This book was an unexpected delight. I’m not sure it was quite what I was expecting but it was a fun ride. First of foremost I feel like the plot is a romance and is the enemies to lovers trope. The fantasy World surrounding our main characters get introduced slowly so for the first few chapters expect to be confused. I listened to this book as an audio so highly recommend the audiobook as well as the story. I loved the romance, the anonymous exchanging of letters, the family business dynamic and the relationships within the family as well as the wider story of business competitors, magical portals, Demi-gods, zombie like creatures and talking animals. There are some slightly gross moments and some corny romance moment but it was such a fun read!

This book has:
Enemies to lovers
Found family
Workplace(ish) romance

 TW: violence, death, gore, death of family members/pets


In the beginning, I had trouble understanding what was going on with the ghost and drudges(zombies). As I continued listening to this book, it made more sense to me. Mercy and Hart were both loveable characters that both grown throughout the story.  Along with the main characters, I loved the side characters as well. Especially the messengers. The narration was perfect. Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno captured the feelings of the main characters and i felt that they practically brought them to life. I even thought they did a great job when speaking as the side characters. Overall, I loved this book and would highly recommend!

My rating: 4.5⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this audiobook for an honest review.

🌸The Undertaking Of Hart and Mercy💗

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (5 Stars)
Steam: 🌶🌶🌶/5 (a few steamy scenes with descriptions)

Narrators: I loved the two different narrators for alternating chapters for Hart and Mercy! It made us a really fun audiobook read

No spoiler review 👇🏻

Wow this book was so good. It was unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I absolutely loved it! It’s an urban fantasy romance!

It’s an enemies to lovers, letter writing you’ve got mail like goodness! This book follows Hart, a demigod marshal who takes out drudges (undead monsters). And Mercy who helps run an undertaking business. Their paths cross a lot and they hate each other! However they start writing letters to each other anonymously and end up getting to know each other well… It's such a fun romance read! It’s also action packed.

Mercy is such a badass female MC and I love her and Hart's interactions! It’s hilarious and steamy! It’s better to go in without knowing too much! I highly recommend this one!

CW: dead bodies, gore,
Death of a dog (past), grief

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review

(4.5 stars rounded up to a 5)

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a fantasy novel with a heaping dose of romance by Megan Bannen. The ebook version is 336 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little over twelve hours and is narrated by Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno. We follow our two characters with alternating third-person points-of-view.

Hart is a demi-god marshal, patrolling the magical wilds of Tanria to prevent dredges (think zombies) from attacking citizens. Mercy is an interim undertaker, waiting for her brother to take over the family business. They do not see eye-to-eye at all. To fight his feelings of loneliness, Hart begins writing a letter to "A Friend," sure that it will not end up in anyone's hands, but it would help him feel better. But then he receives an anonymous letter back in return, and he forges a true friendship. Little does he know that the reply came from Mercy...

The worldbuilding here was really cool! The setting is fleshed out and interesting, and while I may have been a little confused at first the threads all came together for me at one point and I was all-in. I wish that a map was included in the finished copy of this book, because I think it would have been good to reference to help me connect the threads a lot faster. That being said, I think this is a pretty well-done genre blend of fantasy and romance.

I loved all of the characters--especially the side characters. I absolutely loved both of the talking animals who are mail carriers. There's a lot of whimsy here, and I see why some other reviewers were comparing it to Studio Ghibli. Also this cover is gorgeous and the few steamy scenes are pretty nice.

If you're a fan of Ilona Andrews or The Princess Bride, you may like this book. There's cool, expansive worldbuilding + interesting characters that you can't help but love. There's adventure, but at its core it's a love story with a HEA.

Tropes in this book include: grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, opposites attract, found family, epistolary/pen pals, secondary romance, he falls first, queer side characters, zombies, HEA

CW: mentions of losing a parent and a pet, violence, dead bodies w/descriptions of corpse, gore, parent recovering from heart attack

Special thanks to Orbit Books, Hachette Audio, Hachette, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with this arc.

