I love a good family drama, and Mercury did not disappoint. Marley was a fantastic protagonist, and I wish the story would have been told solely from her viewpoint. The perspectives of the other characters just felt unnecessary and repetitive. Plus, all of the Josephs (aside from Shay) were pretty insufferable — Marley was definitely too good for this dysfunctional family. However, I appreciated the author’s focus on motherhood, marriage, and female friendships explored over the course of several decades. I also loved the small town setting of Mercury! Finally, I did not like the ending. It felt too rushed and unresolved for my taste. Overall, if you like family dramas or character driven stories, Mercury is the book for you!

3.5 stars rounded up. I enjoyed this story of class/family/womanhood, just thought it went on a little too long.

Mercury is a beautifully written story of motherhood and the bonds of family. Set in a less than idyllic small town in Pennsylvania this family drama keeps you turning the page to find out what is going to happen to this family.
The character driven plot is captivating, i really enjoyed how you get different points of view from the characters. Not every character gets the same amount of time to tell their story but only the most important missing pieces that Marley the original narrator could not tell. I highly recommend this story to anyone who loves a family drama in a uniquely told story.

(I would give this 4.5 stars if available but always round down)

I got it after it was published so I read it asap! It was very slow for me. I’m not a huge fan of character driven. The writing was there. The characters were there. The story was there. I just had a hard time actually wanting to read it. It was very relatable though and the right audience I think would enjoy this more.

This book was full of family love and protecting the family and the business. This book takes place in the 1990’s maybe a time when life was a little simpler. The main character falls in love with a roofing guy and gets pregnant. Once she is a member of the family lots of drama occurs. She is trying to safe the roofing business. Along the way a lot of action takes place and she finds herself and her friend in an unusual circumstance. She drifts away from her husband but they begin to patch things up. A really touching story that grabbed me from the beginning. I did not want to put this book down.

This was an engrossing novel about relationships, family, and coming of age in 1990's Pennsylvania. I tend to enjoy more plot-driven literary fiction, but these characters were written well and it didn't feel like the story dragged on.

•Mercury
•Amy Jo Burns

Marley - new girl in a small-town blue collar PA town.

Mercury - the Western PA town where the story takes place.

The Joseph Family - mom, dad, 3 sons (Baylon, Waylon, & Shay).

Their worlds collide when Marley meets them upon moving into town and quickly becomes a regular at family dinner. She marries one brother, is the one that got away to another, and mothers the last. All while dealing with her relationship with her mother-in-law Elise, her wild and ego driven father-in-law Mick, and growing up.

This story is deeply character driven; portraying a dysfunctional family dynamic with a touch of coming of age and a sprinkle of mystery and crime when a body is found during a roof repair. Spanning years, you watch as Marley steps into the role of girlfriend, friend, wife, mother, adult child, business woman, and eventually matriarch.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

This was my last book of 2023 and I really enjoyed it. I spent majority of my New Years Eve sick, but fully immersed in the town of Mercury getting to know the Joseph family, their roofing business & Marley. The intricacies of the characters and the dynamics between them were so beautifully written and explored. I really enjoyed this one!

“𝘐’𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.”
- Mercury

I adored Amy Jo Burn’s backlist title- 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳, and had high hopes for her latest, 𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗬 (out today). I wasn’t disappointed.

This literary fiction story blends drama and coming-of-age elements alongside a complicated family in 1990’s blue collar Pennsylvania. Rich characters, evocative writing and an immersive story. I relished the depth of the complex, emotional and realistic relationships.

It has a slower pace with secrets and glimpses that are unveiled bit by bit with intention. The Joseph family, in all its iterations, will stick with me. Even now I can close my eyes and vividly picture their home down to the dining room table and hear the creaks of the floor.

From the first page I was immersed in this story. This is my first novel by Amy Joe Burns so I wasn't sure what to expect, what I got was an exceptional character driven master class in family dysfunction. I enjoyed that each character got time to shine, sometimes a small study, sometimes it was a bit deeper, but as a result I had a great understanding of each family member. I loved getting to spend with the Joseph family!

I am not usually a fan of literary fiction that is so character driven. I usually feel like the book just goes on and on. Yet, I couldn’t put this book down! What a great story about the Joseph family. I loved every second of their story!

I loved the concept, and normally enjoy a slow moving, character focused, family drama but this one just was just okay for me. I don’t think the love story was that compelling in the beginning so it was hard to stay invested for the duration. The characters weren’t that likable or developed. The perspective shift felt abrupt. Overall I think the story just needed more.

"Show me your worst thing. I promise I won't look away"

I honestly could not put this book down, maybe it was the family drama that had me hooked, maybe it was to see what really happened in the church attic, or maybe it was to see if Marley and Way made it through all the chaos stronger than ever. This story is about family, the good, the bad and the uncertain.

