Mercy (Mercy, #1) by Rebecca Lim

Genre: YA Fantasy

Mercy is a fallen angel – and she doesn’t know it. All she knows is that waking up inhabiting someone else’s body is an ordinary and frequent event for her. How many times has this happened? She’s lost count. But if you’re going to be stuck in someone else’s body, living someone else’s life for who knows how long, you may as well help them out. Right? At least that’s how Mercy views it.

           

            So when Mercy wakes up on a bus full of girls, she learns that for now she’s stuck in the body of Carmen, a gifted soprano, who is on her way to a high school choir concert in the small town of Paradise. Beyond this, she has no idea who she is, what she’s doing there, or where she’s going. The only thing she is sure of is her love for Luc, a man she only sees in her dreams, but has no way of finding.

           

            Arriving in Paradise, Mercy is met by the Daley’s, her host family during the trip. Two years ago, the Daley’s daughter Lauren was kidnapped from their home and never found. Though Mr. & Mrs. Daley have given up hope that Lauren is still alive, her twin brother Ryan insists she is and searches for her tirelessly. Seeing an opportunity to be of  use, Mercy offers Ryan her help in finding his sister before it’s too late.

            I received this book as an advanced reader’s copy from Net Galley to review. I really enjoyed Mercy’s strong and witty character. The premise of the book is intriguing, and there were only two aspects of the book that caused confusion for me:

           
A) There was no setting. I knew they were in a small town called Paradise, but I didn’t know what hemisphere they were in, let alone what country. Does this really affect the storyline though? Not so much. While I personally don’t like too much description, there were some instances where this lack of setting caused confusion.

           
 B) If it weren’t for the synopsis of the book, I never would have known Mercy was an angel, fallen or otherwise. At some point, there was mention that Mercy glowed in the dark, and in her true form was about seven feet tall and hovered off the ground. It wasn’t until the very, very end that you kind of get a grasp of what Mercy is.

           
            Nevertheless, this book was great. The mystery of the story kept me reading all the way through. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the second part to the trilogy, where I’m hoping some of the mystery will be explained.