RATING: 4/5 STARS

THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY is unlike any other book I've read! It's a blend of fantasy, romance, and a touch of horror. I enjoyed the eventful story, the supporting characters, and most of all the enemies-to-lovers arc between Hart and Mercy.

I saw so many rave reviews about this and it is totally worth the hype! I am not a big reader of fantasy but that wasn't the main draw of the story. This was such a unique story about taking care of the afterlife and I adore the enemies to lovers between Hart and Mercy. Part of their communication was done through letters and they were so open and vulnerable to each other. I also appreciated the supporting characters and the depth they fans to the story.

It made me wonder, what’s so great about living that you wouldn’t want to die?”

Charming, funny, whimsical, and cute. This was just such a lovely novel. So many beloved tropes take place. Enemies to lovers, pining, grumpy/sunshine/, and more. If you like the writing style that takes place in The House in the Cerulean Sea or Under the Whispering Door, this book is going to be what you’re looking for.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy has that tinge of sadness but that immense, shining hope. There’s love and laughter. There’s a beautiful clarity that you need when the world around you seems dull and lifeless. There’s a gloriously weird storyline and worldbuilding. It all comes together to make something unique and wonderful.

“I thought, if living is this miserable, why wouldn’t people want to leave it behind?”

In all the craziness going on the in the world today, this is exactly what I needed to brighten up my day. There’s romance, there’s action, there’s fantasy. I loved the way the author used Gods and Demi-Gods.

Not only did I have the joy of reading this novel physically, thanks to Orbit, I was also able to continue my reading while I went about my chores for the day. I didn’t want to put it down, and Hachette Audio made that possible by gifting me an audio copy, as well. Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno did a fantastic job of bringing Hart and Mercy to life. I found myself smiling to myself while listening, they did the most amazing job at portraying the humor and the yearning within this novel.

“Suddenly, all I wanted to do was make this woman laugh as often and as much as I could. It wasn’t love at first sight, exactly––more like a knowing. I understood then and there that I was going to fall in love with her if I stuck around. So I stuck around. And that pain I felt, the one I couldn’t figure out, went away. Poof. Just like that.”

You can grab this book August 23, 2022 in the US and August 25, 2022 in the UK. I highly recommend that you do!

*4.25 stars rounded down because the negative reviews do have some good points.
I knew I was going to like this book from the moment I saw the MCs refer to each other as "Hart-ache" and "Merciless". Boy do we stan. This book is about Hart, a man whose job it is to stab the appendixes of dead bodies inhabited by restless spirits, and Mercy, the woman whose job it is to properly send off the then-empty bodies.
To begin with, I thought the characters were done really well. You could see the personalities and vulnerabilities of Hart, Mercy, and their friends and family. I do agree that the side characters were more likable than Hart and Mercy, but they were all fleshed out pretty well.
In terms of relationships, we basically have Hart and Mercy along with Mercy and her family. One criticism I've seen of the romance is that their initial chemistry is just them criticizing each other while Hart mentally objectifies Mercy. I don't think this is all of it, but it definitely does happen, which I didn't like. Otherwise, while I disliked some choices they made, the romance was good! However, the real star of the show was the struggle between wanting to run the family business and wanting to have additional support in her family for Mercy. Her siblings were awesome, and I was constantly waiting to hear more about this plot line.
I wouldn't call this book low stakes, but the fantasy aspects were MOSTLY cozy. Obviously the evil undead are there, but the romance and relationships took center stage. The worldbuilding was a tad ambiguous, but easy for a lazy person like myself to navigate.
I'd recommend this to people who want a simultaneously cozy and stressful fantasy romance. I don't love Hart's actions, but I really enjoyed reading this book.

I'm totally here for all the weird, yet charming paranormal/fantasy romances out this year. I picked this book up because of the blurb and cover and was not disappointed. What starts out as a friendship born through letters sent anonymously by two people just looking for someone to connect with, turns into a romance between enemies when they realize they've misjudged each other after bad first impressions.

