Ghost Town - Rachel Caine

Ghost Town is the ninth book in The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine. It was published on 4th November by Alison and Busby. The book is 479 pages long and the UK version has an exclusive short story. I won this book in a blog giveaway.

Plot
After being allowed on a little trip out of Morganville, Claire Danvers and her friends finally start to feel like things are starting to look a little more like normal. As normal as things can look in Morganville anyway. Unfortunately for Claire, she finds herself right in the middle of a terrible situation and ultimately has to decide on taking a punishment herself of making her friends do it in her place.

Claire being the type of girl that she is, decides to take the punishment herself. Amelie forces Claire to work without sleep or rest until the town’s defence system is repaired. Even though Claire works until she hit’s the state of complete exhaustion, the defence system is up and running again, leaving her to get back to her friends. Upon leaving Myrnin’s lab and back into Morganville, Claire begins to think that everything is not quite right. People are losing their memories, going as far back as the past three years. As Claire starts to notice this happening more and more, she realises that anyone can be affected, including the vampires. Claire must figure out a way of restoring the town’s defence system before she forgets how to do it!

What I thought
I am a massive Morganville Vampires fan and would probably say that this is my favourite vampire series overall. A while back, I managed to buy the first eight books in the series on a 3 for £5 offer but as soon as I had finished Kiss of Death (#8), I was desperate for the next instalment. Ghost Town has probably been my most anticipated book of the year so far so I was so excited when I found out that I had won a copy.

I felt quite sorry for Claire this time around, more so than usual. The poor girl has been through so much and I’m really beginning to wonder how much more of it she can take. Just the thought of her all alone in Morganville if everyone around her forgot who she was made me sad. I didn’t want Claire to have to deal with everything on her own again or to be left working for an insane vampire. She really showed her maturity and level headedness when it came to the situation she had been put in. I love this side to Claire just as much as I like the side of her that wants to kick ass. As a character, Claire really goes through some big changes in Ghost Town due to how the story works out.

Myrnin has been one of my favourite characters since he made his first appearance in this series. One of the things that I loved about him this time was getting to see how he was before meeting Claire. It has been stated in previous books that he wasn’t always as sane (even though he isn’t completely sane at all) as he is now. Myrnin had quite a terrible past and was what most people would think of when the topic of vampires is brought up. I love how schizophrenic his character is normally and when the memory loss factor was added in, he just ended up being completely insane. I loved seeing how different the old Myrnin was compared to the current Myrnin and how his life/ personality had changed over the short space of three years.

Rachel Caine wastes no time in getting straight back into the story, picking up from where Kiss of Death left off. With a lot of big series, I have had to re read the latest book before reading the newest one so that I know what is going on. Even though it has been a couple of months since reading the previous books in this series, it all came flooding back to me very quickly and there was never a point where I had to think back and remember what had happened. There were little reminders throughout though as to what happened in a couple of the previous books so this will be a nice reminder for people who can’t totally remember everything. What I liked most about the story was never being able to decide on who was going to lose their memories next. It really could have been anyone and I liked the element of surprise here.

Ghost Town was a fabulous read and certainly worth the wait. Even though it isn’t my favourite book of the series, it did come extremely close. Obviously, if you haven’t read any of the previous Morganville books, you really wont know what is happening if you start with this one. The tenth book in the series wont be out for a long time yet but I know that it will be one that I will be buying on release day.

Carpe Corpus (The Morganville Vampires Bk6) - Rachel Caine

Carpe Corpus is the 6th book in The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine.

Here's what has happened so far
Claire Danvers moved to Morganville to go to college early at 16. After being bullied in the dorms by Monica and her popular friends, Claire moved into Glass House with Michael, Shane and Eve, where she soon discovered that Morganville was ran by vampires. Michael was a ghost and now he's a vampire, Shane is Claire's boyfriend and Eve is her best friend. Shane's crazy Dad turned up and tried to take out the vampires. Claire had to sign herself over to Amelie to ensure protection for her and her friends which resulted in working for Myrnin, a crazy, sick vampire. Then, Mr Bishop, Amelie's father turned up and decided to take over the town and rule it for himself. Right at the end of book 5, Lord of Misrule, Claire decided to join forces with Bishop.

