Currently trying to gather my thoughts so I can write a review that has a bit more substance than just I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

I haven't read a book that's made me feel something in my cold heart in a long time, but this book did it! To the point that when I finished it in the middle of the night I immediately had to text my best friend to tell her she needed to get her copy as soon as it releases. As soon as I finished I preordered a physical copy because have you seen that cover?? Gorgeous.

I can't wait to reread this book. The steampunk vibes mixed with monster hunting and the FMC running a mortuary? This book had everything I loved.

Hart and Mercy's cutthroat banter was amazing and had me super invested in their story from the start. I related so strongly to Hart's grumpy, hold-everyone-at-arms-length personality, but also to Mercy's desire to help and her struggle with admitting what she wants (rather than putting everyone else's wants first). Hart's first letter pulled at my heartstrings and describes the feeling of aching loneliness perfectly.

I could feel my heart thawing in my chest while reading this book and will instantly recommend it to anyone who asks!

This was a morning read for me.
What I mean by that is that this is a book that I sat down and read in the morning (around 6:30 AM when my daughter woke me up), and finished by 9:30 AM. In between that, I spent some time with my daughter, grabbed some coffee but mostly read this book.
It's a cozy fantasy read, the kind where the magic world is woven throughout the story but doesn't feel too integral to the plot (which I am defining as the romance between Hart and Mercy). This book left me feeling good and ready to go about my day (it didn't destroy me or anything). The magic world was fun and I think the worldbuilding was done well (I like broken-out sections on worldbuilding where you don't always need to jam it awkwardly into someones dialogue).
If you like Under the Whispering Door and are looking for something a little lighter, with a bit more magic and enemies to lovers (grumpy meets sunshine), this is definitely the book for you.

This is officially a 4 star read, ranging from 3.9-4.1 if I feel like putting a fine point on it. I'd definitely pick it up again on a fall afternoon.

I'm not sure what I read, but I loved it?! Bonus points for strong You've Got Mail elements, which I am a sucker for. I'm not really sure how to describe the world, but I believe part of the charm and what works for this book is just going in with no details and enjoying everything as it unfolds. I will definitely be reading whatever Megan Bannen writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A unique fantasy rom-com unlike anything i’ve read before.

The story follows Hart, a marshal tasked with patrolling the wastes outside of small settlement, constantly on the lookout for the reanimated souls of the dead. With many a quiet night spent under the stars, he finds himself pondering what has lead him to lead such a lonely life.

Mercy has never known a quiet moment, with running her father’s funeral home and juggling the politics of small town life and a nosy family. The one reprieve she has is time spent tending to the dead, paying respects in their final moments before the great beyond. Unfortunately, while she loves the undertaking business, it often puts her in direct contact with the one person she hates most, Hart.

After an especially hearted argument that leaves Hart particularly stunned, he vents his frustrations in a letter, sent off into the universe addressed simply to A Friend. To his surprise, a friend answers back, and from there a friendship is born.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a strange but endearing read, and I really hoped that I would enjoy it more than I actually did. The plot is based on the letters that Hart and Mercy exchange with each other without their knowing, but I felt like they weren’t particularly special. I couldn’t feel the characters fall in love with each other through their letters, which unfortunately hampered the romance for me. When the characters finally did get together, I didn’t feel any chemistry between them, and they seemed drawn to each other only because they had history, not because they actually liked one another.

I would say it’s still a cute read, and despite the sometimes morbid aspects of the story, I think a lot of people - especially fans of contemporary rom coms who may want to dabble in fantasy - would really like this. Sad to say it just wasn’t for me personally.

Wow wow wow this book was incredible.

First let me start with the romance. I am an absolute sucker for an enemies to lovers story, and the author did it so well. We saw Hart and Mercy go from to people who really did hate eachother (though mostly based on misunderstanding eachother) to being two people who really understood eachother. Both Hart and Mercy were well developed characters who you grow to care about and want to see succeeded.

Next, the world building!! Such a unique concept! A prison of gods where souls are trapped and possess bodies that causes chaos and destruction? Absolutely phenomenal. I also enjoyed how the author had a mystery sub plot with the drudges. While The mystery behind why there are more drudges than usual was something I was able to predict, but I really enjoyed the reveal and subtle hints to the muster

Overall I really loved this book. Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for an e-book, I am absolutely buying a hard copy on the release date to add to my shelf.