God damn that was cute. This is now my favorite romance book. Major Howl’s Moving Castle/Studio Ghibli vibes. I hope it gets a movie, like a cartoon or anime. Everything about this book is perfection. Absolutely not your typical fantasy romance. 100% swoonworthy.

Excellent narrators

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was a romance with a twist of sci-fi. The entire story was unique and kept me engaged. This was a new author for me and she writes a little out there in my opinion. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. I chose to listen to this book on audio and enjoyed the narrators who were Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno.
I can’t put my finger on it but something was missing. More back story?? Details of the main characters?? More dialogue between the H and h?? I don’t know. Would I read another book by this author? Absolutely.
Thanks Hachette Audio via NetGalley.

“My favorite colors yellow because your favorite colors yellow.” -this book

I really did enjoy this book! Hart and Mercy were both great characters, and I enjoyed reading from both perspectives. However, I felt like the plot was a tad lacking. Everything was quite predictable, and sometimes that works for me, but in this case I would have loved to be surprised a little more. Nonetheless I can definitely recommend this book!

4.5 stars

Such a cute paranormal romance, with interesting characters and enough ghosts and zombies to keep me entertained throughout the story. Mercy is a strong woman who doesn't take crap from anyone and is doing her best to keep her family's undertaking business afloat. Hart is a demigod who patrols the land in search of zombies. These two didn't get off on the right foot, but anonymous letters sent back and forth will help them see past their feud.

I wasn't totally understanding the ghosts and zombies at first, but by the end I was on board with it all. This had a nice, even pace to it and the ending made me tear up a little. I'm so happy I read this one and the audiobook is fantastic!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Hachette Adio, Orbit, and NetGalley for the copy!

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy tries to do a lot of things--to be romantic, to be poignant, to be funny--and it's not that it fails at those things, exactly, but that it doesn't quite succeed at them, either.

On paper, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a novel that should've been--and that I very much expected to be--an instant favourite. But the execution really let me down here. It attempts a lot, but the writing just doesn't sustain or hold up all the things it's attempting. First, the romance: again, on paper all the elements were there, but in practice they didn't come together--which is a shame, because it really was poised to be such a great romance. For one, there's the fact that it's based on You've Got Mail, which is one of my all time favourite movies. For another, it's also such a great setup in general: the enemies-to-lovers, epistolary-romance, dramatic-irony of it all. For me, though, it didn't quite work. I didn't really get why the characters hated each other--the novel does eventually tell us why, but its explanation felt flimsy and not very believable given that these characters have disliked each other for 4 whole years--and then when they did stop hating each other, it felt way too abrupt and not organic enough of a development. The novel spends a lot of time in the beginning setting up the characters' letters to each other, and the letters were nice, but nothing about them really struck me as especially moving or special either. The word I keep reaching for is generic: the letters were nice, sure, but they just never surprised or moved me in any way. (That the romance is inspired by/retells You've Got Mail doesn't do the novel any favours because You've Got Mail does it all--the setup, the characters, the dialogue, the conflict, the resolution--so much better.) (Then again it is one of my all time favourite movies, so a lot to live up to there, I guess.)

What I felt about the romance--that it was lackluster, that it was more than a bit disappointing--I pretty much felt about the rest of the novel. The worldbuilding was fine, the plot was fine, but neither elicited anything in particular from me, and they both felt a bit cobbled together in their execution. Had I been more invested in the romance, I wouldn't have minded the weak worldbuilding or plot--I can forgive a novel a lot if I feel drawn to its characters and/or their relationships--but because I wasn't, those weaker elements stood out to me all the more.

I think what it comes down to for me is that this novel was really missing a strong sense of narrative voice. (Or maybe that its narrative voice just wasn't to my taste.) Frankly, I don't care about the plot or worldbuilding stuff all that much--or at least, I only care about it up to a point. What I'm really here for is the characters, and I just didn't feel like these characters were that distinct or impressionable. I could tell what The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was trying to do as a novel, but at the same time I could also tell that what it was trying to do wasn't working for me. I can see this novel working for a lot of readers--and again, it wasn't a complete write-off for me--but as a whole it just lacked that strong sense of personality that's at the forefront of the kind of books that I tend to love.

