Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for the advanced copy!

Marley came to the small river valley town of Mercury, PA at the age of 17 in 1990. She is perpetually lonely from all the moving she and her mom have done over the years, so she seeks a place at a table and a family to be welcomed into.

The Joseph brothers become Marley's whole world before she even realizes it. She soon is wife to one brother, the one who got away to another, and a mother figure to all 3. As their mother fades into the background and their roofing business begins collapsing, Marley takes charge of the family. When old secrets come to light many years later in the church attic, the Joseph brothers must decide if they'll come together and create something stronger than just saving their family.

Family drama in books is not usually a favorite genre of mine (as life has enough drama of its own), but wow this book sucked me right in. I loved the flashbacks to help the reader see the entire story from either Marley or a Joseph brother perspective. As the drama continued, it was like an accident I just couldn't look away from, I needed to satiate my desire to know how it ended. Marley was such a strong wife, mother, and woman as the story continued. She grew up when she needed to, but also knew when she needed to take a moment for herself and her child. I loved the relationships she had with each Joseph brother and how she helped each of them to reach the man they should become.

4.5 star🌟for me. Wow I was blown away. I finished this book in one sitting. I love small town romances but this one was messy, I loved the way the author developed all the characters, Marley as the female lead was great. Watching her go from a young girl in search of stability and family to actually being the rock and glue of her own was a great read.

UPDATED: @drbooksreads via instagram

📗🅑🅞🅞🅚 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦
[̲̅p̲̅][̲̅u̲̅][̲̅b̲̅][̲̅l̲̅][̲̅i̲̅][̲̅c̲̅][̲̅a̲̅][̲̅t̲̅][̲̅i̲̅][̲̅o̲̅][̲̅n̲̅] [̲̅d̲̅][̲̅[̲̅a̲̅][̲̅t̲̅][̲̅e̲̅]:1/2/2024
🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

@burnsamyjo 𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓸👏🏾👏🏾

💘complicated family dynamics
🏘️small town
👥multiple POV

🍀I didn’t know what to expect with this one. This book was a slow burn family drama. The character development was phenomenal. In the small town of mercury Pennsylvania the Joseph family is known for roofing. Their lives change when Marley & her mom move to town and she catches the eye of ALL the Joseph family. As dysfunctional as these people in this small town were I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know what happened to each one of them. Marley has never set down roots. Her and her mom have been drifters. She had a yearning to be a part of a family that sits down to dinner etc. she wished for it and maybe got a lot Marie than she bargained for. She starts off dating the older brother but falls in love with the middle son. Next comes teenage pregnancy, a shot gun wedding, and a whole lot of family secrets deep within Joseph &sons roofing. I found myself frustrated some with Marley’s character as well as the mother Elsie. I hoped all throughout they would develop a better bond. Marley and Waylon have that small town love story you tell your grandkids about. Despite all their flaws there was nothing in the end these people didn’t do for each other. My favorite character was Shay baby. Reading things from his POV through a child’s eyes then as a grown man will humble you. Again the story is full of grudges, murder, teenage pregnancy, backwoods thinking, unbeatable burdens, love and hope.

Thank you @celadonbooks and @netgalley for this ARC. I really enjoyed this one. Can’t wait to read more from the author.

❓what book did you get for Christmas? I got verity by @colleenhoover and can’t wait to read it.

#mercury #amyjoburns #dementia #smalltown #bookstagram #books #read #drbooksreads #netgalley #celadonbooks

Celadon books may be my favorite publisher. I love everything I have read from them, and Mercury is no exception. So we are throwing it back to 1990 as Marley and her mom move into this Pennsylvania town. She immediately catches the eye of Baylor Joseph, all around sexy bad boy. Their relationship takes off quickly and fizzles, yet Marley becomes a fixture at the Joseph home and around their dinner table. She finds a confidant in Waylon, the middle Joseph brother, and we watch their relationship grow amidst the drama of an unpredictable father, hard to read mother, and a crumbling roofing business. It is impossible not to get caught up in these characters. The author gives us just enough to become invested, yet they still possess secrets we want to uncover. If you loved We Are the Brennans or The Connellys of County Down go grab Mercury! You will not be disappointed.

A strong family drama with a mystery to keep you wondering how, who and why.

Marley rolls into another new small town as a high school student with her single mother, who once again has to find her way. She quickly becomes a part of the Joseph family, sitting at the dinner table and dating one of the three brothers. Life develops and she becomes a permanent aspect of the Joseph family, and for the good!

