Rachel (2011) Paperback - The Morganville vampires

Ok, honestly, I've never read Twilight but that's because I know I wont enjoy it.
Glass Houses was interesting, its based on young adults in an odd town ran by vampires, not that outsides knew that until it was too late. Oh and they have REAL vampires, not those glittery things! Personally, it was a little too young for my tastes though. A good friend suggested this series to me as while we both love vampires, neither of us care for that other one. My friend happens to LOVE this series though and I'll admit it isn't a bad series, just not my thing. I liked the vampires, they were realistic but the storyline didn't keep my attention.

The small town taken over by the: sheriff, outlaws, political crocks, etc. is something of a cliche. Unfortunately the author doesn't really bring off the small town taken over by vampires. Most of the characters are well done and developed although the vampires and villainess are somewhat proforma. The plot has a couple nice twists that keep this from the one star not recommended pile.

Overall not a bad read.

BTW you can write a review without blowing the plot or writing a book report (we believe most of you have read the book).

I get frusterated by the super young characters. I can't help it. This book just FELT young. It made me feel 13 reading it. The lead character, Claire, is just a kid...so I get why it's so young...but, to me, that is all she was...a kid. Maybe a quirky kid. But there was nothing about her that made me feel inspired by her. I wasn't moved by her. I wasn't sympathetic for her. She was just a kid. Most of this book was spent with me being annoyed. I don't mind young characters, when they are put in situations that make them become more than a 13 year old. Good examples: The Hunger Games (Katniss-16); Gone (Sam-14); Nightshade (Calla-17). I'm just saying, there are much better books in this genre.

I just happened to find this one glancing over the books.Even though i am an adult I thought it was a great read with my coffee in the morning.It had mystery,drama,and suspense.Will read the next two.

Under attack by an upperclassman and her cronies, Claire Danvers, a young college freshman, moves into off campus housing with a group of teens that clue her in on the realities of life - and unlife - in Morganville.

Glass Houses had strengths and weaknesses. When a clique of psychotic popular girls is decidedly scarier and far more vicious than the vampires controlling the city, something doesn't seem right. In this, the first installment of a series, the vampires were, unfortunately, very much one dimensional, and aside from Amelie, uninteresting.

Caine did a better job with the heroes. Claire, Eve, Michael and Shane had distinct personalities, a good mixture of maturity and immaturity and enough quirks to make them seem real and likeable. I cared about them, and that drew me into the story.

This was the first book I've read by Rachel Caine, and while I had problems with a few of the characterizations, I found enough to like in this story to want to check out some of her other books.

I've been in love with Vampire Novels lately. This book is definately worth the read, read all three in less than three days.

It is a series you can't put down and I am very upset that I have another six months to see the next book.

I bought this book thinking that it would be entertaining and because it said it was for teens and I thought it would be clean.
But there was so much foul language that I didn't get past chapter two. So when buying this book be aware there is a ton of foul language and quit a bit of sex humor in it.
Not a book for teens or adults that mind language.

My second time reading Glass Houses by Rachel Caine, but my first time really reviewing it. The Morganville Vampires happens to be one my favorite Young Adult Paranormal series that I had a hard time putting down back in 2009. I literally did the same thing again, when reading Glass Houses. I finished reading it pretty quickly again. I’ve been wanting to re-read them because the last couple of books of the series I put on hold to read and now I have some catching up to do.

Rachel Caine definitely had me from the first page to the very last with Glass Houses. (I read the book in 2009 in one day, so let’s just say I really enjoyed it even more the second time around) It also didn’t help with the cliffhanger, so now I’m aching to re-read the second book and then the next, etc. How I’ve missed Claire, Eve, Michael, and Shane and I’m really happy I’m getting to revisit Ithem from the beginning. (That is my reason of re-reading and I’m sticking to it.)

Poor Claire she’s been bullied my a mean cruel girl and only wants to get away before she ends up getting killed. I wanted to take care of the bully girl for her throughout the book, but the bully girl finally got put in her place. In comes the idea of finding a place off campus from her college dorm room. She ends up visiting the Glass House that she read in the ad, where 3 other people live (Eve, Michael, and Shane) and are looking for a roommate. Each of them are complete opposites, but their friendship is awesome. Claire really needs some friends and I’m so glad she met these three. It also helps having two of them handsome in her life and all three protecting her. She ends up finding out what is really happening in Morganville thanks to her new friends and roommates. Although, Claire is going to get even more in trouble in the story, but I won’t go into those details.

If you haven’t read this series I highly recommend you do. Even if you are not a fan of Young Adult, you at least to need to to read this series. It’s not full of the usual tension of a young adult (like contemporaries are). This series is full of a hidden paranormal world that definitely is worth reading. Rachel writes vampires like vampires should be. (not sparkly and cuddly)

I give this book 5 stars and look forward to diving back into the second book (re-read). I love this series and I really missed this world and its characters that Rachel created.

Claire is in serious trouble.

It was just one little snide comment, but now she's got the meanest girl at school trying to kill her. After she gets pushed down the stairs, Claire decides it's time to get out of the college dorms. Fortunately, there's this place called the "Glass House" that's looking for a roommate and after a little bit of crying, the housemates accept her, even though she's only sixteen.

There's more going on in Morgansville than meets the eye. Secretly, this town is run by vampires! They really hate Claire. And they're looking for a magical book that they can't read. Maybe if Claire can find that book she can get her new friends out of the cataclysmic mess she made from them - but only if her parents don't pull her out of school first.

This book was genuinely horrible?

Lets talk about the nightmare that is Claire. Claire is really smart - an early graduate and she's been accepted into ALL the best Ivy League schools. But her parents don't want her to be too far from home so instead she picks a party school in Texas. Only she doesn't party. For fun - she studies! And to quote one of the other characters, she's "smarter than 90% of the people in world." Which is so, so frustrating, because Claire is a fool. Her book smarts seem minimal, her common sense is low, and her reasoning is zilch. All the "book smarts" seem to lead up to ONE moment in this book which frankly I knew from just watching crime shows. Just, no.

The plot goes nowhere in this book. Every time Claire leaves the house something horrible and completely improbable happens to her. It's like a Scooby Doo film where Shaggy and Scooby bumble into clues without meaning to. She always gets away, usually for unlikely reasons. The girl should go buy a lottery ticket because she's got the best luck in the world.

There were things I wanted to like about this book.

There was this whole ghostly subplot going on that I thought had the potential to be really interesting, and I kept waiting for more to happen with it. Unfortunately it was rushed and easily accepted and not nearly as entertaining as I hoped it would be. And I wanted to like the characters - but they were all so flat! Cliche! No!

Then there's the vampires. This is the first book of the Morganville Vampires and yet... the vamps are pretty minimal? The ones we do see prior to the end of the book mostly just lurk and act a little intimidating and are easily outwitted by a sixteen-year-old girl. And the ones at the end of the book mostly just lurk and brake windows soooo not impressed.

This is a tolerable book.

