The Van Alen Legacy (Blue Bloods #4)
(Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble)
by Melissa de la Cruz
(Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Website, Twitter)
Published October 2009 by Disney/Hyperion
Book Description (From Amazon):
[box type=”shadow”]With the stunning revelation surrounding Bliss’s true identity comes the growing threat of the sinister Silver Bloods. Once left to live the glamorous life in New York City, the Blue Bloods now find themselves in an epic battle for survival. Not to worry, love is still in the air for the young vampires of the Upper East Side. Or is it? Jack and Schuyler are over. Oliver’s brokenhearted. And only the cunning Mimi seems to be happily engaged.
Young, fanged, and fabulous, Melissa de la Cruz’s vampires unite in this highly anticipated fourth installment of the Blue Bloods series.[/box]
My Thoughts:
In the fourth installment of Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series, a year has passed since the events in Rio at the end of the third installment, Revelations. With Schuyler accused of killing her grandfather, she and Oliver have been on the run around the globe, in near constant motion to avoid detection by the Conclave. Even though they’ve grown quite close during their time together, Schuyler can’t quite return Oliver’s feelings for her because she’s still deeply in love with Jack Force. But they grow tired of running and hiding, and they decide to seek an audience with the head of the European Coven to ask for their protection. But things don’t go as planned, and Schuyler and Oliver soon find themselves in grave danger.
Meanwhile, Bliss has been absent from her body for most of the last year–her visitor has taken over her body and forced her consciousness down into the blackness. Once she’s finally allowed to gain a little control over her body again, she starts to fight back to take back her body–and deter the dark force that’s trying to take down the Blue Bloods in New York. The visitor inside of Bliss’ ultimate goal is finally discovered towards the end of this book in one explosive battle royale.
Mimi has spent the past year in Rio working as a Venator under reformed Silverblood Kingsley in search of Bliss’ kidnapped sister/watcher, Jordan. While Mimi isn’t used to the lifestyle that’s required of all Venators, especially living in a city such as Rio, she finds that she actually enjoys doing this work and grows quite close to Kingsley and the two other Venators she works alongside.
This book is told from the alternating points of view of Schuyler, Mimi, and Bliss. The author has a knack for cutting off each chapter right at a crucial point when you just want to read more, but you’re forced to read through two more chapters to get back to that character’s point of view again. This book was pretty fast paced, but once you hit the half-way point the book really picked up steam when all of the characters returned to New York for the bonding ceremony.
The love rectangle between Schuyler, Jack, Mimi, and Oliver is in full force in this book again, but it isn’t resolved and is actually expanded a bit too. Mimi’s personality is acutally softened somewhat when she’s in Rio, but the bitch returns full force once she returns to New York and is set to bond with Jack again. Bliss shows the most character growth as she tries to overcome the Visitor throughout the book. Even though she’s lost everyone she’s loved, she still finds the strength to carry on and try to take back her body.
I give this one a four and a half. The book is fast paced, and the last half is action packed. But the point of view switching gets to be a bit annoying.
Latest posts by Heather (see all)
- The Book of Thorns by Hester Fox - April 6, 2024
- The Happiness Blueprint by Ally Zetterberg - April 5, 2024
- Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja - March 30, 2024
The cover of this one is beautiful. I'm glad you're carrying on with the series. I'm still waiting for the final outcome of your opinion of the series. I like your review, but I don't think I like the way the books are written.
Heather
My recent post Review-The Unfinished Song: Initiate by Tara Maya Book One
Reply »
I agree that the writing isn't that great. It does remind me a bit of the Twilight Saga…but the series hasn't been that bad. My next review will be up on February 27, and I didn't really like the next one very much. I have read all of the books that are out in the series, and I plan on finishing the series when the last book comes out, but the books definitely aren't all great. *sigh*
Reply »
personally when i started reading this series it was really hard for me to get into . i thought the first book was dragged out very much . but this book was personally my favorite . yeah i wasnt a big fan on switching characters perspective every chapter. i wish it was just schuyler like in all the other because she is the main character and i thought hers where the best anyway. also i think this book was my favorite because shes torn between two men that are very important to her, her bestfriend whos manly inlove with her and then the gorgeous vampire that she has had a crush on since she laid eyes on him ….. maybe its because it sounds twilight . but it pulls the whole book together when she picks wo she picks. this book kept me on the edge which is was a look for when reading … i mean it start off as her running away right after her grandfather was killed … sounds like a strong teenage girl which is what im looking for and honestly i think that this is a great group of books…awesome series!
Reply »