Glass Houses

I picked up "Glass Houses" in an audible.com "First In A Series" sale, thinking that I was going to be trying out a new Urban Fantasy series like Kate Daniels or Mercy Thompson.

What I got was an intriguing idea: vampires founding and maintaining a small Texas town, Morganville, so they can farm the human livestock and using their second-rate college to freshen the bloodlines.

There's lots you could do with that.

What Rachel Caine decided to do with it was re-invent the Scoobie gang with our main character being a small, skinny version of Velma, Shaggy being a huge guy who plays videogames and cooks chilli, Daphne being a Goth Chick just to piss-off the real vampires and Fred is a tall, handsome, guitar player with a secret. Quite an show more original secret.

The writing works well. The dialogue is often snappy and fun.Nasty things lurk in the background of all of the scooby gang who live in the Glass House. There is some real violence and some bodily harm. Yet, overall there is a wholesomeness and simplicity to this tale of a bright sixteen year old girl who's never been kissed, making friends and facing up to vampires, that it was much more cute than chilling.

It's a good YA adventure, but the kind where someone has rounded off the tips of the scissor blades and made sure there are no sharp edges for you to cut your innocent imagination on.

This struck me as a cupcake series: light and sweet. If that's what you're looking for, this is a great place to start show less

Wow, what a beginning. This story, these characters; they've totally hooked me.

It is another vampire story, but it doesn't seem rehashed to me at all. Maybe it was the characters, the creepy twists, or just the fantastic narrative voice.

Claire Danvers is having a heck of a time at her crummy dorm. A smart, ordinary girl trying to rough it at her Texas college away from home, she is constantly harassed, sometimes to the point of serious injury, by the vicious cliques of popular girls. So when she finds an ad for three housemates seeking a fourth, she is desperate for any way out of her situation.

The three teenage residents of Glass House quickly welcome Claire into their small circle; friendly Goth Eve, sarcastic and bold Shane, and show more mysteriously intense guitar player Michael. But they are about to become far more than housemates; by stepping into Glass House, Claire has entered into the secret world that seethes beneath the town of Morganville...a world owned by vampires. Luckily, none of her new friends are vampires...but they're also much more than they seem.

Navigating a breathtakingly dangerous and suspenseful maze of danger, intrigue, and secrets, Claire has found a brave and loyal set of people to ally with. But will the four of them be enough to face the terrifying world bent on keeping them from causing any more trouble, no matter what the cost?

This book was simple and fast-paced, and the main characters caught and held me immediately with their quirks, kindness, humor, loyalty, and realism. I can't wait to see them again in the next book. show less

I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover this series! I picked up 'Glass Houses', the first book, this morning for a day-off read, and devoured it pretty much in one go. It's about a brilliant sixteen year-old girl, Claire Danvers, who takes an early placement at the college in Morganville, Texas, a stepping stone to greater things, only to find that she stands out even more here than she did back at school. And not in a good way. Her dorm is dominated by a tyrannical group of beautiful, sadistic girls, and when she unthinkingly humiliates Monica, their leader, their vengeance is fast and deadly. And so she moves out, stumbling into a house share with three older teens, Michael, Shane and Eve, in the strange old Glass mansion. show more They reveal Morganville's not-so-secret secret - that the town is run by vampires who see college kids as free food, and warn Claire that she needs to be really careful if she wants to survive in one piece. Who is in league with who? Who is a vampire, and who is simply in a vampire's pocket? And on top of that, is she falling for Shane? And what on earth is going on with Michael?

I must say, when I started the book I expected teen paranormal fluff, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The world of the Morganville Vampires drew me right into the story from the very beginning, and Caine has placed her own twist on vampire legend and the vampire novel. The tenants of the Glass House are both engaging and sympathetic, the villains are deliciously dastardly, and Claire's voice - though the novel is written in the third person - is appealing in its naivety, honesty and humour. Unusually, I never once got to a certain point and thought, 'Right, I need a break from this," or "Okay, okay, let's get back to the good stuff already!" It was fast paced and gripping, and the story flowed well, never getting bogged down in trivia or unnecessary plot sidelines. I finished it by dinner time and needless to say, I'm very pleased to have the rest of the series waiting for me! Highly recommended for fans of YA paranormal fiction. show less

4.5 stars. I am hooked on this series. Glass Houses was filled with lots of fun imagery, interesting characters, and twists I didn’t see coming. Rachel Caine does a wonderful job making Morganville feel like a real place, freaky happenings and all.

