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

Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods #1)
Melissa de la Cruz
Published: Aug. 19, 2009 (Disney Hyperion)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Mary

Rating (out of 5): 5 stars

Schulyer Van Allen has many of the same insecurities that any normal fifteen-year-old girl would have. She doesn’t look like the popular girls, she isn’t blonde or rich, and she doesn’t have a jock boyfriend. When she starts having flashbacks and her veins look like a road map on her arm, the most surprising thing to her is that no one else is surprised. Everyone had been waiting for these signs to tell her the truth: that she is a Blue Blood.

In this story Blue Bloods are not just a social class, but also a race of fallen angels who have been trying to protect and enlighten humans since the beginning of civilization. They have been behind every advancement in human history. Although they are not immortal, they have the ability to ‘recycle’ and be reborn with all their memories from their previous lives. As long as one drop of their blood remains, they are alive and can return for another cycle of their lives.  When a young Blue Blood turns up dead, completely drained of blood, fear and panic grip the souls of all those old enough to remember the war in Heaven.

The Silver Blood, one possessed and sent to destroy Blue Bloods, has set his sights on the younger generation, those Blue Bloods who have not fully come into their powers and memories. When Schulyer is attacked, she no longer knows whom she can trust.

Add in some romance with the painfully handsome Jack Force, who has a rather disturbing relationship with his twin sister, and you have the beginnings of a seven-book story arc, that pits angels against demons and Heaven against Hell.

While the vampire genre has been done and written so many times, I love the original take of this series. Vam-pyres in this story translates into ‘fire angel’. The Blue Bloods were a group of angels who rebelled against God with Satan, and then regretted their choices. Their only hope for redemption was to join the humans on Earth and help guide and protect them. Too many years and too much complacency has caused many of the Blue Bloods to become lax in their duties. Others, it has made greedy and hungry for other pursuits.

Blue Bloods is an excellent start to a great young-adult series, filled with mystery, romance, and some really fun flashbacks. The Blue Blood series is complete, which is always a plus in my book. This is a great summer read that doesn’t disappoint, and that you can binge on by the pool.

Sexual content: kissing