Book Review: “Glass Houses” by Rachel Caine (plus “Fall of Night” UK Tour Dates!)

dark, captivating and ultra-amazing, Rachel Caine’s “Morganville” series starts with a bang..and never disappoints…

Publisher: Allison & Busby
Author: Rachel Caine
Available: in Paperback/Hardback/eBook
My Edition: UK Paperback

A little about “Glass Houses”…

From the author of the popular Weather Warden series comes the debut of an exciting new series set in Morganville, Texas, where you would be well advised to avoid being out after dark.
College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. 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.

The US Cover of “Glass Houses”

Firstly, I want to express my applause and gratitude to Ms. Caine for writing such a wickedly entertaining and incredible set of novels in the Morganville Series. I began reading them a few years ago after finding the whole series in a local book retailer. I got about the first three novels in the Morganville Series (Glass Houses, The Dead Girls Dance & Midnight Alley – my favourite) and I began reading them right away. I was enthralled by how captivating they were and how much they held my attention; I had heard so many positive things about Rachel’s writing and they all came true. (Of course now I have all the books!)
Okay, so “Glass Houses” is one of my personal favourites. It begins with the ever-present factor of every teenagers life; the bullies. Often in the form of popular, pretty girls with a vengeance or need to hurt those weaker–and that’s where Monica and her “followers” came into it. We learn more about Monica later in the series as to why she is so, well, her. So, Claire *spoiler* gets “beat up” by them. This makes her utterly hate living in her dormitory and she looks to be re-housed. She finds this in the “Glass House”. Yes, I know what you were all thinking when you first saw the title; a glass house–like a house made out of glass?! But no, that was the owners name; Michael Glass. His roommates were, the “beautiful goth” Eve Rosser, and the “handsome misfit” Shane Collins. At the beginning, there wasn’t much to describe Michael other than “ghostly”..and you’ll find out why.
Claire begins to see herself fitting into the Glass House–on a temporary basis, that is. She was a few years their junior and Michael insisted that she only stay there for a little while. But I knew that as soon as they all blended together and let a couple hearts flutter (Michael & Claire…no…Shane & Claire…yes) they would all be kind-of happy.
That’s where the Vampires came into it. Claire didn’t know about the Vampires right away, not until I think it was Eve who told her. This doesn’t make Claire frightened, as such. Possibly a bit “spooked” that she didn’t know, but not so much that she would leave her new friends, because I think she made this sort-of instant connection with them all that I didn’t really notice until I reflected back on the book itself.
There is drama that follows, laughable commentary from jokers Michael & Shane, and the blood mobile?! I mean, like an ice-cream van for Vampires? That’s..weird and amazing at the same time!
I thoroughly adored Glass Houses, then went on to love, love, love the rest of the series, and I’ve read each and every one of them. You will want to re-read them over and over just to relive that insane, crazy-beautiful town they call Morganville.
Rachel’s books will always be 5 stars. 😉

“Fall Of Night” will be released on May 2, 2013. (UK) Pre-order here.