Review: The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

Hyperion Books

February 2013

Format: ARC paperback, 352 pages

First line: People were gathering at Alban House for the family’s annual summer solstice party – a happy occasion.

From the back cover: Grace Alban has spent more than twenty years avoiding her childhood home, the stately mansion situated on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. Alban House is enchanting, certainly; it is also plagued with a history of tragedy and the rumor of a curse that no one can quite laugh away. So when newly divorced Grace returns with her moody teenage daughter to attend to her mother’s estate, she is shocked but not surprised to learn that her mother died under eerie circumstances – silenced the very day she planned to give a tell-all interview about the family. Soon, Grace finds herself faced with more unsettling discoveries, including a long-lost aunt and a possible intruder watching through the walls.

Now Grace must uncover the truth about the Alban curse – and the witch at its heart – before she becomes its next victim…

My thoughts: Wendy Webb is a new author to me and I am so glad I was offered the chance to read and review this book. From the first page of this story, I was hooked and had to know what was going to happen next. Now, as some of you know, I am not a fan of the whole paranormal genre, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one because it only has a hint of the supernatural. Just a little bit and I can easily suspend belief while still enjoying the story.

Grace
Alban and her teenaged daughter, Amity, have returned to Alban House after her mother’s sudden and unexpected death.
She has not been home in about twenty years , but as the only surviving heir, she must head home to make decisions regarding the future of the estate. When Grace and Amity stumble upon a stash of
love letters written to her mother from an unknown man, they find themselves in the middle of a decades old mystery surrounding a party at Alban house where a celebrated journalist and author committed suicide and
Grace’s aunt mysteriously disappeared. Grace and Amity, with the help
of the handsome Reverend Matthew Parker, begin to unravel the mystery
only find that there may in fact be some truth to the legend of a family
curse. Soon after Grace and Amity find themselves in
danger, and the race for answers becomes a matter of life and death.
Filled with multiple plot lines including a budding romance, family
secrets, and a hint of the supernatural, it is hard to put this book down once you start reading.

The ending to this tale almost leaves you to think there might be a sequel…and I would love that!!! I loved reading about the history of this house – all the secret passageways, the rooms, the porch and the grounds – this seems like a great house to live in. I love houses with so much history steeped in them – they just beg to have their stories told. And the characters were all richly developed – there wasn’t one that I didn’t like.

So, I feel that I need to amend my dislike of the whole paranormal genre. I think now I can safely say that I will read, and usually end up liking, books that contain a hint of the supernatural, like this one or even some of Sarah Addison Allen’s books. Have you found yourself having to amend your reading preferences either for the good or the bad?

I received a complimentary copy of The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb from Betsy at Hyperion Books.