Carpe Corpus
After deciding to work with Bishop to save her friends, Claire Danvers realises that she doesn't exactly have any friends left. Eve refuses to talk to her, Shane has been thrown in jail with his insane Dad and Michael is also working with the bad vamps. Claire thought that Amelie would be the one to save her but she is no where to be found and acting like a coward.

Bishop wants everyone to do exactly what he says and doesn't care who dies in the meantime. Claire is stuck in the middle of a full scale war between Amelie and Bishop by working for one and being sworn to the other. Someone is going to have to take Bishop down for good but Claire and her friends are going to have to be extremely sneaky and rely on some people that they would never have trusted before to make sure that they get their town back.

What I thought
I'm really beginning to feel sorry for Claire. There's only so much a teenage girl can take but after swearing herself to Amelie, Claire doesn't have a way out of Morganville anymore. It's beginning to look as though she's destined for a life of danger and action or to end up dying young (which we all know wont happen really). This is the first book in the series that sees Claire completely alone, without her friends to rely on. Shane is her backbone a lot of the time and knowing he's there makes her stronger and braver but with him in prison, Claire has a really hard time coping with what is happening and I ended up just wanting to give her a big hug and tell her it would all be ok.

So many characters in this book reveal what they are really like and in terms of character development, this is what I had been waiting for. Claire turns 17 on the first page so for anyone who has read the rest of the series, I knew where the story was about to go at some point. 5 books of sexual tension was enough for me so I was looking forward to seeing Claire and Shane's relationship develop even more and to see how they dealt with what was going to happen. Other characters have a lot of depth this time around and most of them are ones that you never would have guessed. The past between Amelie, Sam and Myrnin are expanded upon and considering that they are such a big part of the story now, this was something that I truly enjoyed reading about. It really gave their characters a whole new meaning in my eyes.

What I really like about these books is that each one starts off from where the last left off. I really hate to have a big chunk of time missing from a continuing plot and Rachel Caine doesn't leave anything out in these books. From page 1, I was thrown right back into Morganville according to Bishop and following Claire as she tried to figure out what to do. Along the way, there are many twists and turns that kept me guessing about what was really happening but also, aspects of previous books were brought back in to tie up some unanswered questions. I had honestly forgotten about some of these parts but when the events happened I was like 'Oooooh! I get it now' so that was a really good aspect for me. Where Lord of Misrule had a lot of action, some of that was replaced by mystery and plotting in this book. I like the action but it can be overdone so it was nice to have a change of pace for Carpe Corpus.

Instead of a heartbreaking or jaw dropping cliff-hanger, this time the ending was very well rounded. Even though it wasn't extremely exciting like in previous books, the end still made me want to pick up book 7 immediately. It was nice to see Rachel Caine mix things up a bit this time around and give the readers an ending that they couldn't have been expecting.

How lucky I am to live in the UK. Our version of Carpe Corpus has an exclusive short story at the back of the book which is written from Shane's point of view. In the first two books in this series we got to read from Eve's diary and this was another addition that I really enjoyed. These little extras make it a lot easier to connect with and relate to characters which aren't Claire and Shane's short story made me fall in love with him all over again. He's such a sweetheart really.

Rachel Caine certainly knows her audience and how to keep them happy. Carpe Corpus was one of my favourites in the series and I couldn't wait to start on Fade Out.

Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires Bk5) - Rachel Caine

Lord of Misrule is the 5th book in The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine.

Here's what has happened so far
Claire Danvers moved to Morganville to go to college early at 16. After being bullied in the dorms by Monica and her popular friends, Claire moved into Glass House with Michael, Shane and Eve, where she soon discovered that Morganville was ran by vampires. Michael was a ghost and now he's a vampire, Shane is Claire's boyfriend and Eve is her best friend. Shane's crazy Dad turned up and tried to take out the vampires. Claire had to sign herself over to Amelie to ensure protection for her and her friends which resulted in working for Myrnin, a crazy, sick vampire. Eve's brother came back after being in jail and dead girls began to turn up all over the place. Then, Mr Bishop, Amelie's father turned up and took over the entire town.

Lord of Misrule
In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, a master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn't the only threat.

