Review: Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1) by Melissa de la Cruz

by First Mate Keira

Title: Blue Bloods (Book 1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Narrator: Christina Moore
Format: Audio book
CD Count + Minutes: 5 CDs (6 Hours)
Grade Reading Level: 9^th Grade +

Summary: When Schuyler Van Alen turns fifteen her whole life changes and what she thought she knew is turned on its head. She discovers she’s a Blue Blood vampire, that her best friend is a conduit, a girl from the cool group reaches out to her, and Jack Force, the hunky all star of Duchesne, kisses her. But at the same time bad things are happening from a murder of a popular girl to a rash of attacks. Schuyler is determined to find out the truth even if it puts her in grave danger.

Why I started this book:

I picked up this audio book and the two sequels to Blue Bloods at the library for something to listen to while traveling back and forth to a major city not far from where I live.

Likes:

Schuyler Van Alen makes a good protagonist. She’s a half-blood—part human and part vampire. A new soul. Her existence throws everything else off balance.
Take Jack Force for instance: He’s bonded for years and over several lifetimes with another, who in this reincarnation is his sister. Now that Schuyler is around he’s helplessly drawn to her in a way he can’t describe.
Their forbidden romance is a good draw. It’s an arc that will obviously develop over the next couple of books. Jack is the mysterious hot well-liked popular boy with a dark streak a mile wide and centuries old to Schuyler’s offbeat, gothic, hidden in the shadow’s type personality.
Bliss is great. I like how she became friends with Schuyler, even though they aren’t from the same high school cliques.
Narrator is fabulous with a wide array of voices, accents, and emotions to draw from. A great choice for this book series.

Toss-Up:

As for vampires really being cast-out angels and once followers of Lucifer… I can take it or leave it. With this background knowledge it’s not too hard to guess who the ultimate bad guy will be and it’s not the Silver Bloods (corrupted vampires).
Mimi Force as a character is very good for the story. She’s a typical mean girl with an inflated opinion of herself. She’s snobby and entitled with a pathological need to be number one. That said, I didn’t really like her or her POV sections.
Speaking of POV changeups… At first, I wasn’t too keen on the head hopping between the three major female players (Schuyler, Mimi, Bliss) of the story; it took time to get used to the practice. By the end of the book I was indifferent to it.

Dislikes:

The world building elements that predispose the Duchesne kids to drink like fish, smoke like chimneys, and generally act in ways that would be devastating for normal kids yet are left unpunished because there are no consequences for vampires that indulge excessively. I don’t think it sets a very good example, especially when nearly all the perpetrators are underage, technically speaking. It’s very off putting.
The first half a dozen or so descriptions of consumption in the historical illumination sections.
Jack and Mimi’s supposed relationship – icky and weird – even after the explanation.

Buy: Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1)

Rating: 3.5 Stars