Vampires of Manhattan

De la Cruz brings the characters from her Blue Bloods YA books into a new adult series with this bland opener, which combines a bare-bones plot with lots of sex. The characters and the core concept—that vampires are actually angels on earth, fighting against the forces of Lucifer—transition well and engage new readers easily enough, but the story and writing are still immature. Ten years after defeating Lucifer, Oliver is the leader of his vampire coven. With his human lover, Finn, he plans to reinstitute the tradition of the Four Hundred Year Ball. Ara, a vampiric police officer, is investigating a suspicious murder. And Mimi has left her cushy life in Hell with her husband, Kingsley, to work in an art gallery. As the threads converge, de la Cruz wastes all the tension on flashbacks that only highlight how obvious the betrayers and villains are. There’s nothing especially awful about this novel, but there’s nothing especially great either. (Sept.)