Thursday, October 29, 2015

Book Review - Shades of Mercy by Anita Lustrea


Photo Credit - Amazon.com


**May Contain Spoilers**

In a coming of age story, Mercy Millar the daughter of an affluent farmer falls in love with a childhood playmate and has her faith tested in God, her father and being in love. The story begins with the grandmother (Mercy) anxiously waiting for her granddaughter to visit her. Her granddaughter became interested in the Maliseet culture and wanted to know more about her grandfather.  Excitedly, Mercy begins her story in 1954 where racial tensions were high and faith/tolerance among each other was low. Mercy being the "son" her father had, was used to the farm work and driving to the "dump" where the Maliseet tribe lived to pick up men for work. One can say, the reason why she eagerly makes the drive is so she can see her beau, Mick.

She was used to being seen in her father's eyes as a son. Until the "incident" happens and causes the some of townspeople to turn against the Maliseet tribe. Looking for a scapegoat,  people starting blaming the Maliseet tribe for all sort of problems. Which is how, Mick gets thrown into jail and the world Mercy knew and hoped for comes crashing down on her. Will Mercy be able to keep her hope in everything she believes?

The romantic coming of age story is imbued with elements of faith, hope, family, love, tolerance and mostly forgiveness.  The story does this nicely but it does move on a slower pace. My biggest disappointment on this book is that there wasn't enough dialogue between the grandmother and granddaughter. I wish it tied in with Mercy's story, more even though it's supposed to be a love story about Mercy and Mick.

*Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

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