From the title to the cover to the actual content of the story, I just loved this book so much. It was a pretty cozy fantasy light romance. It’s obvious we’re in a different world, with its own deities and creatures and such, but we don’t need to delve deep into building the world and discussing all the gritty details. Because this is a romance novel first, and so the focus is on our two main characters: Hart and Mercy.

Gosh, did I love seeing how much these two irritated each other at the beginning. But they also both were a bit isolated and lonely, and so of course a cute little twist of fate leads to Hart’s letter simply addressed to “A Friend,” a letter that should have gone nowhere because there was no real destination, to be delivered to Mercy.

So begins the exchanging of letters where both Hart and Mercy open up to this mystery friend they’ve seemed to make, and they connect in a way they hadn’t been able to before. It was cute to watch them anxiously await the next letter, and then to see how important this developing relationship means to them, especially with everything else going on in their lives.

As can be expected, one of them figures out who the other is, and doesn’t say anything, and the pen pals debate about dropping the anonymity and meeting for real. This signifies a shift in their relationship for sure, as well as needing to release any assumptions they had formed about each other from before they really knew each other.

And okay, being that this is specifically a romance book, we readers know that romances have to have a happy ever after, or at least a happy for now, but boy oh boy, was there a moment about two-thirds of the way through this book where I was crying and wondering how in the world this story could end happily! Because we romance readers know that there’s that point in the book where things have sort of fallen apart for the couple. However, I was not expecting for a moment that serious and dramatic to happen, but hey, it’s also a fantasy, so there’s certain magical things that can happen to fix this particular issue. I’m not going to be any more specific because this is a spoiler free zone.

I would actually love to read more books set in this world. I really enjoyed the vibe of it, and I’m sure we could follow more folks from the town…or maybe go to one of the other towns of the world. It was interesting, and again, as a lover of fantasy I would love to see an expansion of world building.

But yes, I loved this couple who think they hate each other but secretly become pen pals and realize they might actually love each other story. It was a fantastic read.

Prior to reading this book I've seen a few people liking this book and raving about it. When I went into I was expecting an enjoyable time but I ended up feeling meh about the story.
The romantic relationship between Hart and Mercy wasn't really my cup of tea. Most of their interactions felt very bland and flat. Though I love seeing Mercy interact with her family the most. There was a lot of elements in Bannen's plate included in the book that it seems to convoluted for my taste.

This was such a wonderful romance novel. It has the marshmallow trope. I loved the elements of the movie “You’ve Got Mail.” The banter was witty and sharp. I was reminded of an Emily Henry novel.

this is a weird one to review, I think I would have liked it better if I had been more clear on the genre going into it

I was very surprised by this book. At first I was very confused and considered DNF. However I pushed through to 15 percent of the book and fell hard into the world. I loves the letters and the finding beauty in death and the art of preparing dead bodies with care. It was a very unique way of styling a romance. The portal world was cool too.

Oh my goodness this was brilliant! The perfect mix of romantasy and cozy with a side of adventure. The world building was elaborate, the plot unique and the “you’ve got mail” inspired romance was swoon worthy! I literally loved every page of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and cannot wait to see what Megan Bannen comes up with next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the complementary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Delightfully weird, funny, and moving — Hart and Mercy made me laugh and cry in equal parts. This is a great read for fans of The Princess Bride, epistolary elements, and cozy fantasy.

This book is absolutely stunning. I couldn't stop turning the page and I absolutely love the characters, they're so charming!

This absolutely rocked. A paranormal/fantastical romance between the most unlikely of pairings…or so it seemed. I thought the chemistry and banter was great between the two main characters, and think the supporting characters and subplots played nicely with another

This book is a weird, wild ride, but I loved it! Everything about THE UNDERTAKING OF HART & MERCY is unique, charming, and the humor is spot on (I didn't realize I was going to laugh so much going in!).

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit books for my copy of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.
I jumped head first at the start and was a little confused off the start. Which is completely my fault I didn't realize that this takes place in a different world. Once I got used to the world we were in. This book was a dream. I could not stop reading it.My eyes were straining to finish it. I have to say that the best part of the book was definitely the relationship of Hart and Mercy. Mercy had a lot of heart and Hart had a lot of mercy, my favorite observation of the characters. Definitely worth a read and your own copy.