Violent black clouds promise a storm of devastating proportions. As student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against the elements - both natural and unnatural -the unexpected happens: Morganville's vampires begin to vanish one by one. Discovering why leads Claire to one last choice: swear allegiance to Bishop... or die. (Taken from the back of the book)

What I thought
What was different with this book was that the four main characters get split up. Usually, they all rely on each other to get through whatever bad situation they are in so this time, emotions are running at an all time high. The goodbye scene happened very early on in the story but I was completely convinced. There is a lovely moment between Michael and Eve but where Claire and Shane were convinced, I was really let down. With everything that was happening, the reality of it was that any of them might not actually survive this time but the emotion in this scene was quite lacking.

I was glad to see that being split up didn't last for the majority of the book though as I would have missed having Shane and Michael around. The banter between the two always adds some much needed humour to a very serious and action filled storyline. Everyone always seems to moan at Shane for having a problem with Michael being a vampire but wouldn't you? I don't think I would care that he was once my best friend, he's still a vampire now so I would definitely be nervous about carrying on living with him.

Claire shows a lot more vulnerability in Lord of Misrule, changing what I thought about her again. As her relationship with Shane grows, she also grows more sure of herself and her feelings and can't help but get annoyed when she isn't sure if he returns them. Claire is even more bad ass in this book which was something that I loved about her. Being separated from her safety net friends made Claire have to branch out and trust some other people who she worked well with. I was glad to see Claire's development progress in Lord of Misrule as it came to a bit of a standstill in Feast of Fools.

Even though Amelie is a huge part of the other books, she doesn't really have much to do. This time, Amelie is a feature character as she tried to rally everyone up to fight against Bishop. Amelie likes to be known are a hard, relentless woman but really begins to show that she cares for Claire in this book. I'm pretty sure that it is only because she needs her for something or other but there was a softness to her character that made me think that she actually cared, deep down.

As always, the story progresses at an extremely fast pace, with something always happening. As the story is told from Claire's point of view, I did wish that I got to find out more about what happened with Michael, Eve and Shane while they were separated because there was only a quick run through of what happened. There is a lot of built up tension and excitement by the time the story comes to an end and I found it truly exciting.

As much as I love the amazing, heart-stopping cliff-hangers, I also hate them at the same time. If I hadn't had the next book sitting there waiting to be read, I would have screamed. Rachel Caine certainly knows how to write an amazing ending to a book and one that will make you need (not want) the next in the series.

Each book in the series has distinct differences from the others but the quality, excitement and romance are always there. Another fabulous book by Rachel Caine. Next in the series is Carpe Corpus.

Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires Bk4) - Rachel Caine

Feast of Fools is the 4th book in The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine.

Here's what has happened so far
Claire Danvers moved to Morganville to go to college early at 16. After being bullied in the dorms by Monica and her popular friends, Claire moved into Glass House with Michael, Shane and Eve, where she soon discovered that Morganville was ran by vampires. Michael was a ghost and now he's a vampire, Shane is Claire's boyfriend and Eve is her best friend. Shane's crazy Dad turned up and tried to take out the vampires. Claire had to sign herself over to Amelie to ensure protection for her and her friends which resulted in working for Myrnin, a crazy, sick vampire. Eve's brother came back after being in jail and dead girls began to turn up all over the place. Then, Mr Bishop, Amelie's father turned up and he seems to be the scariest vampire of them all.

Feast of Fools
The vampires in Morganville thought that Mr Bishop was long dead, properly dead, and that he could never come back. When they learn of his arrival, panic begins to set in. Once it is known that he is in town, invitations are sent out for a huge masked ball but it seems that Claire and Myrnin are the only ones not attending. Even Shane gets invited by Ysandre, one of Mr Bishop's 'friends'.

Claire and Myrnin are still working on the cure to his disease but they aren't getting very far. All of the vampires are taking human dates to the ball and it's down to Claire and Myrnin to take time out from their research to figure out what Mr Bishop's plans are before it's too late.

What I thought
If you haven't read any of the Morganville books and you start with this one, you are going to be one very confused reader. Rachel Caine does provide a 'story so far' in the beginning of the book but I really feel like, due to the long running story, that you need to start with book 1, Glass Houses.

So at the end of Midnight Alley, Mr Bishop and his vampire friends turned up at Glass House so the beginning of this book was quite action packed. Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve know that there is something terrifying about him but think they can handle him but soon find out just how wrong they were. I loved how there was so much going on in the first chapter because it gave me an idea of what the rest of the book was going to be like. Each book in this series so far has had a little theme going on and this one's was definitely action. From books 1 to 3, there has been a lead up to something HUGE happening and this is where it all comes to a head, for a little while at least. This is Morganville after all.