The supporting characters are well done, and the worldbuilding is creepy, yet fully imagined. I loved both Mercy and Hart; their sweet romance gave me warm, squishy feelings. The HEA and epilogue were executed perfectly.

This is a great read for fans of the genre who are looking for something a little different. Highly recommend.

I really didn't know what to expect going in to The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, but it certainly exceeded whatever expectations I did have. This book was unlike anything I have ever read. It was fun and sweet and emotional and everything I didn't know I needed from a fantasy romcom. (Can we please have more fantasy romcoms from this point on?)

Hart and Mercy have the perfect enemies to lovers build up. The two continue to hate one another while unknowingly getting to know the other better. I found their banter to be amusing and their letters to be incredibly touching. Hart is such a sweet man, even if it is buried under a rather bristly surface.

Other things you can expect in this book:

- talking, mail-delivering, meddling animals
- queer rep
- discussions on grief and trauma
- mentor/mentee relationship/s
- large family dynamics
- found family
- demigods

Note: you may want to keep tissues nearby for this one.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

TW: Grief, trauma, death, in-depth discussions of mortuary services

You've Got Mail meets TJ Klune. This was really fun and my favorite kind of cozy fantasy. I had all the problems I always have with the You've Got Mail plot-- he hid it from her, it blew up, blah blah. I can see people critiquing the worldbuilding because it's not consistent what real life things are in this fantasy world (for example, it mentions Mercy's bra's underwire). but it really worked for me.

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Megan Bannen pitched this book! God bless her- it's glorious! Let's remix the classic Romcom "You've Got Mail" and set it in a world on the verge of a Zombie apocalypse where the family business the female main character (Mercy) wants to save is a mortuary and the guy (Hart) is a Zombie hunter who is also a Demigod! Sure there is a market for that, right?

I have to admit I was skeptical going into the story, but by chapter two when Hart writes his first letter I was hooked! It helps that "You've Got Mail" is one of my all time favorite movies certainly, but given my love for the movie, it could also have easily gone very very wrong. So why does it work so well?

I think the key here is Hart and Mercy's characters. Both have their own way of being tough on the outside while inside they are lonely and in need of human connection. How can we not root for them to find each other in the midst of hating each other knowing they are searching for the same thing?

But while the romance is building, so is the number of undead in the town of Tanrian. Before Hart can face what needs to be done to save the town, he has to come to terms with his past and what it means that he may or may not be immortal as a Demigod. Mercy too has to find a way to stop the crooked "big box" undertaker from creating a monopoly and driving her family out of business. It's all crazy fun that spans the gamut of emotions. This book may not be for everyone, but it sure was the perfect book for me!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for granting me access to an eARC of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I’ve never read one of Bannen’s books before, though I started The Bird and the Blade and have not yet finished it. TBatB has lyrical writing and a complicated plot structure, even for a YA. The premise of Bannen’s The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy sounds fun—with two enemies mistakenly falling in love with each other anonymously while hating one another to each other’s face—even though it is highly derivative and formulaic. It’s certainly not as lyrical as the Bannen book I’ve started reading, but I did love the chemistry between Hart and Mercy in this one. Unfortunately, I can’t overlook some of the other failings of the overall narrative experience that take away from the romance.

Mercy is a stout, plus-sized heroine with height and bulk to rival that of any man. She’s overly tall for many men’s tastes and hauls the dead bodies of her father’s undertaking business like they weigh next to nothing. Of course, this kind of woman would intimidate any man (according to the implications of the story), and Mercy has all but given up on romance and focuses instead on keeping her family business afloat. Enter Hart: our wonderful, tall-glass-of-water demigod. He touts a 6’9” stature and surliness and snark to go with it. Of course, while he seems like the perfect man for Mercy, their first encounter happens when they’re both having the worst days and their crankiness and nasty comments drive a wedge between each other that seems irrevocable—until Hart’s loneliness overcomes him one night, and he writes an anonymous letter to anyone who could be “a friend.” Who else would the letter have gone to but Mercy?