Loved the use of aspects of <i>Shop Around the Corner</I> but felt that the story relied a little too much on it so couldn’t give it a full 5-stars.

Thank you Orbit Books and Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved it! I loved the story between Hart and Mercy, especially their secret letters to each other, was absolutely swoon worthy. It's enemies to lovers, which I'm obsessed with. Loved the banter and the spice.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a fun, exciting, and unique story that I absolutely adored! The world-building was absolutely fantastic as you’re thrown into a world of magic, demi-gods, and zombies that resembles our own world. Our two main characters were so compelling as they start off hating each other but evolve into a slow-burn romance. At the heart of this story is the exploration of different types of relationships whether that be romantic, friendship, family dynamics, or found families.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is pretty unique and I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers trope. There were some moments when I wanted to shake the FMC but overall I liked the banter and the romance.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book and this review is my own opinions.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is hands down the most beautifully macabre romance I've ever read. The synopsis does not do it justice for how wonderfully weird and sweet the enemies-to-lovers story of Mercy and Hart is.

Mercy is an undertaker in a magically dystopian world plagued by drudges (zombies), and Hart is a demigod marshal, whose job is to hunt down and eliminate drudges to keep the people safe. For unexplained reasons, these two hate each other. But they inadvertently strike up a pen-pal relationship while writing deep, heartfelt letters "to a friend."

Their romance finally sparks after a near-death experience where Hart saves Mercy and gives her surprising comfort. What follows is a sweet and spicy three-month relationship that ends and begins again in a delightfully quirky way. What makes this story even better is the cast of messy and adorable side characters and families on both Mercy's and Hart's sides. I fell in love with them as much as I did with the main duo.

For me, this book is genre-defying - it has elements of fantasy and romance along with touches of paranormal, mythology, and dashes of sci-fi and steampunk. And at the heart of it all is the beauty and heartbreak of death and love.

Wow, this was such a cute book. I had heard from other readers that they liked this book way more than expected and I have to agree. The romance was really wholesome and adorable (there are spicy scenes though, if those bother anyone) and I spent the whole time rooting for the romantic leads. It also had interesting world-building and was innovative in terms of the professions of the protagonists; an undertaker and a warrior ranger of sorts. Overall, if you like fantasy romance and a sort of enemies-to-lovers plot, then I would highly recommend this book. It dropped off towards the end for me a bit but it was still well-worth the whole read.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a sweet and endearing tale full of humor, romance, unique worldbuilding, and... dead bodies! I had fun with this one.

I really did like reading it, but there are a few factors that just didn't work for me. For starters, I feel that calling this story similar to Howl's Moving Castle is... incorrect. I simply did not get those vibes from this story besides the talking animals. Other readers may feel differently, but I felt like that was just false marketing. I'm a huge HMC fan, though, so I take these things seriously! Furthermore, the You've Got Mail-type plotline gave me a little bit of the ick. I think that the author should have considered writing more personal, unique letters rather than kind of generic ones. I just didn't believe that these two people were falling in love from the letters that we read. OR maybe they should be longtime penpals rather than just a few months before finding out who they've been writing. I'm not sure how I would have preferred it exactly, but I know I didn't like the letters in particular. They were just kind of bland. And this is coming from someone who typically loves letters/texts/etc in books!

What I did enjoy were both Hart and Mercy as characters and their interactions together. Maybe their "hatred" of each other was a little silly, but it didn't bother me that much. I do think that they had chemistry and that part of the story was enjoyable to read. Ultimately, I rooted for them and I loved the conclusion to their story. I found it very sweet, charming, and swoon-worthy.

Another thing I enjoyed was the family aspect and I found that the scenes where the family was all together were entertaining. I also enjoyed the unique worldbuilding. While I do think that the worldbuilding could have been expanded upon more, as some of it was confusing, I thought that Bannen's universe that she created was fresh and fun. I lowkey want another story in this world. Regardless of my few qualms, I would read it.

I definitely will keep an eye on Megan Bannen's books in the future. 3.5 stars!

This is the cutest, most unique book I've read in a while. It feels like the whimsical fairytale I've been looking for for a while!

I did not finish this book. I wanted to like this one so much, but it wasn't for me. Hart and Mercy were both immature. Mercy's dog was the best character in the book. And maybe her brother and Hart's assistant. It felt like a lot of wasted potential.