Persistence of Memory

November 15, 2008
Perfectly pedestrian storytelling marks this newest from the former teen phenom. Erin has spent most of her life institutionalized for schizophrenia. After years of therapy and medication, she has stabilized enough that she can attend classes at the public high school, where she develops a friendship with Marissa, her spunky classmate. But the 16-year-old must doubt her hard-fought sanity as things go awry. She starts having nightmares in which she wakes up as Shevaun, a powerful vampire living in France with her witch lover, Adjila. Erin recognizes and loathes Shevaun as her violent alter ego from her years in the hospital, but she is powerless to sever the connection. When she sees Marissa transform into a tiger in the woods, Erin is sure she 's having another psychotic break. Erin needs the help of Marissa, Adjila and her fellow mental patient/boyfriend Sassy in order to keep Shevaun from destroying her. Awkward phrasing weighs down the muddled story line and the characters are too thinly developed to be very sympathetic, but this fast-paced narrative will be a quick read for devotees of the genre. (Horror. 11-14)

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February 1, 2009
Gr 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 narratorsErin, 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 Library"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2008
Grades 7-10 Thanks to her arsenal of pills, 16-year-old schizophrenic Erin has kept her violent alter ego, Shevaun, at bay long enough to start public school and make friends. Shevaun, however, is not a construct of Erins mind, as shes always believed; Shevaun is a 500-year-old vampire living with her witch lover, Adjila. When Erin wakes up in Shevauns body for the first time in 18 months, Adjila becomes aware of this strange connection and determines to sever it. First, though, they must find Erin and discover why the link exists. Erins perspective, skewed through her perceived mental illness, is an interesting one, and Sassy, her shapeshifter friend, adds a refreshing dose of humor. Atwater-Rhodes sets up an intriguing ideathat supernatural powers can be misdiagnosed as mental illness by the mundane worldbut ultimately fails to fully explore it. While the link between Erin and Shevaun is fascinating, the particulars are so convoluted and rapidly introduced that the explanation is confusing, as is the resolution. Still, the authors fans will likely enjoy this supernatural tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)