Predictably, and according to the many other epistolary romances before it, such as You’ve Got Mail and all of the stories before that, the two fall in love with each other over some paper and ink. Without the walls the two threw up between one another, Mercy and Hart get to know one another intimately as strangers, which in turn helps their romance blossom in the real world, once they discover each other, of course.

Speaking of in the real world, I did truly love the world building in this narrative—to a degree. The premise of alternate realms and the monsters that lurk there always has a certain appeal for me. Hart, who happens to be perfectly suited to the job, takes up the task daily of taking care of the monsters and the reanimated bodies they create, which he disposes of at different undertaking establishments, including Mercy’s. There are also talking animals who are mythical beings relegated to mail delivery and other mundane tasks, which they mostly are not happy about, and the discontent comes out in hilarious dialogue. The drawbacks to the world building for me come with the negative references to the old gods and the Unknown God, which I interpret as commentary on actual beliefs and cultural systems. I like fantasy without intrusion from the real life, and this was a constant jolt that brought me out of the book world regularly. I also feel it is a bit disrespectful.

Additionally, I was immediately put off by the setup at the beginning. It started with adult-aged characters who act like they’re in a YA novel and use lots of foul language. Sure, that could sound prudish on my part, but I feel it was a bit overdone. Adult books aren’t adult just because the characters use profanity all over the place. The amount here seemed excessive to me. It honestly felt a bit like a Disney channel star trying to establish him- or herself as an adult actor by overcompensating with seedy behavior instead of just behaving with maturity and decorum. Add that to the not-so-sly intrusive political and social commentary, and I have a recipe for a story that becomes an unpleasant experience for me.

3/5 stars. While the chemistry between the two main characters was amazing, and I loved their banter and interactions with one another, this one fell flat for me in too many other places.

Narration: 4/5. The voices were nice and didn’t grate; however, I wish there were more differentiation among the character voices.

My thanks to Orbit Books and Hachette via libro.fm for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

*I also own the FairyLoot copy of this book, which is why I’m posting the review on my blog earlier than the requested 2-week prior mark.*

The ultimate cozy fantasy read! I really enjoyed this book. This is a quirky, fun fantasy romance perfect for fans of Swortheart by T. Kingfisher and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

Trying to sum up this book is not easy, but I'll give it a shot. Mercy is an undertaker in a remote town that feels like the Wild West. Hart is a marshall patrolling the portals to an alternate dimension once occupied by the Old Gods, now home to the reanimated corpses of the dead. They have disliked each other since their first meeting, but through some magical owl and bunny mail carriers, they end up writing letters to each other You've Got Mail style. Cuteness ensues.

I should mention that I have a high tolerance for cheese, but this one did test my limits at times. The side characters are so cute that you will either love them or roll your eyes at them. The You've Got Mail parts of the book were the weakest (at times the dialogue was just too close to the movie--I know because I watch it at least 3 times a year and my most recent rewatch was last week). I honestly think that part of the novel could have been reduced or reworked, because the rest of the book was so much stronger.

I also felt like the worldbuilding was too sparse at the beginning of the book. I was left wondering what a lot of things are that I still could not give you a proper answer for, such as aquimare, nimkilim, and autoduck. The worldbuilding in this is definitely built on vibes, not specifics, but once you lean into it, it works.

I genuinely loved Hart and Mercy, and I'm sad that I don't get to spend any more time with those characters. I really enjoyed the evolution of Hart's character, and the ending of the book really got me.

Also, yay for tall heroines! We need more tall ladies for these giant tall heroes. Loved that.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for this Arc.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was adorable. I cannot count the number of times I was laughing or smiling right along with the characters.

I also love a Main Character who loves to eat, so that was nice to see.

Though I thoroughly loved this book, one aspect had me bit confused at times and that would be the world building. There really isn’t much. You are thrown into a world that you slowly are expected to just kind of figure out. Don’t get me wrong, some of it is explained over time, but not all of it.

However, even with the lack of world building, I was able to build my own picture of this world and enjoy the story with my whole heart.

Undertaking is actually a pretty great book, I think – it’s just not a me-book. Which is not its fault! But it does mean I don’t want to finish it, even after hitting the halfway point.

