It’s a small college town filled with quirky characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad comes out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows – one that will spill out into the bright light of day.

Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. The popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks on the school’s social scene: somewhere less than zero. And Claire really doesn’t have the right connections – to the undead who run the town. 

When Claire heads off campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Hew 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…

I was excited when I came across a YA vampire series that had vampires as the bad guys. I love a bit of Twilight but it’s great to have a bit of a change of pace from this good-guy vampire craze, vampires are meant to be nasty!

Characters: Claire is our protagonist, she’s a very clever sixteen year old that has just started college in Morganville. Eve is Claire’s gothic new best friend – she is very against the vampires and turned down her families protection, putting her in a very vulnerable position. Shane and Michael are our lovely male characters – you need a few in ever series. Michael is very over protective and Shane is hot-headed and a magnet for trouble.

Originality: There are so many books about vampires out just now that it’s hard to produce a truly original plot these days. Caine makes a good attempt at it though, moving away from the very popular friendly vampire image, and going back to the dark side of vampires.

Plot: After graduating early from high school, Claire moves to Morganville to start college, as her parents believe, that at sixteen, she’s too young to be sent off to university. She is living in the college dorms, where she gets on the wrong side of Monica – you’re typical bitch who is on very friendly terms with the vampires – a girl that everyone knows you’ve not to mess with. When Claire is pushed down the stairs by Monica and her gang, she decides to look for accommodation outside of campus – this is where she discovers the glass house and meets Eve, Michael and Shane. She is then introduced to the dark side of Morganville, and soon finds herself facing trouble.

Writing: The writing was good – it was very simple which makes Glass Houses a quick read – a book that’s easy to get lost in. Her characters are very well written, I really liked the four main characters and the dialogue between them was great.

Natasha’s Rating: I enjoyed the first book in the series and I’ll definitely be giving the rest of the series a go – the only thing though, which is why I’ve only given it 3.5 stars, is that Claire seems to have an awful lot of luck when she gets into trouble.

.5