Claire's character development seems to come to a bit of a stand-still in this book but not necessarily in a bad way, not in my eyes anyway. 3 books in and Claire has already learnt a great deal about her new home and what actually goes on there so apart from little mysteries here and there, she doesn't really have much to learn in that department. Claire has already grown quite a lot as a character and has gone from not really knowing much about the world, to fending off vampires, answering back and having a steady, older boyfriend so in many ways, she now seems a lot older than she was to begin with. I really like the new kick-ass side to Claire because she although she is actually terrified, she'll still do whatever it takes to save the day without a second thought.

Some of the secondary characters, especially Sam, really came into their own in Feast of Fools and we get to see a completely different side to the vampires. Just when I thought I had certain vampires sussed, they did something that made me change my mind and end up not really knowing what they are like at all. The twists that Rachel Caine throws into each book is what keeps the series so interesting and addictive.

Rachel Caine puts a lot of effort and detail into the descriptions in each book which makes me really feel like a part of the story. I can totally imagine walking through the streets of Morganville, sitting in Common Grounds coffee shop and sitting on the sofa in Glass House playing zombie games. It isn't very often that I feel this much a part of the story but the way it is written makes me feel like I am just another lodger in Glass House.

I'm finding it very hard to pick a favourite out of these books so far because so much and different things happen in each one to make them stand out from the next. I will say though that this one would be at least near the top of the list due to how action packed it was. I really liked that there was a whole story going on here and not just something thrown in around the romance aspect. The romances are important in these books but not as much as the plot.

After 4 books, I'm still as hooked as I was to begin with so I know I'm going to be a fan the whole way through. Roll on book #5: Lord of Misrule.

Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vamprires Bk3) - Rachel Caine

Midnight Alley is the third book in The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine.

Here is what has happened so far
Claire Danvers moved to Morganville to go to college early at age 16. After a lot of hassle from popular Monica and her friends, including death threats, Claire moves into Glass House with Michael, Shane and Eve. Shane is now Claire's boyfriend, Eve is her best friend and Michael the musician was a ghost but is now a vampire (A lot can happen in two books). Shane's Dad came to town to take out all of the vampires which ended up landing Shane in jail and being sentences to death but Claire worked out a deal with Amelie to save everyone.

Midnight Alley
After signing to Amelie, Claire must now do pretty much whatever she wants without question. What Amelie wants Claire to do is work with a crazy scientist vampire who is quite insane as well as take some advanced classes, which come complete with a scholarship. Myrnin, the scientist is crazy because he has a disease, one that will slowly infect all of the vampires in Morganville sooner or later. It is Claire's job to learn all that she can from Myrnin in order to find a cure before the disease can wipe out the vampires but Myrnin isn't helping matters by forgetting things and trying to bite Claire.
There's also news that Eve's brother is out of jail and back in Morganville but as soon as this happens, dead girls start appearing and they don't seem to have been killed by vampires. Was it Jason? Claire, Shane and Eve are all trying to deal with the fact that Michael is now a vampire and they are unsure of how to live with him and how to act around him. Life in Morganville is never a walk in the park.

What I thought
After knowing that Claire had signed herself over to Amelie, I was very curious to see what she would be getting her to do. The idea of sending Claire off to some vampire losing his mind to help with research into saving their race was very interesting. Amelie obviously knows that Claire wouldn't really want to save the vampires, should she have the chance but it seems as though Claire is the only one able to do the job, seeing as she is so clever, a quick learner and always wants a challenge.

Claire seems to change a lot in this book compared to the previous two. Everyone is telling her not to trust Myrnin but she refuses to listen, doing whatever she thinks is best instead. She knows that Myrnin can be dangerous but is also able to see the good, which she does with a lot of people. What I love about Claire as a whole is that she is quite normal, apart from her intelligence. She has emotions and problems just like any other normal teenager but hers just involve vampires. There are a lot of people who try to tell her what is best for her and what she should/ shouldn't be doing but Claire is turning into a strong young woman who can think and act for herself. She's always ready to face the consequences for what she does but always believes in what she is doing.

