Title:  Vampires of Manhattan
Series:  The New Blue Bloods Coven #1
Author:  Melissa de la Cruz
Genre:  Paranormal
Published:  September 9, 2014 (Paperback) July 7, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

The Vampires of Manhattan is “hipster horror”–the memorable characters from her Blue Bloods series are older and cooler than before, trying to build “Millennial” lives in the bustle of Manhattan while battling forces of evil and, of course, each other.

Hero of this sexy, paranormal action tale is Oliver Hazard-Perry, former human conduit, and Manhattan’s only human-turned-vampire, now the head of the Blue Bloods Coven. When his all-too-human lover is found murdered on the eve of the coven’s annual Four Hundred Ball–a celebration meant to usher in a new era in vampire society, and to mark the re-unification of the Coven after decades of unrest and decay–Oliver is devastated.

Now, not only is he trying to create a new world order for the immortal elite, he’s the prime suspect and is stalked by the newly installed head of the vampire secret police. Because according to the new rules, vampires who take human life can now be executed. Burned.

How can an immortal sentenced to die fight back? He has to find the killer–and the answers lie deep in vampire lore.

Read on for my thoughts on Vampires of Manhattan.  No true spoilers, promise.

Vampires of Manhattan is the first novel in the new series The New Blue Blood Coven.  These stories take place about a decade after the Young Adult series Blue Bloods.  (full disclosure – I have not read the YA series)

This novel is told through several points of view, and for that I was grateful (and it worked for me) because through different eyes I got a better feel for who the characters were and who they are now.  Not one of us is the same person we were ten years ago, so I am accepting these characters as they are today and letting them tell me what they want of their past.

While this is definitely a paranormal, I ended up reading it as more of a mystery because that aspect of the story was almost as strong as the paranormal.  I needed to find out who the killer was…

I enjoyed Vampires of Manhattan very much.  It is a solid, fast paced, (once you get to know who is who in the character line up) and definitely a strong mystery worth working through.  Even though I have not read the original series, I had little trouble getting in sync with the characters and diving into the current storyline.  I honestly do not know right now if I will go back and read the original Blue Bloods series – I may end up being content with these folks as they are currently.  We’ll see on that one.  I do have to give the author kudos for writing this in a style that gave me a new story, some new (I believe) characters while allowing me to understand the original crew.  It cannot be easy to transport your beloved characters ahead in their lives by a decade and hope to bring earlier fans along for the ride alongside of new readers.  Well done, in my opinion.

*I received an e-ARC of Vampires of Manhattan from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

This novel is available in various formats and for the Kindle