It’s a tiny bit silly and very indulgent and delightfully odd: the worldbuilding is fairly simple, but manages to feel very original and unexpected. There is emotional growth to go through and misunderstandings and delicious baked goods, and quietly in the background are some big mysterious question marks about some of the magical shenanigans.

This is a book a whole lot of people will love, basically, and I’d like to come back to it at some point, maybe. But for now I’m putting it aside.

Thank you to Orbit books for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a cozy romantic fantasy that is perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes! I never thought I'd say I loved steamy book with zombies but here I am! I loved the "You've Got Mail" style of letter Hart and Mercy anonymously wrote to each other. They were so cute and heartfelt even if the notes were a little on-the-nose sometimes. The narrative style was lighthearted and funny and perfectly fit the themes and plot of the story. There were one-liners that made me laugh out loud which was great.

Overall, I loved this. I think it's important to go in with the right expectations. Don't go in expecting a high fantasy with a side of romance. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is definitely a romantic comedy first, set within a fantasy world. It was lighthearted and fun and I think a lot of people are going to enjoy this when it hits shelves on August 23.

This was whimsical and weird and delightful and sneakily angsty. It’s a grumpy-sunshine fantasy romance retelling of You’ve Got Mail…with Pushing Daisies vibes about an undertaker and a drudge (zombie) hunter. Now this may be sacrilegious but I don’t really care for You’ve Got Mail. That wasn’t a selling point. When my friends said it had Pushing Daisies vibes, however, I immediately wanted to get my hands on this because that’s one of my favorite TV shows. A Princess Bride also comes to mind as a comp. This has a really distinct tone and sensibility. It didn’t make me laugh out loud but it’s humorous tone. Except for when it was making me cry. This story is something uniquely itself and I haven’t read anything quite like it before. It will really work for the right reader.

Hart and Mercy got off on the wrong foot the day they met and they’ve been antagonizing each other ever since. They’re both lonely, not that they’d ever tell each other that. One day Hart sits down to write a letter, in need of connection, but he has no one to write. He realizes how isolated his life has become and writes to an unknown Friend, then puts the letter in the mail, addressed to no one. That letter magically makes its way to Mercy and an anonymous penpalship is formed, neither having any clue they’re writing to their nemesis. Bonding over their loneliness made for some lovely points of connection.

Then the penpals agree to meet and Hart realizes he’s been writing to Mercy all along but he doesn’t identify himself as the letter writer to her. Although to be fair, Mercy doesn’t even entertain the idea that it could be him and just wants him to go away. I always hated this part of You’ve Got Mail but there was enough context here that I bought Hart’s decision, as well as what he does next. Hart comes to realize how wrong he was about Mercy and that he’s in a pickle of his own making. Their real life relationship begins to soften but it takes Mercy longer to adjust since she’s never understood why he was so mean that first day. And so the dreadful lie of omission begins, with Hart not wanting to lose what he has with Mercy by revealing it was him all along. The transition from antagonists to friends-of-sort to romance felt a bit abrupt but at the same time, I was so ready for them to do something about their chemistry.

There’s a mystery component with a rival undertaker and why more drudges have been attacking lately. The drudges weren’t scary to me and I’m a big wimp. This is largely due to the warm, fun tone of the book. It’s humorous, even if it never made me laugh out loud. The story is more focused on the dynamics between Mercy and Hart, as well as her family and his apprentice Duckers. So the drudges are there and I was curious about what was happening with their souls but they’re not the point.

Mercy’s family is worried about losing the undertaking business and I was much more invested in that storyline. The secondary characters are fantastic, as is the casual queer rep. The culture around death and loss was fascinating. Everyone wears their deceased loved ones’ keys as objects of grief. Not only that but part of Mercy’s work involved building boats for those who have died and that’s part of the funeral ritual. It’s not all explained as much as I’d like—nothing in this book is—but I really appreciated how they all remember those who have died, as well as how Mercy and Hart were impacted by specific losses, including their mothers and Hart’s mentor. There’s such warmth to the way everything is explored.

