BOOK REVIEW – THE VIGIL by MARIAN P. MERRITT

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio...
vigil - noun vig·il \ˈvi-jəl\
1) a – a watch formerly kept on the night before a religious feast with prayer or other devotions; b – the day before a religious feast observed as a day of spiritual preparation; c – evening or nocturnal devotions or prayers
2) the act of keeping awake at times when sleep is customary; also: a period of waekfulness
3) an act or period of watching or surveillance: watch

The Vigil

Some vows should never be made. Some should never have to be made. When Cheryl Broussard broke her second cardinal vow, she had no choice but to break the first: fleeing the abusive relationship, she returns to her hometown of Bijou Bayou.
The twists and turns in this story are as swirling as the bayou they are written upon. Unexpected eddies and swirls keep the reader turning page after page after page.
As Cheryl strives to attain some degree of normalcy and balance in her life, life continues to throw her off balance. She secures a position as a Hospice nurse, and her cantankerous– and lonely – dying patient has her read old love letters. As she reads, Cheryl learns of a secret long kept, long hidden and finds herself riddled with the mystery of her client’s secret.
As Cheryl reads the secret in those letters, she also runs headlong into skeletons in her own family closet. Faced with the knowledge that her past was built on a lie, she is forced to embrace the uncomfortable truth. As her family seems to crumble apart, Cheryl is forced to embrace a new future and face the God she abandoned years ago.

Ms. Merritt weaves a colorful tapestry with story threads that criss-cross on every page. An unexpected pattern of vibrant colors, Vigil keeps watch for questions answered, mysteries solved, and a past as knotted as Spanish moss to be unraveled. As the clock ticks for Cheryl’s patient, so too, does she keep vigil over family members – the lies of the past unraveling and a heartbreaking calamity.
Will Cheryl take up the tapestry that is her life? Will she unravel the snarls and knots that lie in her heart? Can she embrace the colorful pattern God has for her life?

The substance of Ms. Merritt’s characters, the genuineness of their personalities and their life circumstances made them easy to know and to read. I sympathized with Cheryl’s struggles [indeed, I could identify with some of it.] My heart broke with her, I laughed with her and I cried with her. I appreciate the writing style of Ms. Merritt; it makes the reading a pleasure and I look forward to reading all of this author’s works.

I was given a copy of this book in return for my honest review.



Marian Pellegrin Merritt writes stories that blend her love of the mountains with her deep Southern roots. Her tagline, Where the Bayous Meets the Mountains, grew from both loves. She is the author of, Deep Freeze Christmas, A Cajun Christmas Miracle, and Southern Fried Christmas.
Her latest release, a Women’s Fiction novel, The Vigil, can be purchased at online retailers.
Marian is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Women's Fiction Writers Association.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physical therapy and an accounting certificate from the University of South Alabama. This Louisiana native writes from the Northwest Colorado home she shares with her husband and a very spoiled Labradoodle.
Connect with her through:
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Marian P. Merritt's Readers Group




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