Myrnin is one of the best written characters in this whole series so far because he is so complex. He's a very old vampire with a lot of life experience and is extremely clever. He was anyway until he began to get sick and lose his mind. Myrnin is quite a funny character because he has been stuck inside for such a long time that he doesn't have any real sense of what is going on in the outside world and he is very much stuck in whatever time it was when he left the real world. Due to how much time Claire spends with Myrnin, her understanding of the vampires on a whole grows and she begins to show some signs of compassion for certain people. Claire's time with Myrnin also gives us a little more insight into the history of the vampires, Amelie especially.

In the first two books in the series, the vampires have all been bad guys (as they should be really) but in Midnight Alley, things are beginning to change. A couple of vampires are beginning to show emotions and more of a human side than I thought was possible for those in Morganville. I'm glad it was only a couple of characters because one of the biggest things that I love about these books is that vampires are as bad as they're supposed to be. Also, even though the humans were shown as the good guys to begin with, slowly more and more are showing their true feelings about the vampires and living in Morganville. Having good guys on the bad guys side and vice versa spices up the story a bit, making me unsure of who is really on either side. I liked this aspect because it really kept me guessing about what was happening.

While Michael and Eve's relationship progresses (well as much as it possibly can with him being a vampire now), Claire and Shane don't seem to be going anywhere. As I explained in my previous review of The Dead Girls' Dance, Shane refuses to have sex until Claire is 17, no matter what she does to try to tempt him. I was hoping that something different was going to happen with this aspect of the story but can completely understand why they are at a standstill. I guess I thought that Shane was going to give in and be weaker than he is.

Overall, this has been the most interesting in the series so far, due to the background of the vampires more than anything else. There is, of course, a lot of action packed into the story which flows well with other events surround all four main characters. I felt like this was a more well rounded book compared to the others because of the mixing of action and complex plot instead of mostly being about the action. I read this in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. Luckily work didn't get in the way of me reading this one.

The Dead Girls' Dance (The Morganville Vampires Book 2) - Rachel Caine

The Dead Girls' Dance is the second book in The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine.

Here's what has happened so far
In Glass Houses (the first book), 16year old Claire Danvers had moved to Morganville to go to college. After being bullied in the dorms, Claire went to live with Michael, Shane and Eve at Glass House to be safer but it was then that she found out that the whole town was being run by vampires. Claire found something that the vampires desperately wanted but refused to hand it over, resulting in head vampire, Amelie promising her and her friends protection in exchange. Just when they thought everything was going back to normal, as normal as they can be in Morganville, Shane's crazy Dad arrives wanting revenge.

The Dead Girls' Dance

Claire, Michael, Shane and Eve just want a bit of peace and quiet around Glass House. They thought that when Amelie gave them protection, everything would be ok, but that was until Shane's Dad, Frank, turned up. Amelie's deal was that no more trouble would be caused but Frank is trouble with a capital T. He doesn't mess around with stating his intentions, he wants revenge on the vampires or anyone who looks remotely like one for the deaths of his daughter and wife. Unfortunately for Michael, being a ghost doesn't do him any favours.

With Frank threatening Amelie's protection, Claire and her friends must figure out a way to stop Frank and his thug sidekicks before he ruins everything that they have worked for. They manage to stay out of trouble for a couple of days but then Brandon, a well known vampire is found dead and all fingers point to Shane and his Dad (who is no where to be seen) so Shane ends up taking the rap for the whole thing, being sentenced to death by fire.

Claire, Michael and Eve need to think of a way to save Shane and fast. In two days he's going up in flames. Will they be able to do it?

What I thought

After reading Glass Houses, I was hooked to this series and I picked up Dead Girls' Dance immediately. I couldn't wait to find out what happened due to the cliff-hanger at the end of the first book.

Dead Girls' Dance wastes no time in getting straight back into the action of the story. I really liked the fact that it picked up straight from where the first book left off. Other series' that I have read seem to have some time missing between books and I always feel like I've missed out on the important, but small things that go on in-between books. Again, there were a lot of things that I didn't see coming with enough plot twists to keep me guessing all of the time. Sometimes I felt like there was a little too much going on and the plot could have been simpler. The mix of vampires and humans, who owns who and what is going on is confusing enough sometimes but then Shane's Dad was thrown in there as well. Luckily, the way Rachel Caine writes makes everything quite easy to follow most of the time.

Rachel Caine leaves us again with a really big cliff-hanger, making me want to start book 3 straight away (which I couldn't do as it was 3am). Some people may hate this though, especially if they don't have the next book waiting but I loved being left wanting a whole lot more.

