I really enjoyed this book! It was absolutely delightful, though it also made me cry (which is quite a feat, it takes a lot to make me cry).

I loved Hart and Mercy, they were just perfect. Both avid readers, Hart making use of interlibrary loans (at one point he goes into his home branch and thanks his favourite librarian and my little librarian heart was so happy!🥰), and they are each other’s secret pen pals?!?!? Reading and snail mail are two of my great loves, along with this book.

While I really loved Hart and Mercy, the side characters were also great. Zeddie and Duckers were just the cutest, and Pops and Alma were also great.

I realize I’ve said virtually nothing about the plot of this book. It’s a romance with letter writing and interlibrary loans, with a mystery and sort of zombies, with a fantasy/wild west sort of feel.

I don’t often come across m/f romance that I enjoy this much. I think a lot of why I liked it is because Hart and Mercy are just incredibly likeable characters, despite them not liking each other to begin with. I also thought that the sex scenes were really well written. Hart and Mercy talked to each other, told each other what they like, laughed when something funny happened. So well written.

The whole book is just so, SO good.

Also, how gorgeous is the cover???

Bannen’s agent told her to “Go nuts. Get weird.” and that’s a super accurate take on this book. It’s full of lore (without being too heavy), drudges (zombies), and enemies to lovers because that’s the best trope.

Comfort read; a romance novel re-telling of "The Shop Around the Corner" set in a fantasy world filled with Old and New Gods. I liked the magic system and the worldbuilding. Although focused on a MF romance, queer relationships are not stigmatized. Has some sexytimes. I wish it had played around a little more with the story beats.

Read an ARC provided by NetGalley

I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful book. The plot was interesting, the world-building was fabulous, and the characters were delightful. Bannen's writing is eminently readable and makes a quite substantial book into a fun and engrossing read. I look forward to reading more from her.

Mercy Birdsall and Hart Ralston have dealt professionally with each other for years: Mercy Birdsall is an undertaker, managing her family's small undertaking business, and choosing to treat the dead with respect and kindness. Hart Ralston is a Marshall, patrolling an area called Tanria, in which drudges (zombies) are found. Hart brings his kills to the Birdsalls for processing, and the two regularly butt heads over the bodies of drudges.

After a particularly lonely night on patrol with his apprentice, Hart pens an anonymous letter to someone out there and sends it off. The letter finds its way to Mercy, the last person he would ever have expected. She’s touched, and feels a connection to this nameless ‘Friend’, and decides to write back, also as ‘a Friend’. Mercy and Hart begin writing deeply personal and kind letters to their secret 'Friend'. These letters show each other sides of their personalities that they show no one else, so the letters become a comfort, and a joy with each new missive, and, unbeknownst to themselves and the other, they begin falling in love with each other. Then, their shock is profound when they realize with whom they’ve shared important parts of themselves.

This book is light, sweet and funny from beginning to end. The relationships are so good, and that's where the book shines. The worldbuilding is a little slight, but who cares?! The characters! I loved Mercy and Hart, and people around them: Mercy's younger brother, father and sister, and Hart's apprentice. Lots of fun!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

3.5/5 Stars

I think I’m in the minority in on this one, but I thought that The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was just okay.

Hart is a Marshall in a magical land. One day, While feeling down, he writes a letting discussing his feelings and addresses it to “a friend”. Marcy is trying to keep her family business, Birdsall and Son’s Undertaker’s, in business, but finds herself frustrated when it seems like she’s the only member of her family who cares. One day she receives a letter addressed to “a friend” and finds herself empathizing with the feelings described in the letter, so she decides to respond. The two soon become pen pals and begin to develop feelings. The only problem, Hart and Mercy know, and can’t stand, each other in real life.

I often found myself distracted by the fantasy world where the book takes place. The setting needed a bit more development in my opinion. It wasn’t always clear why certain things were happening. Additionally, I might have just missed it, but I’m also not sure why Hart and Mercy disliked each other. I know they got in a fight when the first met, but I guess I didn’t understand the fight and what caused them to both get upset. Also, I wasn’t a huge fan of how obsessed Hart was with Mercy’s breasts. It was just a bit much.

However, despite those issues, I did find the book cute and liked other aspects of the book such as Mercy’s relationship with her family and Hart’s mentee, Penrose Ducker’s.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a review!

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen is an interesting blend of the romance and fantasy genres I haven’t quite read before. I think it could be a good book for someone who reads more fantasy and is interested in romance but doesn’t want to jump all the way in to like SJM or something like that.

