This book was a little harder to get into than the first one for me. I am glad I stuck with it. This book follows some of the side characters from book one specifically the marshals Twyla and Frank. We learn more about the world and some of the things that have changed in it after the events from the previous story. The main characters from book one make an appearance, but they become the side characters of this book. This was a slow moving storyline for me. It was interesting to have a feeling where the story was going and then have to wait to see if and how it would happen. There were new characters introduced which added to some of the humor and beauty of this world. It also has some very valuable life lessons built into the plot. The fantasy portions didn't have the same dark vibes in this one and I missed that part of the worlds atmosphere a bit. I loved how it ended and the epilogue was very touching. it was an enjoyable continuation of this world, but I doubt I would have picked this one up as a stand alone novel.

I absolutely ADORED this book! If you liked The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, you’re going to love this sequel! It was funny, charming, and romantic. Twyla and Frank’s friendship-to-relationship was so heartwarming and tender—I can’t recommend this book enough!

The side characters (and DRAGONS) made this book a complete delight as well! I also really appreciated the commentary on how women often end up doing unnoticed and unthanked work as wives and mothers. This whole story was just so tender and lovely & I can’t wait for it to release!

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

omggggg twyla n frank SLAYYY got this as an arc from netgalley and the publisher (thank you thank you thank you) it was a pink book and i was sooo excited
not an adrenaline junkie by any means (hence why i read) but this definitely kept me on my toes till the last page. it’s got dragons and friends to lovers (grew on me) i think everyone should give it a chance!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so amazing and I am in awe of how much I loved it. I have no words to adequately articulate my love for this book.

AHHH!!
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is still one of my favorite books I have ever read. So naturally when I received this eARC I was SCREAMING.

The Undermining (double meaning was sooo good) of Twyla and Frank, was adorable, whimsical, and overall a joy to read. Between the banter, and Duckers' ever amazing comedic timing, I was laughing throughout the entire book...until Ms Bannen makes you cry.... (for good reasons??)

There were so many interesting side characters that I think were written well, and lots of interesting creatures which helped build up the world of Tanria even more! Like cute hedgehogs bringing you mail and little pink dragons? Yes please!!
This book was very much all Twyla, and it would have been fun to have a little more of Frank's perspective. I do feel like this book was just missing some of the gut punch that Mercy had, but I still really enjoyed it, and having a second-chance romance with Twyla (a 53 year old mother) was refreshingly unique and new to me as a reader and it was very well written. The theme of happiness, and that you can have your life be what you want no matter your age, was uplifting. If you're a Downton Abbey fan, it was giving Carson and Mrs. Hughes vibes!

It's such a relief and an escape to read books like these, that are filled with hope, second chances, love, and friendship, especially during hard times. Highly recommend picking these books up to anyone who's looking for a fun and wholesome adventure....and who is not afraid to shed a few tears.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC. The above are my honest and own opinions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

It’s been long believed that the dragons in Tanria died out millenia ago. But, when best friends and partners in the Tanrian Marshalls, Twyla and Frank, find a dead body covered in an odd glittery substance, they find out that these dragons are not actually extinct.
They’ve spent centuries hibernating and something has woken them up.

This was such a fun, feel good book.
It’s a beautiful friends to lovers love story that will have you laughing out loud and falling in love with Twyla and Frank.
It was so refreshing reading a love story with characters in their 50’s. They’ve lived and loved and experienced so much in life. It makes the story that much richer and beautiful.

At the heart of this book there’s this deep exploration of identity and the boxes that society places women in.
Megan Bannen does such an incredible job giving us this beautiful, quirky world that has you laughing out loud, while simultaneously portraying the prejudices placed upon older women and mothers.

Twyla is a powerhouse of a women
We watch as she fights back against those boxes and shows those around her to
see others for who they are, not based on a title they’ve been given in life.
To see the layers and layers that we are as people. and continues to show that you are never too old to find love, experience romance, to try new things and reinvent yourself.

Even in this whimsy world the characters feel so real and relatable. With so many characters in books and movies displaying such unrealistic beauty standard, both Hart and Mercy, and Twyla and Frank’s stories give the readers a chance to feel seen and understood through the lens of these beloved characters.

And Twyla and Frank’s love story is so beautifully unique. It’s a gentle love, one that sneaks up on you yet it’s been there all along.
A love that is patient and kind, and understanding and enduring.

This is a must read!

I truly love this wild, whimsical world with pink, glitter breathing dragons and souls
in the appendix 🤣

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is one of my all-time favorites. The fantastical world that Megan Bannen has created is such a joy. That being said, I knew it would be hard for this book to compare.