For all its faults, I didn't want to throw this book against a wall. It wasn't good! But it wasn't the worst thing in the world, either. It was tolerable. It was finishable. Will I be seeking the rest of the series? No! There was waaaay too much cheese for me to want to read more, and no awesome character compensation, either.

If you're looking for a silly, fluffy college book about girls who always find themselves in trouble with a side dish of vampires that like to show their fangs but not do much else, you'll like this one.

“Run first,” Shane said. “Mourn later.”
It's always risky when you go back and reread a book. Especially when it's been a long while. Glass Houses was something I read back when I was teen, sixteen when it first came out, and even years later I remembered it fondly enough to give it a 4 of 5 stars when I joined Goodreads. It was such a fun book especially since the writing was better than most of the vampire books at the time. It was right before the boom, and vampire books where scarce. So it's a little bit of a shock to realize that this wasn't that great my second time around. Almost 10 years later.

There were two points that I do remember having mild announce with my first time reading Glass Houses, but now they're like HUGE grievances.

First are the mean girls. The main one being Monica. She instigates horrible pranks against Claire, eventually getting to the point where she is simply trying to kill her. Monica is basically a psycho which is tossed out there by Claire and many other characters. Even Monica's own cop brother. But . . . it felt hollow. I was exasperated by how mean Monica was and I couldn't buy that every “unpopular girl” would just watch. There's power in numbers and by the time you get to college you kind of realize that. It's a nice touch that Monica is clearly unhinged, she uses the power of her connections with vampires to do it. But I felt like it needed to be explored more.

The icing on the cake for me though was Claire's stupidity. She's supposed to be book smart, but apparently that doesn't cover streets smart. If she's had to fight for every step she takes in advancing her education. It's lead her to having to pick up some life experience. Especially with getting bullied. But I felt like she never knew how to handle herself, or when to stand up for herself. More importantly when to shut the hell up and take it. My main issue is why she wouldn't question her need to not leave Morganville. People are trying to kill her. I get that she's not a quitter. But if you're dead you can't keep going to classes either! (Though I think it's revealed later on down the line that there's a compulsions to not leave Morganville? I think, I'll find out later. But in this book it sounds like people leave all the time! They just forget.)

My biggest issue is that people are trying to kill Claire, and she doesn't protect herself. It's not just vampires out to kill her. No the bigger threat are those mean girls, AKA Monica. In fact, vampires occasionally threaten her and are creepy. I don't think a single vampire actually hurt Claire. No it was the humans. So after being brutally shoved down the stairs and almost killed Claire refuses to leave town. And then she refuses to think about how these girls are going to attack her. She basically walks down the street—after being tossed down stairs, mugged to the basement to be killed, and acid tossed on her—and ignores a speeding van and gets grabbed. Right off the street. Then she does stupid thing after stupid thing. Namely forgetting that the people of this town are a threat.

Another issue is the story didn't start to get good until page 150. Which is a huge problem with a book this short! Sadly things didn't start to develop decently with the characters and story until then. But the stupid choices Claire kept making dragged the book down. Like faking something to make a deal with the vampires, which screamed stupidity to me. Luck plays a big part in helping to keep the kids alive, and I really wanted it to be Claire's book smarts.

Don't get me wrong I really like the characters and I think they're well realized. But their actions and stupidity makes me feel like the situations aren't life or death. In my head I'm yelling at them on what they should or shouldn’t do! It also bothers me that it takes that long for the book to really get going, only to be cut off mid scene. That's not really a cliffhanger and it's one of the reasons I quit reading the series so I didn't have to wait for each new release. The romance pair ups are nice and I like how things are realistic and develop well. At this point I love the setup for the vampires, and how the humans become predators as well living in a society like that. Hopefully as the series continues some things will be cleared up. Because there's a lot of promise and I remember being so in love with these books.

Sexual Content: Some kissing and sexual humor. I do like how it's discussed that Claire is a minor, she's 16, and there's certain precautions that need to be taken. Not only with issues of sex, but even drinking.

2/5- Average/disappointing, library check-out.

Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.

As I mentioned in my #FridayReads, I saw the YouTube-series based on this novel about two weeks ago. I loved it so much, it was captivating and interesting and decided then and there that I had to pick this book up. As soon as possible. I’ve read my fair share of vampire books and discovered some that I loved and some that I didn’t like as much. This one ended up being more on the really-liked-it side of the spectrum.

Let’s talk about the plot first. I’m going to be honest, I probably shouldn’t have watched all of the episodes two weeks before reading it. Why, you ask? Because I already knew the -entire- storyline for this novel. My mistake. But even though I knew most of it -some parts are different, but not much- I enjoyed it so much and read it in only like 2 sittings. I was still intrigued by the story even though I already knew what would happen. It’s definitely a fast-paced novel. It even gave me the feeling that everything happened so fast -but not in a bad way- and that Claire’s life must have been turned upside down in a matter of hours.

That leads me to the second part: the characters. I could easily put a face to all of them because I’d seen the actors before and it made the experience even more enjoyable. I really enjoyed reading about the main character Claire, who is incredibly intelligent. I think it’s something that doesn’t get written about enough even though it happens. There are some people out there who go to university by the age of 15 or 16 and finish before most of us even start. I think it can be an incredibly lonely place, because there’s no one of your age and others will probably treat you like a child -because us humans could still learn a lot about showing kindness every day.

Claire was an interesting main character: she made decisions that seemed rational to me and didn’t dramatize everything too much. I also liked her new roommates: Shane, Michael and Eve. They all have their own stories and reasons for living in Morganville and even more so, for living in the Glass House. They’re all quite different as well: Michael is a young musician, Shane a young guy who has been through a terrible tragedy and Eve a goth girl whose family kicked her out -for specific reasons. They all have certain aspects and dimensions that make me want to keep reading, just so I could find out more about them. Side note: the character Monica is absolutely insane. That girl is a psychopath. An actual crazy person who would probably turn serial killer if she were real.

I will definitely continue reading the series! Who knows what they will be up to in the next novel

Claire Danvers at sixteen year old who has just started her freshman year at college. When some girls in her dorm go too far and attack Claire she fears for her life and decides she’s not going to go back to her dorm. When looking for a place Claire answers an ad for a roommate wanted where she meets Michael, Eve and Shane. The trio open Claire’s eyes to the secrets and rules of Morganville.

A decent start to this series but I did find some of Claire’s choices a bit annoying. She’s supposed to be really smart being in college at such a young age but it’s obviously book smarts as she sure isn’t full of common sense at times. One of those let’s break all the rules of any horror situation and do exactly what I shouldn’t be doing.

Definitely one that you take this for the entertainment value and not expect amazing writing books. A few good giggles, some good characters and interesting story line, I’ll be continuing more of this series to see where the story goes.

What I liked:
-Concept. The idea behind this series is really awesome. The idea of a town run by vampires is pretty cool. There could have probably been more about the whole vampire aspect, but since this was the first book in the series, I’ll assume we’ll get more vampire awesomeness in the later books.
-Secondary characters. I loved the secondary characters more than the main character, and that’s not usually a good sign. I loved both Shane’s sarcastic comments, his inability to cook anything other than chili, and his arrogance, Michael, with his calm and quiet demeanor, the hardships he faced every day, and his willingness to protect his friends. Eve was okay, but it felt like her only personality trait was “cool gothic chick”.

