Blue Bloods

June 5, 2006
De la Cruz combines American history, vampires and a crew of rich New York City kids, delivering a page-turning debut to her new series, sure to appeal to fans of her Au Pairs titles. When 15-year-olds Schuyler and Bliss find out that they are vampires, as are many of the city's elite, they learn what's behind some of their weird symptoms (such as Schuyler's blue veins, which form "an intricate pattern, visible under the skin's surface," or Bliss's cravings for raw meat), and that "nothing could kill vampires." But something is hunting them, even killing some, and Schuyler grows more determined to stop it, even as the Conclave, the vampire leaders, attempts to cover it up. Readers will recognize the character types here: Schuyler the outcast, Bliss the pretty new girl and Mimi the popular queen bee (who nurses a somewhat incestuous relationship with her equally gorgeous brother). Not many question are answered along the way, even for the start of a series. Still, it's hard to resist a book that combines expensive clothes, modeling jobs, blood-sucking and even diary entries from a Mayflower
vampire. De la Cruz plants enough seeds (e.g., What does it mean that Schuyler's father is human? Will her mother come out of her coma? Who are the Silver Bloods, and is one of them hiding amongst the vampires?) to give readers a stake in what happens next. Ages 12-up.

May 15, 2023
This follow-up to After Life (2022) completes the Blue Bloods series offshoot duology. It's been two months since Schuyler Cervantes-Chase and Jack Force stopped Lucifer from carrying out a plan to exterminate all mortal Red Bloods in Manhattan with a plague. However, Jack's twin brother, Max, was captured, and their friend Kingsley Martin was killed. Jack went searching for Max, and Schuyler hasn't heard from him since. Without her bondmate, she's relied more heavily on Oliver Golding-Chang, her human Familiar and best friend, for emotional comfort. Her secret life as a half-blood vampire, one of the immortal Blue Bloods, is complicated enough on a regular day. But now there's a new girl at school, Aoife Hayward, and her grunge fashion sense stands out from the crowd at exclusive Duchesne. She also catches Schuyler's attention as a possible supernatural threat. Who--or what--could she be? Meanwhile, Jack and Max are dealing with different types of confinement. This volume brings the journeys of Schuyler and her true love, Jack, to a close (at least in this parallel universe) while still being accessible to readers new to this world. De la Cruz has added a lot of conceptual layers to this fictional world, and not everything is wrapped up neatly and tidily, but those who have followed the series will likely feel satisfied in seeing off these characters. The author once again delivers supernatural melodrama that's both high-spirited and absorbing. Contextual clues point to some ethnic diversity. Beyond climactic. (Paranormal. 12-18)

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