Alena Dillon

Thanks so much to Libro.fm, Harper Audio and William Morrow Books for letting me listen and review this engrossing story.
I listened/read this story and finished a little while ago, but I've been thinking and digesting it for a while because I wasn't sure how to write my thoughts on this one, there are parts of this book that are a bit hard to read for me and I think for anyone but it was also a good book too.
This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I had a hard time putting it down because it was very engrossing, engaging and interesting and on the other hand I didn't want to read it or finish it at times as well because it was hard to read parts of it, made me cringe and feel sick and then it was also a bit emotional as well so make of that what you will.
This book is about Mercy House or rather the people/characters and their stories that are behind Mercy House. In particular, it's about a nun, Sister Evelyn, who is one of the big forces behind keeping Mercy House up and running to help provide a safe haven for the abused and abandoned women.
Mercy House is in a Brooklyn neighborhood that has a drug problem as well and Sister Evelyn along with some fellow sisters runs this place as a safe house for women and girls that show up in the middle of the night to escape abusive boyfriends/family members, prostitutes, immigrants and other women who have all been broken and hurt by men. All of these women know what it's like to be abused and degraded by men even Sister Evelyn - those are hard things to read. I know they happen in real life, but they're still hard to hear about sometimes even in stories that are fiction because I know they could be based on real-life stories and my heart hurts to read those things happening to others, it's not an easy topic in fiction or real life.
Sister Evelyn keeps going and helping others and never is thrown off by anything until one day when she is told that a Bishop is coming to check out and investigate Mercy House and the nuns and they don't want the church to find out everything they do/have done to aid these women because some of the ways they have provided help are forbidden by the Church. They're worried that if the Church finds out some of the things they've done to aid these women that the Church will want them to shut Mercy House down. Also, Sister Evelyn has dark secrets threatening to be uncovered and cause problems in connection with these things as well.
Sister Evelyn and the other sisters will do and end up doing whatever they possibly can to protect and keep Mercy House running and in the process, Sister Evelyn finds the power of mercy and grace bestowed upon her in her own life as well.
If you can handle reading some hard things, some language and such, then you might want to check this out, but be warned, this is not an easy, light-hearted fun read.
TW: Adult language/somewhat explicit nature of rape, abuse, shooting/guns, drugs, some profanity, a very heavy adult-themed story with Mercy House being a haven for abused/abandoned women, drugs, alcohol… (more)