Blue Bloods Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Combining "American history, vampires and a crew of rich New York City kids," de la Cruz delivers "a page-turning debut to her new series," highlighting both the perks and pitfalls of being an upper-crust creature of the night. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 9 Up-De la Cruz has revamped traditional vampire lore in this story featuring a group of attractive, privileged Manhattan teens who attend a prestigious private school. Schuyler Van Alen, 15, the last of the line in a distinguished family, is being raised by her distant and forbidding grandmother. Schuyler, her friend Oliver, and their new friend Dylan are treated like outsiders by the clique of popular, athletic, and beautiful teens made up of Mimi Force, her twin brother, and her best friend. What they have in common is the fact that they are all Blue Bloods, or vampires. They don't realize that they aren't normal until they reach age 15. Then the symptoms manifest themselves and they begin to crave raw meat, have nightmares about events in history, and get prominent blue veins in their arms. Their immortality and way of life are threatened after Blue Blood teens start getting murdered by a splinter group called the Silver Bloods. This novel constantly name-drops and is full of product placements, drinking, drugs, nonexplicit sex, and superficial characterizations, but the intriguing plot will keep teens reading. De la Cruz's explanation for the disappearance of the Colony of Roanoke is unique and the idea that models don't gain weight because they are Blue Bloods rather than anorexic is unusual.-Sharon Rawlins, NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped, Trenton Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

\rtf1\ansi\deff0Gr. 9\endash 12. Like the power brokers that are their parents and ancestors, members of the popular clique at New York's Duchesne School are Blue Bloods, continually reincarnated vampires endowed with preternatural beauty, charisma, and strength. The plot revolves around several teens, unaware of their heritage, who begin to manifest their true natures during a terrifying spate of vampire-to-vampire violence. At book's end, nonconformist Schuyler has emerged as heroine, having discovered a rift in Blue Blood history that lays the groundwork for forthcoming books. Grafting the chick-lit sensibility of her Au Pairs books onto horror themes, de la Cruz introduces a conception of vampires far different from traditional stake-fleeing demons, coupling sly humor (What, the Committee was just a front for a bunch of blood-sucking B-movie monsters? ) with the gauzier trappings of being fanged and fabulous\emdash as well as abundant references to the taboo-laden taking of human familiars, a procedure with overtly sexual overtones. Although the novel isn't sure quite what it wants to be (satire? beach read? gothic saga?), many teens will savor the thrilling sense of being initiated into an exclusive secret society, and will doubtless want to drink deeply from the vampire-themed offerings suggested in the adjacent Read-alikes column. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2006 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.