4.5 stars

A romance set in a fantasy world, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy tells the story of a lonely, grumpy marshal who writes an anonymous letter addressed to simply 'a friend'. Not expecting a reply, Hart is shocked when he receives a letter in return. Thus starts a beautiful pen-pal exchange, letting Hart find an unlikely friend in the world.

Little does Hart know, but the person he is writing to is Mercy - the undertaker he has been at odds with ever since they met. Mercy loves her job, giving the dead the last bit of respect before they sail into the afterlife, but undertaking is a man's job, and with her brother unwilling to take over the family business, she's living with an unsure future. Having a pen pal who seems to get her is the best part of her day.

This book quite literally made me sob. Seriously - I was ugly crying at the end of this book. I absolutely loved the characters - Hart and Mercy are delightful and their interactions with each other were great. Having the reader know Hart and Mercy are writing to each other, while also hating each other face to face, was such a great take on an enemies-to-lovers romance!

I also like how we aren't given a ton of details about the fantasy world the book is set in - it's written in a way where it's assumed the reader is already knowledgeable about the terminology. This won't be for everyone, but it worked for me in this book because the focus is really on the characters and their story, and less on the fantasy world.

You should definitely read this book!! If you love enemies-to-lovers romance in a fantasy setting with witty dialogue that will make you cry, it's for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Percy Jackson (for adults) meets You've Got Mail in this funny, touching story about two people surrounded by death learning to embrace life. The world building felt a little sketchy at times — not in a way that made me think the author doesn't know the fantasy world's rules so much as that she sometimes forgets the audience doesn't know and needs a few more things explained. But questions about keys and autoducks aside, it really is the characters that make this book work, and I was sorry to leave them and their noisy (and nosy) families when the book ended.

My thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is a rare treat to come across a book as full of heart and a delightfully quirky cast of characters as The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. From the exceptional world building to the macabre, yet fascinating enemies to lovers trope involving an undertaker and a demigod, the latest by Megan Bannen is filled to the brim with wonderful surprises.

Mercy Birdsall and Hart Ralston are both real, honest portraits of Lonely Hearts and Bannen captures those imperfect personalities perfectly. You cannot help but fall in love with them and cheer them on. The offbeat characters including a talking rabbit and owl brought nothing but smiles.

If you are looking for a heartwarming, yet somewhat spicy romance with loveable characters in a unique fantasy setting, make sure you have your calendar cleared because you will not want to put this one down.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Megan Bannen for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reasons you may like this book:

If you like contemporary romance, but want to read something in a fantasy setting.

You want to read a romance with a mid/plus sized protagonist (though the author could have used fewer euphemisms in the character description).

You enjoy a weird fantasy setting that can be whimsically morbid.

You want a fantasy read that’s a bit cozy, and emphasizes the interpersonal character relationships over big-picture plot.

All of that being said, this was not a book for me. It’s nothing the book did wrong, this is just more on the romance side of the genre than I prefer. Personally, I only read romance when it’s balanced with a strong plot outside the relationships, and this didn’t really give me that. There were interesting elements set up in the world building, but again, I would have liked those to be focused on more, especially early in the book.

I’m sure lots of people will like this book! It just was not for me…

If you liked a certain Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan move (yep You’ve Got Mail) and the show American Gods, you might be in the right place.

Hart and Mercy are enemies for some reason but when they write letters they might be something else instead. I loved the epistolary aspects of this book although their letters were a bit bland.

I very much enjoyed the secondary characters and found myself rooting for them to all get their versions of HEAs as well.

I definitely cried and I most assuredly laughed out loud.

Now for the part that bugged me … why oh why did parts seem like they were verbatim from You’ve Got Mail or Shop Around the Corner. Yes we get that it’s in a different realm with new and old gods but there were scenes that I could literally and figuratively see the movie scenes in my head. I just think that could have been done a little better.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is weird, creepy, hilarious, and very very sweet. It had me alternately howling with laughter and tearing up, and by the end, I just wanted to pull everyone into a big hug.

