Book Review: The Fate of Mercy Alban

Curling up with a good book is one of my favorite things to do in the Fall/Winter. I'm an avid reader year round but there is just something about the colder seasons of year that make reading even more appealing. Earlier this year, I found out that my local library has an iPad/iPhone app where you can check out books to read on your device! I immediately downloaded the app on my phone and my boyfriend's iPad and have been using it ever since. Having this app has helped me get so much more reading in as I can pull a book up on my phone whenever I have some spare time. It also makes reading easier during the colder months as I can browse through the library without having to leave my bed!

I just finished reading The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb using this app. I picked this book out based on it's cover (I know, don't judge a book and all that...) because I LOVE creepy old mansions. If there is a creepy mansion on the cover of a book, I will most likely read it. Anyways, I put this book on 'hold' a few months back and completely forgot about it until I got an email notification last week letting me know it was my turn to read the book.

The book description based on the library app:
Grace Alban has spent more than twenty years avoiding her childhood home, the stately Alban House on the shores of Lake Superior, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teenage daughter back, she finds more is haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.

Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters, and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years. Her mother intended to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died--could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? Grace soon realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the mansion's secret passages.

With the help of the disarmingly kind--and attractive--Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.

My thoughts: (No spoilers, I promise!)
I'll admit, this book completely drew me in! There is nothing I love more than a mystery involving ghosts. I finished it in about 3 evenings and could barely put it down because I just had to know what happened next! I would stay up late reading and tell my boyfriend "Just one more chapter!" when he tried to tell me it was time for bed. The story kept my attention because just when I thought I had it all figured out, something happened that changed my mind. There were so many different aspects to the story, an old mansion, family secrets, ghosts and hidden passageways and I loved how everything came together in the end. There was a bit of a love story involved and I liked that it was there but didn't overpower the other elements of the story.

My only criticism of the book would have to be the character development. When I read, I love to know as much as possible about the characters (physical appearance as well as personality) and I felt like there wasn't enough time spent on the descriptions of the characters. This made it difficult for me to create an image of them in my mind and also made it difficult for me to decide how the characters would react to situations. I was able to get through the book just fine without this additional information but I feel like it would have added more depth to the story.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the two other books this author has written. If you love mystery, thrillers or ghost stories then I think you would definitely enjoy this spooky story. It's a perfect quick read to curl up with on a rainy night!

*This post is my opinion of the book and I am not being compensated for my review*