The only real issue I found while reading was her description of Way's car, the used red Chevy Citation. The author claimed that it wasn't suitable for a child. To which, I turned to my all car knowing husband and he said, "it was that years version of today's SUV, it would have been suitable for children."

The characters were well developed, the story line strong. I was just a bit confused to way no mention of what took place in the attic until you got through 80% of the book.

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon books for giving me the opportunity to read Mercury. #Mercury #NetGalley

This ended up as a DNF for me. I made it to 60% and just couldn’t do it. I found each character so unlikable (maybe Shay, Jade, and Ruth get a pass) that I truly didn’t care about any of them and that can be hard when reading a character driven novel.

I gave up trying to understand Marley and how she virtually elbowed her way into the Joseph family only to complain about all of them and how dysfunctional they were. Her making decisions for said family that she had no right to be making sent me over the edge. Imagine some teenage bride coming in thinking she has the right to pull a kid out of school without consulting the parents?! There would be hell to pay.

While Mick and Elise had problems, up until when I stopped reading, it never really got into the meat of what those issues were and for Marley to roll up and act like she owned the place because the parents weren’t cutting the mustard (to her) made me crazy. I think for me the plausibility was missing for a lot of the storyline.

The author is good at her craft but this one a huge miss for me. Thanks for the opportunity!

At first I felt overwhelmed by the three Joseph brothers with rhyming names, but I quickly was able to identify them and I fell in love with the story of this family and how Marley became intertwined with them all. I did feel that it was a little all over the place, especially the “bookend boys” section, but overall it was a beautiful story and I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone that is on the fence about reading it.

As someone who grew up in a small town in the Midwest this story resonated with me. Just the pure understanding of small town life. It beautifully painted the picture of how a family can suffer alone, even when the outside seems to look okay.

Definitely a thought provoking read.

Another book demonstrating how complicated families can be. This one focuses on the Joseph family, which includes a PTSD-suffering father, a withholding mother, and three brothers, all of whom struggle with their place in the group. The brothers all find their lives drastically affected when a new girl moves into their tiny town.
Even though it was a little slower paced, I found the story and characters engaging.
Thanks to #netgalley and #celadonbooks for this #arc of #mercury by #amyjoburns in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars out of 5.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it is a bit different than what I usually read. I was hoping for more of a murder mystery in the book but overall I think it was well written. It was a really slow burn about a dysfunctional family and all the secrets they each held. I really liked Marley and Elise and I wish the book had more background about Elise. If you are looking for an complex family drama this book is for you!

In the book, Marley and her mother roll into the small town of Mercury. Marley ends up getting involved with the Joseph family who are dysfunctional. The Josephs's also run a local roofing business. The book explores her relationship with the family and we get to follow along and see all their secrets and there is a big one!

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a family drama set in small-town western Pennsylvania, not far from where I grew up.

“Mercury” is the name of the small river valley Pennsylvania town where 17-year-old Marley West soon finds herself tangled up with the Joseph family - patriarch Mick Joseph, wife Elise and their three sons, Baylor, Waylon and Shay. Their livelihood is their roofing business, Joseph and Sons.

Marley, soon married to one of the brothers, becomes a central figure in the family as the business struggles and Elise battles dementia. Years after Marley arrives, someone stumbles upon something in a church attic that threatens to blow open all of the family’s secrets.

The twists in this book are so dramatic yet believable. But the best part for me is how aptly Amy Jo Burns captures life in small-town Pennsylvania and the chilling accuracy of what it means to be a woman in a universe of men. She shows both Marley and Elise shaping themselves around the men in their lives. It is 100% accurate to the expectations that still exist in a lot of families in rural western Pennsylvania. I’ve not seen the area so well described since Tawni O’Dell’s “Back Roads.” I immediately put Burns’ memoir on hold at the library. But you don’t need to be from western Pa to appreciate this book! Its themes are true the world over.

When I first picked this one up, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a slow burn and I found myself a little bored with the family dynamics but I did muddle through. I do see it did get a lot of great reviews. I just thought it was ok. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this release even though it is already out in publication.

4.5 stars rounded up. I have been on a roll with great reads for 2024, and this book carries it on! Mercury is an engrossing read that is part family drama, part coming of age that shows how secrets and untold truths can impact everyone in a family. The author wrote this character driven novel in a way I connected to all of the characters and their situations. The book was extremely well written, and honestly loved it even more than I was expecting.

The publisher’s summary teases a big secret but to me, this book is so much more and complex than that. This book alternates between the main characters' points of view but the view changes at really strategic times. For example, I might think one thing about a character for most of the book, but when the point of view changes I see things completely differently. The book was captivating all the way through, but it really shined with probably the last 50 - 75 pages with a strong ending. I binged this book over 2 days.

Thank you to Celadon Books, Amy Jo Burns, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.