What I disliked:
-Claire. I really did not like the main character. She bored me to tears, and even though she was supposedly in advanced placement, she wasn’t all that intelligent. She kept doing really stupid things, like going back to class after someone threatened to literally kill her. That’s not brave, it’s stupid. Plus, her relationship with Shane seemed way too forced for my liking. It was like he saw her as an annoying kid one minute, and then the next they were having a primal, hot, makeout session.
-Random little things. While reading this book, I kind of got the feeling that the author was a fan of clichéd characters. The head bitch, the mindless cronies, the other girls—loud, brainless, chattering girls, and I’m sure even more of them. There was a pretty annoying sentence in the beginning about how the only girls that could like physics weren’t pretty, and it rubbed me the wrong way.
-Plot. Not a whole lot happened in the first half of this book. It was mostly Claire getting bullied and settling into her life at the Glass House. It was really boring and this book took me way longer to read than it should have.

Overall, it wasn’t great, but it was okay. I really disliked the main character, but the secondary characters were awesome, and the concept for the series was cool, too. The plot took forever to get to where it was going, but once it got there, it was a pretty interesting read. I would recommend this to any fans of vampires who are in need of a short, entertaining read. 2.5

The storyline is great. I actually love the other characters in the series. However, i hate the main character clare. She irritates me because if it were real life she’d be the person to get u killed. She’s book smart and not street smart. I gave it the benefit of the doubt in the first 2 books but im on book 7 now and its just like come on claire be smarter by now its not harf to put 2 and 2 together. She’s a friggin moron. But i love the other chatacter developments in the book. Oliver has grown on me so much, mernan and michael will always be my fave. Shane is kind of a muscle head but he still has more sense than claire. Anyway, read at your own risk. But be prepared to be annoyed

I have loved this series from the very beginning, I could reread these books over and over again, I even own all of the 15 books, however I don't currently own the last one that just got released. I hope that for those of you that haven't read this series do start as it's an enjoyable one, I know that there's 15 books in the series but it's because it's that good, plus the time will fly by as you read through them and when you least expect it you'll be halfway through them.

Claire Danvers is such a smart and clever girl and is currently studying at a university that is based in Morganville/Texas, she's only just started there as a freshman and already has managed to get on the bad side of one of the popular girls that are also a freshman. After finally having enough of all the beatings and the bitterness from this girl and her two friends she decides to look for a place off campus to live as she can't take it anymore. However ever since she has been in Morganville she has been warned not to be out after dark, she manages to find a new place to stay but they warn her to be careful. Claire has no idea what it is that everyone is so afraid of in Morganville but she will soon find out.

Even though her new roommates say that they'll have her back, will Claire be able to cope with everything that she discovers or will she choose to head back home as she isn't cut out for what happens in that town. What doesn't help is that Claire likes to dig around until she finds out what's going on and won't stop until she get's answers, will her digging about get her in trouble.

Trust me when I say that you wouldn't want to miss reading this, I know that this is technically a young adult/teenager book but I think that even adults will fall in love with this series. It has everything that you could ask for in any book. Hopefully you find it in your hearts to give this a try.

In Morganville, vampires rule the town. You always have to be careful of what you say and what you do. You also don't want to make anyone angry-like Claire did. You don't know what kind of power they have or whether or not they have any strengths. After Claire is repeatedly bullied at college by a mean girl, she decides that it's about time to move out. Her parents don't want her to of course. She is only about 16... she is just really smart.

Claire finds this place called the glass house, and she decides to meet the residents. The residents are pretty nice, as nice as they can possibly be as a matter of fact. After Claire finally moves in with them, she finds that Morganville isn't exactly what she always thought it was.

I thought this book was okay. It was enjoyable and I didn't get bored much. I will probably be reading the next book, since this book was an omnibus. I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the rest though... it's a really long series. If the second book leaves me wanting more, then of course I will give in to the craving. The one thing that I really enjoyed about this book was the characters.

Claire, the main character of the story, is super smart. I found her parents to be kind of annoying, though I really loved how Claire always stood up for herself. Just because she is younger and she's in college doesn't mean that her parents should still dictate what she does. I think Claire and Shane would be perfect together.

Shane, one of the guys at Glass House, seems to always be looking out for Claire. He also tries to hold her back, but when she fights for what she wants, he goes along with it. Eve, the only other girl at Glass House, was really sweet. She was always helping Claire and I felt like she was always in the same place as Claire. Michael was one of my favorite characters. He has a big secret that Claire ends up finding out. He's just so interesting because we learn quite a lot about him in the past.

If you are looking for a fun read, then I suggest reading this story.

Claire is just a sixteen, errr almost seventeen...sort of, year old girl. Teenage years can be rough, but Claire is finding them extra hard. See, Claire has special circumstances, she may be only sixteen, but she is a freshman in college and trying to live on her own away from home for the first time ever. Soon she is hating it because she loves school, but she is being bullied like crazy, some say hazed. The difference? Her attacker wants her to be gone forever, not just made miserable. Claire soon finds herself in danger and decides the only way she will stand any chance of surviving her dorm life, is going to be leaving the dorm for other living arrangements. Soon she finds a spooky looking house and some odd teens looking for a roommate. Problem is, they are older and she is really young to be living with a bunch of 18 and ups. Michael, the owner of the house, sees she is in real trouble though and offers her a place to crash, even if it's just for a few days or a week until she can figure something else out. While living there though Claire learns more about Morganville, Texas and why things seem so strange around here. There are deep and very dark secrets in Morganville, none of which certain people there want getting out. So when Claire is too curious she puts herself in even more danger. Will she figure the town out and all of it's secrets? Will she survive trying to figure things out? What secrets do her roommates have and why are they so scared and careful all the time when it gets dark out? Legends are just that right?....Legends....none of them hold real truth to them do they? One thing's for sure, Claire may have gained three great and new friends in Eve, Shane, and Michael, but she will probably regret the day she ever came to Morganville, Texas.

The back of this book didn't do it very much justice. I realize now though, it is because too much more to it would have given some of the mystery away or made things sound way to confusing. I was not sure about this read when I picked it up, but I got it free from a library book sale (along with many of the other books of this series) so I figured why not give it a go. I am very glad I did! This book was full of mystery, paranormal, drama, friendship, and much more!! This was a vampire book that was done in a great way. It wasn't all love and mush, but had some of those elements at times. It wasn't all killing and vampire attacks either....though it has those moments too. It was written in an easy to follow way and one that made you want to keep right on reading until you hit that last page. Then I found myself wanting to go to page one of the next book too. Very well written with amazing descriptive words. I felt like I was watching a movie while I was reading it, it was so vivid to me. The characters were also something to "write home about"! They are all so unique you can't wait to watch them develop as the book goes on and you learn more about them and their past. Young Adult books can sometimes be a bit too young adult at times, but this one wasn't. What do I mean by that? I mean sometimes they just aren't enjoyable for us bit "older", maybe not so young adult, readers. ;-) There can be too much drama and no enough plot, but this book had a great plot with drama incorporated into it, not drama with a plot incorporated into it. I very much recommend this book to any paranormal mystery reader young or old. I plan to read on in this series in the months to come that's for sure.