The world is unique – we have old gods, new gods, talking creatures, what are essentially zombies, and the soul is stored in your appendix. There is a lot of inventiveness there, but there are aspects of this story that are still recognizable – two people who cannot stand one another when their paths cross at work, but end up falling in love. It’s your classic enemies to lovers between Hart and Mercy. What I found refreshing is the journey we go on for them to go from “enemies” to lovers makes more sense than most romances I read and was very well done. It starts off a bit slow, but once you are into the story it hooks you in.

I will confess, I started the first 10% of this book 2 or 3 times and did consider just putting it down for good, but I’m so happy I continued! I liked our main characters, Hart and Mercy, and I also liked all of the side characters – Mercy’s family, Hart’s coworkers, and some talking creature mail carriers. The more I read, the more I cared about the characters, which is what one expects from a well-crafted novel.

I few other reviewers have stated this reads like a Studio Ghibli movie, and yes, I agree. I could also see a stop motion animation look. Sure, live action would work for this story, but it feels more fantastical than that. And I’ve seen it compared to House in the Cerulean Sea in some marketing – IT IS NOT THAT! There are dead bodies in this book, like a lot of them, it does not give that vibe. There are some sweet moments, but not as sweet as that book. We also get some spicy scenes in this novel, and I thought the author did a good job on them.

I don’t think everyone will like this – if you don’t connect to Hart or Mercy it probably won’t be for you. If you don’t want to think about dead bodies, not for you. If you don’t care about world building, maybe? Even with the slow start, and generally overall slower pacing, I really ended up enjoying this novel. I thought the characters were well developed, I liked the journey the characters took to come together, I found it funny, and it even made me end up crying. Not that is matters, but the cover is also so beautiful! And if you’re into audiobooks, I found that enjoyable too. It isn’t an all time favorite, but I had a good time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I wanted to love this book so badly. I did not--it felt like never quite hit the right stride between the romance book and the fantasy book that it wanted to be.

I’m not the biggest reader of romance but The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy had the perfect amount of it for me to be hooked. This book is for fans of the Sunshine/Grumpy enemies-to-lovers pairing, slow burn romance, and a relationship that grows through letters. The pen pal aspect of the story was probably what drew me in the most and the fact that it’s set in a world with marshals, undertakers, and lost souls possessing cadavers.

Right from the start our main characters Hart and Mercy are well on their way with insulting each other every time they meet. You get bits and pieces of what they internally think of each other and tucked between their hostilities are seeds of attraction and want. So if you like a healthy dose of yearning in your romance stories, you’re going to be in for a ride.

I also love how this book showed familial love – the struggles of putting family needs before your own, sacrifices made, quarrels and misunderstandings, but ultimately coming together as a family and supporting each other along the way. I love Mercy’s relationships with her father and her siblings and the contrast that created with Hart and how alone he is after his mother died. I appreciated how realistic the characters’ lives were. They sat down for meals, they worked, they argued, they stressed about problems of day to day life. Maybe it’s weird to appreciate those moments, but it brought me closer to the characters and helped me relate to their wants and needs.

Bannen does a fantastic job showing you who these characters are, specially with Hart and Mercy. I love that their anonymous letters to each other helped them open up and be vulnerable, telling each other things they wouldn’t say out loud. I love that this sparked their friendship and I could feel how nervous they were at the thought of eventually meeting the other person.

This book has such a fun cast of characters. There’s Mercy’s family, Hart’s apprentice, and snarky creatures delivering mail. There were also established and budding romances from queer characters, which is always so nice to see.

It did take me a while to get into the story. I think Bannen’s writing style in the beginning, specially with the interactions between Hart and Mercy, just didn’t quite work for me. I eventually got invested though, and her writing for the latter half of the book became more enjoyable to me.

I chuckled, I smiled, my heart ached and then rejoiced throughout this book. It’s witty, funny, and heartwarming – a book we could all use during these times.

Thank you to the team at Orbit for sending me a copy for review! All opinions are my own.

3.5 rounded down to 3

This book was not what I was expecting. First of all, no one told me there would be zombies, why did no one tell me there were zombies?!? Secondly, this book was a bit of a strange mashup of genres. The first half is basically a retelling of the movie You've Got Mail reskinned to a fantasy setting, but this is not just a romance, there is also a mystery plot that relates to the aforementioned zombies which didn't really feel like it fit with the tone of the kind of fantasy romance it was trying to being. There are some very spicy scenes with some very graphic language that felt very out of place considering the tone that was established during the lead up, and the end of the story is all about Hart and has nothing to do with Mercy.