Thanks so much to Orbit for providing me with an audiobook ARC of this via NetGalley!

This book broke me in the best possible way. Please do not read if you have a cold and your nose is already stuffy because I cried so much I could barely breath!

It had a great pace, a nice worldbuilding especially for the amount of time it had to create a world and characters, and adorable main and side characters. Hart and Mercy were likeable and endearing and their romance gave me life. My only complaint is that Mercy had a change of heart really quick from hate to love, but it was so cutely written I can get past it.

Definitely a 5 stars and an automatic recommendation for anyone who likes romance books with a little of fantasy/paranormal.

The female narrator talked a little too fast for my liking.

Other than that, this was a fantastic book.

I loved everything about it.

I laughed. I swooned. I sobbed.

I'm absolutely obsessed with this book and absolutely cannot wait for my pre-ordered physical copy to come in so I can relieve the epic-ness.

Hart and Mercy absolutely hate each other. Hart is an exceedingly serious but secretly lonely marshal of the magical world of Tanria. Mercy is an undertaker with the weight of her family's business placed squarely on her shoulders. The two have been chalk and cheese since they first met. When Hart writes a letter to no one baring his soul it somehow makes its way to Mercy and the two strike up a beautiful, anonymous friendship.

Amazing characters!
Both the leads were extremely likeable despite being quite prickly. They match perfectly but just cannot get on the same page. They are the perfect enemies to lovers. The supporting characters are also extremely strong and both Hart and Mercy have full, developed relationships outside of the romance.

Gorgeous world building!
I honestly don't think I've ever read a romance in such an interesting world. It gave huge western vibes but also very Howl's Moving Castle in a way. The creatures were terrifying and actually had a sense of danger to them. The world was so easy to visualize and that's always appreciated in a fantasy.

Emotions!
So many of them! All of them! 😢

The audiobook narrators did a great job of creating a tangible connection to the characters. It's always lovely to listen to a duel narrative where both of the voice actors are equally as good as each other.

Thank you so much to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC. I am forever grateful as this has been one of my favourite books of the year.

Two people, one common ground for four years. Hate for one another. An exhausted but quirky undertaker, and a lonely, beaten Marshal who guards the world they belong in.

When Hart, the Marshal, decides to reveal his loneliness in a letter anonymously with/to “a Friend”. It’s delivered to none other than his nemesis Mercy Birdsall! Romance blooms, and soon a mysterious occurrence happens in Tanria- will their bond strengthen after knowing they are the “friends” they reveal themselves to? Or wither after all…

This had incredible heart, balance, and I felt twined into the characters! I absolutely adored the variety of creatures, and their personalities! Especially the foul mouth messenger!

I recommend this to anyone who love:

Found family
Steamy romance
Unique magic/world building


I felt there wasn’t quite as much conflict, between the leads as I assumed there would be, it went so quick like a blink!. But, overall I cried & laughed so many times I lost count! I cannot wait to grab my own physical copy of the beautiful book!

I’m very grateful to Hachette Audio, and Netgalley for this audiobook in exchange of my honest review!

I really enjoyed You've Got Mail when it came out and the idea, that if you talked to someone you knew and didn't like in person on paper or in emails would you feel differently. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was a play on this concept in a fantasy world where spirits who haven't crossed over sometime take over dead bodies and need to be dispatched.

Hart knows he is a Demigod; he just doesn't know who his real father is. When he met Mercy years ago, he was struck by her beauty but being the broken man/godling that he was, he totally screwed up their first meeting and managed to insult Mercy's life's work in just a few minutes and set them on a path of cold distain for years. Mercy, sometimes called Merciless by Hart runs an undertaking business. In this in-between place, called Tanria, where the demigods live in harmony with the humans and some interesting creatures, Mercy prepares people to cross over once they have left their mortal coil. People are kind enough to her, but it can be an icky job and let's face it death creeps out a lot of people. She took over helping the business at seventeen and in the last years she runs all the business after her father almost died. But when the plans for the business change, Mercy feels a bit lost and longing for someone to see her in all of this.

