Ghost Town by Rachel Caine

"The fragile peace between humans and vampires in Morganville is in trouble, and when Claire takes drastic action, she's put under serious pressure to re-establish the barriers that keep the town residents inside, and wipe the memories of those who leave. But working with her half-crazy vampire boss Myrnin means that things don't always turn out as planned ... and as the people of Morganville begin acting strangely, Claire and her friends must solve the mystery and try to put things right. But one by one, her allies are turning on her ... even the ones she trusts most"

Ghost Town is book 9 in the Morganville Vampires series. I really liked the early books in this series, then they started to get repetitive and samey to me. I almost didn't bother with book 8, Kiss of Death, but in the end I did read it and I found it to be one of my favourites of the series, so of course I carried on with it and bought this one. But while it started out okay, I very quickly got annoyed with it.

I found Claire got more and more irritating through the book because she just wasn't being smart. She's meant to be this very bright girl, she started college at 16 and everything, but she was being really pretty dumb through a good portion of this book. She knew, and so did the rest, what needed to be done to put things right early on, but it just...didn't happen. For what were very flaky reasons in my view. I just didn't get why they couldn't solve things so much easier and why it got dragged out so far.

There were some good moments through the book here and there, and a pretty sad moment near the end. But I just didn't care enough for it to really matter. I got to the end, with the final twist, and literally rolled my eyes. Because seriously, that's where it's being taken? Ugh. It's something that's been done before and given the 'before', clearly not a smart move, but there it is. And I just don't think I want to read more. I don't care enough to see where it's taken from here at this point.

I know there are plenty of big Morganvillie fans out there, and I hope you won't take offence to this review because it is simply my personal opinion and everyone has different tastes. But for me, I've just had enough of Morganville right now. If you've really enjoyed all the previous books, you will probably like this one too, just wasn't for me.

Rating: 4/10

Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine

"Claire Danvers has a few things on her mind. First of all there is the laundry, which is now an unfortunate shade of pink. Then there is her boyfriend, Shane, who is never far from her thoughts. Finally, there is her best friend Eve's relationship problems. As if life as a student wasn't complicated enough, Claire just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires.

Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow 'bad ass' Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it's proving incredibly problematic, and with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the biggest question of all is...

Will they survive?"

This is the 8th book in the Morganville Vampires series. It's been a series that's been hit or miss for me, I've often read them and felt there was something missing. The previous book, Fade Out, I didn't much like at all, but I have a hard time dropping a series, even if I'm not much liking it any more. I'm glad I didn't, because this is one of my favourite Morganville books.

It starts out a little slow, with a couple things happening that seem unconnected to anything else in the book, and a little too much Eve/Michael and Shane/Claire. But by the 1/3 mark it picked up, and just got better. This book is really different because for the first time, the gang are outside of Morganville. They may not like it much, but they're used to Morganville rules, even Claire who only moved there a year or so ago. Living in Morganville changes you, and it's something these guys have to learn to deal with. But just because they're out of Morganville for a little while, doesn't mean the trouble stops following them. In no time at all, they're back in trouble, way over their heads. But whats new there?

Once it got going, I really did enjoy this book. It flowed well with a strong plot, and there were a couple things I really didn't see coming. I really liked Claire in this one, she really showed how strong she is and how much she's grown from the girl she was in Glass Houses when she was just arriving in Morganville. It was a tense ride towards the end, with some interesting character development and some surprising outcomes. Overall, definitely one of the best Morganville books to date. I'm now looking forward to the next one, Ghost Town, in November.

Rating: 8/10

Fade Out by Rachel Caine

Spoiler warning! No specific ones for this, but there are some for the previous books.

"Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedom, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again...Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve's castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realise that this film project, featuring the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger - and way more dangerous - than anyone suspected."

After 6 books that are all continuing plots, this 7th book is pretty much the start of a new plot arch in the Morganville world. Things have calmed down for the 4 teen housemates, to a certain extent, and things appear to be a little safer. But then some new vamps show up and things start getting messy again.

I finished this book days ago, and still can't figure out if I hate it, or if it's simply okay. On the good side, Claire is showing she's done some serious (and much needed) growing up. There is the introduction to Kim, a girl who rapidly becomes Eve's new BFF and leaves Claire wondering what's going on and very jealous, and jealous too of Shane's (her boyfriend) previous relationship with Kim. Both of which are realistic and I'm sure teens reading the book will easily relate to the feelings expressed. Another good side plot is Michael's torn loyalties to the vampires and his human friends, and the strain it puts his relationship with Eve under. All of these things had me interested and enjoying the book.

However, there are several plots here that really don't work. Amelie, Morganville's unapproachable and unrelenting founder, is a completely different character here. She spends most of the book upset and not her usual 'white marble' self, which is both disappointing and annoying. The plot revolving around Kim, could have been good I think, but the main focus of anger and upset ends up on certain aspects that whilst yes, give cause for the reactions, should not have become the sole focus as they did. Likewise, the characters reactions, Eve's in particular, to the betrayal from another character seemed very weak and far too forgiving.

The other main plot involves Ada, the computer/ghost/vampire that 'runs' Morganville unseen. The idea of something like that is, as a friend so aptly put it, 'a little out there, even for me'. But here, she becomes a bigger player and it gets tired in about 2 pages. That it drags on for the entire book is bad enough, but the conclusion it comes to was frustrating and disappointing. The whole ending in fact was a real let down. In many ways nothing happened, and a lot happened. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's true. Several little things happened to tie up threads, or leave new ones open for the next book, but nothing big happened. And after the build up through the book for something big, it was very anti climatic leaving me annoyed.

The book itself isn't that long a read, and it's pretty fast going. I was still pretty well hooked despite it's flaws and finished it in a couple days. But for me, it is a series very much aimed at teens rather than being a series that can be equally loved by adults. A little young at times, a little simple, but with good moments. A series I have to rate over Twilight simply because the characters don't annoy me as much as Bella and Edward do, but really, if you want a very good young adult vampire series, one with great characters and plots, you have to read Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. There is no better in my view! Fade Out may be better than some Morganville Books, but it's not the best and the series is never going to be a favourite of mine.

Rating: 4/10