2.5 stars. Book 1 of the Morganville Vampires series starts out with a heroine who seems young, is not very enjoyable to read, and is constantly getting beat up. Sounds bad? Well let me say this - even though the lead is quite passive to start, she grows in leaps and bounds as the books unfold. The series does take a turn for the better and I am loving this world in which vampires run a small town in Texas, forcing control over the human population. 
 The first book lays the groundwork for the vampire world and that is why I rated it lower. The following books are all 3 to 4 star reads. Morganville is an interesting YA series, simply because it doesn't follow the trend of what's popular in vampire/paranormal romance. There are two great male heroes, and romance does find its way into the story, but I appreciate that Rachel Caine didn't dumb down the teenagers into being walking, talking, lovestruck airheads.