Blue Bloods by Melissa dela Cruz {Book Review}

I searched for the Blue Bloods series in the library upon Drew’s recommendation. Last week I finished all four books (Blue Bloods, Masquerade, Revelations, Van Alen Legacy) currently out of the Blue Bloods series. I even finished book 3 and 4 in one night. I sat down to finish book 3 in the library after collecting it there, then I walked home to finish book 4. So yeah, it was engrossing enough for me to have done so.

Description from the cover: “Within New York City’s most elite families, there lurks a secret society of celebrated Americans whose ancestors sailed on the Mayflower. They are the powerful and the wealthy—and in fact, they are not human. They are the Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires. Steeped in vampire lore and set against the glittery backdrop of New York City.”

It’s yet another twist on the popular vampire lore. This time, our beloved blood-sucking creatures were not created by some other vamp who bit into them but were made thus when, as angels, they made the choice to side with Lucifer during the war in heaven. When they lost, they were banished to the Earth as immortal creatures who must rely on the blood of humans in order to survive. But even though their literally blue blood is as old as Earth itself, their physical shells are not, because instead of living all the time, they alternate living and resting, returning in different physical shells, under new names in every cycle.

There are three stages: expression, evolution, expulsion. During the cycle of expression, their blood is reborn as a new being, and they start to get their vampire abilities and recollections of all memories from all their past lives when they turn 15. Only 400 vampires are allowed to be alive, in this stage, at any given cycle. The rest go through evolution, which is when they rest, evolving until they get called up for the next cycle. The third stage, expulsion, is a stage they aspire to – their mission is to evolve to a point where God can forgive them and take them back into Heaven, which hasn’t happened yet, so far.

The books mostly focus on the adventures of vampires in their “sunset years” or the ages 15-21, when they first start to shed their human selves for vampire ones and learn about their heritage when they get invited to join what they think is an elite group called “the committee” but which is actually truly exclusive only to vampires.

It’s written for young adults so don’t have such lofty expectations. There were a few inconsistencies in the stories, but I won’t be like those critics who harp too much on such things. The important thing is that overall, it was an enjoyable read. It’s Chick Lit, though, so I wouldn’t recommend it to guys. Girls would love it for all its glamour – I especially loved the descriptions of the fashion couture. And so, like Drew, I can’t wait for book 5 to be released this year.