What sold me? The connection Burns gave me to Marley and the Joseph family. I was so invested in their little roofing company, the complicated family dynamics, the lack of love yet true heart and kinship the family had for one another.

No family is perfect, we never claim to be, but to see the inside of this family and the secrets that eat one another up is almost unbearable. It gives the reader a sense that this family is real, and you are a part of it.

I mean I cried at the end of the book. My heart broke a tiny bit for this family. The passion, the love, the hate, the murder...

Thank you to NetGalley and Celedon for the advance e-copy of this book.

Mercury by Amy Jo Burns is a multifaceted family drama, set in Rust Belt town of Mercury, Penn., during the ‘90s.

You are immediately drawn into the story of Ruth and Marley West, a mother and daughter who’ve moved from one town to the next and hold tightly to each other. Soon, Marley becomes engrossed by the Joseph brothers and their mother—a complicated family, with each member bearing a secret.

You become engulfed in the story of not only Marley and Waylon, but also the rest of the Joseph family and their roofing company. The characters are richly developed, flaws and all.

This is one of the most moving and well-written novels I’ve read this year. Burns is a talented storyteller.

Read if you like:
🩵 Family drama
🩵 Small town, rural setting
🩵 Character-driven plot

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! Be sure to read this book when it’s released on 1/2/24.

4.5 stars 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀𝘿 𝙞𝙩 - I never forgot 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳, her last novel, so I was beyond excited to read Amy Burn’s newest book out January 2 - it did NOT let me down.

Instead of Appalachia, 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘺 is set in Pennsylvania, in the titular town, small enough to know everyone’s name, to gossip about unwanted pregnancies and affairs, and to wonder who the dead body is in the church’s attic. Yes, you read that right!

But this is the story of the women in the Joseph family: Elise, the wife who sacrificed to give her husband and three boys all of herself; and Marley, the young girl who grows into the ‘everything’ for these boys.

I saw myself in both these women, and found myself pulled deeply into their parallel lives.

I found this to be a character-rich book, of a time weirdly feeling long ago (the 1990’s), when smart phones, 24/7 News, and social media did not exist, creating a quietness that I find myself missing more and more.

Family dramas can be hit or miss for me. Mercury was a hit for me. A character driven family drama with a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. It reminded me of Tracey Lange's books. I read and listened to Mercury. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Maria Liatis despite not being familiar with her previous work.

Great book. I really enjoyed the drama in the family and friends. The author has a great style of writing that really flows.

Thank you to the publisher for my arc.

This just wasn’t for me, the story didn’t keep me engaged and I couldn’t care about the characters.

If you're looking for a new character driven family drama with a side of mystery, stop your scroll. Set in a very small town in PA called Mercury, lives the Johnson family. When Marley and her mom roll into town and spot 3 men on a roof, she never imagined how much her life would change. They never stayed anywhere long and she suspected Mercury would be no different but then she met Baylor, the oldest of three brothers and quickly saw what she thought was "a real family." One she's always longed for. She hoped for the approval of their mother Elise early on, but it never came no matter how hard she tried. While Marley ended things with Baylor, soon Waylon (the middle brother) made it known how he felt about her. Before she knew it, she was pregnant and married to Waylon at the ripe age of 18 while also trying (and learning how) to keep the family roofing business afloat. She soon discovers this family isn't what she thought. It's full of secrets and expectations no one could meet. Elise and Marley, generations apart, both living in a house with these men they love but longing for a different life. Set in the 1990's and told in present and past timelines, we weave in and out of the tricky dynamics of this family which all comes to a halt when a dead body is discovered in their church.

This was an enjoyable quick read! I loved the multiple narrators in this one. While mostly told by Marley, towards the end we get point of view from all the brothers and it really brings the story full circle. It's a great one at showing the complexities of family structure and of motherhood. Especially in a family who despite their hard work is really living one disaster away from bankrupting their family business. Thank you Celadon and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing in January 2024!

Really enjoyed Burns' novel Shiner, so requested this as an ARC. There's things to like about this family drama, but I didn't like it as much as the previous book-Marley is a great lead and Shay is extremely sympathetic but the other characters were hard to like (not to say this isn't realistic! Just didn't make for as enjoyable a reading experience for me). The pacing is slow but I don't think that's necessarily a negative, it works well for a character study versus a heavily plot-driven novel. This wasn't a favorite but I'd definitely read another by Burns in the future.

When Marley West moves to Mercury, PA with her mother, she didn’t know how long they’d stay. She also didn’t know the impact the Joseph brothers would have on her, and her on them. But she becomes a part of each of their lives in different ways and will help them all overcome obstacles in their lives.