5/5 Stars!!

This isn't your typical Teenage Vampire series. It's just not. The cover of my copy of the book says that fans of Twilight should pick this up...I am a fan of Twilight, but this is NOTHING like Twilight. First of all, vampires are definitely not romanticized in this series. They are the bad guy, no question about it. That's not where the differences end though...this book was intriguing and had some violence and mystery to it, much more than Twilight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing on Twilight, but I find it refreshing to read a series that is so vastly different than others in the genre that I've read before. The whole idea surrounding this story (being vague on purpose to avoid spoilers) is something that just instantly drew me in and I wanted to know more. Be warned there is a HUGE cliffhanger, so be sure to have book 2 handy to start right away!

Oh my freaking word! I LOVED THIS BOOK!! Okay, wait, wait, wait. Back up. I know what I said. I said I don’t like vampire-themed books. I don’t want anything to do with books that have vampires in it. But, in my defense, I’m a sucker for hype. Every now and again I see a review on a blog somewhere or on my Goodreads feed of one of the thirteen books in the Morganville Vampires series, and it’s always a glowing, positive review. And because I’m a curious person by nature, this series called to me. Yeah...no. It didn’t actually call to me, it shouted at me to - at the very least - read the first book and then decide if I’m anti-vampire YA. If you’ve already read this book, or any book in this series for that matter, you’ll know I never really stood a chance – resistance being futile and all that.

I started reading Glass Houses with next to zero expectations, ready to roll my eyes at the merest mention of a handsome, broody vamp and a swooning sixteen-year old girl falling in love with aforementioned vamp. Surprisingly, about ten percent into the story, I was so fascinated with Morganville and its mysteries, and curious up to my eyeballs as to why in the name of all that is good and holy, Monica and the Monickettes (Monica’s sidekicks) are tormenting geeky Claire. I’m not talking taunts, mocking, a few snide comments or a couple of idle threats here and there. I’m talking unadulterated cruelty that would take your breath away. Seriously, I wasn’t sure Claire was going to make it past the second chapter.

Then Claire moves into this old, old-world-charm house with Michael, Shane and weirdo (but very sweet) Eve, and the mystery intensifies. Before I even got to the vampire part of the story, I already had all sorts of suspicions about these three housemates allowing Claire to board with them. I think the two elements that really drew me into this book were the constant menacing undertone and the fact that every time I thought I had things figured out, another mystery popped up, needing my and Claire’s investigation. I was suspicious of everyone and everything (as the author had intended) and couldn’t figure out whether Oliver can be trusted or not...amongst others.

I loved the characters, with Michael being my favorite, and Eve, Shane and Claire a close second. Amazingly and thankfully Claire is a strong character who can stand up for herself, even though her decisions are sometimes impulsive. She takes responsibility for the consequences of her actions, and she’s obviously no airhead who constantly needs a boy’s protection. I have a strong suspicion her character is going to be kicking serious butt by the end of the series. There’s a tiny, tiny bit of romance in this book, and I am overjoyed that it was kept in the background.

Rachel Caine has given me everything I hate in a book, but she turned it upside down into everything I love to read. I hate reading about vampires because the female lead is always falling in love with it. Not in this book. I can’t stand weak, clingy, hormonal female teen leads. In Glass Houses, the female lead is everything I want her to be, flaws and all. I love action in books, but am not too big on too much romance, and this book had exceptional action scenes in the final chapters that trumped the little bit of romance there was ten love. And, wow...then there’s the mother of all cliffhanger endings... Overall, Glass Houses ended up having all my favorite story elements in it, and overnight turned me into a Rachel Caine super-fan. Although I wouldn’t consider this a horror exactly, I would recommend it to fans of this genre as Caine expertly keeps the sinister feel of Morganville going throughout the story to keep the suspense at high voltage. I’d also recommend this series to readers who are tired of reading vampire romance, because these vampires are the stuff nightmares are made of. Nothing romantic or cuddly about them. If you’ve already read this book and loved it, also check out Tim O’ Rourke’s Kiera Hudson vampire series. Not for the fainthearted.

I have to admit I am very pleasantly surprised by the first book in this series. I am not that big a fan of YA, but this book grabbed me from the first pages, when Claire is almost being killed by the older dorm girls who hate her for being smart. Claire knows she needs to find someplace else to sleep tonight, or they will kill her. They are not kidding; Monica and Gwen are true sociopaths. She was very lucky to survive getting thrown down the stairs with only a sprained ankle and a lot of bruises.

Claire is some kind of prodigy, she is just 16, much younger than the other kids in college and the dorm, and she would have loved to go to one of the major colleges, and they would gladly have welcomed her, but her parents refused to let her leave the state, which is why she ended up at the "party" college of Morganville. Claire will just have to endure it for the next two years, until she is 18, and then she will transfer herself to one of the top colleges.

And so she finds herself looking through the ads for rooms for rent. The first one is gone already, the next few are too creepy, but one of the last advertisements seems perfect for her. The Glass House has three tenants, and is looking for a fourth. And at first she seems to be accepted, Eve and Shane seem to accept her, and take care of her, something she is not used to. But when Michael wakes up, he is against her as she is still a minor, and it is against the local laws. Still, she defies him, very uncharacteristic for Claire, and he relents when she explains about the bad girls at the dorm, who will kill her.

That evening Eve explains a bit about the town to Claire, who does so not believe her. A town run by vampires? Really? They pay taxes in blood in exchange for Protection?
But while making breakfast the next morning, the police knocks on their door, searching for Claire, she starts to believe it. Eve quickly hides her in a secret room behind the pantry, but Claire can make out some of their conversation.

When Claire finally tells them the name of her nemesis, they are appalled. A few years ago, Shane got on Monica's bad side, and she burned down their house. He managed to escape, but his twelve year old sister did not. And with Monica being the mayor's daughter, and their family Protected by one of the most powerful vampires in town, nobody did anything against her. Shane even left town, but he returned when his best friend Michael asked him to.

But something is not right with Michael, he is not a vampire, they tested that, but he is also never around in daylight, nor do they see him leave the house or come home. And that while he is a very gifted musician. He should be out there, playing his music. When Claire finds out the truth, he makes her promise not to tell the others. Especially Eve, who really likes Michael.

But when the vampires get too close, hunting Claire and the others who are all unprotected, they need to find something to bargain with, fast.

A very intriguing story, the vampires are not the good kind you want to have a relationship with. They treat humans as pets (the Protected families) or as cattle, the ones not protected, like the students who come to collegue from out of town. There is some kind of forcefield around the city, making you forget what is happening in Morganville when you leave.

I liked Claire, she is a bit of a nerd as she loves school and studying and science. But she does have a backbone when necessary, and she makes sure she herself and her new friends are safe. She does not stay meekly inside when the vampires are hunting her.

