The Dead Girls' Dance (The Morganville Vampires #2) By: Rachel Caine (Book Review)

 ***This review will contain spoilers***

Summary:

Claire Danvers has her share of challenges---like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roommate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend named Shane, whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup: cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything. Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and---surprise!---Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find out why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out---and everybody's hungry for blood.

I just need to start off by saying how amazing this book was! We have murder, action, teen angst and a whole lot of vampires. Despite it being the second book in the series, we weren't overwhelmed with too much information of the Morganville world which I have always said slow and steady expansion is better than throwing too much at the reader at once and not focusing as much on the development of the story. 

The book starts off right where the first one left off. Michael being dead, both Eve and Claire freaked the fuck out and Shane becoming his Dad's little puppet. Shane's dad and his little biker gang killed Michael thinking he was a vampire which ...not too far off since he pretty much is only around once the sun sets. Shane called his dad in the first book when shit was hitting the fan and they only came into town after they handed the book to Amelie and she pretty much decided to give them her protection. 

I liked having Mr. Collins and his little gang added to the mix. They were quite a unpredictable force and while their goal was simply to do as much damage as possible and kill as many vampires as they could you could tell that he still cared for his son. His daughter died in a fire and his wife's death was orchestrated, the least he could do was make sure Shane didn't end up killed by said vampires. Not only did they come in at the right time after Monica and her crazy stupid sidekicks kidnap her to 'converse' but they also killed a terrible, possible child molesting vampire; Brandon. 

Luckily, Michael was saved by the house and was 'reborn' the following sunset and came back as his usual self. However, when shit hits the fan and his buddy Shane gets in huge trouble with the local vamps he turns to Amelie and Sam, his grandfather to turn him into a vampire so he may finally leave the house and helps his friends. Now Michael is the youngest vampire alive and it just so happens Amelie was the creator of the two youngest vampires that both are Glasses. Makes me wonder if there's a deeper reason why the Glasses have the house that they do and how they tie in with Amelie. For someone so old, you wouldn't think she would prioritize helping children who seem to attract danger to themselves. 

Another thing I truly enjoyed from this series and from this book is the morally grey characters. Mr. Collins and his gang both killed vampires and humans alike. Most of it was to avenge his family but also he just wanted to do as much damage as possible without care for who was in his way. Oliver despite seeming perfectly normal at first was actually just another vampire looking to catapult himself at the top and is obviously trying to get rid of Amelie with any means necessary hence why he partnered himself with Mr. Collins and essentially gave him any insight that would help to get rid of the vampires who are standing in his way. Shane seemed extremely conflicted at first and being captured by the vampires didn't help him at all. Does he betray his father or safe his girlfriend and his friends? At the end he of course did the right thing and helped Claire when she clearly went out of her way to make sure he came out of the situation unscathed. 

Claire both impresses and annoys me. I love her courage and bravery in situations that would have most people running for the hills. She puts herself in grave danger for people she's known for maybe a couple months? And yet I hate how much Monica pushes her around and abuses her. Claire is a lot better than me when it comes to dealing with Monica. If I had a bully of mine get kidnapped I would not have cared and maybe have sent her kidnappers a gift basket. I understand you have to rise above but it's so much easier to just meet them on their level and beat them at their little game. At the end of the day Claire despite her small stature and young age still does more and achieves more than most would have in her situation. And for that I do have to commend her. 

Rating:

I'm giving The Dead Girls' Dance 5 stars on 5! The book ended with everyone safely home and Claire signing Amelie's contract. Who knows what kind of drama/issues that will bring once the others find out what she did. This was a great book and cannot wait to continue reading on!