Hart is a marshal, out in Tanria, protecting it from the reanimated corpses that sometimes enter the area. Business has been busy lately too, where are all these Drudges coming from? He is lonely and has isolated himself from almost everyone who used to care about him. One night, he pens a letter to 'A Friend' hoping that someone out there might get him and how he is feeling. The postal service picks the letter up and delivers it to none other than Mercy, also in need of a desperate friend. This makes sense as the mail is delivered by former messengers to the gods who currently take to form of talking animals. As they both confide in each other their woes and such something beautiful starts to blossom between them.

I liked this story overall. The world is interesting, I liked Mercy and her crazy family who I wish just saw her a little better. Hart, when he wasn't being a broken mess of a man is so heartfelt and kind. I could see why the two of them belonged together. Mercy helps Hart understand why he has put so many at arms length and helps him begin to open up again to the possibilities of friendships and more. Hart sees Mercy and her hopes and dreams that sometimes her family just accidentally takes for granted. I liked how they bolstered each other.

There is a side story on why there are so many Drudges coming out of the woodworks and why Mercy's undertaking business is so attractive to the competition that they want to buy it out. I liked how all of those items played out on the side of the romance to keep the story going. Hart's eventual meeting with his dad was really well done and made perfect sense to who he was and the gifts he had.

Overall a good romance with a smidge of fantasy on the side. Based on this book, I'd check out some of the authors other works.
Narration:
I always appreciate having multiple narrators when there are different PoVs Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno felt perfect for their respective roles. Rachanee captured both Mercy's strength and loneliness even through she is surrounded by family and Michael Gallagher was able to perform Harts PoV so the reader empathized with the decisions he made and his longing and fear to belong to something or someone. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.

Fantasy and romance combine in this dual POV tale about a demigod and an undertaker. It gives off enemies-to-lovers + grumpy-sunshine + epistolary romance vibes.

Demigod Hart Ralston is a marshal who spends his days patrolling the magical land of Tanria beyond the mists. He keeps to himself and focuses on his work, upholding the laws within the Tanrian border and disposing of reanimated corpses. In the course of his work, grumpy Hart regularly comes into contact with sunny Mercy Birdsall. He can't stand Mercy Birdsall.

Dependable Mercy keeps Birdsall & Sons Undertakers going. She builds the boats; she prepares the corpses; and most of the time, she manages the books. She is friendly and engaging to almost everyone--the main exception being Hart Ralston.

One day, lonely and alone, Hart puts pen to paper and sends a letter into the void. That letter magically finds its way to Mercy, and the two anonymously strike up a pen pal relationship. As these things go, a friendship begins to blossom on paper and tender feelings grow.

This one is great for fans of the following:
- "I am so attracted to you, and I HATE that."
- Heroes with a tough exterior and marshmallow center
- Vulnerability shared anonymously
- Found family and familial relationships
- Love of libraries in their books
- Some intrigue and adventure along with their romance
- The moment a grumpy hero's mouth quirks to one side
- Dogs who have minds of their own
- Open door romance
- The film You've Got Mail

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is unique, entertaining, and engaging, and it hit me in the feels. My heart swelled; my chest ached; and I ugly cried.

I loved the narration by Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno. I'm a big fan of dual POV books with two narrators and an added bonus with this one is that Gallagher reads all the letters penned by Hart--even the ones in the Mercy chapters--and Lumayno reads all the letters penned by Mercy. They brought these characters to life for me and pulled me into the story. Please note that Mercy's narrative pacing is faster than Hart's. I found myself toggling between two different speeds, depending on which narrator was speaking (1.25x for her, 1.75x for him).

One other note concerning the audiobook is that I found myself having to really focus during the early world building. This is typical for me with fantasy books, though.