Eve, Shane and Michael are wonderful secondary characters, each with their own unique and not so happy background. And the bad girls are really bad, evil and conscienceless. They enjoy torturing those who are weaker than they are.

The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I will dive into the second book right away. Glass Houses is a very enjoyable first book in a long series, and I do look forward to reading the rest of it.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

I have to admit I am very pleasantly surprised by the first book in this series. I am not that big a fan of YA, but this book grabbed me from the first pages, when Claire is almost being killed by the older dorm girls who hate her for being smart. Claire knows she needs to find someplace else to sleep tonight, or they will kill her. They are not kidding; Monica and Gwen are true sociopaths. She was very lucky to survive getting thrown down the stairs with only a sprained ankle and a lot of bruises.

Claire is some kind of prodigy, she is just 16, much younger than the other kids in college and the dorm, and she would have loved to go to one of the major colleges, and they would gladly have welcomed her, but her parents refused to let her leave the state, which is why she ended up at the "party" college of Morganville. Claire will just have to endure it for the next two years, until she is 18, and then she will transfer herself to one of the top colleges.

And so she finds herself looking through the ads for rooms for rent. The first one is gone already, the next few are too creepy, but one of the last advertisements seems perfect for her. The Glass House has three tenants, and is looking for a fourth. And at first she seems to be accepted, Eve and Shane seem to accept her, and take care of her, something she is not used to. But when Michael wakes up, he is against her as she is still a minor, and it is against the local laws. Still, she defies him, very uncharacteristic for Claire, and he relents when she explains about the bad girls at the dorm, who will kill her.

That evening Eve explains a bit about the town to Claire, who does so not believe her. A town run by vampires? Really? They pay taxes in blood in exchange for Protection?
But while making breakfast the next morning, the police knocks on their door, searching for Claire, she starts to believe it. Eve quickly hides her in a secret room behind the pantry, but Claire can make out some of their conversation.

When Claire finally tells them the name of her nemesis, they are appalled. A few years ago, Shane got on Monica's bad side, and she burned down their house. He managed to escape, but his twelve year old sister did not. And with Monica being the mayor's daughter, and their family Protected by one of the most powerful vampires in town, nobody did anything against her. Shane even left town, but he returned when his best friend Michael asked him to.

But something is not right with Michael, he is not a vampire, they tested that, but he is also never around in daylight, nor do they see him leave the house or come home. And that while he is a very gifted musician. He should be out there, playing his music. When Claire finds out the truth, he makes her promise not to tell the others. Especially Eve, who really likes Michael.

But when the vampires get too close, hunting Claire and the others who are all unprotected, they need to find something to bargain with, fast.

A very intriguing story, the vampires are not the good kind you want to have a relationship with. They treat humans as pets (the Protected families) or as cattle, the ones not protected, like the students who come to collegue from out of town. There is some kind of forcefield around the city, making you forget what is happening in Morganville when you leave.

I liked Claire, she is a bit of a nerd as she loves school and studying and science. But she does have a backbone when necessary, and she makes sure she herself and her new friends are safe. She does not stay meekly inside when the vampires are hunting her.

Eve, Shane and Michael are wonderful secondary characters, each with their own unique and not so happy background. And the bad girls are really bad, evil and conscienceless. They enjoy torturing those who are weaker than they are.

The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I will dive into the second book right away. Glass Houses is a very enjoyable first book in a long series, and I do look forward to reading the rest of it.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

I've had the Morganville Vampires series on my TBR list for quite some time. It's popped up as recommended to me by the store and loads of other places. I've seen people who say these books are really good and even funny. So when I saw that my local library had Glass Houses on audiobook, I jumped on the opportunity to check it out.

Audiobooks can be a hit or miss for me with the narration. When I first started listening to Glass Houses, the narrator (Cynthia Holloway) totally wasn't doing it for me. She was fairly monotone and I found myself spacing out too easily. I got a good twenty minutes in before I realized that I hadn't heard anything that she said and I had to start over. I think once the story finally hooked me, it was easier to ignore the less than stellar narrator and get into the book itself.

Claire is a fairly likable character. She unknowingly moves to a town that is pretty much run by vampires in order to attend college early. Most of the residents are aware of the vampire world around them and have sought out protection from those vampires. Claire, however, is pretty much oblivious to what's going on around her until she moves out of the dorm she lives in and moves into a house with a ragtag group of characters a couple of years older than her.

Claire's roommates were an interesting bunch of characters. Eve who taunts the vampires by dressing gothic. Michael who has a secret that only Claire knows. And Shane who's haunted by the fact that his sister was murdered by the hands of these creatures and the humans under their protection. This group accepts Claire into their house at differing rates and for different reasons, but they all become her family.

Overall, I didn't particularly see anything about Glass Houses that blew me away. It was a pretty average read for me in all aspects. I had parts that I dreaded putting it down and therefore was excited when I was allowed to return to it. But I didn't rush through it. The characters were interesting, but not on the level of others that I've read. The plot was decent, but at this point in my reading experiences, nothing new. I do plan to continue reading the series in order to see where things go and hopefully to come across some of this humor that I've heard talked about concerning the series which I found absent from Glass Houses.

I'll give Glass Houses 3 Stars. Have you read it? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my "All Things Halloween" October review event.

For more reviews, check out Somewhere Only We Know - [...]

I have heard great things about the Morganville Vampire series but have not picked it up until now. I enjoyed Glass Houses...I wouldn't say that I loved it, but I did enjoy it. I often have a hard time really getting into 'first in a series' novels and I think that was the problem here. There is so much world-building that the action can seem slow at times.

The part where Claire learns that Morganville is run by vampires was oddly anticlimactic. I don't know, I guess I just expected more out of Claire. My other problem with the book is that Claire was so blasted stubborn. She refuses to deal with the threats against her in a reasonable manner, ie: leaving town. Instead she lies to her parents and everyone else, ignores the danger, and bullheadedly keeps trying to go to college. There were times when I wanted to reach through my Nook and slap her silly! Of course, I had to remember that she is only 16 years old and her brainiac status does not guarantee maturity.

Anyway, I will keep reading this series, but so far, it's not one of my favorites. I did like the romance between two sets of characters and the twist at the end.

Just One Gripe:
Claire's stubbornness was really frustrating for me.

The Best Thing About This Book:
I like the premise behind vampires running the town.

