The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

"Claire has her share of challenges. Like being a genius in a school that favours beauty over brains; homicidal girls in her dorm, and finding out that her college town is overrun with the living dead. On the up side, she has a new boyfriend with a vampire-hunting dad. But when a local fraternity throws the Dead Girls' Dance, hell is really going to break loose"

Bad summery, or misleading at least. The Dead Girls' Dance is a costume party held on campus and the girls, Claire Danvers and Eve Rosser don't go to it for fun, they go because they're looking for someone. Of course, it's not that simple, it turns in to a bit of a disaster, but that's part of the fun. Still, the dance is not a big deal, it's mentioned early in the book, then the girls end up there near the end, but it's more a plot device than anything of meaning.

This second book in the Morganville Vampires series is again a good read, but definitely teen oriented, not adult. It kept me hooked though and it wasn't something I could put aside until I was done. The twists come fast and the pace doesn't let up too often.

Claire may be book smart, but socially she's pretty naive, actually, very at times, but that's pretty realistic, the two don't always go together. But she's a fast learner and she's got bite despite her timid appearance. Particularly when the ones she loves (her room mates for example) are in trouble. There is one moment though when you have to wonder why it took her so long to realise that it was a big deal, but somehow it fits with her naivety and makes it forgivable, mostly. The characters aren't the most rounded out there, even in the YA section, but they're entertaining and as we learn a lot more about them through this book, they become more vivid and I want to know more about them. We get a lot more back story on Eve and Shane in particular with this second book, and you can really feel for them. And certain things are clearly being set up for the next book without taking away from this one.

All the different rules and interactions with the vampires that run the town, the humans on their side, and the humans without protection are interesting. And watching Claire trying to figure out where she stands in it all, without getting anyone hurt or killed, is entertaining, if partly for the fun of having evil vampires and not the cuddly ones. Well, most of the time. This series is growing on me, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Rating: 7/10