Review - Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Publisher: NAL Jam
Release Date: October 3, 2006
Series/Standalone: Book 1 in Morganville Vampires series
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback


Summary from Amazon.com: College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero.


When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.


My Review:


I was reluctant to start the Morganville Vampires series because the covers turned me off, because I wasn't sure whether I wanted to invest the time into a series that already has 11 books in it (soon to be 12), and because in my head I had lumped this series together with other mediocre YA vampire/paranormal series that will remain unmentioned. I now realize how judgmental and superficial I was being with my reasons to avoid this series. I'm glad that I made myself read the first couple of pages of Glass Houses because it pleasantly surprised me and I quickly finished the rest of the book, and now I do intend to read the following books in this series. 


Claire is a sixteen-year-old college freshman (a.k.a. genius) who starts living off-campus at the Glass House with Eve, Michael, and Shane after being bullied one too many times by the girls in her dorm. The characters were a strong point in this story, which is a major plus for me because good characters are the primary reason why I will continue to read a series. I would have loved to be roommates with Eve, Michael, and Shane because they were all such good friends to each other and they accepted and allowed Claire to join their close-knit group even though she was a couple of years younger than them and was a stranger to them. 


In the town of Morganville, vampires live alongside humans. I thought it was awesome that in this series, vampires were not love interests who try to force down their dark sides, but actually were dangerous, exactly like you'd expect vampires to be. I also liked how this book had a college setting instead of a high school setting. Perhaps this is a reason why this book seemed a bit more mature than some other YA series out there, even though Claire was pretty young. 


While not quite as addicting as my other favorite YA series, such as Vampire Academy or Twilight, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have high expectations for the next books in the series. I've heard that unlike other series out there, this one doesn't lose steam or become repetitive, which I really hope is true because isn't it wonderful to discover an enjoyable and fun series where you have several more books to go without the need for any wait? 


The ending was a cliffhanger of epic proportions, but I was not mad about it because I'm very late to getting around to reading this series so the following ten books are already released and book 12 will be available in less than a week. However, if all of the books end in the middle of a major scene like this one did, then I'm thinking I will have a problem with it once I get caught up on the series!


Rating: 8/10