I wish I could say this was a charming book about life in a small Pennsylvania town. I can't, because it isn't what we would call charming. It's a story of people living real lives in a small town.
Marley and her mother Ruth arrive in Mercury during the summer. Ruth is a nurse who moves from hospital to hospital for work. All they own is in the trunk of their old car. Marley is between her junior and senior years in high school. The first thing she sees that really catches her eye is three men on a roof and an old van with a roofing company logo parked next to the building with the men on the roof. The next day she meets two of the men, boys her age really, in the park. She doesn't know it yet, but these people will become her family.
Almost immediately we learn about a mysterious dead body. Is this the start of a murder mystery or a thriller? No, sorry to say, the body doesn't show up again for most of the book. I might think this is a trick to keep me reading. Maybe on some level it is. I really didn't need that. Marley's story is interesting enough. This also isn't a coming of age tale. What I think it is, is a woman's literary novel. We spend a lot of time in Marley's life, getting a best friend, graduating from high school and getting married in the same week, learning to manage a business and a father-in-law who treats the business funds as if they were all his to spend as he wanted, dealing with a mother-in-law who develops early dementia and taking over her tasks in running the household whether Marley wants to or not.
I found I rather liked the book. We all have moments of doubt if we are doing what we should be doing how we should be doing them. Marley is constantly second guessing herself. She wanted a family, and she had to admit she got one. It might not have been perfect, but it was hers. I think you may enjoy watch her journey.
I want to thank the publishers who gave me this book first through Netgalley and then through a Goodreads contest. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
Marley and her mother Ruth arrive in Mercury during the summer. Ruth is a nurse who moves from hospital to hospital for work. All they own is in the trunk of their old car. Marley is between her junior and senior years in high school. The first thing she sees that really catches her eye is three men on a roof and an old van with a roofing company logo parked next to the building with the men on the roof. The next day she meets two of the men, boys her age really, in the park. She doesn't know it yet, but these people will become her family.
Almost immediately we learn about a mysterious dead body. Is this the start of a murder mystery or a thriller? No, sorry to say, the body doesn't show up again for most of the book. I might think this is a trick to keep me reading. Maybe on some level it is. I really didn't need that. Marley's story is interesting enough. This also isn't a coming of age tale. What I think it is, is a woman's literary novel. We spend a lot of time in Marley's life, getting a best friend, graduating from high school and getting married in the same week, learning to manage a business and a father-in-law who treats the business funds as if they were all his to spend as he wanted, dealing with a mother-in-law who develops early dementia and taking over her tasks in running the household whether Marley wants to or not.
I found I rather liked the book. We all have moments of doubt if we are doing what we should be doing how we should be doing them. Marley is constantly second guessing herself. She wanted a family, and she had to admit she got one. It might not have been perfect, but it was hers. I think you may enjoy watch her journey.
I want to thank the publishers who gave me this book first through Netgalley and then through a Goodreads contest. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.