The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a book that I knew nothing about going in and then could not stop reading it. Mercy Birdsall is an undertaker working at her father's business. She's stressed out and overworked ever since her dad had to take it easy after suffering a heart attack. To make matters worse - she has to deal with marshal Hart Ralston. He is often bringing in dead bodies while on patrol.

Hart despises Mercy Birdsall, but he often has no choice when he has to interact with her. Hart knows how to dish it right back to Mercy though. But for some reason she gets to him. Hart is often felt feeling lonely so when he pens a letter to a friend anonymously he's surprised to get a response back. Little does he know that the person who is on the other end of the letter is no other than Mercy.

Hart and Mercy are like fire and gasoline. You can't help but feel the sparks coming off of them every time they interact with one another. I loved these two so very much. Not just how much I wanted them to end up together (which I was rooting for immediately), but also how they interacted with all of the secondary characters in the story.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked up The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, but this book surprised me in the best way. I would find myself laughing out loud - the dialogue is so good. But then, in the next sentence my heart would feel like it was about to burst.

In this fantasy romance that was kinda morbid but also beautifully written you can expect to find:
-an epistolary romance
-grumpy/lonely + sunshine
-🔥🔥🔥 + dirty talking hero
-some suspense

I don't know how to put into words how much I loved this book - I highly recommend it!

Well! This book was an unexpected delight. For a debut author this was such an assured work - the characters were beautifully drawn and their irrational hatred at first sight made sense given their internal neuroses and anxieties. This was beautifully written as well - the descriptions and feelings had depth and nuance. The only aspect of the book that threw me off at first was the fantastical world building - everything is explained but I would have appreciated a primer earlier then when it appeared in the text? That being said, I was drawn so quickly into Hart and Mercy's internal lives that not understanding how undertaking works (for example) wasn't a huge detraction. I am definitely looking forward to the author's next work!

Hart and Mercy have a strenuous relationship, yet can't help being drawn to each other. When Hart sends an anonymous letter that ends up at Mercy's doorstep, the two connect through letters on an intimate level--without knowing they're speaking with one another.

This is a grumpy-sunshine romance wrapped up in a whimsical fantasy world. There's an interesting contrast between the upbeat tone of the book and its characters, and the concept of Marshalls who recover the bodies and Undertakers who prepare them for burial.

I ended up DNF'ing this book 20% in because I wasn't connecting with the story, and the world-building was difficult for me to conceptualize. I'd recommend this to readers looking for a unique setting and a cozy romance.

One reason I requested this book was because of how unique the blurb was. I can’t say that I have ever read a book like it so it really stands out! Also, the cover is pretty and I just adore the color combo. Because of this book sounding so unique, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I did like it overall but I will say that it wasn’t entirely a book that was geared towards me.

The book is told from dual point-of-views, Hart and Mercy. They aren’t exactly friends and from the beginning the reader learns that they kind of despise each other for whatever reason, lol. The banter between was nice and something that I love to see in books.

Their interactions take place in two ways, in-person and by letter. Although, the letters are anonymous and they aren’t sure who they are writing to. I have seen this done before and I do enjoy this type of interaction because it gives the characters another side of their personality, usually a softer side. The softer side definitely works for Hart. The romance between them was fine but it didn’t make me swoon or anything. I liked the other plot points more.

The setting is split between two places and because of this it got a bit confusing as to the worldbuilding of it all. This could just be me and others may not have an issue with it. Another issue I had was that this book feels like it is for a very specific niche of people. I am not one of those lol. Again, nothing to do with the book but just my taste of books.

Overall, it was a good book because of how unique it was. I did like the banter and the author did a good job of mixing a lot of things together. It also just wasn’t to my taste for certain things but that is okay!

This book was cute and weird and completely unexpected - I’ve never read anything like it. It’s whimsical yet dystopian (another reviewer described it as ‘steampunk western’) and it’s suspenseful and gruesome as hell while still being heartfelt and completely charming…it’s so bizarre in the BEST way. Full of interesting world building and a funny, quirky cast of characters, this is a really easy book to love.

