Mercy (Mercy #1)

Although this is a twisted tale of finding oneself, which is found in many YA stories, the difference here is the one searching for her true self has been lost for many years....Not your typical teen story.


This isn't the average teen searching her inner catacombs in search of 'herself', but an angel--real & true--living the experiences of many lives, yearning to find her means, her reason for existing. And through the eyes and heart of a teen, Mercy slowly discovers the purpose of her plight--her punishment of borrowing one mortal life after another. Evidence of Mercy's true self unravel as information about a missing girl come to light. And with the disappearance of a new girl, Mercy knows she must act, only not sure why.


Initially, I found the opening pages confusing and even a bit distant. But somewhere between the end of chapter one and chapter two, I became intrigue enough to see a plot being born. The writing is elegant yet with a standoffish flare, almost as if the main character wants to avoid emotions. Word choices are crisp, yet not overdone.


The Angel angle of this tale is just unique enough, spliced with the mystery of Mercy's unveiling, the disappearance of the girls, and townsfolk who are close-minded and harsh at times. Not a huge fan of open endings, I enjoyed the conclusion and look forward to see where the author takes Mercy next, primarily because vital questions were answered in this first book. I'm definitely hungry for the sequel.

Mercy can take care of herself, thank you very much. She doesn't need anyone to do it for her. You know all those books where the female main character is so soft and always waiting for someone to save her? Mercy is not like that. I like that in a heroine.

The angel part of the book wasn't the whole main focus of the book. The main focus was a mystery and a search for a kidnapper/murderer.

Mercy is a fallen angel. She was cast out of heaven (for what, we don't know) and she doesn't really know exactly what she looks like. She has straight brown hair and brown eyes. Her real self, that is. Mercy "wakes" in different bodies all the time, ready to face a couple more weeks of a new life before moving on. She knows she has special powers, and she knows that she wants to find her beloved, Luc, who she only sees in dreams (don't worry, she's not totally focused on this aspect, especially after she meets Ryan...)

Mercy's current soul-jacking victim is a soprano named Carmen, who is off on a field trip to Paradise. Her host family are the Daley's who Mercy at once senses that they have very deep sorrows (she can sense stuff like that), and it doesn't take long to figure out - their daughter, Lauren, disappeared one night and is now presumed dead.

Ryan though, the only son of the Daleys, has never given up hope that Lauren is alive, somewhere. Mercy agrees to help him search for her.

All through the story, you've got this murder/kidnapping mystery at the front, but you've always got Mercy's search for herself somewhere in the background. We presume that she's a fallen angel of some sort, but we don't exactly know for sure. The book never totally spelled it out.

It's interesting to watch Mercy's transformation throughout the book. Living in too many lives and not having the chance to settle down has made her somewhat uncaring and detached. So it's nice to watch her transform into a slightly warmer person.

As for Luc, ugh. No. Why Mercy is interested in him I don't understand. I didn't like him. I reckon that later in the series he is going to turn out to be an evil, possessive demon-angel. I'm much more interested in what is going to happen with Ryan. Is Mercy going to try and find him? I hope so, because eternity with Luc would be so annoying. So, is this series going to let older characters make reappearances, or is it just going to be, like, new life, new situation?

I'm really interested to find out what happens in the next book. I would recommend this to 12+ year olds who want a mystery/paranormal kind of thing.

Mercy definitely was not what I was expecting. My expectation was that it would be another of the paranormal fantasy wave, something about angels, judging from the girl on the cover. While the paranormal stuff is there, it's mostly just an afterthought, though. What this book is, more than anything else, is a mystery. It is about the search for Lauren and her captor and/or killer.

It was so much about that actually that the paranormal gifts that helped Mercy accomplish everything seemed like a bit of a cop out. She can read people by touching them and has powers appear to help her out of tough scrapes.

As for the characters, I do rather like Mercy. She's brash and strong, says what she thinks, even when it's inappropriate. It should come as no surprise that I like that in a heroine. Most of the supporting cast did not interest me at all, especially Mr. Dream Boy Luke. He can just gtfo. I am much more interested in Ryan and am really wondering whether he will make a reappearance in the series or if this will be episodic, with Mercy in a different body and dealing with different people each time.

Mysteries aren't my genre of choice, but the story did keep me reading. The novel was a bit uneven, too, but I am still curious to try the next book in the series to find out what's going on. I am also curious whether it too will be a mystery or something different.