A complex and enjoyable family drama! I enjoyed this character-driven novel. It's definitely a bit of a slow burn. I found the first half to be harder to get into, but the second half was great. I think readers of HELLO BEAUTIFUL would enjoy this one. 4/5 stars. Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was nervous as I had seen elsewhere that this was a slow burn but I was captivated the whole time! Easy five stars for Mercury, the read I didn’t know I needed.

Amy Jo Burns returns with another fantastic novel that is part coming of age, family drama and a little mystery!
The book focuses on the Joseph family who are roofers in the rust belt state of PA. I am usually not one that loves to read about family drama but I was drawn into this story right away as the first chapter starts off with a mystery! There is something so lovely about the writing, it is paced perfectly! I loved how the author delved into each character's POV and back story in a way that made sense and was cohesive. The sense of place is fantastic, I could picture the town and I loved that it was set in the 90s.

I loved Shiner but I think I might like Mercury even more! I ended up reading it in one sitting and was almost on the edge of my seat the whole way, just did not want the story to end.
Thank you to netgalley and Celadon book for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I love a slow burn family drama, and MERCURY delivered. Marley was a completely relatable character even though I've never been through any of what she went through. Burns' character work is just fantastic. I was hooked by this family. I had thought it would be more of a mystery, considering the book opens with the discovery of a body in the church attic, but it took a back seat to the family drama. I had wanted more of that element, but I was also happy to simmer along with this dysfunctional family.

Mercury by Amy Jo Burns
Genre: literary fiction
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: eARC

This book follows the Joseph family, who runs a roofing business in the small town of Mercury.

- Slower paced
- Character driven
- Complicated family relationships
- Small town setting in the 90s
- 3rd person writing with multiple POVs

I’ve figured out that I really like family dramas. Family dynamics and relationships can be so complicated and messy at times. My heart ached for Marley, who didn’t realized quite what she was getting into when she joined the Joseph family for dinner one night. This book is multiple POV, but I’d say it mostly follows Marley. It’s about women holding a family together - the author wrote this in a way that you really see the parallels and differences between Elise and Marley. It’s also full of secrets, pain, and growth.

Shay, Jade, and Marley were my favorite characters. Marley and Jade’s friendship was beautiful - the trust they had in each other was so strong and they leaned on each other when they needed to. I wish we got to see Jade’s point of view! When we got Shay’s POV, I felt his pain so deeply. I’m also the youngest child, and I empathized with his feelings of being misunderstood. He also is trying to find himself and his place in his family. He is a lot more observant than everyone thinks, but he hides secrets of his own (as everyone does in the Joseph family).

Something about the writing really hooked me! I thought it was compelling and well written. My only complaint is that at times the pacing felt a little off and the book felt disjointed at times due to the POV switches. Overall, I really enjoyed this, though!

There are several content warnings, so be mindful of those!

Content warnings: infidelity, death, miscarriage, mild violence, dementia

I liked this book so much that I ended up buying a physical copy since it was a Book of the Month pick!

Thank you so much to Celadon for my eARC of this book! Mercury is out now!

This is a slow burn family drama which is definitely my jam. Marley is a force of nature when she comes to the small town of Mercury as a teenager with her mama. She soon finds herself a seat at the table in the Joseph family, a roofing family with 3 sons, a reckless father and a fierce mother. In the Joseph family, Marley finds herself mothering one son, wife to another and the ex of the oldest. She works her way into the family business, cares for all the Joseph boys and yet still finds herself lonely and figuring out where she truly belongs.

If you enjoyed Shiner, you will love this one. I especially enjoy characters that are real and raw and flawed like the ones in this novel. Do the characters make poor decisions? Yes. Can the reader empathize with them? Also yes.

Thank you to @netgalley and @celadonbooks for an early review copy

Mercury follows the story of Marley who, as a teenager, moves to the town of Mercury and finds herself getting caught up with, and marrying into, the Joseph family. As the story progresses we learn more about each of the members of this dysfunctional family and the secrets that bind them together.

Slow burn, character driven reads aren’t always my cup of tea but this one blew me away, I was completely hooked by it. The author’s writing was just so beautiful and I found myself completely immersed in this family and their dynamics.

I adored the character of Marley and had so much respect for this young girl and how she dealt with everything that life threw at For me though, despite my love of Marley, it was the Joseph brothers of Shay and Baylor that have really stuck with me. I adored Shay’s character right from the start while Baylor grew on me so much as the book progressed and we discovered more about him.

This is one of those quiet books that sneaks up on you and you don’t realise quite how special it is until you finish and then think, how am I possibly going to say goodbye to these characters??

I cannot wait to read more from this author! If a beautiful, slow burning, character driven read is up your street then I urge you to add this one to your list!

I was so excited to receive this one. I loved the 90s when the world was a little bit simpler, before cell phones and social media, and thought the author nailed the feeling of the time. This one had a little bit of a trigger for me that would not apply to most, so I started this one then started it again.