Speaking of love, you know I love my sunshine/grump, enemies to lovers romance. Add in a penpal trope to the mix? Oh hell yes.

(also I think furry frogs would be really cute)

There is so, so much to love here. The premise is fresh and original and the prose serves it extremely well. I love the characters and their chemistry. It's so cool and weird. This is one of the best romances and especially fantasy romances I've read all year. I think the pacing of the romance could use a little stretching, a little more agony and disbelief before the lightning bolt of realizing they're in love. But that's maybe a personal preference, and small potatoes to my one big complaint.

I haaate the scene that's an almost word for word copy of You've Got Mail. It's so on the nose and broke immersion for me SO hard, and it took me a while to get past it. I almost stopped reading after it happened, and while I'm ultimately glad I kept going, my point stands. I think the scene itself can stay with a little reworking of the dialogue, but it was unbearably distracting as it is now.

But on the whole my takeaway is hugely positive and I'll keep an eye out for this author in the future.

I managed to finish this somehow although I skimmed maybe the last 40% of it. This may be one of the most disappointing reads this year for me and I was so looking forward to it. There were a lot of tropes tossed around in the marketing for this book, and I'm not even sure most of them apply (I think I saw forced proximity...like where?).

I love fantasy and I enjoy romance, but this fell flat on both. Hart is a marshal who protects this fantasy world from danger via human corpses like becoming possessed by monsters (idk the world "building" was very confusing I truly did not understand what was happening AT ALL) and Mercy is an undertaker who helps prepare the bodies for the afterlife so that they don't become possessed (again idk) and they hate each other but they interact a lot because obviously the marshal comes across dead bodies and he has to take them to Mercy to fix them up. In this fantasy world women don't inherit undertaking business it's supposed to go to the son and it seems like Mercy's family business may fail. On top of that there's a whole You've Got Mail situation when Hart and Mercy start exchanging anonymous letters and neither of them realize who they're talking to (although like halfway through Hart and Mercy hook up anyway so not sure why this was even included) right down to the scene like almost word for word from the movie when Tom Hanks' character shows up at the cafe to finally meet ShopGirl (Meg Ryan) but his friend looks in, and he realizes it's Meg Ryan's character, and they don't like each other because Tom Hanks's family business is putting hers out of business I mean I think my jaw was on the floor I don't think I've ever seen an entire scene from a movie taken, lifted, and put into a book before like that's really...SOMETHING! And the reason why You've Got Mail works is because it was Tom Hanks's business vs. Meg Ryan's business...it made it devastating because it was her dead mother's business! But that isn't how it was written here. The characters themselves end up saying to each other "why did we even hate each other?" Like exactly...it doesn't make sense! Sorry You've Got Mail is one of my all time faves and you truly have to deliver if you are going to emulate that and this, sadly, did not.

This was just. Not Good. The world-building is all over the place, confusing, unclear, muddled, etc. and the characters themselves aren't particularly interesting either. I think the most well-developed character is one of the "side" characters, an apprentice who is assigned to learn how to become a marshal with Hart. Leonard the dog might be my favorite in this.

How do I sum up what has to be one of the most unique books I've read in a long, long time? I have no idea. I know that The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is one part romance novel, one part zombie novel, one part mystery novel, and one part western novel. You mix all that up and you end up with an extremely quirky, loveable trip that's about processing grief, and letting yourself live.

Hart Ralston is one of our main characters -- he's self-described as prickly, and when you first meet him, that is definitely the case. But as the novel wears on, it's increasingly clear that Hart is not prickly at all. He is ooey-gooey marshmallow on the inside, and it's adorable to see him realize it.

Mercy Birdsall is stubborn, proud, and unafraid to work hard. I loved Mercy, so, so much. She stands up for what she wants -- to run the Undertaking business -- and she holds her family together like glue. I wanted to shake her family for most of the book. Not one of them seemed to care what she wanted, despite saying that they knew what was best for her. Spoiler alert -- they did not. But don't read this thinking they're an awful bunch. Quite the contrary.

