Mystery/Supernatural

De la Cruz, Melissa. 2007. Masquerade: A blue bloods novel. New York: Hyperion.

Summary: In this second book of the Blue Bloods series, Schuyler, a vampire who lives in New York City, makes a trip to Italy to find her grandfather. She has recently discovered that she is half vampire (a Blue Blood) and half human. She thinks that the Silver Bloods, which are the enemies of the Blue Bloods are killing people that she knows. She wants her grandfather to help, but he doesn’t, so she comes back to New York. Meanwhile the vampires are preparing to attend the Four Hundred Ball which is an annual event for bigwig vampires. Mimi, a teen vampire with an attitude is jealous of Schuyler because she thinks Jack, her vampire love interest, is attracted to her. In the midst of this, Schuyler is starting to feel the need to feed on human blood for the first time. Her grandfather arrives unexpectedly and pushes her to feed on her assistant Oliver because she is growing weaker. In the process of feeding she discovers that Oliver has feelings for her. She regains her strength and helps to save the life of another vampire by risking her own.

Analysis/Impressions: This book is a great combination of mystery and supernatural elements. While stories about vampires are not normally my cup of tea, this one held my interest. It is probably because the vampires weren’t typical vampires; they seemed more like real people. Oh yes, they liked to drink blood and they came back in other lives, but other than that they were pretty human, along with normal human personalities and failings.

The setting is the New York City fashion world (for most of the story) and some of the major characters are involved in the fashion industry. The book has the normal elements of mystery, which generally includes someone being killed. There is a question of “whodunit” and how did they do it. The element of suspense is very strong in this story, and just when you think you have it figured out, you realize you don’t. Frankly, if this story didn’t have the mystery element, it wouldn’t quite be the same. Otherwise it would just be a story about a bunch of rich, spoiled vampires.

This was my first experience with one of the more modern vampire stories. What surprised me was that all of the vampires weren’t evil. Some of them, especially the main protagonist Schuyler were decent people. While I didn’t read the first book of this series, I did learn some of the history of the Blue Bloods, and that they were originally fallen angels. Other stereotypes I had of vampires were blown away with this story, when I learned that this particular group feeds off of humans that they love and the humans don’t die or become vampires. The story is intriguing.

The characters weren’t as well developed as in some other books, but they were interesting and sometimes humorous. Many of the vampires in this story are living in the world, just like normal people. They hold important jobs and run businesses. Schuyler is a bit different in that she is only a half blood and doesn’t quite fit in with the vampire elite. The character of Mimi and some of the other elite vampires is so human like it’s laughable. She is a rich, pampered teen who acts like a spoiled brat. She’s the complete opposite of Schuyler. There is a natural rivalry between the girls and this especially comes into play where Jack is concerned.

Schuyler is a strong character, even though she isn’t very well rounded. She is almost too good. Her strength of character comes out near the end when she risks her life to save Mimi.

I have to admit that some of the scenes in this book were a little gross. The teen party after the ball where the vampires were sucking the blood of their human dates was rather disgusting to think about, but I suppose this is the way vampires “neck.”

The story has a lot of action and the plot is interesting. The relationship between Schuyler and her human conduit (assistant) Oliver adds a bit of romance to the story. It’s hard to imagine that Oliver could know that she was a vampire, and still want to hang around with her, or especially to let her feed on him. While I know this is fiction, and I know I must suspend my disbelief, even this was a stretch for me.

Another part of the story that was hard to accept was that Jack and Mimi were twins and yet somehow they were supposed to be romantically involved too. Of course, all this has to do with previous and/or future lives (or cycles) and how the world is supposed to see them. It gets a little confusing at that point, and maybe I would understand it better if I had read the first book in the series.

While this was my first time to read a modern vampire novel, I don’t have anything to compare it with except for the Count Dracula stories I read as a child. This one is certainly more well developed and gives a lot more background on the lives of the vampire characters. It is an easy read and I probably will make an attempt to read the first one in the series.

I would recommend this for age 14 and up.

Review Excerpts:
“Fantasy, suspense, romance, fashion, and an interesting twist on vampire lore add up to a read that's difficult to put down.” (School Library Journal, Aug 2007, vol. 53, no. 8)

“Thankfully, added historical mysteries and power intrigues move the story forward in ways much more interesting than the romance plots, and a cliffhanger ending turns on an unexpected and intriguing twist.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, June 2007, vol. 60, no. 10)