This is the start of a fun fantasy/horror series from the author of the Weather Warden books. In fact, I'm enjoying these even more.

Our protag, 16-year-old early-graduate Claire, moves to Morganville, Tx for college at a small liberal arts school because her parents want her closer to home. She clashes with the entitlement-and-snobbery of the local in crowd led by the mayor's daughter. When things escalate to physical attacks she looks for off-campus housing.

So she moves into the Glass House, home of Michael Glass, local boy of mystery, Shane, troublemaker trying to reform, and Eve, goth barrista. From them she discovers the big secret about Morganville: the town is run by vampires.

As a vampire town (possibly the only vampire town), all locals donate blood once a month and they sign on with a vampire for protection. Hunting visitors, like the students at the college, is controlled to keep suspicion from forming, but everyone has their memories altered before they leave anyway. And once you're truly "in the know," like Claire is, the vampires won't ever let you leave.

The residents of Glass House are outcasts, in a way. They have chosen not to take a vampire patron, allowing them freedom from a patron's rules but leaving them fair game if someone decides to attack them. Her housemates look after her as best as they can, but Claire has to decide how she's going to deal with the Morganville rules.

The story in the first book involves Claire learning the secret, meeting the powerful vampires and coming too much to their attention, and dealing with the bullying of Monica, the teenage queen bee of the community.

It's a decent book with the promise of a good series to follow. Having read the next two volumes, I think it's worth a look.


Also, there is a short story in Many Bloody Returns that tells how Eve came to live in Glass House. It also gives more background on an interesting supporting character. Not at all essential reading to follow the series, but worth seeking out if you like the book.