Hart and Mercy are both wonderful characters in their own right but this was really Hart's book, as he reckons with loss and isolating himself and how he's stood in his own way. It made for a powerful emotional arc. He has some big decisions to make related to the drudges. I started to see where the plot was going to go and held my breath. And then I had to keep reminding myself that this was a fantasy romance and it would all work out. Reader, I cried. It was cathartic and life-affirming. I appreciated the author’s choices and how she brought everything together.

Given all this, why didn’t I rate it higher? The beginning was slow and confusing. I had difficulty orienting myself to the world until I got farther into the story. None of the terminology is explained. I’m fine with that to a degree if there’s enough context but at a certain point, I wanted to know how an autoduck compares to a car and how an equimaris functions on land and water. It would have helped to get some explanations about what at least a few things are. I wanted more of the mythology about Old Gods and New Gods. As much as I enjoyed the story whenever I picked it up, I didn’t think much about it once I set it aside, until closer to the end when things started hopping. And yet, I’ve thought about this story a lot since I finished and I’m so glad I read it. I hope the author will write more in this vein.

Note: there were a few things that gave me pause. There were two potentially transphobic jokes or insults. The first instance isn’t clear. Mercy’s sister Lil is pregnant and tells Hart he’s lucky he’s not pregnant, then gasps theatrically and says, “are you?” Hart says, “Not the last time I checked.” I believe it’s meant to be a joke but not in a “men can’t get pregnant” way. I wanted to mention it, in case it hits trans and nonbinary readers differently. The second instance is both transphobic and misogynistic. Bassareus, a mail carrier, arrives at Hart’s house with a letter and says to Duckers, “Look at this sulking tit. What, does your pussy hurt, kid?” Bassareus is meant to be a somewhat offensive character but this does not necessitate him saying this or denigrating a male character for having feelings.

Additionally, Hart and Mercy ogled and objectified each other in ways that did not seem in keeping with their character and could also be off-putting to readers. Duckers and Zeddie’s characters often verged on gay stereotypes. (Although other queer characters did not.) The most egregious case was when Lil went into labor and Zeddie and Duckers’s reaction was to go upstairs and have sex because “ew, babies.” I’m sorry. People contain multitudes but they’re a close family so I didn’t buy that response from Zeddie.

5 stars

One of my very favorite things a book can be is a multi-genre experience. This is not only delightful on its own, but also allows me to reconsider some tried and true tropes in a fresh way; the “loner older cop with a green new partner” is tired and stale in a cop drama, but a fun, smart way to introduce worldbuilding in a fantasy-romance-mystery. Which of course is exactly what this novel is.

Part of what makes this book so successful as a romance, which I think is the backbone of the gorgeous rainbow-bagel genre mixture that makes up this book, is the fact that I individually love both Hart, our broody demigod marshal, and Mercy, our tall and bubbly mortician. Even outside of their interactions with one another, each is an interesting and endearing person in their own right. I love that Hart is a grammar nerd and a dog lover and deeply struggling with the multiplicity of a half-divine identity; I love that Mercy is a caretaker and a wood snob and deeply invested in (strikingly accurate) funeral industry drama. And together? Fireworks happen, both in their early sniping relationship of sneering insults and in their later, very spicy romantic life. What’s especially nice is that both grow as individuals due to the experience of being together; they don’t ‘fix’ each other, but Mercy’s influence helps Hart learn to grieve, and Hart’s influence helps Mercy confront the way she puts others before herself. They both go through a painful personal growth process, and I felt like the events of the later chapters in the book are well earned.

This book had an imaginative, original world that felt truly lived-in by all the characters, a compelling and coherent mystery plot, and a steamy romance that completely sold me on the chemistry between the two characters. What more could I possibly ask for? I can guarantee, I will be following this author in the future.

I loved Hart and Mercy's dynamic, it was so fun. The enemies to lovers in this book was utter perfection. I loved the tropes that appeared in this book also. Hart and Mercy were such fun, likable characters!

