"Morbidly yours" is a grumpy/sunshine slow burn that negates all of the stages of grief and loss and somehow still has you laughing throughout the story. So good.

[2.5 Stars]

I'm honestly not sure what happened here. The first 70% was 4 or 4.5 star material for me, and then somehow this just absolutely tanked. All the conflict felt manufactured for page count, the characters were all over the place from what we knew them to be, the resolution of certain plot lines was unsatisfying, and TWO epilogues.....unnecessary.

I'm so disappointed. If only the last chunk had had a little more editing.

This book was unique slow burn romance with good banter and writing that handled the topic of grief really well. Set in Galway, Ireland, I really enjoyed the development of Callum and Lark’s friendship.

I hope the author continues with books on the side characters since I loved them throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this free ARC.

For me, this book had a strong start to it, but the relationship between the characters started to feel underwhelming the further the book progressed.

The first two chapters were interesting and I liked the detail relating to Callum's job as a mortician. Lark was cute and I liked that there was depth and something deeper to her character, but some aspects were a bit... cringe. For example, she wore a purple coat, a rainbow dress, and pink cowboy boots. I get she's an animator and she's a very vibrant, bubbly person, but that outfit sounds horrendous. She also said, "I'm the human equivalent of loose glitter."

The desk replacing scene at Lark's job was stupid to me and I understand that it was meant to show how Lark is settling into her role in the job and making valuable connections to her coworkers, but it was stupid and unnecessary.

Personally, I would have liked to see more development of Callum and Lark's relationship and feelings for each other before there was any actual progression because it left a lot of the book as a "will-they-won't-they" type of deal. Chapter 29 was SO underwhelming. I thought that the scene where the two kissed for the first time was well done and the tension was built up well, but chapter 29 fell flat for me. After that, I was racing to finish the book because I wanted to be done with it already.

I did like that there was the representation of grief, stutters, and the asexual spectrum, but I can't say how accurate any of the representations were.

In the end, the book was fine. I didn't hate it, but it fell short in different aspects for me.

This was delightful rom com. Callum is one of my favorite mmc. A shy mortician, running his families funeral home, born and raised in Ireland. Lark, running from her past, takes an apartment next to the funeral home. The way that Callum and Lark met was hilarious, not to mention the sweet side characters. The book does have some heavy topics; grief, ableism, anxiety, mortality.. And the spice,,, dear lord, that was unexpected in the best way. It was a 10/10!

Anyone that knows me will understand how much I love really weird, quirky books. This one was like The Dead Romantics meets Six Feet Under. Morbidly Yours had everything in it that makes me happy: amazing banter, morbid humor, good romance, well-written spice, and a perfect MMC. This book started out so strong. I mean, come on, a meet cute involving body bags (this takes the #1 spot for my all time favorite meet cute situations)??? In fact, I thought this might be one of my favorites of the year. This book was SO CLOSE to perfect, but there were some bits that irked me a little bit. I think this book would have been better without the "have to get married by a certain date" trope and I hated how Lark had absolutely no backbone. One of the major conflicts in the book happened because she refused to stand up for herself and then got mad when Callum did it for her. The miscommunication tropes could have been left out entirely as well. Other than those points, this would have easily been a five star read for me. I loved how this book simultaneously made me laugh out loud and broke my heart. While the cover might suggest that it's a fluffy cutesy romance (while it also is that), it also deals with heavy themes of grief, loss, and mortality. Overall, I adored this and I would recommend it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sharing this with me.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity to review this ARC. While I am normally off-put by cartoon people covers, I read the description of this book and gave it a try. What makes romance better in my eyes? Gallows humor and dark topics. Surprisingly, this book was far deeper than expected and had a great amount of representation that I don't normally see in many contemporary books:
*Speech impediment
*Non-binary
*Demi/asexuality
*Social anxiety/introversion

This book manages to be an adorable love story with a delicious amount of slooooow burn, while gracefully tackling heavy topics such as grief and death.

The author also gave some insight into the world of how animated movies are developed and made. There is a pet project the FMC works on in the story that I was wishing I could watch in real life, it sounds so adorable!

I'm thankful that I gave this book a chance because it was very enjoyable. I also learned from the author's blurb that it is her debut novel, and I am very impressed. Four solid stars.

What an absolutely cute Rom Com about a cute bubbly vibrant texan and a shy mortician!! I loved Lark and Callum. Larks story was so heart breaking but I am so glad she allowed herself to move on and be happy again because she deserves it and Callum is perfect for her. He's such a genuine sweet gentleman. I absolutely love everything about Cal. I think they're perfect for each other and I'm so glad they got their HEA and that Lark got her closure with Rachel. I truly hated Sean, I'm glad he got what he deserved. This was a 10/10 read for me. Highly recommend.

this was a friend to lover's romance. one of the characters is a mortician. It is set in Ireland. loved the book.

Our story opens with a delivery of body bags. To the wrong address.

Lark can’t exactly be blamed for working that her neighbor is a serial killer, but luckily he’s just an undertaker who owns the family funeral home.

Warning: Morbidly Yours does not shy away from the more graphic parts of undertaking, so if you’re squeamish you might have to skip a few parts.

Lark is squicked out by much of Callum’s job, which makes for some entertaining scenes as the story goes on.

Callum is struggling to hang on to the family business due to a clause in the will that requires him to be married by his grandfather’s will. He’s awkward socially, but underneath his gruff exterior is the cinnamon roll hero we all love to see.

Lark and Callum become unlikely friends, and I think we all know where it goes from here.

Morbidly Yours is a truly original novel. I love the way they handled the Marriage of Convenience trope. I love how they are friends first. I love how gentle Callum is.

As if all of this isn’t good enough, the story takes place in Ireland. Picture the accent. Do I really need to keep going?