Put these two together and it was like watching an inferno. It takes a little bit for them to get together, but once they do they are...well. I loved reading about how much they cared for one another, to put it mildly. There are at least two semi-explicit sex scenes, which fit rather perfectly within the novel.

The main plot of the book is that there are suddenly way more drudges (zombies) than there used to be, and they are venturing into populated areas and hurting people. The question is -- where are they coming from, and why now? Megan Bannen does a fantastic job of weaving in the plot with the romance, and I didn't see the answer to those questions until it was literally right in front of my face. I loved it. I loved this world. I loved the characters, and the relationships between them. I would read about eighty more novels set in this world.

If you like the original Hell Boy movies, I think you'd like this book. (Humor, dark themes, violence, anthropomorphized animals, and love.) The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is frequently laugh out loud, and full of scenes that will make you go "what exactly am I reading right now?" in the best way. But despite all of that, it's rather dark, and there's serious discussions of actual, horrible gut-wrenching grief. And the ending...oh my god the ending had me sobbing. I loved this book.

This was definitely a weird and wonky book compared to what I thought it would be, but a very pleasant read.

This was really strange in the best way. There’s a LOT going on and it takes a minute to get the hang of it but it’s totally worth it. There are zombies, demigods, talking animals, portals, and dead bodies galore. But ultimately this is a romance! A delicious enemies to lovers / grumpy vs. sunshine / guy falls first romance.

Hart is a Tanrian Marshal demigod, aka he patrols a former prison world and kills zombies by stabbing them in the appendix. Mercy is an undertaker at her family’s business and prepares dead bodies and makes boats for them and stuff. They’ve hated each other from the moment they met, but they’re not really sure why. Somehow it becomes an anonymous pen pal situation, I don’t even know.

Anyway, this was super sweet and funny and steamy and heartbreaking and different from probably anything else you’ll ever read. I love Hart so much, he acts like he doesn’t need anyone but really he’s a 6 foot 9 marshmallow. I may or may not have cried every time he mentioned his dog. Mercy is a kind soul who would do anything for her family and doesn’t take Hart’s shit. There are so many great side characters as well. Basically you should read this.

Thank you so much to Orbit Books for the ARC!

The premise of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy immediately intrigued me. I love discovering new fantasy romances and Bannen's latest release delivers. If you love the feeling of a romance (with some great banter) and want a fantasy Wild West supernatural vibe - this is for you! As someone who's parents made them watch "You've Got Mail" a lot, I enjoy a well executed pen pals who don't realize the other person is their nemesis. And The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy does this and more. With the addition of drudges (which remind me of zombie like creatures), it's great for adult fantasy romance fans.

This was so freaking good! Now THIS is how you do enemies to lovers. Just when I think I’m done with the You’ve Got Mail trope, the book gods reel me back in. The romance! The exchange of letters! The snarky, well-rounded side characters! The rich, quirky world (Honestly some A+ world-building)! The last 20% where I was literally on the edge of my seat! I smiled, I laughed, I cried. I just have no words right now. Probably my fave romance I’ve read this year so far.

So many quotes highlighted on my kindle. I’ll definitely be recommending this to all of my fantasy and romance loving friends.

Easy 5 stars.

I loved this book! It was very weird, but the world building was easy to follow and interesting. I loved that this was a romance, especially with the letters, rather than a book that just happens to have a slightly romantic subplot. There were some great twists and turns at the end. And Hart was an adorable grump. I loved him and Mercy's sass. Overall, this book just hit all the marks for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review. #NetGalley #TheUndertakingofHartandMercy

The undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a wonderful romance that made me laugh, cry and also wonder...what is even happening? I did not expect what this book was going to be like. I honestly went in with no knowledge of this book except undertaking and enemies to lovers romance. that's exactly what this book was but it was also so much more.

The world building isn't really there, the story just throws you in and eventually you just kind of accept this wild world. I actually liked this way of doing it even though it was jarring at first. The world is definitely a bit of Howl's Moving Castle vibes so if you are a fan of studio Ghibli this one might be for you! the fantasy elements here are more of a backdrop for the romance but they also help drive the plot along and I really enjoyed these parts of the story.

