Alters by Erin Lee

Lola has 7 other people sharing her body. As a woman living with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), Lola's alters take turns controlling her (the Host's) body. She has been in a mental health facility for around thirty years, and she remembers only bits and pieces. These personalities are not figments of her imagination; they are real people trapped inside of her with their own memories, thought processes, desires, and ideas. The personalities have meetings and eventually decide that they have to get Lola out of Rosewood at any cost...

Before I read this book, I knew almost nothing about DID. I knew the disorder only by the old name: Multiple Personality Disorder. This book was truly educational for me because (and I am ashamed to admit this) before this book, if someone were to have told me that they had multiple people living inside of them, or they said they were someone else one day, I would immediately have written them off as insane and not taken them seriously at all. It blows my mind that this actually happens to people. The psychology behind it makes sense - a new personality can be born during a traumatic time to help the host cope.
The detail of this book is one of the things that makes it so great. The personalities literally talk about how much physical space inside of Lola's body that they have to move around in. They theorize about why they are there (reincarnation?) and they wonder about what will happen if they merge into one personality. They keep secrets from one another. They interact in such a believable and organic way. There's not just a whole lot of actual action that happens - it's mostly conversations within Lola's mind. But it's truly fascinating. They are real!
This book will stretch your mind!
As others have pointed out, it's not a particularly short book, but it feels short because it really draws you in. Well worth the read for anyone of almost any age! Well done, Erin Lee!

Purchase this book (and the other two in the series) by clicking on these links: (Not an affiliate link :-) )

Book 2 - Host (Coming August 26)_
Book 3 - Merge (Coming September 9)