All in all, I adored this audiobook and highly recommend it.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Hachette Audio and Orbit via NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

While this book as a whole and the entire world within it was so wonderfully weird, I wish I had liked it more.

Don’t get me wrong, it was good. It just wasn’t great.

For me it suffered from two problems, parts of the pacing dragged, and other times things happened too quickly.

Since the “anonymous relationship” trope is my absolute favourite trope of them all, it let me down a little bit.

It’s still worth the read if you’re looking for something different in the world of romances.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

If you are looking for an utterly delightful story, this is definitely the place for you! This was such a feel-good book, and I adored that about it. It really makes you full of love and just all-around sappy. But in the best way possible! The characters are so relatable, especially as an introvert. Hart and Mercy are both just so real and when they start opening up to each other, it's so raw and vulnerable in a way that books rarely are.

I'd like to call this a cozy fantasy because it had all the elements I love of cozy/small town mysteries/romances, with a dash of the best parts of fantasy. It did start out a bit slow to me, but as it progressed it ended up bringing in this great story about the businesses and the drudges, which really reeled me in and kept my attention.

I adored Hart and Mercy's romance more than anything! It was so frustrating at times, but I think that's what makes it so real. They are both such wonderful characters, and it was lovely to watch them grow and learn about each other and themselves. They really made me feel at home and like I was part of their family too.

If you're looking for a lower-stakes fantasy, this is the book for you!

Immaculate vibes to the story. It’s difficult to say exactly how intrigued and interested in the story and plot line I was. I really liked tropes and the overall characterization. Hart and Mercy were fantastic I really like the most characters. I really enjoyed the bantering and the bickering between them. Especially as the relationship grew. I definitely did not expect there to be zombies but was very excited when I learned more about the plot of the story. I really enjoyed this and thought it was a pretty creative idea as I haven’t really seen any zombie romance books like this.

🔊Song Pairing: Greek Tragedy - The Wombats

💭What I thought would happen:

I was super wrong on this one. I thought it would be like Anatomy - A Love Story. It was a fantasy and a Romance. Had no idea

📖What actually happens:

Hart is a Marshall, he captures zombie like dudes…basically if you die you do not want to die with your appendix…they desire they silly useless organ that gets too spicy and needs to be removed often at inconvenient times…

Mercy is the daughter of an undertaker in the family business even though it is called Birdsall & Son…too bad the son has a gag reflex of a kitten and a talent at making pie.

Hart brings his dead bodies to Mercy, like a bouquet of corpses. Too bad the 2 detest one another. Who says you can’t hate someone while simultaneously getting a constant erection in their presence?!

🗯Thoughts:

Have you ever been to a restaurant that has both foie gras and lime jello on the same menu? That’s kind of like this book, a real mish-mash of:

You’ve Got Mail retelling x Walking Dead Zombies x Dog the Bounty Hunter x enemies to lovers x intro to anatomy all set in an Olympus - Demi God world. Like what!!? *insert Jackie Chan confused face gesture meme*

Overall, I was quite intrigued in the middle but was kind of over it by 75%. Am I glad I read this? I think so? Not my usual I can say for certain

3.5
An undertaker and a demigod go from enemies to lovers is this compelling story involving zombie-like beings, gods, talking animals who enjoy bourbon, and a secret pen pal letters. I really appreciated the uniqueness of this plot, the role of a female undertaker, and how well the dual narrators/points of view of Hart and Mercy provide perspective to each side of the story and interacting with their different positions in regards to the "zombies".

I do wish that the transition from enemies to lovers was a bit more drawn out, it led a bit more towards insta love. Additionally, the world filled with creatures, gods, monsters, and the importance of undertakers was interesting, but I felt that a lot of what made it special- keys, portals, burial ships, etc...- was discussed but not fully immersed within the plot or explained as in-depth as I would of liked.

I really enjoyed the narrators of this audiobook and the book as a whole. If you enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, misunderstandings, zombish monsters, and a bit of angst, grab this book.