A lot of this book felt like it was setting the scene for the entire series. There were a lot of people to meet and places to get to know. It wasn’t until I was about half way through that the plot for this book got interesting, but I was sucked in from the beginning just the same.

Morganville is a small college town run by vampires. I enjoyed reading about vampires that were truly scary, but at the same time there were enough interesting twists in their mythology to make them feel show more original.

The main character Claire is brave and smart. She’s an advanced placement student so she’s a college freshman but she’s only sixteen. Even though she was incredibly smart she didn’t come across as shy or nerdy, maybe a little naïve at times, but also gutsy. There are times when you notice how young she is and others when you can see that she’s really mature for her age. I liked seeing the give and take of everyone around her thinking of her as a kid, and then later thinking of her as an equal but still knowing that she’s only sixteen.

Claire’s roommates were fun characters as well. Eve was spunky and fun. She’s goth, and I loved that she rocked her own style. Eve is her own person and despite the black and skulls she has a bright and cheerful personality. Shane felt like your typical college guy, but he had layers as well. There were moments when he got a little intense, like when he did things to try and look out for Michael or eve, but he was also funny. And Michael is thoughtful and calm. He’s not really any older than Shane or Eve, but he’s the one looking out for them, and he’s the one they look up to. Michael is really the grown up of the group.

Claire crushing on the guys in the house was cute and completely believable. Also, I was glad that while she noticed the attractiveness of both Shane and Michael that Caine didn’t go the love triangle route with this story. By the end of the book it was clear where all the relationships fell and who liked who. The kiss scene between Claire and Shane literally gave me butterflies. It was cute and sweet, and just perfect.

Monica, however, bothered me. I felt she was portrayed a little too stupid, and her interactions with Claire in general felt too immature for her age. I believed that she was the kind of girl that got by on her looks, but there is an evil streak to her that I didn’t quite understand. It was more than just doing bad things because she could. I feel like there had to be a reason why she was so cold and it bothered me we weren’t ever told why exactly.

There were a few other small things that bothered me as well. For example, many characters had black hair? This is a silly detail, but it bothered me. Monica, Claire, Eve and Miranda are all described as having black hair. Couldn’t someone have dark brown hair? But, I did like the contrast between Eve, a human who dresses Goth, and one of the vampires who was blond and wearing pink, in essence dressing like a preppy human girl.

Also, I had a hard time believing that Shane and Michael were so closed minded about Miranda being psychic. After all, they grew up in Morganville with vampires and freaky stuff happening all the time. I could understand Claire being skeptical, she was still new. I just don’t get why they had such a hard time believing that maybe Miranda had a gift, even if she was nuts.

Be warned that the end is a huge cliffhanger. There was resolution with the main plot, and then pow – Caine makes it impossible not to pick up the second book, Dead Girls’ Dance, immediately. Which is exactly what I did. If you're looking for a series to suck you in pick up Glass Houses.

Read more by Lauryn April at http://laurynapril.blogspot.com/ show less

I know this series has been out for awhile now but I just sat down and started to read it because I got Ghost Town in the mail for review (yes when that happens I read the WHOLE series) and I needed to get the background, at nine books in you kinda have to read from the beginning.

I love that Claire is a fighter and I definitely though that Clare would have gone for Michael instead of uh....someone else, I really did. I hate Monica (even though I was shocked at first every time I read her name) she was a very evil villain, the kind you just want to kill off.