Hart and Mercy on the other hand are pretty normal humans who both have difficult jobs. Mercy is stuck running her family's business all on her own while Hart is a Marshal tasked with killing Drudges and he can be found mostly wallowing in his loneliness while on the job. Hart and Mercy were true enemies to lovers and I loved how their relationship grew. This one is a bit of a slow burn, but not too long. I loved the faults in each character and how relatable both of them were even with their very strange lives.

This book also made me cry, it pulled at my heart strings many times and I was completely captivated by it. I honestly couldn't put it down and I was totally sucked in for 3 days straight.

overall, I loved this story. I honestly find myself at a loss on how to truly describe this book. It's a book I just want to shove in peoples faces and tell them to read it without giving any context because it was so interesting to read about this strange fantastical world and the lovely characters within it. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance, enemies to lovers with fantastical elements tied in.

This romance has The Shop around the Corner (later reinterpreted as You’ve Got Mail) vibes with two main characters starting off as bickering enemies but also unknowingly writing secret “Dear Friend” letters to each other and falling in love. The story takes place in a magical-SFF world that has zombies, demigods, new gods, and a slightly small town (possibly western?) atmosphere.

Hart Ralston is a marshal who patrols the boundaries of Tanria fighting off zombies called Drudges. He returns the now-de-zombified corpses to undertakers in the town of Eternity to receive a proper burial and disposal. Mercy Birdsall works in her family’s undertaking business Birdsall & Son. Mercy and Hart are lonely and dealing with loss in their individual lives. Mercy is fighting to save her family’s business, and struggling to prioritize and articulate her needs to her family. I like her character a lot, but Hart is (no pun intended - or maybe yes) the heart of the book for me. He has a gruff exterior but inside is very vulnerable, lonely, and grieving. He is a very complete and complicated character and I liked him so much. He is also an avid reader - and checks books out of the library and via interlibrary loan - and this is romantic hero cat nip for me.

The world building is a bit confusing and I will admit I was less invested in the new gods/old gods mythologies but there were some fascinating elements - birth and death keys and the nimkilim, an anthropomorphic animal postal service and specifically the owl and rabbit nimkilims who are very sassy and connected to the gods but now relegated to delivering the post. They grumble about it but take their responsibility very seriously. They were some of my favorite secondary characters.

The romance between Mercy and Hart builds slowly and I was charmed and emotional by the end; because of my investment in their relationship but also the development of the characters. Here’s your takeaway blurb: I was reading the final chapters in a public setting and found it so moving that I cried (IN PUBLIC).

I ADORED this book :')

Everything from the characters to the atmospheric and cozy town, it all just felt so cozy. This is the kind of book you read on a rainy day because it's wholesome, but also gives you some action and adventure. There's actual zombies in here (referred to as "Drudges") so it can get unsettling at times (in the best way possible!). For fans of The House in The Cerulean Sea, this might be the one for you.

I think Bannen did an incredible job with her characters. Hart was just so precious. I loved his POV and how caring he actually was. Mercy was also wonderful. I'm a sucker for epilstory stories and this really delivered.

My one critique here is that the worldbuilding could have been a bit more fleshed out (pun intended). While it did eventually become clear to me towards the second half, there were times where I wished we got to see more of the world outside of Bushong, I wish we got to see more demigods and gods. I'm actually hoping that we get more of this world from Bannen, so fingers crossed.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley/Publishers in exchange of an honest review.

This book is the cutest book I have read this year. It is so wholesome and leaves a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart as I just finished reading the book. I would love be friends with Hart, the Birdsall's, and Diane and Alma. Once I started the book, I couldn't stop reading. The book flows really well.

The set up of the world is quite quirky. At the start of the book, I struggled to keep up with names of the buildings, names of the days and just the general setup. However, once you get to about 25% of the book you get a hang of it..