At the center of this book - as the title suggests - are Hart and Mercy, two unhappy people who think they hate each other. But as they begin to exchange anonymous letters, they find a little joy in their lives - and ultimately, find each other. The setup of their romance was simultaneously delightful and stressful. I loved their letters and I also wanted to yell at them for being so dumb as to not recognize who they were actually writing to. (Because of this, I loved Pen, aka Team Hart and Mercy shipper number 1.) Both main characters are complicated and stubborn and flawed, but underneath all that, truly good and lovable. I thought that the way Megan Bannen teased them both out throughout the book worked really really well, and gave me as the reader as much opportunity to fall in love with them as they did to fall in love with each other.

I will admit that it took me a little bit to get into the book. You're thrust directly into this weird little world, with its islands and old gods and souls that live in the appendix, without a ton of explanation. (That comes later.) While I loved the characters immediately, I found it a little tough to find my footing initially. But once I did, I loved the world building. It's quirky and creepy and has western vibes, while still being totally unique.

By the end of the book, I was fully invested, completely emotional, and having a great time. Even with the slow start, this one is worth a read - and will pull you in and worm its way into your heart.

4.5/5

I was absolutely psyched when I read the description for this book. Make romance weirder and more imaginative! Make fantasy have more romance! I was hoping that this would be true love, but both the romance and fantasy parts fell under the “good, but not great” category for me. I had fun reading it, but it didn't sink its teeth into me like a ravenous zombie.

Surprisingly (and disappointingly), the You’ve Got Mail/The Shop Around the Corner element was the least successful part of the romance. For some reason, I did not expect the comparison to mean “swaths of this story are a literal remake of the inspiration text down to the dialogue.” It gave those parts of the book a fanfiction quality (derogatory). It can be fun to read scenes you’re familiar with play out in a different universe, but this didn’t feel elevated or special in its interpretation of those story beats.

On top of that, the novel takes the best part of You’ve Got Mail/The Shop Around the Corner—the shift from enmity to friendship to love—and collapses the timeline so the shift happens in mere pages. It also takes the part that is the toughest to palatably navigate—that he finds out the truth about their correspondence before she does—and blows it up to take more page space and make it an even greater source of conflict. And on top of that, I found the letters between Mercy and Hart to be pleasant and sweet, but fairly generic. They were not a stand-out in terms of what the epistolary format is capable of stirring emotionally.

Despite my qualms expressed above, I was still swept up by Mercy and Hart’s relationship when Megan Bannen wasn’t trying to fit them into marketing bullet points. There is such genuine affection and tenderness expressed throughout this book. Actual tears might have leaked from my Sahara-dry tear ducts?? It was easy to root for these characters and their happy ending.

(This 100% fits into genre romance parameters, in case that is a concern. The romantic arc is the central focus, there is on-page sex, and there is a HEA.)

I enjoyed the general flavour of the world Bannen constructed. It’s a fantastical setting with contemporary vibes—a place where underwire bras, bubble baths, and sneakers exist alongside portals to other realms, zombies, demigods, and talking animals who deliver the mail. But I hesitate to call what Bannen accomplishes world-building. It’s more like world-blueprinting.

The book goes in-depth in terms of some aspects like the belief system (it is very Game of Thrones with the Old Gods and the New and names like Grandfather Bones, The Warden, etc). Enough is explained as you move through the book that you understand the basic contours of the world. I didn’t feel lost, exactly. But I did feel undernourished. I would have liked more detail about the physical space and its occupants. For example, Bannen drops in words like “equimare” and “autoduck”; you can infer through context that they are this universe’s equivalent to horses and cars. However, if you asked me to describe an equimare I guess they are… vaguely scaly? Webbed-footed? As for autoduck, you got me. I mentally substituted in the Penguin’s giant rubber duck vehicle in Batman Returns in lieu of an in-text description. I hesitate to level this type of complaint given the current insufferable state of pop culture criticism (where fans demand an explanation for every single minutia of a story in sneering "but plot holes" commentary). However, I do think there is a way to achieve a happy medium between explaining too little or too much of a fantasy universe, and this book landed just on the side of underdeveloped.

