I got this book today and sat down to read it, and you know? I want Toni Andrews to give me my book credit back. It was that bad. In fact, it was so bad that I am here now, writing my very first review, in the hopes that, even though I will never get back the time I spent reading this book, you will be spared the pain. (I pretty much started skimming at about Page 3, just to at least get an idea of how the book overall would go, and let me tell you, save your time for something better, like the New York City telephone directory.) Even though I basically skimmed it, though, I learned enough about it to be able to tell you why it was bad.

The writing was pedestrian at best; worse, there was no strong narrative voice, which is vital in a story told in the first person.

The main character is completely unlikeable. Okay, fine, you want to write a self-loathing person with psychic powers, great, but put some thought into the morality of the issue. She uses *mind control* on people and there's barely any exploration of the rights and wrongs. We learn on Page 1 that she killed someone in the first book, but her main concern about it is *not getting caught*. Though she spends half her time beating herself up for it, it apparently never crosses her mind to turn herself in and serve her time. Later in the book she bears some responsibility for another death, and her best friend thinks deeply on the matter and assures her that the people whose deaths she caused were "bad" and therefore it's somehow okay. There are no words for how sick this makes me.

The characterizations of basically all the supporting roles are flat, flat, flat. Bouncy, cheerful (she's described as a "naughty cherub," if only I were kidding), looks-airheaded-but-isn't best friend who wants to Fix All Her BFF's Woes: check. Cardboard-cutout boyfriend with a Mysterious Past: check. Snarky bartender: check. And on and on.

Even in a quick read I found other signs of lazy writing. I've lost track of the stereotyped characters, there are so many. We actually meet a Gypsy fortuneteller. (No, really, I'm serious.) The only obvious Latino in sight is an ex-convict who's found himself a sugar mama. Who's white, incidentally. The main villain of the piece is a man who molests his daughter. Apparently, however, just molestation was not bad enough for Toni Andrews. No, he has to be a *child porn producer* who uses his own kid in his movies, because the squick factor of "mere" molestation was apparently *not high enough*. This makes me even more sick than the cavalier treatment of mind control.

I suppose the blurb should have warned me, really. Please, for the love of all that's decent in literature, take the warning. There's plenty out there that's better written than this tripe.

(NB: I wrote this review for Amazon, but I'm posting it here to spare people the pain.)

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This is the second book, following Beg for Mercy, by an author I'd never heard of prior to buying the first book. I am amazed at the author's ability to write characters you care about and a sexy story without pages and pages of crude sexual references. Mercy, the main character, is something more than most...something "other". The trials she faces, the internal struggles, and the emotions of the characters are so well written that I found myself disappointed when I read the last page...I didn't want to leave the world created by Andrews. I definitely recommend this author and this series!

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I thought this book would have some action to it, but I read about 100 pages of it and it was mostly just talk. I was disappointed in it, but maybe it's a good read for others.

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This one was a bit intense, but I enjoyed it more than the first. Good read, interesting thoughts found here. Mercy is developing more and more.

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This is the second book about Mercy Hollings. Sukey and Sam are still around and Mercy is still beating herself up about things. A great plot, you know what Mercy is going to do, but it's the getting there that is interesting. She's still trying to figure out what she really is. a lot of the story is concerned with Mercy trying to help out at a battered woman's refuge and how once again her use of the 'gift' has unforeseen consequences.

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Ok I wasn't all too happy with the direction mercy took in this book. Its supposed to be a paranormal book which it kind of is with the mind reading and press thats going on. However all that was masked up by mercy trying to do the police's job. If I pick up a book and it has incest or kiddy porn rings in it I think that should be stated somewhere on the cover. Or the fact that mercy was trying to help an abused wife and her child but doesn't really know how bad they suffered. Something like that but nothing was mentioned on the back that let you know what direction the story was going in. There were so many ways and I just didn't happen to like this one at all.

If I wanted to read about sexual abuse of children I would not have picked up a paranormal book. I might have tried a horror story but not paranormal.

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This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf

Mercy Hollings is beating herself up over the death of man that she caused a month ago, and now she's afraid that her abilities may be from some evil source. She's helped so many people with 'the press', but how many has she hurt, and now, how many more will she end up killing?

In Mercy's line of work telling people what to do is an everyday thing. When someone comes to her because they'd like to stop smoking, or eating too much, she can make them stop with a light 'press'. But when a woman shows up to an appointment with bruises from being abused, it's not so easy to tell someone what to do with their life.

With the help from a local battered women's shelter, Mercy is able to help those women and children in need. It's satisfying for Mercy to know that she's making a real difference for these women, who seem to be nothing but fragile creatures. It's not so easy for Mercy though, when she's given the task of helping a women and child overcome their fears of an abuse so horrible it puts Mercy in shock. Will she be able to control her abilites, or will she 'press' the wrong issue?

This was the second installment in the Mercy Hollings Series by Toni Andrews, and I'm glad that I ordered myself a copy of it to read. Mercy's abilities still amaze me, and I personally wish I could borrow them just a couple of times. I'm glad to see that Mercy is opening up more to the people that care for her, but wish that her relationship with Sam Falls would move forward.

I'm very interested in reading the third novel in this series, Cry Mercy, to see if Mercy finds out more about her origins. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive from the publisher, and have been checking my mailbox religiously in hopes of its arrival.

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