Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

Second in the Blue Bloods series

5 stars
Schuyler Van Alen is different from the other Blue Bloods. She’s Dimidium Dognatus, which means she is half-vampire and half-human. Schuyler’s mother is still in a coma and her grandmother, the only family member she’s ever known was killed by a Silver Blood. Her grandmother’s dying words for her to go to Venice and find her grandfather, Lawerence Van Alen. But the search is harder than she expected and she and Oliver seem to be getting nowhere. While Schuyler is Venice, Mimi Force is getting ready for the Four Hundred Year Ball and she decides to throw an amazing masquerade after-party. Bliss Llewlynn is struggling with recurring nightmares and is starting to have blackouts and sleepwalking. She is also struggling with her kind-of-boyfriend’s death and him being turned into a Silver Blood. Masquerade was slow at the beginning and it dragged on about how hard Schuyler’s search was. But once I got to chapter seven, I couldn’t put it down. The story picked up and was back to its fast-paced writing style. I love reading about the Blue Bloods and Silver Bloods. They have a place in my heart as one of my favorite YA vampires or at least one of the most original when it comes to vampire concepts in YA paranormal fiction.


The main female characters are back and they are a group of hot messes. Schuyler is still one of my favorite characters in the series and she’s just relatable. Aside from the fact that she’s half-vampire she’s a normal person. Mimi is still the vindictive queen bee from last time. There were times I wanted to punch Mimi for her stupidity or selfishness, but we need a girl terrorize Schuyler or it wouldn’t be very high schoolish. Bliss is a hot mess! She has more problems than she count, but I love Bliss. She became one of my favorite characters in this novel and it’s where I started to like reading her POVs.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: Schuyler: 8 Mimi: 5.5 Bliss: 8

The main male characters are once again Oliver, Jack, and Dylan. I still don’t know which guy I want Schuyler to end up with. I like Jack, but Oliver is such a nice guy and he doesn’t have all the emotional baggage that Jack comes with (or a crazy sister). I still love Dylan and Bliss’s relationship and he’s one of my favorite characters in the series.


Swoon Worthy Scale: Jack: 6.5 Oliver: 7 Dylan: 7.5

The Villain- The villains are still the Croatans/Silver Bloods, but it also becomes apparent that there may be Blue Bloods helping them.

Villain Scale: 8.5

Lawerence starts to play a huge role in the novel as does Charles Force.We meet Kingsley in this novel and it's obvious he'll play a big role in the upcoming books.

Character Scale: 9


Masquerade was as good as its predecessor and lived up to my expectations. My love for this series started with this book. Since it proved that it wasn’t just a onetime good book in a series.


Cover Thoughts: The cover is beautiful. I like this one much more than the Blue Bloods cover. The mask is exquisite and it gives off a haunting effect. It’s just a great cover.