Mercury was a beautifully written, character driven novel that really surprised me. I’m always a little hesitant to read literary fiction, but I’m so glad I decided to read this book. Amy Jo Burns wrote a compelling story about love and found family, and showed how the strength of one woman could keep a family together.

Marley was so well written. She is flawed, but finds a way to use the flaws to make the most of her life. We see this in high school and we watch her grow throughout this story into the strong woman she is. Her relationship with each of the Joseph brothers was special in its own way, and although some were better than others, I enjoyed seeing how their connections grew and changed with time.

This book was so emotional and had me in tears many times. I was invested in the characters’ lives, and I honestly felt like I was in the town of Mercury while reading this book. It did start off a bit slow for me, but that is really my only complaint. I highly recommend grabbing this book when it comes out next week.

Thank you Celadon Books for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

That was truly the most interesting and unique story I’ve ever read.

I flew through this one in two days! The story told in multiple points of view with an out of order timeline kept me hooked and engaged the entire time. I truly wanted to know every little detail. Marley became a person to me along with Baylor and I deeply sympathized with both of them. I liked how one major question/plot point was left to the readers discretion and I have my thoughts about that. The prose also reminded me much of Fredrick Backman and I think that truly is why I was engrossed. The only thing I didn’t enjoy were the few parts that felt dragged out. There were some characters that felt unnecessary or weren’t wrapped up and I wish they were. All in all, I did enjoy this journey.

Mercury is one of those novels that is hard to categorize, as it is a family saga, a romance (several times over) and a little bit murder mystery. The book had me hooked from the first chapters, and it is definitely one that I will not forget soon.

Amy Jo Burns has written a moving, multi-layered novel, that would be a great choice for a book club. I enjoyed how the story of the Joseph family is told by focusing on different members of the family, with Marley central to the story, and sometimes through flashbacks. I grew to care deeply for these flawed brothers, and to understand their motives. These people love hard and fight hard, and each has a different way of demonstrating their loyalty and love for each other. My heart broke for each of them at different points, and I was ready to throttle them at others.

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the digital ARC of Mercury by Amy Jo Burns. The opinions in this review are my own.

Family drama is here to stay in Mercury. When Marley moves to the small town and gets in Baylor Joseph's truck after a baseball game, she didn't realize where her life would end up. The Joseph's are a tight-knit family whose roof repairs are far stronger than their ability to properly communicate. This was an intimate look into their family dynamics that kept me intrigued until the end.

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Read if you like:
📚 Character Driven Books
🔍 Slight Mystery Vibes
💍 Marriage and Family Dynamics
⏳ 90’s vibes
🏘️ Small Town Settings

Overall, this was beautifully written and had great prose, but the story was a bit lacking for me. It was very character heavy in the focus which made the plot feel lacking and like there wasn’t resolution that I felt like there should have been.

I felt like there was a lot left unresolved and the ending felt quite unsatisfying to me and the Elise PoV felt random and didn’t really give the answers I would have wanted from the pov to include it at the end of the book.

All in all, I think a lot of people will like this one, unfortunately it just wasn’t one that worked for me as well as I thought it would have.

Thank you so much to Celadon books for my ARC in exchange for my review!

A deep and emotional family read. The turmoils of the Joseph family will have you taking deep sighs and will give you a drama filled story.
A slow burn set in the 1990s. Marley enters the town of Mercury and her life is never the same.
A great read. Thank you Celadon for the ARC!

Thank you to Celadon Books, NetGalley and Amy Jo Burns for this ARC to read and review!

This was a deep slow burn of a family drama with exceptional character development. Marley and the Joseph family can’t help but pull you into their very relatable small town life. The author does an amazing job at letting you into the flawed inner workings of each character and giving you insight as to why you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. It’s a book about real people trying to move forward and make life work with past mistakes and broken dreams. With its share of sadness, struggle, heartbreak and a sprinkle of mystery … be prepared for an emotional stay in the town of Mercury.

This is a family saga for people who are most interested in literary fiction that examines relationships between characters. Most of the characters are 3-dimensional, with things to like and dislike about them. Each person's perspective is understandable - the author is good at showing all the sides of an argument and how easily misunderstandings happen.

Shay's secret and Elise's troubles were both unsurprising. I missed Marley's mom in the second half of the book.

The writing was good. It took itself a bit too seriously - everything is existential. A little levity would've been nice.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookish First for an ARC in exchange for a review.

A beautiful portrait of a small-town family in Western Pennsylvania- each character felt completely real.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.