Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

The first thing I wrote in my notes regarding Shattered Mirror was "My Twilight before Twilight." Completing my reread, I can't really say I'm wrong. The story beats are similar: girl meets vampire, they fall for each other, it's essentially doomed... but really, the similarities end there. Sarah and Christopher are both more fleshed out than Bella and Edward and the world around them is more complicated. I will also point out that Shattered Mirror was published 4 years before Twilight.

Sarah is a vampire hunter and a witch on top of that. Her family is dysfunctional as a family... Dominique is downright abusive in her quest to turn her daughters into perfect vampire hunting machines... though this is never actually "shown" "on screen." Just the story of what happened after Sarah found her father's body proves that. Sarah herself discovers that the world isn't as black and white as she thought it was.

I would explain more about Christopher's "fleshing out" but most of that would be a big spoiler, so, really best avoided in this review. He does spend most of the book leaving cringy poems for Sarah in her locker, though.

I honestly feel like Shattered Mirror moves a little too quickly. There isn't really any room to breathe. Sarah isn't really given time to sit with her changing feelings toward vampires... or at least toward Nissa and Christopher. Most of the relevant plot-info is info-dumped by the main vampires toward the end. Otherwise, it's just Sarah trying to navigate high school while not becoming too close (and failing) to Nissa and Christopher.

I think I appreciated the melodrama a lot more when I was a teenager. At my current 35-years, it's an engaging enough story with some rather terrifying implications hiding behind that YA label. 

Other Random Notes

• I was amused by the Volvo mention almost right after I noted the Twilight thing.
• I find it interesting that Sarah asserts she's know Nikolas on sight and yet runs into his twin and has nary a twinge... telling me there was a rewrite somewhere or Sarah was straight-up lying to herself.
• Another set of Southern Vampires. I highly recommend Princess Weekes' video on Confederate Vampires for understanding why I feel it needed to be noted.