This is a perfect love story to read on a cozy afternoon with a cup of hot chocolate/cold coffee. The enemies to lovers romance is done extremely well and the transition of their relationship feels very natural. Hart and Mercy give the perfect grumpy/sunshine vibes.

Do keep in mind that it is not one of your regular love story. You do get your heart ripped out multiple times during the book. The book deals with trauma delicately and gives justice to the depiction.

If not for the rave reviews of people I trust, I would never have considered reading something like this. So thank you reviewers for talking about this lovely, lovely book so that it could land in my hands and eyeballs!

I've seen people compare this book to You've Got Mail and Pushing Daisies. I can't comment on that because it's been ages since I've watched YGM (not one of my favorites) and I've never seen more than a few clips of PD. So for anyone else out there with similarly loose reference points, here's how I would describe <i>The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy</i>: It's a fantasy with science fiction vibes, populated by vibrant characters who feel familiar even if the world they exist in doesn't. It's loaded with sweetness and humor but is also raw, emotional, and quietly grapples with concepts of human mortality, legacy, and belonging. There are zombies and babies and anthropomorphic animal god-things and lots of baked goods. And yes, it's a romance between two lonely people who are just so heart-squeezingly wonderful.

On paper, I have no idea how this book works. But it <i>does</i>.

I usually struggle with SFF because of world building. The author has to find a way to explain this new world to the reader and in high fantasy and much of science fiction, that requires a lot of info dumping. Some do that well and some don't. Here, Bannen seems to bypass that completely by just plonking you into the world she's created. There's minimal explanation but an expectation that you can just roll with it. So I did, and I had very few problems with it. Maybe it's because the human element is, as previously stated, so familiar. Their concerns, strifes, joys, dreams, etc. are the same as you might find in any contemporary romance...they just drive autoducks instead of automobiles. (whatever autoducks are. again, just roll with it.) I definitely have questions about this world but those gaps didn't inhibit my enjoyment of the story the way a slog through the rules and morays of this world would have.

Now for the romance: this is on the surface a classic grumpy/sunshine pairing. Hart is a taciturn, closed-off demigod zombie hunter who prefers to work alone. Mercy is a friendly, caring undertaker whose favorite color is sunshine yellow. When they meet, they decide they hate each other. It's all built on misinterpretations colored by their recent experiences and it feels a bit <i>Pride & Prejudice</i>-esque. In actuality, Hart's gruffness is borne of multiple losses and a sort of identity-related angst. He's (as other characters point out to him) an actual marshmallow on the inside. He drinks imported tea, is an avid reader of library books, and has a major soft spot for puppies. I fount Hart to be the more heart-tuggy character, though Mercy's experience of being lonely while surrounded by people who care about her was highly relatable. Watching them grow closer and get to know each other--the real versions--is one of the most satisfying things as a romance reader.

Now, there will come a moment that will leave you wondering, "WHY ARE ALL MY ROMANCE FRIENDS TELLING ME TO READ THIS??" Don't worry, friends. It <i>is</i> a romance, complete with an epilogue in which everyone who deserves it is happy and in love. Let yourself cry and keep reading.

Do I think this is a perfect book? No. Despite the satisfaction I got from the romance itself, I found the pivot from "you're the worst" to "let's bang" more whirlwind than I expected. There were also moments when I felt certain plot points were superfluous, but that may be a product of my general ambivalence about SFF-y plottiness. I still loved it a lot and yes, felt feelings that brought a few tears to my eye.

If you're hesitant about the premise of this book, I get it. But don't be. Just roll with it, and fall in love.

Not quite like any romance novels I’ve read before, but quite fun. It was like You’ve Got Mail but with zombies and demigods. She’s an undertaker, he’s a demigod Marshall, responsible for protecting people from zombies (although they’re not called zombies in the book). They hate each other. Every time he drops another body off at her family’s undertaking business, they can’t stop being mean to each other. Everything changes when Hart writes a letter to an unnamed “friend” that gets magically delivered to Mercy.

Lots of banter….just as one would want in a good rivals/enemies to lovers romance.