Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
Series: The Morganville Vampires #1
Published by Penguin
Published on: October 3, 2006
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 260
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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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.
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Of course I had heard of the Morganville Vampire series, couldn’t very well not if you read as much paranormal as I do. I was put off by the sheer number of books in the series so never indulged, although I know they sure sounded good. Thanks to Naomi at Naomi’s Book Palace for telling all us readers what we were missing if we weren’t reading these, I bought the first one. I literally could not put it down! I am sure a lot of you have already read these, but if you haven’t than you are missing out.
Claire is a teenage nerd, brilliant, and although too young to be in college, has started her freshman year away from home. She lives in a dorm, but as with her high school years, she has become the object of bullying by the mean girls in her dorm. These girl take the definition of mean to new levels-like stratosphere levels. After a group tries their hardest to kill her(and almost succeeds)she goes looking for a place off campus to live. This is how she ends up living at Glass House, an old home inhabited by Eve, a goth girl, Michael a musician that sleeps all day, and Shane, an out of work, but super fun guy. They take her in knowing she has problems back on campus, also knowing that she’s going to be a real problem for them.
Morganville isn’t your typical small college town by a long shot. Here, the vampires rule the town, and people are prey-unless they are protected. Nobody in Glass House is protected so things heat up fast. Claire manages to get involved in so many bad aspects of the town and seems to almost be the catalyst for things to ramp up between the residents of Glass House and the vampires of Morganville. I wondered at times how they managed to survive prior to Claire’s arrival. And actually one of them does have a major secret concerning that.
I enjoyed this one so much that I immediately bought the next in the series and have already read it, and started the third-in a three day period. Yes, there are something like fifteen books in this series, and it’s pretty daunting, but right now I am happy with reading how ever many I can. Series like this makes me wish there were more hours in the day to read. I saw on Amazon that the age group for this book starts at twelve and I have to say REALLY? to that, because of sexual thoughts and things like one of the girls dressing sexy(garters, thong) to hit on the guy she likes-call me old fashioned, but I think the age group should be more like 15+-just my opinion of course. And that’s not even touching on the amount of violence.
Great characters, unique premise, non-stop action and/or humor, this read had all that and more. There’s romance, and scary life and death moments, and I thought it was perfect for any Urban Fantasy fan or PNR readers for that matter, although it’s lighter on the romance. Just a word of caution, it does have the dreaded cliffhanger and I am usually not a fan. However, I forgave it, because the next book was there ready for me to buy. If you love paranormal reads and haven’t tried this, I highly recommend it. As in, You really need to read these!
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The Morganville Vampires
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I’m Lorna and I live in Maryland. Since retiring, I spend my time mostly reading and reviewing books. My favorite reads are Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, and Young Adult. I read a lot of indie books in addition to traditionally published books. Favorite paranormal creature? Vampires, but I am really liking werewolves more everyday.
I tried this book but never finished it, not really sure why just put it down and never picked it back up. It’s still sits on my TBR bookcase as I think one day I will give it another try. I hear all sorts of good things about this series but it just didn’t interest me at the time.
Stormi recently posted…Book Review: Dragon Fall by Katie MacAllister
Maybe someday you could try again. I am loving them, but then not everyone likes the same type of reads 🙂
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
I’m so glad you picked up this series and ended up really enjoying the first few books! I know another blogger who did the same this year and reviewed them all on her blog – such fun to see them stacked up like that. She really loved them all – hopefully this series will be a big hit with you too. It sounds like you are off the a great start!
Kim recently posted…Book Review: Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
I have read the first four, but then had other ones I had to read, I plan on going back to continue soon. Have you read them?
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
This really is a fun series, so glad you tried it Lorna! I’m way behind on it but my daughter finished it over the summer and loved it so I’m looking forward to seeing how it all ends.
kindlemom1 recently posted…Cover Reveal: Dead Girl Running By Ann M. Noser!
Is your daughter a teenager? I would have loved these back in those days I am sure. I hope to continue on soon with it, I am enjoying them so much!
Anonymous recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
I hadn’t heard of this series before, sounds good to me. I love paranormal and vampires.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Review: Rag Doll by Rebecca Scarberry
They really are fun reads with just enough violence, suspense and romance to ramp it up to fantastic reads-at least for me there are 🙂
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
They only have a translation here, boo
blodeuedd recently posted…The Girl’s Guide to the Apocalypse – Daphne Lamb and Fitreaders check in
Oh sorry-what language?
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
These look very interesting! Adding to my TBR list!
Oh I hope you enjoy!
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
Oh gosh. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into! There are so many of these books!!! My heart couldn’t handle the thrills, suspense that I stopped at book #5. Sigh. I’ll be on the lookout for your reviews!
Joy // Joyousreads recently posted…Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 159
The next one posts next week. I just started book 5 today. I hope you didn’t stop reading because book 5 wasn’t good!
Yay, so glad that you enjoyed and are continuing the series, I loved the whole thing and devoured
So far so good-started book 5 today. Glad you loved them too 🙂
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine, @penguinusa)
Oh yes I heard a lot of great things about this series but I confess that I haven’t tried it yet. I should because I really loved some of her other novels! one day!
I haven’t read any of her other series, but after reading these I will probably be taking a look at them as well 🙂 Really worth trying to read!
Lorna recently posted…Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (@Mollykatie112, @rachelcaine)
I’m glad you finally gave Morganville a shot, Lorna. I found it – oh gosh, I don’t remember how long ago. I’d been wanting to read it (after Twilight and Vampire Academy) and one day I was in Borders and picked it up. I read the Acknowledgements page and saw Caine had attended Texas Tech…which I also graduated from. So I just *had* to read it! The campus and town have a ‘Lubbock’ feel to me, so I enjoyed the stories all the more. I’m not caught up in the series though…need to get back to it. Great review!
Bookworm Brandee recently posted…#COYER Review ~ On the Record ~ KA Linde
I wish I had known how good they were a long time ago. Now that I am reading book 7, 15 books isn’t so daunting! And thanks!