I also struggled with the worldbuilding. I was expecting more of a wild west vibe which I did not get. Most of the action takes place in a frontier town, and one of the main characters is a marshal, but other elements I would have expected like saloons, bandits, and trains were absent. Instead we get autoducks and equimaris which are both things that were never described enough for me to fully understand what they are. I also struggled with understanding the "time period" of the story. I put that in quotations because I know that it is a completely fictional world, but that's partly what my problem was because the clothing that was described as well as the dirty words used in the sex scenes were incredibly contemporary which didn't seem to align with the feeling of the gods and religion that was outlined.

I did actually really enjoy the worldbuilding around the mythos of the gods and the backstory behind the zombies. I also fell in love with Hart as a character I just wanted to snuggle him, and the last part of the book where we really focused on him and his story was my favorite part.

Unfortunately the way that writing conventions from different genres such as fantasy, fantasy romance, and contemporary romance were combined just really didn't work for me. So if this still sounds interesting to you be sure to go in with zero expectations for the best possible experience.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.*

3.5 out of 5 stars - a charming romance in a unique world

Hart is a demigod marshal who patrols for dredges (dead bodies possessed by lost souls). Mercy is an undertaker, devoted to her family and saving their business. They can’t stand each other, though both are lonely and navigating family issues. A tentative friendship begins to develop through anonymous letters.

From the first chapter, this novel just screamed ‘charming’ and that’s the best word I can use to describe it. I don’t typically enjoy enemies to lovers, but this one was just right - banter without outright cruelty, avoidance instead of sabotage, and enough self-reflection from both characters to be endearing. I related strongly with Mercy, oldest daughter, responsible, homebody, etc., and liked Hart’s grumpy character with a hidden soft side, which helped me root for them.

There was enough world building to give context, but it was light enough that I didn’t get bogged down trying to understand complex geographies, politics or magic systems, which is my challenge with many fantasy books I pick up. I enjoyed the undefined time period, and world-specific terminology, exclamations and theology.

The side characters played a role in the story, and added colour, however the number of side characters did feel a little excessive, and I couldn’t always remember the details of each character, so they started to blur together a bit.

My main issue was the inconsistent pacing. The first 40% seemed to drag, while a lot took place in the last 25% of the book, with four or five different story lines getting wrapped up in short succession, and not all to the same degree of satisfaction. The clear, lighthearted narration style, small town/local business vibes, and charm of the characters kept the book enjoyable, but I would have enjoyed a little more action in the first half.

Overall, a charming romance with some mysteries on the side, in a unique world. If you like contemporary rom coms but want something a little different, it’s worth picking up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions about the book.

thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i believe i am in the minority opinion when i say that The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was simply not for me. i was so excited to get to read this book, as i had heard so many talking about this book and describing it as having the same vibes as Howl’s Moving Castle, and overall, featuring a whimsical and fantasy theme. to me, this book read more along the lines of a contemporary-romance story that was set in a fantasy-like world. i also felt like this book employed many of the current tropes and as such, i felt that while it may have caught the attention of many with the use of such enticing buzzwords, i found myself uninvested in the book and wished there was more world-building, a more defined magic system, more developed character backstories, etc.

One of my favorite August releases! I think what surprised me was the fact that it had so many of the things that I loved seeing in a book but I hadn't realized I wanted to see all of these together till this one came along! And that was just - perfect!⁣
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It's got two characters who dislike each other but end up in a You've Got Mail situation unknowingly, some Studio Ghibli vibes with all those talking animalistic mail carriers, a very unique world building and lots of banter, friendship and romance!⁣
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So, Hart is the gruff marshal who patrols the lands of Tanria and catches the drudges - possessed undead beings. Mercy is the undertaker at Birdsall & Son and she's the one who's been keeping it running after her father fell ill. And Hart's prejudice against undertakers has him being a bit rude to her at first and that starts a rivalry that has them sniping at each other constantly! They start exchanging anonymous letters unknowingly and end up falling for each other! The romance between them was so sweet + steamy! And I also loved how they openly talked about loneliness, death and many other things. Their families and friends added so much more fun to the story. And frankly I don't think I could find a single thing to complain about in this one! Just go read it already!❣️✨

DNF @ 15%

Thank you so much to Orbit for sending me an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

I desperately wanted to love this dark fantasy romance. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me at all.

