Glass Houses discussion

I've been dying to talk about this with someone. I've only read the first book and am in the second one so no spoilers please! Claire's age was a big issue to all characters in Glass Houses. She is 16 and her roommates are all 18, and this is A HUGE DEAL! A deal breaker! I get that living with a minor is one thing, especially in their town, but after they talked about her age being a big deal so much, I forgot that she was 18 and started to think she was more like 13 or 14. When her and Shane started to like each other, I actually started thinking things like, "Ew, this is gross, they're so far apart in age! This isn't right!" I had to remind myself that they're only two years apart! When you're that age, it's common to be with someone who's only a few years older than you. That's like a junior in high school dating a freshman in college, or a sophomore dating a senior. IT'S NOT WEIRD! But this book obsessed over her age so much, I forgot this fact. Did anyone else have this issue? Was it just me? Please respond! :)

I don't think I thought of it as a big deal. She was under age, so they made a big deal. I think alot of it had to do with them not knowing her very well at that point and not being sure how to be the adults with her.
But she's almost 17, and in Morganville, I think that's legal age. So it's not much of an issue after the first one or two.

I think she's younger than the others to show her naivety and how sheltered she has been so far in her life. She goes from being a child to thrust into Morganville and all their stranger customs.

So the age thing is more just to be like a child - which she technically is and is still sort of in the mindset of - and that of an Adult - which Shane is both in age and worldly experience.

I might add that young girls getting in relationships with older boys is quite common, (teenaged girls >< boys in their 20's), and the idea of this being weird is completely relative.
Other than that, I thought she was 17 when I was reading these books... I stopped reading them because I got bored with the authors weird food fetish.