I really appreciated the fact that the romance in this centers around two friends in their 50s. It brought a lot of interesting ideas and themes that are often not seen in romances. I think most people will find that to be a breath of fresh air.

The one thing I do think this book is missing is more from Frank’s POV. In the first book, we switched between the two POVs, but in this we only see everything from Twyla’s POV.

The characters are just as delightful, with appearances from many old favorites.

Highly recommend this to anyone wanting a fresh take on the fantasy romance genre. I will be eagerly awaiting more books in this series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just…so goofy. I had read Bannen’s prior book, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy last year, and enjoyed it far more than I expected to. The world she created was wacky, but with genuine dangers and heartache. After the events of that story (which I don’t think is necessary to read in order to enjoy this book), however, the world of Tanria has gotten a lot safer. While the change might be positive for the townsfolk of the book, I’m not sure it is for the readers, because it takes the teeth out of a lot of the tension and danger that was present in book 1.

If you are looking for a light, non-serious, downright silly romantic fantasy book, this will be right up your alley. It was a bit too over the topic ridiculous for me personally, as I preferred the higher stakes of the first book. The plot meanders a bit, and there were times that I wasn’t sure what exactly the overarching plot was meant to be. The main character, Twyla, is 53 years old, which would be refreshing and empowering if she didn’t spend what felt like half the book talking about how old, forgettable, and unattractive she is. She’s 53, not 97! I sincerely hope when I am 53 my self-esteem has not gotten so low that all I do when I think of myself is see my faults. I realize the point of the story is for Twyla to finally learn to come into her own and learn to address her own needs, not just the needs of others, but I felt her self-criticism was laid on a bit thick. Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s likely very realistic, and the characterization of oblivious husbands was spot on. I am certain there are many women out there who have similar experiences, in fact I know some personally that I think would fit into this category, but it’s still frustrating to read about repeatedly. Add to that a romance that I really don’t think had a compelling reason for them not having gotten together for so long, and this just didn’t make as much of an impact on me as the first book.

Megan Bannen, I'll read anything you write.

I recently read The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and was unreasonably excited for The Undermining of Twyla and Frank after getting a glimpse of the characters in the previous book. Bannen does an excellent job of giving the characters in her books their own storylines while they fall in love, which is tough to pull off in romance when their entire story could be each other.

In this one, 53-year-old Tanrian Marshal Twyla Banneker deals with the daily rigors of her job as law enforcement in the protected region of the Old Gods, Tanria, alongside her partner and next-door neighbor Frank Ellis. Widowed for 13 years and an empty nester putting her youngest through medical school, Twyla looks forward to retirement but wonders if there might not still be something new on her horizons.

When the two get involved in a scientific discovery of mythic proportions -- and a criminal scheme to boot -- they must consider what they really mean to each other.

Features of this book:
1) Fantasy for adults complete with grown-up jokes and swearing, no YA sanitization around here
2) Middle-aged romance
3) Friends-to-lovers plot
4) Dragons
5) The wedding of some beloved characters from the previous novel
6) Bassereus and Horatio banter
7) A love interest with a Bushong twang that says "darlin'" in a super hot way
8) My new favorite villain

The most beautiful part of these books, besides the sweetness of a love story, is the world-building with such details as days of the week called Allgodsday, Sorrowsday, Wardensday and former messengers to the gods/forest animals who now deliver mail. The gods of this world are present in a unique and beautiful way that makes the characters' faith seem worthwhile and enviable.

Note: There is some spice in this story. While I prefer cleaner/sweeter fantasy, these scenes are at least in service of the story and in-character. They are also easy to gloss over if you prefer to skip.

Can't wait to head back to Tanria, I hope there's more to come. 5/5

I'll start with the TL;DR -- This is a fun, engaging, low-angst read and I had a good time with it. That said, it is nowhere near as interesting, accomplished, or emotional as The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy.

Okay, let's get into the good stuff: First of all, it is a genuinely good time! I wanted to pick this back up when I had to put it down! My attention span for reading has been sh*t lately, so that's definitely saying something. Megan Bannen has a wonderfully quirky sense of humor and she wielded it at every opportunity. I can honestly tell you that I did NOT see the villain reveal coming, and I'm usually very good at picking those out. I love when a book can surprise me like that.

I absolutely LOVE that both MCs are over 50 (fifty!). They have grown kids, middle-aged bodies, and several decades of baggage. Despite the fantasy setting, I promise that you know (or are) these people. And when Twyla and Frank do finally get it on, there's lovely consent and honesty about what it's like to get undressed with someone when you're not sure how to feel about your aging body, especially as an AFAB person. The HEA is also very deliberately not marriage or even cohabitation, and it was wonderful to see the acknowledgement that long-term relationships, especially at later phases of life, can look a lot of different ways.