There are quite a few new characters introduced in this book and they are all well tied to someone else. The connections were explained really well so I was never unsure of who came from where or what they were doing. There was a good mix of both good and bad guys, old and new and this time, the bad doesn't only comes from the vampires. Frank on his own was utterly terrifying and I couldn't help but feel sorry for Shane for having to deal with that, although I could also understand why Frank was doing what he was. The scariest thing about Frank was the fact that he was only out to do what he wanted and didn't care about anything or anyone that got in his way, including Shane. He was one of my favourites from the first book so I really didn't want to see anything bad happen to him.

I said in my review of Glass Houses that the character development wasn't quite there for me but I definitely cannot say the same about this book. So much happens to all four of the main characters that I would have been extremely upset if certain things about them didn't change.

Claire really grew in this book from being a quite naïve 16 year old to being more mature and sure of herself. She still isn't extremely confident but has a quiet strength about her which was really nice to see. Living away from her parents and with people of similar age really does Claire a lot of good because she has to learn to fend for and look after herself. Shane is the first boyfriend she has ever had (I think. It isn't stated otherwise) and she obviously cares about him a lot, which shows very clearly when he is put in prison. Claire's intelligence is also shown a lot more this time around which was something that I found quite interesting. Her being as clever as she is, is the whole reason why she is in Morganville in the first place so for her to not be able to think and plan out well just wouldn't have made much sense.

Due to Shane being in prison for a good amount of the story, I missed him. His personality and banter with Michael brings a lot of humour when there is so much seriousness going on and it was a shame that this was missing for such a long time. The small amount of time that he does get though shows a lot about where his character is going. Although Shane seemed like the typical, moody teenage boy to begin with, I can see that there is a lot more depth to him, largely due to things that have happened in his past. He does think that he has a certain image to uphold though and doesn't want anyone else to see what is really underneath.

I was glad to see the relationships between Shane and Claire and Eve and Michael progress a little more but some parts just didn't make sense to me. As Claire is under the legal age (17), Shane has decided and made a promise that they wont have sex, even though it is obvious that they both really want to. I know that this is supposed to make him look like the gentleman and be all chivalrous but I just didn't believe it. So many teenage couples have sex before it is legal and this is why it didn't feel all that real to me. I do understand though that the author is probably trying to teach young people a lesson in this department and also wanted to make Shane be the good guy. I have to say though that there was quite a lot of built up tension between the two and it left me wondering how long it is going to be before anything really happens between the two.

Even though this is a YA novel, there were some parts that I didn't think very suitable for anyone under the age of at least 15 or so. The aspects of violence, date rape and sex were quite large parts of the story and something that I don't think anyone too young should be reading about. I do think that this series is aimed at a slightly older audience than most YA fantasy novels. There is also some swearing but I would expect that from teenagers in a situation such as Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve's. The swearing isn't overdone though and it is in context to what is going on in the story.

To even have a chance of following this book, you will need to have read Glass Houses otherwise you will be incredibly lost. I don't think that any of these books are going to be able to stand on their own but it isn't something that bothers me. I like having to read the characters background and have the chance to really get to know and feel for them.

Dead Girls' Dance is a fantastic sequel in this series and was everything and more than what I was expecting. If you haven't read this series yet then you need to go out and buy book one ASAP!! I can't recommend them highly enough.

Glass Houses: The Morganville Vampires Bk1 - Rachel Caine

Claire Danvers is 16 and incredibly clever. So clever that she got early acceptance into college, including MIT. Having lead quite a sheltered life, Claire's parents don't think that it's a good idea for her to be so far from home only being 16 so they sent her to Morganville, which isn't that far away.

Claire isn't happy about it but doesn't really have much of a choice. Not only is Claire at a college she didn't want to go to but she's also being bullied by Monica and her popular friends. Bullying would be putting it lightly actually. Monica and her friends really don't like Claire and end up pushing her down some stairs, warning her that she is in deep trouble later that night. Not wanting to find out of Monica is going to stand by her words, Claire heads off to seek off campus accommodation, even though it isn't really allowed.

Glass House is looking for a fourth housemate. Claire heads over to the house, not really knowing what to expect but when she gets there, she finds an old, mansion looking building which is pretty creepy. The only girl living there, Eve, finds her outside and invites her to come look around but lets her know that it is Michael that makes the decisions. Eve and Shane (one of the other housemates) have no problems with letting her stay but Michael doesn't think it's a good idea. He doesn't want anyone underage living there, knowing that it could cause trouble over anything else but after hearing about Claire's problems at the dorms, he can't help but say yes.

