Scottie is a photojournalist who stumbles across a baby and a dead mother while photographing homeless people in her area. She left her cell phone at home, so she takes the crying baby home with her to feed and keep warm until they discover the homeless mother's body. Merry Mary is about Scottie and the baby, who she named Merry Mary, and their time together.
This book make me cringe, roll my eyes, and experience other expressions of annoyance. The main character, Scottie, is basically a brat who found a doll baby and is playing "Finder's Keepers" so she doesn't have to give it back to who it belongs. She is selfish, materialistic, whiny, and shallow. The best example of this is when her wealthy father hires the best lawyer to help her: "Scottie locked herself in the nursery. She knew she was acting like a spoiled child threatening to run away if she didn't get her way. But she didn't care...After thirty minutes of coaxing from her father, Scottie finally agreed to come out of the nursery and talk to his lawyer. But only on her terms. Stuart Westport reluctantly agreed to lend her money to start a new life if she didn't like what the lawyer had to say". Charming, right?
If that doesn't appeal to you, then maybe the main character's financial logic will change your mind. Her husband flies a long distance to visit his side of the family for the holidays and uses money that should have gone to the electric bill to fund his flight. Scottie throws a fit when he informs her of this because she only has just enough in her savings to cover it. Despite the fact that she has been blowing off work and does not tell her husband about Merry Mary, she still has a tantrum. She then follows the tantrum with a shopping spree at Target, because they are broke.
Another thing that annoyed me about the book was that the shallow main character would make degrading comments. For example: "How was it fair that homeless women gave birth to nameless children when intelligent women of reasonable means suffered miscarriage after miscarriage?" Implying that homeless women are thereby not intelligent and people of reasonable means should not have to suffer. These are the people that she had been working with for her project, yet she thought so little of them. Adding to the shallow nature of the main character, when the local news reporters were interviewing people to describe the person who had been seen holding a baby at the scene, they described her as "Attractive. Tall with blond hair usually pulled back in a ponytail". Furthermore, when Scottie comes across Merry Mary's deceased mother, it was written "Although the image of the dead woman's face would forever be imprinted on Scottie's mind, the woman's condition made it difficult to determine whether she'd been attractive".
I could go on and on about how obnoxious the main character is, as well as other characters, but I think I have made my point. I would not recommend this book. There are themes of sexual assault, miscarriage, and stillbirth for those who are offended. There was only one or two times where there was foul language.
Please note: a copy of this book was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.