My Review
Favorite Quote(s):
"'Claire. Wake up.' She blinked and realized that her head was on Shane's shoulder, and Michael was nowhere to be seen. Her first thought was, Oh my God, am I drooling? Her second was that she hadn't realized she was so close to him, snuggled in. Her third was that although Michael's part of the couch was empty, Shane hadn't moved away. And he was watching her with warm, friendly eyes. Oh. Oh, wow, that was nice."
Favorite Character: Claire. She's so smartly sarcastic, it's hard not to love her. see?
"'You're kind of a psycho. I get that.' 'I might be,' Monica agreed, and gave her a slow, strange smile. 'You're one smart little freak. Now run away, smart little freak, before I change my mind and stick you in one of these old suitcases for some architect to find a hundred years from now.' Claire blinked. 'Archaeologist.' Monica's eyes turned winter cold. 'Oh, you'd better start running away now.'"
First Line:
"On the day Claire became a member of the Glass House, somebody stole her laundry."
My Musings: The reason I picked up this book is because I've heard great things about this series. I'd heard about Shane and all his hot boy glory, and about all the action of the life in Morganville, Texas. I have to say, this book was exceptionally good, and I was in no way let down. Glass Houses follows Claire Danvers as she lives life as a sixteen year old in college. Of course, sadly, she ends up on the wrong side of the school's queen bee. But in Morganville, that doesn't mean the typical teasing and shunning that Claire is used to. Because Morganville is run by vampires and the ones they Protect; and Claire is not Protected, and is targeted by the mayor's daughter. That could only mean trouble.
And trouble it was indeed. After Claire is attacked, beat, and pushed down the stairs, she decides that enough is enough, and seeks a new place to live. She eventually ends up at the Glass House with sweet and oddly mature Michael Glass, troubled and hilarious Shane Collins, and gothic but friendly Eve Rosser. This is where her adventures begin.
Glass Houses had a plot that kept me intrigued; which is a good thing, because I've been sick and haven't wanted to do much of anything. This novel helped me pass the time. The plot was far from boring at all. There was adventure and danger, and it kept my heart pounding for the characters.
That being said, I also immensely enjoyed the characters. Each of them had such a distinct personality, but they all were easy to relate to. Michael was the big brother that I want. He looks out for Shane, Claire, and Eve. He's sweet, reliable, and protective, and he wants more than anything to keep his friend safe. He's predicament is quite sad, and I feel really bad for him. Eve was the best friend that a girl could meet. Although she dressed extremely gothic, she's really just a sweet girl that's been through a lot. She was quirky, a little easy to scare, and fun and I really enjoyed her relationship with Claire. Claire was amongst my favorites in the novel. I admired her intellect (from one over achiever to another!) and I admire her courage and drive to stay in Morganville when given the chance to leave. She grew and matured past her age of sixteen within this story, and it was beautiful to see. And Shane. Shane was an interesting character--he was nice and protective, yet somewhat closed off. He was hilarious, and he always had me cracking up. I was truly sorry for what happened to him in the past, but it shaped him into a young man that any girl (Lucky Claire!) would be honored to have.
Glass Houses really entertained me. It was a great short read, and I cannot wait to dive into the second installment of the Morganville Vampires series.

I was really excited to read Glass Houses because of a Morganville Vampires short story--"Dead Man Stalking"--that I read in the paranormal anthology Love is Strange. The short story was written from Shane's point of view, full of awkward, cagey eighteen-year-old attitude. I expected the same level of writing from Glass Houses even though the book is in Claire's perspective. The switch from the short story's first person narrator to Glass Houses's third person drained a lot of Caine's natural energy, but the writing in Glass Houses is still clear, smart, funny, and its voice occupies that weird place between adult and adolescent that I love so much.

Glass Houses's plot meanders a little, leading up to a climax that resolves all of the problems pretty neatly. The plot seemed as if it existed mostly to introduce the world and the characters, but since both the world and characters felt solid and three-dimensional it didn't bother me that much. Caine doesn't fall back on stereotypes, even when it comes to the overdone world of vampires. Instead, she uses labels as a jumping off point to create real people--like the girl who needs to be accepted so badly that she burns down houses and still has enough power over other girls to get them to help her commit murder. Caine's characters feel real, complex, and interesting, even when they're acting kind of cutesy.

One warning to readers: There's a seriously cheap cliffhanger at the end of this book. I had already planned to read Dead Girl's Dance (the second book in the Morganville Vampires series) before I finished Glass Houses, I just didn't like feeling as if I'd been cheated into it.

Have you been looking for a new vampire read? Tired of waiting for True Blood to return and patiently waiting for the next new Vampire Diaries episode? Well, give Glass Houses a try if you want a smart, exciting new series. Glass Houses is the first book in the Morganville Vampire series. I had heard good things about it. But, to be honest, I wasn't rushing out to read it because I thought it might not have enough action and romance for a girl like me. I was pleasantly surprised in that Glass Houses has lots of action, and lots of vampires. As far as romance goes, it's a bit tame (the main character is only 16 years-old) but the romance is there, and you can tell that love is going to blossom throughout the series.

Claire Danvers starts out as a weak, timid girl who gets bullied by the popular girls at her college. And these girls give the original `mean girls' a run for their money. They are not only verbally aggressive, but they physically torture Claire as well. To be honest, it's a bit hard to read at times. But once Claire moves into the Glass house and becomes friends with Eve, Shane, and Michael- she begins to find her own true strength and purpose.

Claire is a smart and witty character. And her blossoming romance with Shane is fun and exciting to read as it develops throughout the novel. As mentioned earlier, Glass Houses does not lack in action and the reader is taken on an adventure ride with Claire into the town of Morganville and the world of vampires.

Ms. Caine does an exceptional job drawing richly detailed characters. She makes you care about these young people and what happens to them. Our lead character, Claire, begins to find her authentic self throughout the novel and the reader grows with her as her eyes are opened to a world in which monsters are real and evil really does exist. Glass Houses is a fast-paced book with plenty of intrigue and teen angst to keep you turning the pages.

~Review by The Fictionista from When Pen Met Paper

Originally posted on the Shelf Addiction Blog.

The synopsis says Claire is a collage freshmen...which she is. Based on that I was hoping that this would be a YA book with a more mature feel. BUT, Claire is 16!! She's a prodigy student away from home for the first time. She's young and socially naive. Due to this, the book was not what I expected. Instead of an more mature feel, it was more PG and age appropriate toward younger teens.

Basically Claire gets severely bullied and after an incident that seriously injures her, she sets out to find somewhere else to live other than the dorm. She finds the Glass House, meets Eve and from there they click and Claire ends up living with Eve, Michael and Shane. It's a interesting mix of personalities, but they all get along. Even though her three newly found roommates are 18, Claire still fits in with them. Shane, smart mouth and impulsive. Micheal, a much older soul and is beyond his years and Eve a tough Goth girl who is a loyal friend. Then we have Claire, young, naive, but book wise smarter than the 3 others put together. They all play off each other and that make them a good unit.

This book had a lot of content to be so short. Jam packed and pretty fast listening once I was able to get into it. It was an easy and somewhat predictable story. This story didn't require you to think too much on why Claire did this, or why Shane said that...it'll pretty cut and dry.

To save Claire, Shane makes a deal with a pretty bad vampire. This backfires of course, so the gang sets out to find something important to the vampires they can trade with to secure their safety. The story goes on and we learn some people aren't what they seem, we find out there is a whole structure going on in Morganville. Almost like a vampire government of sorts. It's all pretty different.

I started to wonder about the parental figures since Claire is so young, but just when I was thinking about it, a little past halfway mark of the book, Claire's parents finally show their faces. They really treat her like a child, too bad for Claire.

