The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz

The Van Alen Legacy is the book that was lately published in the Blue Bloods series.  I expect at least one or two more to come of it.  I have really enjoyed them.  And just to warn you--to give a summary, there will be spoilers!  I really try not to, but this one cannot be helped.

This story continues straight on from the end of Revelations, a year later.  There are new wardens--all mostly old and raggedy--to replace the ones that have been killed when the demon, Leviathan, was released in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Schuyler and Oliver are on the run from the Wardens and Venators (truth finding vampires--much like their own FBI), all over the world they have fled them.

Bliss isn't herself, and her little sister, Jordan is missing.  What is mysterious is how Bliss can't really remember the last part of her trip to Brazil.  Or how she got home.  Or whatever happened to the last year of her life?

Mimi is on one of the Venator teams with Kingsley Martin as lead.  They are on the search for Bliss's missing sister who can lead them to what is really going on in their world.

Everything is amiss and everyone is scrambling to find truth in everything else.  But as Revelations seemed to be more of a "character building" story, The Van Alen Legacy is more of the "plot building" story.  I had a harder time reading through this one, possibly since it wasn't as character driven as the last one.  However, there were times when I wanted to know what happened next.  But not like the last book where I read it in a day.  This one took me about three weeks to complete.

Sorry, this is a short review.  I don't want to spoil more of this story, but this one does leave its' mark on the whole of the storyline of the Blue Bloods.  I suspect the next one will be character driven once again and I'm thoroughly excited for it.  Melissa really did a number on this story leaving a cliffhanger in her epilogue.  Squeeze every ounce of yourself to get through this story, but really, just remember it is not going to be as great as the last book.  Moreover, it is important to the whole of the storyline.