Mercury by Amy Jo Burns

My thoughts 

I was so blown away with this book. I can't believe I waited so long to read it. It's a phenomenal story. So well written and pulls you right in from the very start.

Characters:

Mick Joseph-dad

Elise Joseph-mother

Baylor-oldest son

Waylon-middle son

Shay-the baby

Marley-Marley was an outsider who moved to Mercury with her mother in 1990 with her mother. 

The Joseph family are a typical dysfunctional group but also there for each other most always. The older two boys tend to get into fights with each other but one word from their mother and they break apart and go on about their business.

Elise is a bit hard at times but you'll learn she kind of has to be. She married Mick the day before he left for Vietnam and barely knew him at all. She takes to Marley from the start. Marley is going out with Baylor. Things don't go well and she ends up with Waylon who she truly does love. Shay thinks the world of Marley and loves having her around. Elise starts being a bit cold toward her and eventually the reasons are understood. 

This book is so good. It gives you quite a few of the feelings you will enjoy from a book. I laughed, cried, and cringed. I loved the sons in this book but not so much the dad. He had problems and maybe I should have been more understanding but he just wasn't likable. I did like Elise but at times felt she should be throttled. I love Shay more than any of them. He was just a young boy who was having his own problems and knew that he could depend on Marley no matter what. Baylor was a bit of a lost cause at times. Waylon loved his family and was trying hard to keep it together. All three boys seemed to do whatever they could to please their mother. And was a bit afraid of her at times it seemed. 

This is a story of hope, loss, grief, happiness, growing, family, and starting over. It kept me reading from the beginning to the beautiful ending. These boys would do anything for each other and for the ones they loved above all. A strong family. A fighting family. A loving family. This book has it all.

Thank you #NetGalley, #AmyJoBurns, #Celadonbooks, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five big stars and I highly recommend this one.

About

A roofing family’s bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town―from Amy Jo Burns, author of the critically acclaimed novel Shiner

It’s 1990 and seventeen-year-old Marley West is blazing into the river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania. A perpetual loner, she seeks a place at someone’s table and a family of her own. The first thing she sees when she arrives in town is three men standing on a rooftop. Their silhouettes blot out the sun.

The Joseph brothers become Marley’s whole world before she can blink. Soon, she is young wife to one, The One Who Got Away to another, and adopted mother to them all. As their own mother fades away and their roofing business crumbles under the weight of their unwieldy father’s inflated ego, Marley steps in to shepherd these unruly men. Years later, an eerie discovery in the church attic causes old wounds to resurface and suddenly the family’s survival hangs in the balance. With Marley as their light, the Joseph brothers must decide whether they can save the family they’ve always known―or whether together they can build something stronger in its place.