Now the very last little bit did surprise me, it sort of came out of nowhere. That is a true cliff hanger, my first instinct was to get the next book immediately just to see what happens directly after that last scene.

I listened to this in audio, and for me it was a slow start. I don't contribute the slow start to the book, but to the narrator. Believe it or not, a good book can be a crappy audiobook if the narrator isn't on point. I felt my attention drifting away from the narrator. At times, I had a difficulty determining whose dialogue it was. I was able figure it out using context, but the narrator didn't do a great job differentiating the characters from each other. I recommend reading this one...the audio will not do it justice.

I probably will continue on with the series, but it won't be right away. I have so many books on my TBR list, and since this book didn't wow me, The Morganville Vampires has been put on the back burner for now.

A few of my favorite quotes from the book:

"You're kidding. I thought all geniuses read Latin. Isn't that the international language for smart people?"

"Damn, Claire. Warn a guy before you do a face-plant on the floor next time. I could have looked all heroic and caught you or something."

"Hell", Shane spit in disgust. "I can't hit a girl. Here, Claire. You hit her"

I have really mixed feelings about Glass Houses. I've heard great things about the Morganville Vampire series, so I was eager to see what all the excitement was about. While I thought the concept was great and quite original, there were several things that bothered me.

I'll start with the concept and why I loved it. Morganville is full of vampires, but only the people in town know it. People are either Protected or they're not, and if they're not Protected they're basically fair game to the vampires. Interesting, right? Different from anything else I've read. I also really liked the mystery surrounding Michael, and thought that was fantastically original too.

However, I found Claire kind of annoying, and at times downright stupid. When she first started being attacked by the girls at school, I could see her wanting to ride it out, but when it turned potentially deadly and she stuck around, I thought she was a complete moron. I don't think you could be considered a failure or a coward for leaving school when someone pushes you down the stairs with the intent to kill you or throws acid on you with the intent to burn and horribly disfigure you. Get out of there! Go home! And all the times Shane warned her to stay home and then she got in trouble or got hurt, I just wanted to wring her neck. There's independence and then there's stupidity and foolishness.

I also found it really hard to connect with Claire, or with any of the characters. I think the book might have been better off told in the first person - I might have been able to connect better with Claire that way. The writing style was a bit strange - I can't really explain it, but I found myself thinking several times that the style itself was part of the reason I wasn't connecting with the story or characters. That being said, I did like Michael and Shane for the most part, and I liked that they took Claire in and cared for her even though she was a stranger and could have caused problems for them for different reasons.

Overall, I think Glass Houses was a decent starting point for what I'm hoping will be a good series. The cliffhanger ending had me wishing I had the second book so I could start it right away (which is saying a lot since I didn't love this book). If you're looking for something different, or hoping to get into a new vampire series, I'd say this one is worth a shot.

I have heard lots of recommendations for this series so when I saw the first book in my local WHSmith for the bargain price of just £1 I couldn't resist!

The book started with Claire discovering that her clothes had been stolen from the dorm washing machine, it turned out that a girl called Monica (and her gang of followers) had it in for Claire and wanted to teach her a lesson. I was a little bit confused as to why Monica and her little gang were picking on Claire but that was soon explained. I found Monica's bullying of Claire throughout the book quite uncomfortable to read, especially when it was of a violent nature, but I also feel that it was necessary to show just what kind of character Monica was, and how far she would go. Needless to say Monica was my least favourite character, she had such an evil streak and I have a feeling I'll be seeing much more of her in the books to come.

The whole story had an eerie feel to it, I was on edge whilst reading it just waiting for something bad to happen. It was particularly nerve-racking when Claire first arrived at the Glass House to have a look around at her potential new lodgings, I was sure there would be a vampire lurking in one of the rooms waiting to jump out on her!

Claire's new roommates were interesting - Michael was so intriguing, he clearly had some kind of secret and I couldn't wait to find out what it was. When I did find out I was surprised because it wasn't what I had expected. I really liked Shane, he was very cheeky and he brought a hint of playfulness to the story. I feel that there is a lot more to discover about Eve, she was definitely likeable but I thought that she may not be telling them everything.

Claire's first encounter with a vampire was unnerving and scary, everything that happened after this moment was exciting and completely drew me in so that my heart was pounding in fear for her. Towards the end the action really heated up and the story became very intense and even more scary, the fantastic cliffhanger ending had me yelling `noooooo' at the book so I can't wait to get my hands on the next one to see how it turns out.

This book had everything - shocks, betrayals, violence, a hint of romance and some scary, scary vampires. A definite hit and another one-day read for me.

"Run first,' Shane said. `Mourn later.'
It was the perfect motto for Morganville.
― Rachel Caine, Glass Houses

I wish life was like a good book, better yet a Rachel Caine book. I am seriously cursing the Gods as to why they haven't revealed her genius to me before. Purely so that I could have worshiped this book in the right and so clearly necessary way.

You may think that you know vampires, that their story has been written a thousand times over. That they can be distant but heart warming, fierce but forgiving...well traditionally vampires are blood suckers who won't think twice about love when you could be their next meal. There not nice. And they don't want to be your boyfriend. Cue The Morganville Vampires. Finally a book that actually portrays vampires as they are meant to be! Purely fictional of course, but oh so dangerous.

What about characters? Well who doesn't love a realistic main character. Someone who is easy to relate to and whom you wish were your friend. Claire has this incredible depth to her. Although she does start off as sort of the typical winy and flawed girl you soon realize that she is so much more. Then you have the gothic fire cracker Eve, the hot guy Shane, and the mysterious Michael. All up, this fantastic four make an amazing family unit which I would die to be a part of...purely because of Shane.

Here's a taste of the whimsical world of Shane Collins:

"Hell", Shane spit in disgust. "I can't hit a girl. Here, Claire. You hit her" He tossed her the bat."
― Rachel Caine, Glass Houses

"Damn, Claire. Warn a guy before you do a face-plant on the floor next time. I could have looked all heroic and caught you or something"
― Rachel Caine, Glass Houses

....do you see my point about wanting to be sucked into this book....it should be pretty clear.

The story moves at a great pace, where events occur in a logical fashion. Instead of curling up with a vampire and getting all down and sweaty, it's ok to be scared of them. As they will kill you. I could honestly rant and rave about this book until the end of time, but unless you read it you won't understand Caine's sheer brilliance.

Her writing is phenomenal. It is done with such care to detail, with a touch of humor, and a heart racing swig of romance. If you enjoy books with mystery twisted in intrigue pick up this book. You won't regret it. And you won't be able to stop thinking about it...I promise!

I really enjoy Caine's Weather Warden series, so in picking up this book, I had pretty high expectations, and she didn't disappoint! I like the main characters in this book, and Caine has done such a good job of describing the surroundings and the people that it's very easy to immerse yourself completely in the story, visualizing things and you really feel like you're a part of it.

Although Caine didn't spend a whole lot of time describing the vampires of Morganville in this book, their reasons for coming to be in Morganville, their strengths and weaknesses, and the whole Protection aspect - I have a feeling she will elaborate more as time goes on in the series. She spent a great deal of time laying the background of the story and concentrated more on the Glass house and the 4 people who live there.

