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81 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, but more about high-end society and high school drama than vampires, June 24, 2006
This review is from: Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1) (Hardcover)
I picked up this book suspecting to be an unconventional, interesting vampire tale. I am a fan of vampire lore, or good ones, at least, so I had to pick this up at my friendly local library. Was I surprised - or perhaps not, coming from the author of 'Au Pairs'- that this book had very little to do with vampires. The first 100 or so pages had absolutely no vampire mentions, and hardly any insinuations that vampires would come up later. Even after that the whole 'Guess what, I'm a vampire, and nearly everyone around you is too...oh yeah, and blood is indeed a necessity' thing is merely a side plot. Mainly, this book concerns Schuyler, an outcast of sorts, dealing with the Queen Bee, Mimi Force, and her gorgeous twin brother, and other high school dramas such as that. It takes a look at the high end of society, where teens learn to drip money without showing it off. Schuyler later learns that she is a 'blue blood', or a very special vampire who is descended from a very old line. You do not learn of this until you're 15, and then signs of it come to your attention, like visible veins and a raw meat craving. Those who are blue bloods seem to be always rich. This exclusive group seems to be HIGHLY metaphorical to the upper-class. She is told that she is immortal, yet blue bloods seem to be dying very rapidly...
Quite frankly, if the whole vampire thing got chucked out, a good percentage would still be a solid story. I was a bit disappointed at first, due to the lack of vampirism, but it was still a good read. Do not read this if you're looking for an Anne Rice twist for teens, or something to that effect. If you are a fan of Ms. de la Cruz's previous novels, i.e, the Au Pairs, and other chick lit, you will find this book a very good one.
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62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent!!!, May 3, 2006
This review is from: Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1) (Hardcover)
This is one of the best teenage vampire books out there, a fantastic read for teens and adults alike. Schuyler Van Alen lives alone with her grandma, and has only two friends: Oliver and Dylan. However, she begins experiencing strange things, like the intricate, raised pattern of blue veins on her arms. When she is invited to join the New York Blood Bank Committee, the most prestigous charity group in the city, she is reluctant. She attends the first meeting at her grandmother's insistence, where she is informed that she, as well as all the other Committee members, is a Blue Blood, an ancient breed of vampires. She is also informed that she is immortal and cannot be killed. If that's true, why are there three vampire teens who have recently been found dead? Schuyler begins a race against time to find out what could be killing vampires, as well as some shocking facts about her heritage and that of her friends, fellow vampires, and family. Will Schuyler find out what is happening...or will she be killed herself? Blue Bloods is an excellent book, the wonderful descriptions and storyline totally suck you in. I recommend this book for anyone, and can't wait for the sequels!
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34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring, June 15, 2008
I have recently gotten into YA vampire literature, and after seeing this book as a recommendation on Amazon, I decided to give it a try.
What a waste.
The book jumps around so much, that it is utterly impossible to get to know (or like) any of the characters. One minute the book focuses on Schuyler, then Bliss, then Jack, then Mimi... You end up not being able to get a true sense of who any of the characters actually are. This is most predominant with Schuyler. In the beginning of the book, you are led to believe that she is a shy-loaner type that doesn't fit in. All of a sudden, she is outgoing (the model thing....what was up with that?!?) and gets this "take-charge" attitude that comes out of no-where. I thought that maybe her relationship with Jack would salvage some of the story, but even that was extremely choppy, and unbelievable. There was no development in the relationship and it mostly left me confused.
The book tries to get way too in-depth into the history of vampires - on the most superficial level, if that makes sense? Its like new layers of who vampires are and how they came about kept getting introduced into the story, but they were never fully explained. It's seemed like the author wanted the history of her vampires to be very complicated, but in the end they just came out confusing.
I found myself skipping pages of jibberish to try and get to end of the story where other reviewers said that the book finally got interesting and redeemed itself. The last couple of pages were *decent*, but certainly not enough to make me want to jump up and get the sequel (even after the enormous cliff-hanger that I was left with).
And (on a final note) I could really care less about what designer shoes and skirts each character was wearing. Maybe it's because I don't follow fashion very closely, but all of the descriptions about the designers each character was wearing were completely lost on me and made the book even less enjoyable to read.
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