This is following 2 enemies in a grim fantasy world where souls can be taken. But that is about all of the knowledge I gathered about the world in the first 15% of the book. I felt like nothing was ever explained. As much as I love slow world building, these characters would talk about monsters or creatures or events like the reader should understand.

I was so frustrated by them constantly talking about fantastical creatures with zero description... I could never sink into this book because I couldn't picture a single thing.

Where I stopped we finally were starting to get some information on this world. But honestly I just didn't follow any of it. I was already feeling, at best, lukewarm about the romance and decided that it wasn't worth pushing through for something I wasn't enjoying.

I really had no idea what to expect with this book once I started. It had a very dystopian-esque feel, while also giving all the historical and fantasy vibes all at the same time. But even though I don't know what genre to call it, I really loved this book!

It felt very unique, never making me think of another story or author. I loved the world-building, and I probably could have read about 50 pages more if there had been a bit more detail on some things. I'm not sure if I just had trouble following or if there were things that just weren't explained as well as I would have liked.

Between the ages of the characters and the steamy scenes, this is definitely more of an adult novel, but I also don't feel that it was terribly explicit. I give it about 2.5-3 🌶 for this 5 ⭐️ read!

Love loved loved this unique fantasy love story.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is such a unique experience and plot. Set in a world that reminded me of a post-apocalyptic western, I loved the unique path this book took.

What was really great about this book was the relatable struggles the characters were experiencing even if it was in a very un-relatable setting. Mercy is taking care of her family business after her father is put on medical rest which has its own twists and turns. Hart has found himself lonely after separating himself from people in an effort to honor his mentor and protect his heart. These are completely relatable stories that are so different from a typical fantasy where the main character has a special purpose or power that they use to save the world.

Then there’s the relationship between Hart and Mercy. Oooooo when I tell you I was grinning every time these characters interacted. They definitely embodied the grumpy-sunshine and enemies-to-lovers tropes! I was such a fan of them and really appreciated getting both perspectives in this book. Typically I’m not such a fan of switching perspectives, but in this book it worked so well to really drum up the tension.

Overall such a fun, cute, interesting read. I wish I could get more of these characters because I loved them so much. Would definitely recommend to those who like romcoms, zombies, or westerns!

I saw a review on Goodreads that said this story reminded them of Howl's Moving Castle. I knew I had to read this due to that review. I did not get Howl's vibes when reading this. To me it was more Six Feet Under meets The Walking Dead. Mercy is an undertaker. Hart is a marshal that hunts down the undead. An enemies to lovers romance, these two have an undeniable chemistry. I will admit that the first half of this story dragged but picked up in the middle. I enjoyed this more than I actually thought I would.

Megan Bannen has created a complex world populated by utterly charming characters, whose love story kept me spellbound. I'm so glad she has moved into adult fiction, what a brilliant find!

This book was basically You’ve Got Mail with more dead bodies, and I am OBSESSED with it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc copy, I can already tell it’s going to be one of my favourite reads of the year!

This was such a unique story and a really creative world. It’s a nice blend between fantasy and contemporary romance. I would describe it as fantasy lite, so if you’re like me and you’ve been reading a lot of romcoms lately but want to get back into fantasy, this is a really great stepping stone. Overall I felt that the world-building was done really well, and I felt like the religious/spiritual practices that derived from the New and Old Gods was integrated into the story very organically. It did take me a little while to fully understand the borders between worlds and how the mist/portal things worked, but since the fantasy elements aren’t really the main focus of the story it didn’t detract from my enjoyment or understanding of the plot. My one wish is that we got a little more visual description of some of the fantasy elements. For example, we never got a very thorough description of things like equimares, or even their vehicles. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if their vehicles were like boats or if they were land vehicles, and I think the setting and tone of the novel would have been improved by a little more focus on those aspects that are rooted in the fantasy/paranormal.

Dual POV allowed this novel to really shine through its two main characters. Mercy and her family were soooo well-developed and they felt like a real family complete with petty fights, selflessness, dark humour, and love. I loved getting to see Mercy’s relationship develop from each side, given how horribly they originally got along. From Hart’s POV, we know that he’s a big softie who happens to be incredibly lonely, but Mercy allows us to see how that causes him to come across as a little… prickly. I’m a sucker for any book that involves letter-writing, and I absolutely loved seeing their relationship change and grow based on their mutual understanding and gratitude for true companionship. If I could carry all 6’9” of Hart around in my pocket, I would.


Add this to your Halloween tbr now, if you know what’s good for you.

I enjoyed reading this, it's a great book with great character development. Loved the other character relationships too! Zeddie and Pen <3

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC NetGalley!