After moving from Texas to Galway, Lark accidentally opens a box addressed to her neighbor containing body bags. Despite the odd start, and Callum's extreme introversion and social anxiety, Lark and Callum become good friends. When Callum confesses he has to get married to save his family's mortuary business, Lark sets herself to finding his perfect match. What she doesn't realize (and doesn't WANT to realize) is he's already found his perfect match in Lark. Now he just has to convincer her he means. it.

This was a delightful, quirky little book. I really enjoyed the setting (Galway is one of my favorite places in Ireland) and Cal and Lark's relationship was so adorable and fun. The beginning felt forced/rushed, but once you get past that, Ivy Fairbanks hits her writing groove and the story is extremely engaging. I'm looking forward to more books from this author!

📚ARC Review 📚

Morbidly Yours ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Needing a fresh start, Lark moves to Galloway, Ireland leaving her hometown in Texas behind. While unpacking her stuff, she opens a package full of body bags labeled to the house across the street. Knowing this must be a joke, she takes them over to her neighbor only to find out what she thought was an Inn is actually a funeral home.
Callum, the owner, is very much an introvert and Lark is not. She’s determined to make him a friend and when she finds out he's in danger of losing the funeral home unless he can marry before his next birthday, she makes it her mission to help.


I absolutely loved this book! I found both characters great in their own ways and their banter was so funny. The way Lark helped Callum come out of his shell and the way he helped her see her value, was so enjoyable to read. I liked the slow burn and how they built their friendship first. This did have spicy sense, so you’ve been warned, but you can easily skip over them without missing anything really. I loved the Dolly Parton mentions throughout the book! It was such a great quirky romcom.

This book will release on August 20, 2024. Be sure to add it to your TBR list! Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for my advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

"Morbidly Yours" was such a wonderful read, and I can't wait to see what else Fairbanks writes. I was expecting a cute, grumpy-sunshine romance set in Ireland that was potentially thinly veiled Hozier fan-fiction, but this was so much more.

I adored both Callum and Lark and how they helped each other with their individual roadblocks, whether it was grief, fears, or workplace harassment. I also loved the speech impediment and demisexuality representation in this book. I thought that Callum's unique relationship with death as an undertaker was a wonderful way to explore Lark's grief after the death of her husband.

I really don't have anything negative to say about this book. My only potential critique is that I wish Lark rekindling her relationship with her sister in law happened in the book rather than the epilogue. I thought that would have been something really interesting to explore more.

5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Lark moves to Galloway looking for a fresh start and meets Callum. She goes out of her way to avoid cemeteries but ends up living next to Callum's funeral home, which he's in danger of losing unless he can marry before his next birthday. The two couldn't be more opposite, yet they strike up an unlikely-and strong-friendship. When friendship leads to something more, will Callum continue his quest to find a wife, or take a risk on true love?

Read if you like:
-Friends to Lovers
-Opposites Attract
-Crazy Dates
-Mental Health/Grief Process Rep
-Demisexual Rep

I really enjoyed this book. Friends to Lovers is my favorite trope and Morbidly Yours delivered. Callum and Lark's slow and steady journey from acquaintances to friends to hopelessly in love was so satisfying. And Callum's dating experience as a demi was so amazing to read! We need more books like this. The best part of the book was their dedication to each other; the way they would do anything to help.

4.5 stars!

This was an adorable rom-com that had a typical grumpy x sunshine trope, but with a lot of heart. Callum and Lark had a sweet connection and watching them develop across the pages was really fun to read. Adding in their grief and mental health struggles, these two were complex and needed to learn to trust in love and one another before they could make a commitment.

I absolutely loved reading this one and think everyone should check it out!

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

This checked all the boxes for me. It was the perfect rom-com. It had me giggling from the very beginning. It had the perfect balance of dark, spicy, and funny.

Check the trigger warnings before reading!

thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc

I loved it plain and simple. Sometimes when you read a title as ridiculous as "Morbidly Yours" you don't want to engage in it as you fear it might be way beyond the realm of a good romcom. Lark having moved away from her hometown in Texas escaping the death of her husband only to move in right next door to a sexy undertaker is the perfect amount of silly divine intervention that makes a romcom like this work. The chemistry between Callum and Lark was sparking from the first page that they met and continued to grow stronger through the book.
The entire book I found myself cheering for them to work and for the two of them to realize that the answers to both of their problems had just moved in next door. I was waiting for the fall of Sean the entire time, truly quite the workplace villain and done well i might add. This was my first time reading a book by Ivy Fairbanks and i truly cannot wait to read more from her! Her characters while at times presenting the tropes of romcom characters felt personable and realistic to the modern day.

DNF ): had to give one star. The big inning was just too quick to jump in to it and Lark was weird. I unfortunately couldn’t get too far in to it because I was just not vining with the story.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was super cute. I wasn't expecting to read a book with some demisexual representation but it was interesting to see.