Content notes for discussion of parental death, mild violence and gore, and lots of (compassionately cared for) dead bodies.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When Hart and Mercy first meet, sparks fly (but not the good kind). Hart, a marshal who keeps their lands safe from drudges (zombies), pegs Mercy as someone whose family joyfully takes advantage of death and misfortune. Mercy, whose family has run Birdsall & Son Undertakers for generations, is at her wit's end trying to single-handedly run the business and keep out of fights with Hart. As pressures in both of their lives mount, they write letters addressed to "a friend," which are magically and anonymously delivered to each other right when they need a friend the most. Still, with the increasing threat of drudge attacks and the potential capsizing of Birdsall & Son, Hart and Mercy must fight for who and what they love - but will that include each other?
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a wild intersection of fantasy, sci-fi, action, and romance. I experienced a rough start while learning the rules of the world (let's just say that there are gods who take the shape of animals who are also mail carriers that get angry when they don't get tipped), but it was such an interesting read! Bannen really excels at creating morally gray and just downright interesting characters. The people in Hart and Mercy's lives are intriguing in their own right without taking over the narrative, and I can say that I wanted to slap and hug each during different points of the novel. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a romance with a little bit of everything in it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did! The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a very unique and whimsical novel that is 60% romance (with a You've Got Mail and enemies-to-lovers flavour) and 40% fantasy with a very fun and distinctive fantasy world. It’s full of witty banter, solid world-building and excellent three-dimensional characters (even the supporting characters) who all explore their own vulnerabilities and hang-ups – I found myself quite emotional in the last few chapters and I rarely ever get that way while reading a book of this genre! The main characters Hart and Mercy really shine in every scene they share. Even though they start off disliking one another, you can really feel the chemistry between them with their letters to each another being great highlights in creating depth to each character. The supporting characters are chock full of great people – from Duckers, to the siblings and even the unique nimkilims (a rabbit named Bassareus and an owl named Horatio who act as messengers/postal workers in this world and that become entangled with the letter exchange between Hart and Mercy). This book was absolutely adorable and I can't wait to purchase a physical copy when it comes out. It's heartwarming, funny and emotional – easily one of my favourites this year. I would definitely read more of this series (if the author decides to go that route!) and I really hope that there are more books set in this fun world.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

Wow did I enjoy this book! Hart and Mercy were fun characters to get to know. I appreciated that they both had flaws and feelings. They weren’t perfect by any means which made them even more enjoyable.

Mercy has a very odd job for a women but she leans into being an undertaker. She is sassy and smart. I appreciated that she let her feelings show with her family and wasn’t this cold person. She grew during the book and learned how to fight for what she wanted.

Hart is such a deeply layered character! The letters really showed him in a different light. Along with being able to get in his head. He really does put on a gruff exterior but is a big softy on the inside. I enjoyed watching him work through loss and finding out who he really is and wants to be.

Overall I really enjoyed the scenery and plot of this book. It was such a different fantasy world that it was fun to explore and learn about. The only thing I wish the author would have delved into was their first meeting and why they instantly disliked each other. I never felt like we got closure from that part of it. We got to see what happened but we never had them talk through it. Other than that I really enjoyed the chemistry and story line!

@readingismagical told me about this book months ago, and said I HAD to read it, and she was right. It’s a sweet enemies to lovers romance wrapped up in a whimsical fantasy world with a bit of a mystery. I’m always a fan of cross-genre work, and it didn’t hurt that this book was just so damn readable. I was finding three minute spots in my day to sneak another chapter in, and I was so sad when I finished. I also loved peeking inside Hart and Mercy’s souls with their letters to each other — there’s something about people writing to anonymous friends that lays bare who they truly are, and it’s just so pure. I will say that usually I want to know every detail about fantasy worlds, but Bannen had a way of making things interesting and giving just enough info to keep me hooked without info dumping. I laughed, I cried, I swooned. Just delightful. I also had the audio downloaded from Libro, but I didn’t even get to it because I sped through the print copy so quickly! This one is out Tuesday — you don’t wanna miss it.

