Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

Title: Blue Bloods

Author: Melissa De La Cruz

Genre: Young Adult

Series: Blue Bloods #1

Hardcover, 302 pages 

Publication: March 27, 2006 by Hyperion
Source: Personal library 
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When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.

The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society.

The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapated mansion. Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?

MY THOUGHTS

I read Blue Bloods back in middle school and it’s been over fifteen years since the book has been published. My taste in books has certainly evolved…a bit but one thing has always remained the same which is my love of vampires. They never go out of style, no matter the medium. Blue Bloods is a young adult novel, on the younger side following a group of influential preppy teens of upper east-side New York. Their world is all fashion and parties, until it gets turned upside-down when a fellow student is found dead with all her blood drained. The parents, council and police ruled the death as an accident, but the teens suspect something more sinister.

Blue Bloods is not only an old term to denote people born of wealth but it’s also an indicator of those with vampirism due to the high pigment in the veins while humans were called ‘Red Bloods’. Readers follow along as Schuyler, Bliss, Jack and their friends learn about their history and integration into vampire society. I loved how the author incorporated history into the story of the famous Mayflower voyage to the first settlement of Plymouth Rock and the mysterious disappearance of the lost colony of Roanoke. The overall atmosphere of the book may seem very young and superficial with all the designer name drops, which to be honest was overkill but if one can look past that; there is an engaging story to be discovered. So much so, that after all these years I still found myself enjoying the book and do plan on continuing with the series.

I think one of the reasons why this series was so popular back then was because the adaptation of Gossip Girl came right on the heel of Blue Bloods’ release and this entire series is basically a mash-up of Gossip Girl with vampires. All the adolescent drama plus the supernatural. And during the 2000s vampires were all the rage. As I said it was an enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read the next book. It's been a very long time but jumping back into the world felt like it was just yesterday.  I would definitely recommend this to a younger audience or anyone looking for something light and fun. 

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Title: Midnight Thief
Author: Livia Blackburne
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Midnight Thief #1 

Hardcover, 368 pages

Publication: July 8, 2014 by Disney-Hyperion

Source: I received a review copy from the publicist in exchange for a honest review.

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Growing up on Forge’s streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that’s not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs.

But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he’s persistent—and darkly attractive—and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull.

Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.

When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival—and vengeance—might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.

 

First off, look at that cover.  How gorgeous is that cover right?! I immediately fell in love with it when I first saw it…its simple yet eye-catching. And the synopsis was just as intriguing and promised a heck of an adventure. 

Midnight Thief is the first book in a planned series about a 16-year-old street smart girl who robs the rich to support her adopted family and herself. The book is centered on three characters; Kyra the stealthy thief, Tristam a promising knight of Forge and James the calculating and ruthless leader of a band of assassin. Kyra is a pro at what she does. She’s able to climb and navigate at heights no regular person would dare to attempt and it makes her a worthy ally in James’s eyes, leader of the Assassin Guild.  James makes Kyra an offer she can’t refuse, where she wouldn’t have to take dead-end jobs for a couple of coins as she not only supports herself but two other street kids. Then we have Tristam, a knight on a mission of his own to find the woman who killed his partner. The three lives’ gets intertwine when a group of demon cats raid Forge, and the line between foes and friends blur…people aren’t who they appear to be and Kyra is in for a rude awakening. 

The book is narrated in third person point-of-view alternating between Kyra and Tristam. I really like Kyra, she’s intelligent, strong but isn’t afraid to show a vulnerable side, and overall a survivor (lived on the streets since she was 8/9 years-old). Kyra is down to earth/real, never pretending to be anything but herself…and I love that about her. For example, James gave Kyra an assassination mission that will make or break her position in the Guild. Kyra wasn’t happy with the assignment and in the end refused to go through with it because she felt like the Guild was turning her into someone who she doesn’t want to be and she didn’t want to lose sight of who she is…even if it means endangering people she loves. 

Tristam and James are also great supporting male characters who both play an important role in the story and the reason behind some of the actions and choices Kyra makes. As you can already figure out from the synopsis/ and my second paragraph; Tristam helps Kyra make the right choices while James pushes Kyra into making bad choices. 

I was captivated from the first sentence. Midnight Thief was exactly what was promised in the synopsis and so much more. I love the characters and the overall plot as it kept me on the edge of my seat and flipping the pages till the very end. The pacing was pretty constant throughout, there was never a dull moment or any scenes that I felt were unnecessary or filler. The book was beautifully well written and loaded with twist and turns that I never saw coming. The big reveal midway through was just that…a shocker, I definitely didn’t see that coming a mile away! But it was a good shocker which added another layer to the world-building. 

