Glass Houses: The Morganville Vampires, Book I

This is a young adult book. GLASS HOUSES does deal with teenage issues, like going to college, living away from home for the first time, making new friends and having your first serious kiss. Yet you can really connect with the main characters they are a bunch of strong, loyal teenagers. The storyline has paranormal mystery, action and twists and turns, thus keeping readers of any age interested. The book ends with a major cliffhanger, (which usually annoys me) but understandable since this is the first book to the Morganville Vampire Series. Would I recommend this book? Sure, it was entetaining and I look forward to continuing with the series.

I've never been too keen on Vampire books, so I was hesitant to try this one, but from the very first page I was instantly sold. Claire is a main character you start rooting for right from the start. She has a knack for getting into trouble but always stubbornly pushes through with a firm sense of loyalty and what is right. Her ability to trust borders on naive but at the same time has you hoping along with her that the trust is warranted. All the residents of the Glass House have starkly different personalities and make the perfect group of misfits that you hope will succeed no matter how sticky the situation gets. Rather than paint a pretty picture of college life and living alone the book addresses harsh realities that are often overlooked like bullying, fear and betrayal. The most refreshing quality is that the Vampires in this novel show the dangerous and bloodthirsty side often ignored or made light of in more recent materials and depicts these creatures of the night as they should be seen; as predators. The Morganville Vampire series has a remarkable blend of suspense, mystery, action, and romance so that it appeals to many tastes. Overall it's one of my favourite series.

I am hesitant to give this book anything more than three stars because quite frankly I'm lucky to have finished it, much less in a single day like I did. However the ending was quite intriguing and since it's a cliffhanger I might actually have to read the rest of it.

The characters are not very well fleshed out, but better than most, and the vampires are actually quite creepy and eerie in this book, which is definitely a step up from Twilight but is it fantastic? No.

The writing was often weak and the main character truly annoyed me throughout the book.

Glass Houses is the first book in The Morganville Vampires series written by Rachel Caine. Beyond the teenage issues that the main character Claire Danvers must face is a wonderful action packed paranormal mystery that will help the series appeal to the young & adult reader alike.

The scene is set in Morganville Texas where child prodigy Claire has been sent by her overprotective parents to attend University in what they deem a safe environment. Claire soon learns that everything is not as it seems, as vampires run the town & she must seek shelter with a group of rebellious teens off campus at the Glass House. Shane, one of Claire's housemates is a potential love interest but at 16 years old any real interplay at this point well would be illegal!

This is not a lengthy book at less than 200 pages & it makes for a great evening read that I could not put it down. Be prepared & have 'The Dead Girls' Dance' the next book in the series handy as this book has a serious cliffhanger ending.