The main thing that I enjoyed in this book was seeing how both character's changed once they met each other. Normally you just see a FMC go through a journey but this one had both characters going through something.

A lot to like, yet needed another pass for it to feel fully polished. Lark and Callum are good main characters, and the setup of them meeting due to a mistaken delivery of body bags is amusing and sets up their early connection as both neighbors and friends. Callum is not your standard romance lead between his extreme shyness and demisexuality, and the story does a nice job of covering this and coaxing him out of his shell through his interactions with Lark. I would have preferred more showing rather than telling with regard to their growing attraction toward each other, and Callum's profession as a mortician is not explored enough; it could have provided an interesting avenue for Lark to share her identity as a widow much earlier instead of choosing to keep it a secret for so long. The plot of Callum having to marry someone to keep the family business ended up being a little silly and I didn't love Lark encouraging him to date so late in the book despite acknowledging having romantic feelings for him. The pacing feels far too slow at times, making this take longer to finish than expected. I did appreciate all of the Irish terminology included as well as the multiple pronunciation and translation guides.

Honestly, I could not get into this one, it just was not my cup of tea... I felt the storyline was a bit odd and too much to fully get into.

This book was the perfect example of a cozy read. I wish I had read this during fall weather honestly.

I love when a stipulation of a will is for someone to get married. It’s like a nice little push for someone. MMC is going to close his funeral home if he doesn’t meet the stipulation. Irish MMC is to die for. I mea his accent in my mind was just amazing. As someone who has a stuttering family member I applaud this author for having this so amazingly.

FMC is a widow. Which makes her not really looking for love and she makes it her mission to find him a wife. Friends to lovers. And eventually she helps him fulfill the stipulation.

Only issue I had was the third act conflict just felt out of place. Almost like this could have been a no 3rd act issue book.

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks is a grumpy sunshine romance and the story of Lark and Callum.
 
Lark is from America, and she wants to start over and gets a work opportunity in Ireland and she takes it. I loved the Irish setting and seeing more of the language and culture. Lark is a very joyous and kind person who works as an animation art director and that was such a cool job. I immediately liked her, and she made it very easy for me to immediately dive into the story.
 
Callum was born and raised in Ireland, and he continues the family business of operating a funeral home. That was such a unique job as well and many would be taken aback by it, but he approaches this from a very respectful angle. The book also deals with grief, and I really liked how that was shown. Callum is very closed off and grumpy at first, but he feels a connection to Lark and slowly opens up more and becomes such a swoonworthy cinnamon roll hero.
 
This romance is very heartfelt and sweet, and I really liked it. From their first iconic meeting to them being together was such a great journey. Lark has sworn off love while Callum needs to be married by 35 and that added such good tension. The story also has a good sense of humor, and I liked the dialogues as well.
 
Overall, Morbidly Yours is a very unique romcom and I really enjoyed it. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

I found this story to be so original! I really enjoyed it. Callum and Lark’s friendship was really beautiful and the character growth between the two had me tearing up at times. The story was set in Ireland and I enjoyed hearing a little about the history and Ivy did a good job with describing the scenery. The quirks that Callum had were so endearing. I loved that he was a demisexual hero with a stutter. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. Finding love after loss can be a difficult topic and it was written so real. The spice!! Wow Callum’s character was just so perfect. The parts about her job and the toxic male she worked with were so relatable! I felt it added an extra layer to the story that kept me intrigued. I can honestly say I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

I honestly had no idea what was going on. The characters just seemed a bunch of everywhere. The story just never grabbed my attention.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review as always, all words are my own.

I unfortunately did not mesh with this book. I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the right headspace, but the righting seemed a bit juvenile and I was just not getting into it. Things seemed to be happening so fast and I felt like I was reading somebody recanting what happened rather than actually watching/witnessing it happen

What a debut this book was! I really loved the characters, and I learned so much about Ireland, animated films (so many people required to actually produce one), and the work of undertakers (I never thought about how much anatomy they must know).

Ivy is still grieving the loss of her husband, and Callum is trying to find a wife, and he’s under a deadline for this. When Ivy moves in next door to him, the stage is set. I loved that she tried to coach him about dating apps, and the fact that he never could connect with any of the dates,not at all. But, oh, it took a long time for both of them, especially Ivy, to realize they were the perfect match for each other.

I really recommend this great rom-com. Four sparkly stars from me!

And I wonder if there could be a sequel?

I received a complimentary digital copy from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

The ultimate rom com!

This was fresh, funny, sassy, smart and smart assy, made me laugh out loud and all over a dark subject matter. Love it!

A great read, I loved both characters and really wanted everything to work out for them. A fun and quirky book, told from both points of view.

Callum Flannelly is absolutely precious and I don't think I've loved a male lead this much in a very long time. Morbidly Yours was absolutely fantastic!