I felt like I knew the family as I read the book. My feelings changed for each of the characters as I learned more about them. I really connected with Marley, what I would consider the central character, her life growing up and how she found the family she was missing. I loved that this epic family drama also had a mystery interwoven in the story. While it wasn’t the focus of the book, it wasn’t ever far from my thoughts and I did not see the solution coming.

While told as a dual timeline, I wasn’t sure which brother I liked more. The deep characterization allowed all of the Joseph men to show their best and worst at times.

When I started the book over, I also listened as well as read and thought Maria Liatis nailed the narration and brought the Joseph family to life. All their ups and downs. Their trials and tribulations.

If you love a strong literary plot filled with family drama, you need to check this one out.

As a teen, Marley moves with her single-parent mother to small-town Mercury where she meets the Joseph family, consisting of three boys and their parents. She’s taken in by the family and slowly becomes an integral part of all of their lives. Fast forward a few years into the future, a marriage and a child later, Marley and the Joseph family’s world is shaken up by the discovery of a body in the church attic.

Mercury will lend itself very well to the continued trend of popular family dramas Bookstagram adores. It features a large cast of characters, an exploration into intentions, actions and repercussions as well as a look at how vastly different personalities function within a family.

For me at least, this book felt rather mundane despite at times trying to be the complete opposite. There were so many different incidents of drama that happened to each member of this family that it started to feel unbelievable, yet little seemed to actually affect them. It was a family drama and yet somehow the drama felt incredibly ordinary and mundane, which I guess is probably the entire point. Each character is messy and complicated yet relatable despite their individual drama’s.

It is a rather character driven novel and the mystery of the body in the church attic and the discovery is the most unimportant thing to be revealed in the novel. Perhaps I was just looking for something “bigger” but in the end nothing particularly stood out to me about this.

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing an ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This book is super buzzy right now and making all of the lists of books to look out for in 2024, so I was excited to get my hands on this! Not my usual genre, but I found myself drawn in. Lived up to its rep!

I can see why people have enjoyed this character study, but to be honest I struggled with the writing style from the very first page. I had to put it down almost immediately as I found the writing wordy and awkwardly structured, though others may not find issue with it.

Many characters in Mercury are living with secrets. One main character thinks “his own secrets were the worst in the Joseph family, but he was wrong.”

This was my first time to read a novel by author Amy Jo Burns. She does a good job of maintaining the pace of the plot and the ever-evolving character development, so I wanted to continue to turn pages. Readers will appreciate that characters in this book have to resolve their problems on their own or reach a point where they are willing to accept compromises or can tolerate the compromises they must endure if they remain with their family or even remain within that town. There are no wealthy benefactors turning up with a trust fund or successful friends who suddenly step forward with an offer of a coveted job in the Hollywood movie industry. English teachers would easily assign an analytical essay, asking students to explain why a previously common ingredient in thermometers is a fitting name for this very small town. (Think danger, contamination, long-lasting toxicity.)

Some other aspects of this book which I liked were the importance of female friendship between Marley and her high school friend Jade as well as the example from Marley’s single mom and Interim Pastor Lennox to provide emotional support by remaining calm and caring and above all non-judgmental. There is good advice that readers could apply to every day life. For example, if people feel that they need to move to a different location to start over, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. As Pastor Lennox says, “Not all leaving is running away” (page 289). This book is never preachy or heavy-handed with religion. It simply is realistic showing houses of worship as playing an important part in small towns. Lennon could be a caring and accepting leader of any religion

The book covers more than a decade as it starts with rising- senior Marley moving to Mercury with her single mom the summer before she finishes high school and carries her through a life time of experiences. The years go by effortlessly as one reads, and as Marley learns many lessons, the most important one is that she thought someone knew the secret for having confidence, but learns “as soon as I got [that person’s] secrets, I wanted to give them back.”

I have rounded up my rating to a 5. The reason it was not a perfect five for me was that around Chapter 25 I initially felt the novel should segue into a denouement for Marley and everyone in her life. I thought the story was starting to repeat, nut the ten chapters that followed introduced new character studies that will help the book to appeal to a wider audience. I really like literatry fiction and a couple of times I wondered if Mercury was going to turn out to be romance book (not my go-to genre.) I’m pleased to say that was not the case; scenes with romantic involvement were handled with class. Nothing against heated passion; I just don’t need lengthy graphic details to enjoy a story. I believe I would enjoy going back and reading earlier works by this author. Thank you for my copy of this book. This review is my honest and unsolicited opinion.

Mercury is the story of Marley, a young girl moving into a small town in Pennsylvania with her mother. She quickly meets a boy and is ushered into his family by way of family dinners. As she gets to know the entire family, her role differs greatly from person to person. When Marley becomes pregnant, she has to quickly grow roots in the town and challenge herself to build a life of her own.

