Mercy Came Morning--a Book Review

Suppressed emotions and memories have a way of jading our thinking. We are, after all, our past, our present, and our future all wrapped up into one little package. In Mercy Come Morning, Krista Mueller has a lot of baggage bottled up inside of her. All of her successes cannot make up for the pain that she feels--and going to visit her dying, Alzheimer's ridden mother, is about to bring them out into the open. So is seeing her old flame, Dane.

Krista feels as if her mother never loved her; indeed, she never vocalized her emotions. Krista does not understand why her mother, Charlotte, made some of the decisions she did. However, upon encountering a book of Christmas poems with notes written inside, along with a bundle of letters, Krista discovers that there is much more to her mother than meets the eye. And perhaps there is still time for Krista to make peace with her mom, and herself, before Charlotte dies. After all, God uses every moment, up until the time we draw our dying breath, to refine and change us...and Christmas is the season of miracles.

Unlike Krista, I have a very functional relationship with my mother. That being said, I know of several people who are not as blessed. They share a pain much like Krista's. Yes, we do have Christ, but there is, in each one of us, a parent shaped hole in our hearts. The reader travels along with Krista as we hope that she can mend the breach before her mother passes. We all know that when we leave a situation unresolved, we are not right until we fix it--and death makes that near impossible.

Krista is someone easily identified with, but the same can be said with the other two people in her life. There is Dane, the man who always loved her and who never understood why she didn't love him back. And then there was Elena, the pseudo-grandmother whom Krista needed in her life, especially when her own dear grandparents passed. You are so glad to know that they are there for Krista; you know they are going to play an integral part in helping mom and daughter find reconciliation...and they do.

The background for this book is something I loved. The scenery of Taos sounded much more picturesque than I anticipated in my mind. I expected much more of a desert terrain, but instead, Lisa Tawn Bergren really made me picture the works of Georgia O'Keefe, the Modernist painter who loved New Mexico. And the Alzheimer's ward where Charlotte is being cared for at.....I wish more of these existed.

Mercy Come Morning took a chapter or two to get going, but when it did, I read it in a couple of hours. It is a delightfully easy read, and yet, it still manages to be profound. I dare you not to get a little teary eyed at the end. I did....and when I read this again (for I will, perhaps around Christmas time), I bet it will be the same.

I received this book free thru WaterbrookMultnomah in exchange for an honest opinion.