Midnight Thief was a great introduction to Mrs. Blackburne’s work and what I’m sure will be the next big fantasy series. I truly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more of Blackburne's work. I can’t wait for the sequel! I highly recommend this to all Young Adult, Fantasy fans…and maybe even the paranormal lovers…this book had a little bit of everything; mystery, action, a little romance, suspense, magic and political intrigue.

[Review] The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Title: The Archived
Author: Victoria Schwab
Genre: Young-Adult, Fantasy
Series: The Archived #1

Hardcover, 336 pages

Publication: January 22, 2013 by Hyperion

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Source: Publisher, arc

|SUMMARY|
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.
 
Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous-it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. (summary via Goodreads)

Mackenzie is a Keeper protecting the boundaries between the dead and the living. When a person dies, a copy of that person is filed away in the Archive (like a library of the dead, and the deceased are like books on shelves). The deceased are called Histories because they are a shell of their former self, full of memories from the time of birth till death. Between the Archive is the Narrow, a dark and ominous place full of doors linking back to the Archive or to the Outer (our world, the living).  Mac and her family just moved to the Coronado (an apartment complex, converted hotel) after the death of her brother Ben. Mac’s job is to make sure Histories don’t escape to the Outer, and every time a Histories does escape it shows on a special Keepers list where she tracks them down in the Narrow. The older the History’s age the more out-of-control they are, and lately the age of the Histories keeps going up and up. It turns out someone IN the Archive is purposely ‘waking’ the Histories, and causing disruption from within to hide a secret that happened in 1953. Mac will stop at nothing until she uncovers the truth, or the Archive, and the History of her brother and her grandfather will cease to exist.

I haven’t read Schwab’s The near Witch, but after reading The Archived…I’m going to be adding it to my ‘To Buy List’!  The Archived was everything I ever wanted in a Fantasy-YA, it’s cleverly written, has a unique story line, and the beautifully detailed description that had the story leaping from the pages. The world of the Librarians, Keepers and Crews is fascinating and so complex but not to the point that it’s hard to understand. Schwab had a nice balance of information, detail and dialogue to keep the story from ever becoming lackluster and the pacing of the book was perfect.

The story is narrated by Mac and throughout the book there are flashback scenes involving Mac and her grandfather Da. The flashback scenes are short conversations between the two, from prepping Mac to become to a Keeper till the day her grandfather dies. I love these short scenes, readers are not only learning more about the secret world of the Archive, Librarians, Keepers, etc but also see the special bond Mac had with her grandfather. I love Mac, at the beginning of the book when Da picked Mac to be his successor, you can see how brave she is, so strong willed…all at the age of 12 (youngest Keeper ever, since the minimum age requirement to be a Keeper is 16). Mac is realistically describes as she tries to balance her two lives, a normal life on the Outer and as Keeper of the Archive.  She has to constantly lie to her friends and family, trying to keep the two world apart….but then one day she meets Wes another Keeper. She never met another Keeper in the Outer before, and what she realizes is it’s harder to keep the line between her two lives separate, the line begins to blur. What I also like about Mac is that she’s not perfect; while she is a ruthless Keeper…she does make mistakes that affect not only herself but the Archive as well (don’t want to go into detail, is spoiler-y).  Then we have the love interest Wes, when I first read the description of Wes…black hair, dark brown eyes, black nails and eyeliner….that totally screamed BAD BOY! LOL. He’s funny and devilishly charming and NOT a bad boy…he just looks the part. Every time the two characters interacted, I can’t help but smile and laugh because Wes always has something clever to say on the tip of his tongue.

This is an amazing book, one that will stay with you long after you read it. I honestly don’t think my review does this book any justice lol…you really have to read it to understand how special this book is. Schwab pens one of the most captivating young-adult novels I’ve ever read. A multifaceted world, interesting and well-fleshed out characters, intriguing- plot line, a suspenseful-murder mystery and an original fantasy concept that will appeal to readers of all ages (where does one go after they die? A library like room that houses the deceased like books on a shelf?!). I am so thrilled to hear that this is the first book in a planned series; I can’t wait for more Mac and company! I highly recommend The Archived to everyone; you definitely don’t want to pass this one up. If you already have the book, but haven’t read it…push it to the top of your TBR pile ASAP! Thank you Ms. Schwab for writing such an ingenious book, I applaud you!