Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires, Book 1) by Rachel Caine 2006 256 Pages 3.75/5 Fun fluff. That's how I would describe this book. And that's not a bad thing. Not at all! I love this type of reading actually. There's no deep hidden message here, there are no real touching moments (though some come close), and there are no existential dilemmas. But there is a LOT of good storytelling going on here. I was hooked pretty much from the beginning. I love vampire novels. Always have...You could call me a "pre-twilight" vampire fan :p But I thank Stephanie Meyer for writing Twilight actually, because it brought back the vampire genre....gave me new series to read. I like this new YA/horror genre that's arising. I just finished the Forest of Hands and Teeth which is a zombie/YA book and now I have a vampire/YA book :) The book is set in a town called Morganville, TX. Morganville is a strange little town as Claire, a new student in the city, soon finds out. It's populated by vampires. Not only vampires. There are some living people there, mostly students, and a few other still breathing people, but there are a LOT of vampires. A truce has been made in the town though. Many people have protection from the vampires due to a bracelet with a symbol that they wear. The vampires don't typically bug humans unless they're really hungry...then they may take a student or two. Claire has gotten on someone's bad side, though. The girl's name is Monica and you can say she has friends in high places. When Claire calls Monica out on her stupidity, Monica and her gang of girly-girls beat the living crap out of Claire and make it their life's mission to destroy Claire's life. Claire knows she needs to get out of the dorms and turns to an old house in the area called The Glass House. Michael, the mysterious guy; Shane, the fun/joker guy; and Eve the goth girl take Claire in after a few fleeting thoughts of it not being the greatest idea. And it turns out that it wasn't the greatest idea. Claire soon learns that if you piss off the wrong people, it's not pretty in a town like this and the whole town is turned upside down in this first installment of The Morganville Vampire series. Did I enjoy it? Oh yeah! Will I be reading the sequels? Oh yeah! Like I said, it was action packed with really fun characters. It's one of those novels that keeps you on your toes, keeps you catching your breath going "ohnoohnoohno!" And it's edgy...I always like edgy ;)