Fantasy meets Western meets Romance. That’s the best three words I can use for this book. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a Fantasy with an urban setting and a lot of romance. I think this one is going to be a interesting one to watch the reviews on solely because of the setting and style of it. I had fun though it may not be for everyone.
The characters of Hart and Mercy, are of course our main focus in the story. Hart is a Ranger, someone who protects the citizens of this world from what we’ll call ‘the dead’. They occasionally encroach on the living world and he also works patrolling where they dwell, another side to their world called Tanria. Mercy is an undertaker, which as you can surmise is a big deal in this world where the dead walk. The culture in this book is very focused on Death and Life - at least the focus of what we get here. The two of them are very distinct and have their own unique voices but I’ll say they were sometimes some of the stupidest people I’ve read about in a romance in a long time. It didn’t mean I wasn’t cheering for them. But sometimes I rolled my eyes so hard at how young or dumb they seemed.
As to the world in which Hart and Mercy live, I mention that the culture seems to be focused on Death and Life. I can’t say that we get a lot of detail past what seems to be there. It felt more like this story was a Romance set in a Fantasy world that also happened to be urban. There were vehicles, that were not cars. Horses that were not horses, and a lot of very fantastical elements at play. There was not a large amount of time describing these things however so I did feel a bit lost at moments. Having finished the book I still don’t know what those not-cars and not-horses looked like even though they were mentioned frequently and used by the characters very frequently.
This made for a weird, but not enjoyable read. I enjoyed the strength of the voice on the main characters. Even the side characters were fun and I enjoyed them. But they were the strongest and loudest part of this story to me. The setting felt interesting, and I wanted a lot more of it, but it wasn’t there in a way that I know a lot of readers might not like. So go into this warned, if you are a setting/world reader this may not work. But if you enjoy characters or you’re mainly here for the romance I’d recommend it.

Note: I have some questions on how the cover of this book came to be as it gives off a specific cultural feel but I don't think the book attempts to use that culture in it's contents. I'm no expert in that. So I kind of wish the cover was different. That of course could just be me and I'm not a member of the group it impacts if it does at all.

It took a bit to catch on to what some of the things are/ meant as they weren’t properly explained or detailed. IMO

The first half of this book wasn’t necessarily boring for me, but I just kept hoping it would get better and more interesting. It did! Hart and Mercy are two totally different people with similarities where they can connect and relate to each other. Hart being rough around the edges while Mercy is so sweet but headstrong too. Hart doesn’t really have much of a family anymore and Mercy is surrounded by family.

The letters between them where so sweet.

The ending. The last line 🥺 I wish there was more!!!

(3.75/5) Hart Ralston is a lonely, curmudgeonly marshal who finds himself penning a letter to "a friend". Little does he know, that letter will go to his nemesis, Mercy Birdsong, undertaker. As the pen-pal friendship builds, will it be able to survive the truth of who's on the other side of the letter?

At the halfway point of this book, I genuinely feared that it would end up being a 3-star read, but the characters and ending ended up pulling this book up for me.

What I liked:

The interactions between all the characters, not just Hart and Mercy, felt really genuine. I really LOVED the side characters, every single one. I am very much a fan of the dual POV, and I think it does this book a lot of favors.

The dual plot lines, where both main characters get to be the hero/solve the problem in their own way. I felt like this book had more going on than just the romance part (though that part was also good), and that helped.

The end of the book redeemed its rating for me, and the last arc had me not wanting to put the book down.

What missed the mark for me:

The world building was the biggest downside of this book. Throughout the whole read, I had a hard time picturing what kind of world I was in (is it modern? old school? the period is NOT identifiable). It feels like the author wrote the book in a normal modern time and then "Find & Replaced" normal words with ~fantasy~ words (truck = autoduck, horse = equimares, etc.).

The third-act conflict felt a little blown out of proportion, and I'm not sure why it was SUCH a big deal. If your whole conflict relies on the miscommunication trope, don't write it!

The author gave SO MANY hints about the plot lines in the book (both romantic and non-romantic), and it was kind of frustrating that Mercy was so blind to it.

In some ways, this book reminded me of a grown-up Percy Jackson if it were a Western, and if there were secret pen pals. Oh, and no dad jokes.

After a particularly prickly encounter with Mercy Birdsall, Hart Ralston finds himself writing a letter to no one. Well, technically he addressed it to “A Friend” but since he doesn’t really have friends at this point, it’s basically a letter to no one. Except…someone writes back.

At its heart, this is a love story. Don’t get me wrong, there are funeral boats and demigods and zombies. It takes place in a world all its own with unique occupations, belief system, and days of the week. There is an empty realm where the old gods used to live. There is a big corporate funeral services chain trying to take down Birdsall & Son Undertakers. There is a crazy-but-loveable family that cares deeply for one another even if they don’t always understand each other. Beneath all that, though, is the story of two lonely people who think they don’t like each other, but slowly fall in love through written letters.

The love scenes are mostly open door, but not overly descriptive. The nonromantic storylines are engaging and the worldbuilding is very thorough. If you don’t typically read romance, this may be a good starting point.