Persistence of Memory (Den of Shadows)
Grade 7 Up—Erin Misrahe, 16, has spent almost half of her life in and out of psychiatric wards. With the help of serious drugs, she has managed to stay out of the hospital for more than two years and is attending classes at a local high school. But the dreams of blood and violence and being a completely different person have started again, and it seems that her alter ego, Shevaun, may be something more than just a figment of her imagination. With the help of her shape-shifter friends and Shevaun's longtime lover, Erin and Shevaun fight to separate their minds and memories and try to figure out what happened to connect them in the first place. What sets this novel apart from the current rash of teenaged-vampire-angst fiction are the two narrators—Erin, grown used to, and even comfortable with, the idea that she is mentally ill; and Shevaun, willing to do anything to protect the family she's cobbled together. Secondary characters are equally compelling, and the world that Atwater-Rhodes has created is believable and intriguing. Hand this novel to the multitudes going through Stephenie Meyer withdrawal and they won't be disappointed.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.