Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Publisher: Hyperion
Goodreads Summary:
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?
My thoughts:
I really really wanted to like this book. But I really didn't. I recently read a book by de la Cruz that I loved, The Witches of East End, and I saw this series and thought, why not? I like young adult books and vampires, so I figured it would be a fun read.
I don't know where to begin with what I didn't like - the names of characters were all over the place, with characters named Bliss and Schulyer and Allegra and I think one named Perfection? mixed with Jack and Dylan and Oliver. Then there is the constant brand name dropping- I felt I was reading Vogue magazine, and not being all that knowledgeable about fashion, I had no frame of reference for these clothes, handbags, etc. Then, for the actual book itself- vampires who are angels who were involved in the missing colony of Roanoke, and have ties to ancient Rome? Say what? That just seemed one step somewhere too far. The constant talk of rebirths and fallen angels and who is who and what is what, drove me nuts and left me feeling like I needed about four flow charts of characters who they were in the past, their angel names, how they are related to whom, and so forth.
I was disappointed, I don't know why I expected more but I did. It is safe to say I will not be reading the rest of this series.
I think this series is a bit up and down. If you didn't like the initial book, definitely don't get the others, since it gets waaaay confusing, and there's much more of the upscale New York fashion/glitterati name dropping.
ReplyDeleteHearing that you liked Witches of East End better makes me want to hurry up and read it already, though!
The book started off for me pretty good- I am sucker for upscale prep schools in a story, and I liked the relationship between Schulyer and Oliver. And I loved the character Cordelia! I think if there would have been one less thing, I could have been fine; it was like over accessorizing. Should I try the second one?
ReplyDeleteI did really like The Witches of East End- I thought it was a fresh interpretation of witches for sure. That's why I thought I would like Blue Bloods too- the whole Mayflower aspect was pretty cool.