Mercury did not disappoint. Highlighting deep-rooted family dysfunction and very much character-driven in its multiple POVs, we are given a glimpse into the family dynamic at different points in time. The characters are all complex as they strive to serve their role in their family.

Secrets of a small town do not stay buried for long and the mystery in this book is likely to surprise and confound.

Beautifully written, I highly recommend this book. Amy Jo Burns will definitely be added to my must-read list.

Special thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts in this review are honest and my own.

P.S. – My mom is a huge fan of this author and has been telling me to read her books for a while now. Note to self: Listen to your mother.

From the moment the book began, I was hooked into the story of the Joseph family trying to survive life in the 1990s blue-collar town of Mercury, PA. Burns’s way with words had me constantly saving lines in the book.

Perpetually butting heads, Elise and Marley, two women both trying to navigate their roles in the family, truly convey the hard lives that are lived in a place like Mercury.

Amy Jo Burns beautifully painted each up and down experienced by the Joseph’s and left me completely content in the end.

Although there is a little bit of a mystery in this book, overall it is a picture of a family of people, longing to love and be loved, all missing each other along the way. Each Joseph brother loves Marley in their own way, and Marley just wants to have a family and roots. The building of the business and the way she makes it hers and theirs, rather than their father's, mimics the way she becomes the anchor of the family and holds them together. In so many ways, the longing Marley has to not be the only woman in the family is strengthened by the way Elise pushes her out even before the struggle of her illness. And yet, Marley's character overcomes all the difficulties of the family she finds herself in. This book was a wonderful way to start the year.

Thank you to Celadon via Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you, Netgalley and Celadon Books for the ARC of Mercury by Amy Jo Burns.

Release Date: 01/02/2014
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Marley moves to Mercury and quickly becomes integrated in the Joseph family. The book follows their lives from high school through adulthood where we see Marley grown into her role within the family.

We are constantly told the family is dysfunctional, and which characters we shouldn’t like, but it’s not until the end of the book that we get to see why people hold those opinions.

The prose is strong and beautiful but the way the story is narrated it feels like the author was keeping a distance between the reader and the characters.

If you are a fan of a slow burning book with a strong female lead this may be for you.

#bookstagram #books #arc #Mercury #NetGalley

Many thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful book by Amy Jo Burns, made even better with narration by Maria Liatis - 5 stars!

Marley has had a tough childhood, never staying in one place long as her mom moves around for work. When they arrive in Mercury PA, the first thing Marley sees is the Joseph brothers up on a roof. Soon she is at their table for dinner every night, wanting to belong. She begins dating one brother, then becomes wife to another, almost mother to the youngest. The father rules the business, but it is slowly failing. Marley steps in to help, but meets resistance. When an incident from the past raises its ugly head, does this family have what it takes to survive?

This book was wonderful. I lost myself in this family and felt so much for Marley as she tried to be everything to everyone, without losing herself in the process. Her best friend, Jade, is a marvel and the two women are always there for each other. All of these characters and this family just felt real - they all had secrets they were keeping, for various reasons, but at the heart they were family, in whatever form that takes, made of imperfect people who care for each other. I finished this a couple days ago and keep thinking about this story. Highly recommended!

I'd heard wonderful things about Burns' previous novel, Shiner, so I was excited to receive a copy of her newest. This book – this family – took hold of me and I couldn't put it down. Marley will be a character that sticks with me for a long time, as will the Josephs (particularly Elise and Shay). What Burns had to say about woman and motherhood wasn't necessarily profound, but it was shown in a way that was moving and powerful. What a book to kick off the new year!

So glad this was my first read of 2024 - the story of Marley and the Joseph family reeled me in, kept the pages turning as I teetered from wanting to keep on reading and wanting the story to not end. This is the first book I've read from Amy Jo Burns, although I have Shiner on my physical shelves to read. The town of Mercury felt visceral. The family dynamics, both within the Joseph family and also between Marley and her mom were so well told. I loved how Ruth, Marley's single mom, was portrayed. So often teen moms, moving from town to town, are portrayed negatively but Ruth was definitely portrayed as a strong and determined mother, doing her best for her daughter and not falling short in any ways that matter.

Marley and Shay were my favorite characters, but both Waylon and Baylor grew on me. And who wouldn't want a friend like Jade - strong, determined, funny and giving.

Although the mystery at the core seems...improbable (would shinkwrap REALLY stifle the smell??), I loved the way it all unfolded. I loved the writing, which made me think and pay attention, and how the author teased out the details without explicitly laying them out on the page. I wish there was a follow up that lets us visit the Josephs family again to see where Marley and Shay are 10 years from now.

I am finding it hard to rate this book - I am leaning towards a 4 star but it's really a 4.5...and I may come back and revisit and bump this one up. It's not a perfect book for me but pretty darn close, and I want to see if it stays with me which would definitely bump it up to a 5.

This character driven story absolutely blew me away. I think no matter who you are or where you come from, something about this book is going to move you in some way. This is a story of sacrifice and wow did it change the way I look at my own mom.