Mercy Snow review

Mercy Snow by Tiffany Baker
Grand Central Publishing // Jan 14, 2014
Hardcover, 336pgs
ISBN 9781455512737
source: egalley from the publisher

About the book:
In the tiny town of Titan Falls, New Hampshire, the paper mill dictates a quiet, steady rhythm of life. But one day a tragic bus accident sets two families on a course toward destruction, irrevocably altering the lives of everyone in their wake.
June McAllister is the wife of the local mill owner and undisputed first lady in town. But the Snow family, a group of itinerant ne'er-do-wells who live on a decrepit and cursed property, have brought her--and the town--nothing but grief.
June will do anything to cover up a dark secret she discovers after the crash, one that threatens to upend her picture-perfect life, even if it means driving the Snow family out of town. But she has never gone up against a force as fierce as the young Mercy Snow. Mercy is determined to protect her rebellious brother, whom the town blames for the accident, despite his innocence. And she has a secret of her own. When an old skeleton is discovered not far from the crash, it beckons Mercy to solve a mystery buried deep within the town's past.

My thoughts:
I had a very difficult time getting into this novel. The build up was too cumbersome. It was very drawn out and took a long time to get to the action.
The characters were very interesting and well developed though, but it wasn't enough to hold the story afloat in my opinion. However, with the characters, I was quite impressed.
The writing all together was solid, but a bit wordy at times. Sometimes I just wanted to scream "spit it out" at the pages. I also felt like she added in a big vocabulary and lots of complex words (that felt unnatural coming from the characters) just to show off - they didn't have a point and they didn't feel like things some of the characters would say.
Overall, my biggest issue is that it took much too long to get to the climax. I will say that it raced from there. The ending was well done and didn't leave any loose ends which I appreciate in a novel. It was the redeeming quality that got this novel 2 stars instead of 1.
Mercy Snow was a haunting tale of good and evil, the sinner and the Saint... it is just too much work to get to those beautiful parts of the story, in my opinion.

write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow

Book image and synopsis from Netgalley.com