A Lighter Shade Of Gray by Devon Pearse

Devon is caught in the past.  A past before her mother slipped away into the gray mists of mental illness that has kept her hospitalized for over a decade.  A past where three little girls ran and laughed and played, before one of them was killed before her sixteenth birthday.  A past where Drew was always there waiting for her; the love she'd always imagined.

But the past's tendrils can't stand up to the forces of the present.  The present where Devon has lived for over a decade without Drew, who she sent away due to her fear of ending up like her mother.  Now things are breaking and changing and Devon must adjust.

For one thing, Drew is back in town.  Can Devon and Drew pick up where they left off, or is their love forever in the past?  Next, her mother shows signs of emerging from her illness, but is this because of the teenage girl who is now her roommate and who seems determined to take Devon's place in her mother's life?  Finally, the abusive boyfriend of her best friend's sister has been brutally murdered, and suspicion falls on Cass, Devon's best friend.  Can Cass untangle the mystery and save everyone's life?

Devon Pearse has written a haunting novel, although the fact that her main character is also named Devon Pearse may be confusing at first to the reader.  She has created characters that seem strong one minute, then shadowy the next, echoing the way mental illness recedes and then reconquers the sick mind.  The values of love, friendship and family are strong propellers of the action, and the reader will want to finish to find out what happens to the people met between the pages.  This book is recommended for readers of family relationship novels and those interested in characters who grow within the confines of a book.