I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Mercy was named for her mother’s hopes.

Mercy, in the hope that the Sorrowing—the curse that Mercy and her family had lived with for generations—might take pity on them.

But Mercy’s name never did her any good, and it certainly didn’t save her mother.

The Sorrowing ensures that Mercy, her family, and the core families in Arbor Falls aren’t able to grow, dream, or prosper. It makes sure they stay exactly as they are—mired in the mud. Mercy has learned to live with the truth: the only way to escape the Sorrowing is to accept it.

Until the Bowens move back to town.

The Bowens are a cursed family, too, and they should know better than to test the Sorrowing. Instead, their ignorance sets off a wave of fury that promises to destroy everything.

Now, Mercy will have to unearth the horrors that unfolded that terrible night the Sorrowing was born—to face the despicable secrets of her town and break the curse before it breaks everything she has left.

Short and Sweet Review

Mercy lives in Arbor Falls which is a small town and unfortunately for her she’s apart of one of the core families which means she’s cursed by the Sorrowing. Back in the day a family was murdered and they put a curse on the families that committed the crime so now those families can’t dream, grow, or prosper. When the Bowen family moves back to Arbor Falls, Mercy quickly learns that they’re not aware of the sorrowing and their ignorance is going to cost them everything. Mercy becomes friends Matteo Bowen and for the first time in her life she’s determined to break the curse.

Mercy was such a good book and will keep you reading until the very end. Mercy is our main character and she’s dealt with the sorrowing her whole life and we see how this affects her because she doesn’t dream big or have hopes that something good will happen, she’s just lived life accepting the fact that there’s this big dark cloud around her. When Matteo and his family come to town Mercy is surprised that they don’t know about the sorrowing and she watches the Bowens make plans and start to anger the Sorrowing. I think it’s because Matteo hasn’t grown up in Arbor Falls or had knowledge about the sorrowing that he has more of an optimism that the curse can be broken while it takes Mercy a bit longer to jump on this bandwagon. Even though Matteo and his family haven’t been in Arbor Falls the sorrowing still affected them with a string of bad luck, they just didn’t know what it was. When the Sorrowing hits close to home, Mercy decides that this has gone on long enough and it’s time to do something. Mercy decides to make a group with those who are aware of the curse and they begin digging deeper into the night that the murders took place and who was actually there. This curse was set a long time ago so for Mercy and the gang to even find people who still remember that night may be hard but it isn’t impossible, the hard part is to get people to talk. I loved the little mystery aspect of this book and just seeing Mercy do more research into how to stop the sorrowing. I also liked that Mercy and Matteo weren’t love interests but just friends, because I appreciated the blooming relationship Mercy had with AJ. This book is pretty dark toward the end when we learn the nitty gritty but the build up to it was amazing.

Overall, amazing book I was hooked from the beginning. Spooky season is here and this book sets the mood, it has a small town that’s cursed and the plot is executed beautifully. I definitely recommend this book its one I haven’t stopped thinking about since I’ve finished it.