This book was positively precious and I will be recommending it to everyone I know. I have a soft spot for fantasy romances that are heavy on the romance but don't neglect their worldbuilding, and "The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy" was exactly that. Hart, our gruff marshal, writes a letter to "a friend" at his lowest point, which, through Magical Mail Creatures, is delivered to one of his least favorite people, Mercy, who works as an undertaker for her father's business. At the risk of dating myself, it was a "You've Got Mail" story in a fantasy world (though, in my mind Hart is far more handsome than Tom Hanks). The (eventual) chemistry between Hart and Mercy is intense, and Bannen pulls no punches with the tearjerkers at the end. But! As this is a romance, you can count on a HEA. Tropes include: Enemies to Lovers! The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one! Found Family! If you liked T. Kingfisher's Saint of Steel series, you'll love this one.

This was probably one of the sweetest romances and yet one of the weirdest ones I’ve ever read. This book was nothing short of what I had in mind but I was blown away in one of the best ways possible. I can absolutely see myself re reading this in the near future. 5/5 stars

This was incredibly delightful! I loved that it felts like a 90's show/movie. I loved the new spin on undertaking. I LOVED THE BUILDING OF LOVE!
You've Got Mail, meets Dead Like Me with sprinklings of so many other wonderful things. I cannot wait to sell this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a romcom first and a fantasy second, and much of the tension is because Hart and Mercy hate each other in real life but then accidentally become pen pals and fall in love. I believe somewhere, I’ve seen this described as Shrek meets Howl’s Moving Castle (the movie, not the book) meets You’ve Got Mail, which are all movies I like, so I was a little sad that I didn’t love this one. I have a prickly relationship with romance novels to begin with even though I want to get into them, so I thought a fantasy romcom would be perfect—I have long suspected that my entry to romance novels would be a romcom with the vibes and energy of a romcom from the early to mid 2000s. So, with that in mind, I am trying to be particularly gentle here, because this is right outside of my wheelhouse.

I found The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy to be quirky and a little zany and whimsical, and I think it’d be a hit for people who are fans of both romance and fantasy. I also think it’s important to go in expecting this to be much more romcom than fantasy, because while there’s neat fantasy stuff happening, it does take a backseat to Hart and Mercy’s relationship, and at times I felt that things went a little bit unexplained. If you like quirky characters, this novel is chock full of them, and I loved how the world Bannen created was casually queer. I thought what we got about the mythology of the different gods was also very fun, and I thought the end of this was particularly strong. I also liked the undercurrent of food in this, all of the treats sound so good.

Still, there were a lot of elements in this novel I liked, and also ones I did not like, and the end result was I didn’t like it on a cohesive level. Partly, I think that this novel just tried to do a little too much: apart from the overarching relationship, there was just… so much happening, all the time, and it was a bit distracting. I did get a bit tired of the nicknames Hart and Mercy had for each other, because even though it set up the enemies to lovers premise, they were just… tiresome, after a point. I think most people will find Mercy’s family really great, but sometimes they were just too twee for me, and I ended up feeling bad for Mercy that, up until she made her feelings explicitly clear, everyone sort of just assumed they knew how she felt, even when she was like, “What? No???” This novel also felt very slow, but I didn’t think that the build up to the relationship was all that slow burn—it went from zero to sixty after about the halfway point. I also alternated between really liking the narrative voice and finding it to be Too Much, because there were times I felt the tone didn’t match what I was actually reading.

I thought the world building was fine for what Bannen set out to accomplish here, but it also left a lot of stuff unanswered, though I approached this as a fantasy romance and not a romance with fantasy, so I think if you approach this one more like a romance novel, you won’t really have this problem—I just still don’t understand what the big deal with demigods are in this world, and found it wasn’t expanded on in a satisfactory way.

Ultimately, I thought The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was good for what it is (an adult debut and a romcom fantasy), but it ultimately it was just fine for me. I think people who enjoy lighter reads regularly will find this one to be a fun romp, and I wish I liked this more, since it has a lot of things that normally I’d be all about. It was just a little too quirky for me, personally, but I’d be happy to recommend it to my friends and think there’s absolutely a really strong audience for this! I also hope that one day this will be adapted to an animated film—I think that it’d work really well for me in that medium.