Not to mention pink dragons that spew glitter resin instead of fire. I mean...

Now for what didn't work for me so much: Overall the book felt closer to women's fiction than romance to me, which would be fine except that my expectations were for a true romance based on the title (Twyla AND Frank) and the first book in this world. Twyla's POV is the only one we get and there's a lot that happens that is very much about *her* journey to Frank as opposed to *their* journey to *each other*. Imagine a WF about a widowed Midwest mom who eventually ends up with her best friend and neighbor, but with quirky animal demigods and the aforementioned glitter dragons. Frank deserved more story than he really got. Twyla even has a period of being involved with another person, to the point that I double-checked the synopsis to ensure I wasn't misunderstanding who the main pairing was intended to be. I also started getting frustrating with Twyla's lack of backbone--she's a Tanrian Marshal, for godsake. And while part of her journey is to discover that backbone and what she wants outside of other people's demands, she felt obtuse and sheltered at times instead of the badass who used to kill zombies. I'm unsure if it was inconsistent characterization or my own projections.

It's not necessarily fair to compare Twyla & Frank to Hart & Mercy because they are different books and I'm thinking the author intended to do different things with them. But Hart & Mercy was such an impactful book for me with its explorations of death and grieving and belonging. With that as my reference point, Twyla & Frank felt disappointingly fluffy. Now: if you love fluffy and felt the previous book in the Tanrian world was too death-heavy for you, you will quite possibly love this one. But I know many readers who cried over Hart & Mercy will be hoping for the same again, and I seriously doubt many are going to get the same impact.

So, in summary: I had fun! I would recommend for people looking for a kind of silly, fluffy cozy fantasy adventure featuring a middle-aged grandmother getting her groove back. I do think readers of my ilk will walk away a tad disappointed.

I was so happy to see this book! I loved her previous book in the series, The Undertaking of Mercy and Hart, and I enjoyed this just as much!
Pairing a fantastical Wild-west setting with middle-aged marshals, invisible mom syndrome, and baby dragons, Bannen has crafted an excellent western-Romantasy-mystery with plenty of relationship drama, plot twists, and an unexpected villain.

I particularly like the lore Bannen creates for her world. The mythology and the gods are unbelievably creative while remaining perfectly believable. The rich religion and myth set up the everyday trials of our heroes, who work in a magical space but still worry about back pain, laundry, and their grown children. The romance was particularly sweet, and I appreciated Bannen’s focus on how middle-aged moms can feel invisible, guilty, put-upon, tired, and totally love their kids all at the same time.
I’m looking forward for more Bannene books in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advanced copy of this book! This review is entirely my own.

Ohh Megan Bannen did it again! I absolutely LOVE her writing style, it is so fun and lighthearted while still managing to tackle some intense topics and emotions. She makes the relationships feel so real and never shies away from the messy bits.

In this sequel to the events of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, we are reintroduced to Twyla and Frank: two Tanrian marshals with a friendship for the ages. I absolutely loved their partnership and the way they so clearly love and respect the other - they just had the best banter! Plus, I loved getting to spend some more time with Duckers!

The friends to lovers was really well done, as much as I dislike a miscommunication trope, it was very fitting for the situation, and I thought that the familial struggles that Twyla was having fit into it all very well. I wish there was a bit more focus on the investigation and mystery behind it, as I felt this piece of things was a bit rushed at the end with much more focus on the relationship. However, I still really enjoyed how things were resolved, and I had a GREAT time reading this!

I really found this a poor follow-up to the first book. I found this super boring and, ironically, childish. For a book about the second chance love of two people in their 50’s, I was really not vibing with the miscommunication & silliness. This was a cute book, but I definitely think it was trying too hard to be funny & more like a children’s cartoon. 3 stars

Thank you Orbit Books for the MUCH appreciated opportunity to read an early copy of THE UNDERMINING OF TWYLA AND FRANK in exchange for my honest review!

Bannen's previous book, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, was one of my favorite reads in 2022. When she announced that she was taking her readers back to the world of Tanria with Twyla and Frank's story, I screamed with excitement!

Twyla Banneker and Frank Ellis are a couple of long-time best friends, neighbors, and partners in their field of work as Tanrian marshalls. They are both in their 50s with grown children and spouseless. Both are in a season of life that beckons the question, "What's next?" Now that the drudges have been blotted out as a threat (thank you, Hart!) the Marshall life isn't what it once was and it might be time for both Twyla and Frank to think about moving forward with their retirement plans, open up Tanria's version of an AirBnB, and live out the rest of their lives peacefully.