I enjoyed this new (or well older but new to me) twist on a vampire YA. I also love the inclusion of the house, it's lore, and the extra-ness in one of the roommates. I also loved show more that they stood and fought with her, it was one of those wriggly happy moments of reading. I am continuing on to book two and I can't wait to keep reading more by this author. show less

L'idea di leggere un romanzo che trattasse di vampiri, per una volta, non propriamente adolescenti mi intrigava per metà del tempo, mentre per l'altra metà mi spaventava. Dopo Marked di P.C. Cast & Kristen, superato da Richelle Mead con la sua serie "L'accademia dei Vampiri", un altra serie ambientata in una qualsivoglia scuola di vampiri rischiava di essere quanto di più scontato potesse essere stato scritto fino a quel momento. Invece, Rachel Caine, con i suoi vampiri universitari, è riuscita a creare una trama dinamica, avvincente e interessante.

Non è un Urban fantasy che tende inevitabilmente al Paranormal Romance come la maggior parte dei libri sui vampiri degli ultimi tempi (benché ci sia una spolverata di rosa che, però, show more non pregiudica la trama) e, soprattutto, i Vampiri ricalcano fedelmente la figura originaria del bevitore di sangue, con pochi scrupoli e i dentini molto affilati.

I personaggi sono molto curati, perfino le figure secondarie del romanzo (o quelle che "sembrano" secondarie) hanno una buona caratterizzazione che ti spingono ad avere in breve tempo dei "preferiti". Claire con il suo carattere testardo e apparentemente indifeso che ti fa oscillare fra l'odio e l'amore. Eve con il suo essere briosa, strafottente ma molto sensibile. Shane, un tipo arrogante che finisce suo malgrado a fare da fratello maggiore a tutti e Michael, il misterioso e affascinante padrone di casa.

La storia è molto rapida, forse in alcuni punti perfino troppo, ma è condita in giusta misura da suspance e mistero. Non c'è molto di scontato e l'autrice, con uno stile semplice e molto pulito, ci porta passo passo a scoprire i misteri di Morganville, una città che tutto è tranne che normale.

Alcuni elementi presenti nella trama sono a tutti gli effetti molto attuali e comunicativi, come ad esempio il concetto di bullismo che ormai fa parte del nostro quotidiano molto più di quanto vorremmo. Oppure della prevaricazione della "bellezza e presenza" rispetto alla "mente e all'essenza".

Magari stereotipizzare la bella e famosa Monica che da immediatamente addosso alla piccola, indifesa e normalissima Claire, solo perché si rende conto che è mentalmente superiore a lei, è un po' scontato ma senza dubbio ai fini della storia ha un suo "perché".

Il titolo, come d'abitudine in Italia, è stato stravolto e non c'entra assolutamente nulla con il romanzo al punto che mi chiedo cosa sia passato per la mente alla Fanucci! Qualcuno può spiegare alle case editrici che inserire ogni volta la parola "Diario di/del..." in ogni titolo NON è sinonimo di successo assicurato?

Nonostante siano presenti un po' di refusi, positiva invece è l'impaginazione del romanzo e il prezzo: molto ragionevole. show less

I'm a bit cynical when it comes to anything having to do with teens and vampires. It's done all too often and almost always with the same basic romance and plot twists. That said, Glass Houses was a delightful surprise. It was different, a bit edgy and wasn't afraid of making the vampires the bad guys they're really supposed to be.

Claire is an interesting protagonist in that she's a college student, but very young. She's got genius level intelligence but goes to a party school since her parents don't think she's old enough to go all the way to MIT or some equivalent. She gets picked on my the mean/popular girls to the point of physical violence, but refuses to run back home to mommy. She's not the girl on the cover of the book and she's show more not a vampire.

None of the main characters were vampires, which surprised me. The series title, The Morganville Vampires, caused me to envision something completely different than what I got and it was excellent. There are some surprise supernatural goings-on, but the vamps are the enemy in Glass Houses. They run the town and if you don't have their protection, you're just dinner to them. It's like the mob with pointy teeth.

There's some sweet romance budding in Glass Houses, but for the most part, the focus of the book is about Claire, her new roommates, her troubles with the mean girls and the vampires. Some highly surprising twists come about in the book and I can't wait to see how they play out within the series.

Glass Houses is a very exciting series starter. It's a short, easy read that sucks you in almost immediately and entertains throughout. I could easily get addicted to The Morganville Vampires series. show less