Next Clue:
A habitual reader, one book after another
These repeated actions are like no other
On books and more books she does thrive
At her lovely blog dwells review number five

14 munch(es) :

Alea said...

I picked this up at a library sale about a week ago. It does sound interesting! :)

Chelsie said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

I didn't actually like this book... I thought it was really overall boring and uninteresting. But my friends say that while Blue Bloods was not good, Masquerade was awesome... that's what I'm hoping, anyways...

-Chelsie-

Heather said...

Thanks so much for the hint!!! I love you!!!! haha. It's an amazing one, by the way.

And I, personally, didn't like this one, but liked masquerade. Sorry for butting in on the contest, though. I'm out.

Hillary said...

I just got a four chapter excerpt of Revelations in the mail today. I still haven't read this one thought, but I'm trying to get it! it sounds really good.

By the way, I changed the location of my blog so if you could change the link, that'd be great! Sorry for the trouble! It's now bookreader4.blogspot.com instead of onepageisnotenough.blogspot.com Thanks!

RR2 said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.


I really enjoyed this series.

Khy said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

I've had this series on my wishlist forever, but always find something else to get when I go to the bookstore. I'll have to pick it up next time.

Dominique said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

hmm, haven't read this one yet. I think our library has a copy though...

Liviania said...

I picked this book up long ago expecting it to be not good, so I was also pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a copy of Masquerade.

Amee said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

Havne't read this series yet but I've heard good things. :D

Elainareads said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer, an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer, away she goes, devouring more and more,she is the location of review number four.

Great review, I like this series, this book was good but I think I like the second better too.

books-a-lishious said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

I loved this book and its sequel... I can't wait for the next one to come out!

Carolina said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

this book was ok. I liked the second one better.

Breanna said...

every day, her books become fewer and fewer,
an appetite she has, this lovely reviewer,
away she goes, devouring more and more,
she is the location of review number four.

I thought I had left a comment on this one but I guess I just looked at it and then spaced. I really want to read this book it sounds so good! Great review!

-Breanna

louiseb130 said...

Please count me in

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