The book was okay. The drama was somewhat interesting, and there was some humor dropped in here and there. It was unique since the vampires in the story chose to show themselves to the public. It was also boringly predictable - too time for the drama left just enough space for a sloppy murder mystery. Maybe it would've been three stars if the characters were more interesting. 
 The main character, Merit, was seriously annoying. She doesn't do anything but she gets it all. What's so notable that she does? Nothing. She calls herself geeky but becomes magically badass when she's a vampire. "Geeky", of course, only just happens to be a few references to the past and some smarty SAT words tossed in. 
 It seems like a high school would've been more appropriate for all of the drama - what better place to let the drama play out as other students gather 'round to watch, right? Like, right after the fight with the guy in charge of the House (Gee, wonder how well that went...) she slut shames his mistress... in front of everyone. And then its, hey let's go back to discussing official stuff again, guys! (<<< at the beginning) 
 Okay, so maybe she's extra fortunate or something - but then she ends up as the only initiate who ends up in charge of (something to do with defending the House she's in?) - even though she has no experience at all. No, nobody even thinks of appointing someone slightly more experienced than her to job as a stand in while she trains. And what's up with learning how to use a sword in a few days? (Maybe it was one or two weeks, but it felt like 3 days, honestly). I'm pretty sure people spend years training for that type of thing. (<<< middle of the book) 
 There was another part where the antagonist is all, "oh, don't you understand that women are always looking for something better?" And the main character thinks, 'well of course she has to bring sexism into this'. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I found that seriously disturbing and offensive. And, it seemed, no one was being sexist other than our high and mighty main character here. (<<< end of the book) 
 She literally confesses right there, what do they do? Just stand there and listen. Um, maybe it's time to record some proof for the public? ...And, yeah it didn't have to happen that way, but the predictable way that everything happily played out (she confesses ... just like that, I guess? Honestly, there wasn't really any evidence pointing the crimes to her except for the confessions at the end) reminds me of something I'd find in a children's book. And the excerpt from the second book? What the enemy did (murder humans) - who it was, goes out to the public. Instead of tagging the enemy's face as a typical vampire, there are ... bumper stickers and t shirts! For those vampires who got to be heroes because they didn't do, they didn't care about what the antagonist did. As a Muslim, I just find that so unrealistic. Majority of us, we don't care, we hate what the extremists do. Do we get our faces on bumper stickers for that?