Book Review: Glass Houses

Title:  Glass Houses
Author:  Rachel Caine
Pages:  239
Publication Date:  2006
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction/Paranormal 

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"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. Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?"

My Review:
Claire is just a sixteen, errr almost seventeen...sort of, year old girl.  Teenage years can be rough, but Claire is finding them extra hard.  See, Claire has special circumstances, she may be only sixteen, but she is a freshman in college and trying to live on her own away from home for the first time ever.  Soon she is hating it because she loves school, but she is being bullied like crazy, some say hazed.  The difference?  Her attacker wants her to be gone forever, not just made miserable.  Claire soon finds herself in danger and decides the only way she will stand any chance of surviving her dorm life, is going to be leaving the dorm for other living arrangements.  Soon she finds a spooky looking house and some odd teens looking for a roommate.  Problem is, they are older and she is really young to be living with a bunch of 18 and ups.  Michael, the owner of the house, sees she is in real trouble though and offers her a place to crash, even if it's just for a few days or a week until she can figure something else out.  While living there though Claire learns more about Morganville, Texas and why things seem so strange around here.  There are deep and very dark secrets in Morganville, none of which certain people there want getting out.  So when Claire is too curious she puts herself in even more danger.  Will she figure the town out and all of it's secrets?  Will she survive trying to figure things out?  What secrets do her roommates have and why are they so scared and careful all the time when it gets dark out?  Legends are just that right?....Legends....none of them hold real truth to them do they?  One thing's for sure, Claire may have gained three great and new friends in Eve, Shane, and Michael, but she will probably regret the day she ever came to Morganville, Texas.

The back of this book didn't do it very much justice.  I realize now though, it is because too much more to it would have given some of the mystery away or made things sound way to confusing.  I was not sure about this read when I picked it up, but I got it free from a library book sale (along with many of the other books of this series) so I figured why not give it a go.  I am very glad I did!  This book was full of mystery, paranormal, drama, friendship, and much more!!  This was a vampire book that was done in a great way.  It wasn't all love and mush, but had some of those elements at times.  It wasn't all killing and vampire attacks either....though it has those moments too.  It was written in an easy to follow way and one that made you want to keep right on reading until you hit that last page. Then I found myself wanting to go to page one of the next book too.  Very well written with amazing descriptive words.  I felt like I was watching a movie while I was reading it, it was so vivid to me.  The characters were also something to "write home about"!  They are all so unique you can't wait to watch them develop as the book goes on and you learn more about them and their past.  Young Adult books can sometimes be a bit too young adult at times, but this one wasn't.  What do I mean by that?  I mean sometimes they just aren't enjoyable for us bit "older", maybe not so young adult, readers.  ;-)  There can be too much drama and no enough plot, but this book had a great plot with drama incorporated into it, not drama with a plot incorporated into it.  I very much recommend this book to any paranormal mystery reader young or old.  I plan to read on in this series in the months to come that's for sure.

5/5 Stars!!