Review: "The Morganville Vampires" Series Books 1-8

The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
Series Books 1-8; Omnibus Volumes 1-4
4 out of 5 stars averaged!

Another series review! :) I really enjoyed these books, more so than House of Night and The Immortals. I read these in the volumes or omnibus' instead of the individual books, which I liked because I got 2 in 1 and they were still cheaper than most books! I picked the first one up at Walmart, unsurprisingly, because my sister liked the cover and said I should read it. For someone who doesn't read a lot and definitely doesn't read supernatural/paranormal books, she sure picks out some good ones! :)

I have 2 mini-rants before I start the reviewing though: 1. I'm assuming at least one of the girls on the covers is supposed to be the main character, Claire. Does she look 16 on any of these covers? No. So annoying. 2. Because I got the first 4 in the omnibus, I obviously want the rest like that too. So now I have to wait until the newer books are released in that version. Or until I can't stand the waiting anymore. Arg! Okay, on we go.

In the first volume we meet Claire Danvers, a 16 year old prodigy, who's parents won't let her go off to a big, fancy school but instead ship her off to a small community-type college a few hours away. Did I mention this book is set in Texas? So cool. Did I mention that I'm in Texas? Now you know. :) Morganville is a small town in the middle of nowhere with a big secret: most of its residents are vampires. And not the pretty, sparkly, I-totally-won't-kill-you-because-I-love-you-but-I-might-snap-one-day-when-I-have-a-moment-of-pure-happiness kind. Hah. These guys are bad. They drink blood. Some of them are certified insane (I <3 Myrnin). They keep humans as pets. Unfortunately for Claire, this was not in the brochure next to which biology class to take.

So besides Claire and the vampires, who else do we have? Well, there's Monica Morell and her cohorts, who are pure evil, only in an I-have-a-pulse way. They beat the crap out of Claire when she gets on their bad side and cause her to flee the dorms in search of a new place to live.

Then there's Michael Glass, who is an 18 year old, wise beyond his years, musician who has a big secret. He owns the house that Claire ends up running to and while he doesn't want some 16 year old kid staying with him, of course, he can see she needs some help.

And we also have Eve, another 18 year old, goth, punk chick with an attitude on the outside, but sweet and gooey on the inside. (Like a Payday haha!) She's one of Michael's roomies and works at a coffee shop, for a hippie vampire named Oliver.

And then there's Shane. *swoon* Also 18, also Michael's roomie, slacker, moody type. I kept picturing Shawn Hunter from Boy Meets World lol. He's got a serious past like the rest of them (the rest of the town really) and it comes back to haunt him.

The last one I'll talk about is Amelie, who is the big bad vampire in charge. She's way old, way prim & proper and way interested in Claire. As in her brain. As in if she could cut her brain out and stick it in a robot, she would. (And still might, I don't know since I haven't finished the series lol)

I don't want to write much more so I don't spoil it, but I highly recommend these books. They're fun, scary and exciting. There is some romance too; it's not just all Grr Arg. ;)