The tragedy that Michael has faced is even more interesting, and I can't help but wonder if Caine has an ace up her sleeve to get him out of his predicament. Shane and his badass father are quite interesting. I really like Eve and her overly public Gothic appearance. It just makes me smile to think about what a rebel she is (totally gets away with it), but is also just a fragile person inside.

I really like Amelie even though I probably shouldn't, she is quite the enigma. I also had started liking Oliver early on in the book, and now know that was wrong! I wasn't expecting that little twist in the story at the end. Caine pushes the boundaries of what her vampires are able to do, and it's really quite interesting! The story flows well, and is a pretty quick easy read. I can't wait to pick up book 2!

Freakishly smart Claire Danvers has always lived on the outside. Never exactly the popular girl, Claire has been fine with her low social status until she started her freshmen year of college in Morganville, Texas at sixteen years of age and took the role of social outcast to a whole new level. After innocently making a bad impression with the reigning Queen Bee of Cruel, overnight Claire turned from simply unpopular to walking punching bag. Claire decides to ditch her on-campus lodgings in favor of an off-campus abode hoping the old 'out of sight, out of mind' adage will do the trick. Even though she isn't exactly crossing her fingers. As luck will have it, Claire manages to stumble across a listing for the Glass House: occupied by Michael Glass (owner and local man of mystery), Eve (bubbly goth girl), and Shane (slacker hottie who likes x-box) - all of whom have secrets galore. In the Glass House, Claire discovers her sleepy college town is actually controlled by vampires and that none of her roommates (Claire included) are currently under the protection of a vampire - effectively branding them all as fair game. Suddenly Claire's got a lot more to worry about than just midterms.

One of the main reasons I was looking forward to reading Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series is because her vampires are just that. Evil bloodsuckers who basically want humans controlled and docile. Or dead. None of this sexy, misunderstood souls business - Morganville vampires can be easily labeled as villains. And can I just say that for once, it's nice to be on sure footing where the bad guys are concerned. Vampires = bad. Humans = good. Easy peasy. Well, that equation normally holds true, but like any good story it isn't always so black and white; but more on that in the next book, The Dead Girls Dance.

Claire's story was decent, but it wasn't until she meets up with her three roommates in the Glass House that the pages really started turning. Not that I don't like Claire - I do, to an extent - but Michael, Eve, and Shane just happened to up the entertainment ante much faster than our bookish heroine has previously accomplished. It also helps that Claire develops a backbone while living in the Glass House, making her infinitely more likable. Her three roommates have a nice, comfortable banter with each filling a specific role which helped me relax and fall into the story more than anything else.

Glass Houses is fast-paced and short and I quite enjoyed Claire's story but every so often little details would pop up that would end up completely pulling me out of the story. Like when this scary old vampire lady calls Claire 'winsome' and Claire has no idea what she means. Really? A girl who reads anything and graduated from high school at 16 doesn't know what winsome means? Huh. I guess those SATs aren't as tough as they used to be. I mean, I know Claire is mainly math and science smart, but it happened a couple of different times and just didn't feel right.

Glass Houses is the first in the Morganville Vampire series and introduces us to Claire, the main character who is 16 and an advanced placement student at a small Texas college which happens to be in a town run by vampires (of course, the student body doesn't know this). After running afoul of some 'mean' girls, Claire looks for off campus housing and discovers the truth about where she is currently living...she also manages to stir the pot to an alarming degree.

The nice thing about this series is that while it deals with vampires, it is very different from the way other YA books have dealt with vampires. They aren't sexy and beautiful, they're dangerous and most people don't like them in Morganville (only the protection they can provide). And the whole town run by vampires thing is just a unique way to spin a series.

I also like that most of the characters are well rounded. Amelie and Oliver are 'villians' of a sort, but they also have good aspects to their personalities. Claire, Michael (who I just love), Eve and Shane are basically good kids, but they each have secrets and flaws that make them real. And I was very happy that Claire is smart and active. She isn't wringing her hands trying to find some boy to fix her problems. She tackles them herself (with some bad results, it must be said) but she shows young girls that it is OK to be smart (and sometimes comes in really handy!).

On the other hand, Brandon and Monica are rather one-dimensional characters. They're just bad and Monica seems to be a complete physocopath (so is at least one of her friends) because she goes WAY overboard with her bullying. I could buy the beginning things Monica does to Claire (the bullying, making fun of her, even some of the physical stuff) SPOILERS: but when Monica progressed to kidnapping with the intent to burn/kill Claire or throwing acid on her, I started to think Monica was a little overblown. I mean, unless Monica has some sort of mental problem, her reactions aren't realistic on any level for someone who Claire just made look bad in front of her friends.

This book also ends in a cliffhanger and the next book (the Dead Girl's Dance) picks up immediately after then events of Glass Houses (literally, NO time passes) so make sure you have Dead Girl's Dance when you read Glass Houses.

If you like YA books, or vampire books, you should really look into this series. You won't be disappointed.

Claire has always been smart and this got her into college at the age of sixteen. With overprotective parents her only choice is a small town college in Morganville. Little did she know the secrets the ancient town possesses and she finds out more than she bargains for when she is unexpectedly thrust into the lives of Michael, Shane, and Eve.

The author did a great job setting the scene and making Claire's bullying out to be something just about monstrous. I felt the concept and execution of the story was well done and the vampire town was explained well.

Claire was a great character. She was spunky without being overconfident in herself and her abilities yet she was able to stand up for what she wanted. I really liked Shane even though he had a standoffish personality at first there was nothing getting past his sweater side. Michael was more of an issue for me, overall I liked him but his standoffish character went beyond my acceptable limits although he did redeem himself in my mind. Eve was just spunky and cool; she seemed like someone I would want to hang out with.

I would recommend this book to vampire lovers.

Glass Houses
The Morganville Vampires Series Book One
By Rachel Caine

Super smart sixteen year old, Claire Danvers, is a misfit through and through especially considering the fact that she is a freshman in college. Soon after she starts her new life in Morganville Texas she bites off more than she can chew when she insults Monica and her gaggle of followers who are now out for her blood. After Monica pushes Claire down a flight of stairs she decides she must leave campus and find somewhere else to stay otherwise she may end up dead next time. She soon finds an add that takes her to a house that is best described as "Gone with the Wind meets the Munsters" and three new roommates each eccentric in their own way. Shortly after she moves in she discovers that Morganville is more than just the party town that it seems and is full of dark and dangerous secrets.

Ok so when I first heard about this novel I thought "Young adult romance called Morganville Vampires, another typical vampire romance, Skip it!" Once I started reading this novel it took me completely by surprise, not only is the vampires the bad guys in this book but it surrounds an entire town controlled by vampires and the humans know and most are under a vampire's protection. After I read this I was hooked, I could not get enough of this novel with its witty repartee and a story line like this it is an amazing read. Be forewarned this book has one heck of a cliffhanger so have book two ready to continue on!