Just read it.

✨ 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ✨

—𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤: Morbidly Yours (ARC) by Ivy Fairbanks
—𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
—𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
—𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬:
⚰️ MF Romance
🇮🇪 Set in Ireland
🪦 Love after Loss
🗣️ Speech Disorder Rep
🔥 Demisexual Rep
🍬 Shy Mortician x Bubbly Animator
💞 Neighbors to Friends to Lovers
🫂 Dual POV

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬!

This book is literally everything.

Callum and Lark’s story is one of surprising second chances as they become unlikely friends during a time of transformation. The unexpected love that blossoms between these two sets the stage for an incredible romance that’s both enchanting and sentimental.

This story is vulnerable and intimate in so many beautiful ways. Both of these characters had so much self reflection, it made the story feel like more than a love story. It made it a tale about healing, forgiving, and allowing oneself to love even after loss.

There isn’t a single detail about this book that doesn’t fit with the overall plot, and that’s why I loved it so much. It just kept on giving and was so entertaining the entire way through. And the spice was spicing 👀🔥

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 is set to release 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 and I highly recommend you get it. I think everyone should meet Callum and Lark

Thank you so much @netgalley and @ivyfairbanksbooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I can say with complete sincerity that this book blew me away 🥹🫶🏻

second time reading and it's even BETTER.

i loved this book from beginning to end.

i love that there's a quote in the book, "personally, i preferred stories with happy endings—however unrealistic they may be." but this love story feels incredibly realistic and at its core deals with so much realness and heartache.

spoilers ahead, so read at your own discretion!!!

when callum first proposes, i knew lark wouldn't say yes, but reading how it was dealt with was so GOOD. and i loved that the solution wasn't to get married, because it wasn't what lark wanted *yet* and having her accept the proposal would've went against who her character was. i love that they were both able to find their happily ever after without compromising their beliefs or their feelings.</spoiler>

i love callum and lark so much, they're so special to me. a perfect friends to lovers story about grief and trauma and how that doesn't have to rule over your life even if it follows you.

I absolutely adored this book. The representation, the friends to lovers!!! Nobody does it like Ivy.

Friends to lovers is usually not my go to trope because I think it’s a trope that has to be done a very specific way for me to like it, Ivy did that!!!

Callum and Lark!!! Their connection 🥹 I felt it deep in my bones. I’m obsessed. Ivy Fairbanks has made a fan out of me. A definite auto-buy author for me.

“When he called my name, I turned to find him holding no less than a half dozen in an assortment of yellows and pinks and ivories. And reds. I hadn’t expected that color, but I hadn’t expected more than a single rose at all. I said any color; he got me *every* color.”

Move over book boyfriends, Callum is here and he brought ROSES. If you haven’t checked out this debut novel by Ivy Fairbanks, please stop what you’re doing and grab it immediately. I initially read this when it was independently published and it has been re-edited and updated in a few parts of the storyline. I loved this version of the story even more!

✨disability rep
✨demisexual rep
✨love after loss
✨strangers to friends to lovers
✨set in IRELAND. HE’S A HOT IRISHMAN CMON.

Morbidly yours was the true definition of friends to lovers. I loved seeing the characters genuinely develop a friendship and work through many hard subjects like death, grief, strained family relationships, and advocating for oneself as both characters grew and developed themselves.

I was so excited to receive a copy for review from NetGalley!
This was an incredibly done debut novel, I cannot wait to read other books by this author.

Lark and Callum have to be one of my favorite book couples! The chemistry they had was sizzling. Their bantering and corny jokes back and forth with each other kept me smiling or laughing throughout the whole book. There are several moments that are SO sweet that they literally made me say "aww" out loud. Gave me all the fuzzy warm feelings reading this one. I don't normally pick contemporary books, but the catchy title and cute cover made me stop on it to read the description, so I took a chance on it. I'm so glad I did as it has become a favorite!
I got this from Netgalley, but these opinions are my own.

As someone whose family is also in morbid business (cemetery owners...) I knew I had to pick this up. And I'm glad I did-- I really liked this book! The plot was very unique and interesting, and I thought that they tackled a lot of real-world issues without deviating too far from the romantic side of the story. There were a couple points where I thought the writing was a liiiiiiittle too stilted to the point where I almost gave this 3 stars instead, but I rounded up because I couldn't put it down. Callum was such a cutie <3

What a wonderful surprise this was!

I have to admit that the beginning was a bit slow… but once I got further into the story the characters had me hooked. Callum is an awkward, tender hearted delight and Lark’s kind and vibrant personality helped make up for the fact that it was beyond frustrating that for most of the book she would rather be a doormat to the bully at work than stand up to him. Supporting characters like Maeve and Anvi gave me the found family vibes that I love.

The fact that one of the main characters is a mortician is what made me pick up this book, but the reason why I ended up enjoying the story so much was the depths of emotion portrayed throughout. The spice didn’t disappoint, either. ;)

I originally read this in its initial indie publication format. I thought it was laugh out loud, charming, real, and full of heart. Nothing about this newer version changes that original assessment, and Morbidly Yours will continue to be one of my favorite rom coms of all time.

I LOVED this. It was dorky, adorable, and smart. I feel represented. I am 100% a Callum, and it was so great to see things play out without him having to change who he was to conform to the norm. I don’t automatically ascribe to the idea that opposites attract, but Lark and Callum are perfect, truly a case of complementing each other. Like a puzzle, their edges are different, but they fit.

Where things changed, I can see what it’s setting up for the next in the series, and can only say that I’m so excited to return to Galway for Cielo and Aiden’s story.

A decent debut with a premise that is both new and familiar to fans of romance. Sweet, fun, and (mostly) engaging; overall, it's an enjoyable read.