Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods

By Melissa De La Cruz
Pub: 2007
336 pages

"Schuyler Van Alen has never fit in at Duchesne, her prestigious New York City private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates. When she turns fifteen, Schuyler’s life changes dramatically. The death of a popular schoolmate haunts her in unexpected ways. And the strangest of all, Jack Force, the most popular boy in school, is showing a sudden interest in her.

Once an outcast, Schuyler is thrust into Manhattan’s most exclusive social circle. Its members are the powerful, the wealthy, and –as Schuyler soon discovers –the unhuman.

They are Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires, and for centuries they’ve been invincible. Now something is preying on this elite group, and Schuyler wants to find out the truth. But is she the most vulnerable of them all?”

I did it again. Saw a book with the V word and tada, it magically appeared on my bookshelf. I am trying to break the habit.

While the actual plot is gripping and fascinatingly tied into American history, the story is bogged down by...well, I'll let you figure it out.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi spat. She had changed out of her Dior suit and was wearing a more "casual" outfit - a pair of tight four-thousand-dollar Apo jeans with the platinum rivets and a diamond button, a chunky Martine Sitbon sweater, and slim butter colored Jimmy Choo stilettos.

"Sitting down?" Schuyler replied, even though it was obvious Mimi had asked a rhetorical question.

Well if it's an obviously rhetorical question why do we have to state that the rhetorical question is obvious? Just saying...

I remember someone saying Blue Bloods was "Gossip Girl meets Buffy" or something like that. So I was hesitant to pick it up, but after being sung its praises by many, I did. My family laughed when I read excerpts because I couldn't pronounce the majority of fashion words like "stilettos" and "Versace" and many, many more. Clearly I am not a high fashion darling.

Throughout most of the book, we have to slog through detail waiting for a major conversation to reveal a secret you've been dying for. For instance, we have to wait for Schuyler's well dressed waiter to hand her a menu and wait for her to select her tea. Then, she's over eager for her tea and her grandmother slows her down, makes her wait for the waiter to pour her tea, put cream and sugar in it and FINALLY her grandmother begins her hugely revealing tale - which, by the way, was the only thing that kept me from chucking it back onto the "Back to Library" shelf. The grandmother's tales are that epic.

Another time, Schuyler's about to hear the secret to something she's been trying to discover, but she's distract by the "host of specialty boutiques on Madison" and she mentally goes over what the stores keeps in stock. Really? That's what's distracting you when there's some guy out there trying to kill you?

And since we are SOOO privlieged, we get to know what a minor character's home looks like, all a hundred and one rooms, right down to the sculptures. There's even a Cinderella room. And since we can't just let that one go to the imagination, we get yet another play-by-play of what the room looks like. I was sitting there thinking, "They're rich, I get it! Shouldn't we be more interested in the rising count of dead bodies?"

As far as characters go, I think they are a interesting group, but their interactions together are a rather boring. And the names are little much.

Bliss? Jack and Mimi Force?

When I first read "Mimi Force", I thought Schuyler was referring to Mimi and her clique - like the Duchesne's equivalent of "the Plastics" from Mean Girls. I was sadly mistaken.

I really enjoyed the plot and its originality. (Since the originality is a huge payoff, I don't want to spoil it for those who take the dive and get involved in the series.) Unfortunately, I was distracted by the details and trying to figure out what mentally stable person would actually buy a pair of four-thousand-dollar jeans and be proud of their purchase.

At the moment, I'm weighing the pros and cons of picking up the sequel. The excerpt from the second book I read looks promising...but I'm not sure I want to read another Introduction On the Rich: Fashionology 101 book.

If you like fashion - no, if you love fashion and vampires, this book is right at your alley.

If the concept of wearing diamond studded pants on a typical school day just rockets over your head, you will probably find your eyes crossing in between plot points. If you can manage to skim over the blah blah, fancy, blah blah, clothes, you will find yourself mesmerized by the intriguing world of vampires Melissa De La Cruz has created.