Claire thought she had it as bad as it could get at the dorms but then her new housemates tell her what is really going on around town. Morganville is a vampire town and they're everywhere. Her friends have some secrets of their own though and are going to have to pull together if they intend to stay alive in a town where anything could happen.

What I thought!
I was lucky enough to find books #1-8 in this series in The Works the other week in their 3 for £5 offer. When I first heard about these books, I wasn't that bothered about reading them in all honesty but when I saw how cheap they were, I couldn't resist. Each book was at least £5 on Amazon so I was saving myself a hell of a lot of money.

So many times I have read about supernatural beings that were actually the good guys. Not this time. There are no Edward Cullens in Morganville that's for sure. These vampires, although following the rules of the town, are pretty badass and have everyone, humans included, running around after them. The vampires try to use everything that they have to get what they want which means charm and creepy smiles. Sometimes this does make some of them seem like good guys but I wouldn't be too quick to believe them. After all, it just isn't in their nature to be nice is it?

Claire was easy to like. The book started off explaining the situation with her and Monica and I couldn't help but feel extremely sorry for her. Everyone else at the college is older than her and a lot more experienced in life so Claire had a lot to contend with to begin with. Also, no one likes a show off do they? It was quite strange to me that Claire loved studying so much though and was determined to continue going to her classes, no matter what was going on around her. I guess that is all she has ever known though with her parents seeming quite controlling over her schooling. Claire does start off quite the weak character but her new found friends seem to bring something more out of her which isn't fully expanded on in this book. I can see that through the other books in this series, Claire's character is going to go through a lot of changes.

The other people living at Glass House made this book for me. Shane is your typical tough guy. Gorgeous and strong but fun at the same time. The way that Rachel Caine writes these teenagers is so unbelievably true. The guys especially. Shane and Michael are quite obviously very into girls, playing on their X Box, shooting zombies and drinking when they get the chance. Never have I read such believable teenagers in a book of this genre. Shane doesn't really show any signs of emotion to begin with but as the story develops, something more comes out in him and we get to see what he's really like. Michael is quite the opposite to begin with. It's clear that he cares when Claire comes to the house because he doesn't want her there, to protect her but being the big softy that he is, he says yes anyway. Michael also has secrets that come out quite quickly.

Eve really made me laugh. In a town run by vampires, she goes around dressing like a goth, pretty much rubbing it in their faces, which isn't something that she really cares about. Eve is the tough girl with nerves of steel when it comes to the vampires and it was great to see her stand up to Michael and Shane when she didn't agree with what they were saying or doing. I was also really glad to see Claire gain a real friend in Eve, despite the fact that they were so different.

While these four main characters were amazing, they didn't all get much development. As I've said before though, there are 8 books in this series so far, with more to come so no doubt we will get to see many different things happen and change within them all.

I know I said that the characters made this book but the story was also fantastic. There's mystery, secrets, action, excitement and a little romance. The size of this book is quite average compared to others in the genre but it packed in so much more, without being overdone. I could never guess what was going to happen next and I could never see things coming, especially what happens with Michael. Due to the amount of action, I think that this would be suitable for both guys and girls, unlike others which seem to be more focuses on the romance side of things.

I really enjoyed reading Eve's diary at the end of the book. Quite a few books in this genre have taken to telling a story from two different people's points of view but this was done in an entirely different way. Instead of changing the way the story was written, the diary adds a little something extra to what was already a great book. With so much going on, I couldn't help but wonder what everyone else was thinking or feeling so at least this way, I got a small amount of what I wanted.

Rachel Caine writes a fantastic YA novel but doesn't write it so that it doesn't appeal to anyone else. I'm 24 and loved it. The ending was left at a pretty big cliff-hanger but luckily, I had the next book ready and waiting for me, which I picked up immediately. This is by far, the best big series in YA novels that I have ever read. Unfortunately, the books do have to be read in order or you will have no idea what is going on at all. I cant believe I waited to read these books because now I cant put them down. I've read books #1-6 in three days and hopefully will have finished the next two soon.

More Morganville reviews coming soon...If I can pull myself away from the other books!