Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1) by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1)
by Rachel Caine
read by Cynthia Holloway
produced by Tantor Audio
approx. 8.5 hours

Finally a young adult vampire series you can really sink your teeth into.  (I know too much, right?)  Seriously Rachel Caine has created in the Morganville Vampire series a return to the good old days of when vampires were enemies and not something to fall in love with.  And now Tantor Audio has brought the first book to life in audio book form.  

Overall, Cynthia Holloway, does a very nice job of delivering the story as told from Claire Danvers a super smart 16 year old in her first year of college.  However there are a couple of pronunciation issues that should have been cleared up before production.  One that stands out is the word settee.  Ms. Holloway pronounces as "setty" instead of set-tee.  There are only a couple of other words that grated on me but this one was repeated several times in the book and just felt like nails on a chalkboard.   If it weren't for the intriguing story I would have been turned off a bit from the book.  Aside from a couple of mispronunciations, Ms. Holloway does a great job of helping to distinguish who is talking and thinking with slight voice variations and emotes the danger and and even sometimes humor Rachel Caine uses to create a world full of vampires.

The story in this first book of the series of Morganville Vampires, Glass Houses, introduces the listener to the town of Morganville, Texas, home of Texas Prairie University sometimes called T-P eeewwww.  A town that is populated by some strange people and even stranger yet, the town is run by Vampires.  Each person has a sort of insurance policy that protects them from the vampires, when the person turns 18 they must find some vampire family to "insure" them or risk becoming food for the vamps.

Claire Danvers is a 16 year old who, due to her super smarts, has graduated high school early and before heading to a major university has opted to attend TPU.  The problem is her smarts gets her on the wrong side of Monica Morell, the most popular girl in school. When Claire corrects Monica and makes her look dumb in front of friends, Claire becomes marked for violence.  Monica and the Monikettes beat up Claire and steal her clothes from her dorm room.  Claire decides to be safe she will have to move off campus.  She discovers that The Glass House residents are looking for a fourth roommate and after meeting with Shane and Eve she has to meet with Michael, the owner of the house and who only makes his appearances after sunset.

Shane whose sister died after Monica, under instructions from the vampires, set fire to Shane's family home, makes a deal with the vampires to keep Claire from further attack. This deal could mean the death of Shane.  In order to null the deal Claire has to make a better offer to the vampires.

Eve a goth girl that is hated by the vampires because they feel she is making fun of them, tells Claire of something the vampires want and have been looking for for ages.  Claire must find this lost article and bring peace to the town of Morganville.  In doing so Claire discovers Michaels secret and is burdened with another secret.  All this on the shoulders of a 16 year-old genius.

With exciting vampire battles and the hazing of college life, "Glass Houses" is a very nice introduction to a series of vampire books that brings back the stories of hunting vampires rather than falling in love with them.  So if you are a fan of the other young adult vampire stories, pick up this ongoing series for some real vampire battles.