But of course, things can't ever be so simple, and Bannen has something up her sleeve for these two marshalls.

You can always bank on quirky and unique elements with Bannen's books and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. But you can also count on there being a lot of depth, heart, and moving moments. This book was no exception.

I can't tell you how REFRESHING it is reading a romance between two characters in this middle-aged stage in their life. They felt so raw and honest, like people I would know in real life. The love they have for each other was so wholesome and grounded. I need more stories like this.

I wish we also had Frank's POV in this book and not just Twyla's, that's really my only "complaint". However, even without it, it is still very evident the depth of Frank's character and how he feels about Twyla. That just goes to show how great of a writer Megan Bannen is!

I can't wait to have this book physically in my hands so I can read it again! If you enjoyed Hart and Mercy, you're gonna love Twyla and Frank, too.

Get ready for pink glitter-breathing dragons, cardigan wearing hedgehogs, family drama, maybe the nuptials of a certain beloved couple, and plenty of action!

4.25/5 stars

Oh so there *are* dragons in Tanria!

What a lovely sequel! I was not expecting a book about Twyla and Frank, but I was so pleased with this! A feel good, friends to lovers, slow burn, that will leave you wanting more. This was such a breath of fresh air from typical romcoms. I get bored reading about the same problems over and over again, but I was eating this one up. Talks about menopause, retirement plans, and second chances was something I found so relatable. You don't find many stories like this one. The added fantasy elements was just the cherry on top.

Book one left me feeling a little confused with the world buillding, but this one made me feel like I got it now.

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
By: Megan Bannen

Rating: 3.75/5⭐️
Spice: 2🌶️
Keywords: sci-fi & fantasy, romance, cozy fantasy, best friends to lovers, dragons

This book is a sequel and I went into it without reading the first book. I found it very easy to follow, the author went out of their way to introduce everyone, explain the landscape, and go through the relationship dynamic between all of the characters. Of course, there were some spoilers in this book if you read this and then go back to read The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, but that’s due to The Undermining happening after the Undertaking!

The Undermining is a cozy fantasy. I haven’t explored this genre much so take my rating with a grain of salt (I prefer epic/high fantasies in most cases but this one was still great to read) I really liked this book. The way that it was written was incredible and so well done. The characters develop at a great pace and a relationship buds with some innocent flirtation, bouts of jealousy, and an overwhelm of lush. There’s also some mildly suspenseful scenes that keep you turning the pages. The beginning was a bit slow, but it was a breeze getting through the last 60% of this book. It’s whimsical, flirtatious at times, there’s family drama, small town gossip, best friends to lovers, portals to realms with unimaginable flora & fauna, and some hard working officers trying to keep people and Tanria safe!

I want to thank Netgalley, Orbit books, and Megan Bannen for letting me review this book, it was such a treat!

I love a good second chance at love. being emerged into the fantasy world of Twyla and Frank it pulls you in from the very start. this book was action packed mixed with rom-com fantasy and I really enjoyed it.

Megan Bannen is the proclaimed (by me) queen of cozy fantasy!

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is one of my favorite books! So I was over the moon to find out there was going to be another book in this universe. The Undermining of Twyla and Frank does a great job of continuing the whimsy and comedy of the first book. While I still really love this book, Twyla and Frank didn't really meet the same level of romantic antics of Hart and Mercy. Twyla and Frank are great, but the years long "will they won't they" never really built up the way I wanted it to. There was so much pinning and tension between Hart and Mercy, I think I was anticipating the same vibe here. That being said, I loved seeing all my fave characters again! Especially Duckers. I have a sneaky suspicion that the next book will follow Penrose and I'm so looking forward to even more of his humor.

Highly recommend picking this one up!!

THE UNDERMINING OF TWYLA AND FRANK by Megan Bannen is the forthcoming follow up to THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY, which is so good that it had me asking myself if maybe I like fantasy novels (I sure do if Megan Bannen is writing them!).

While HART AND MERCY was a romcom, a Western, and a fantasy, TWYLA AND FRANK is a dragon fantasy, mystery, and women's fiction, and it works just as well. There's no dual POV this time, as we experience the whole story from Twyla's perspective. Twyla is 53, a mom, a widow, and a Tanrian marshal. I'm not quite that old yet, but I enjoyed the descriptions of Twyla's life, because even with the dragons, I have more in common with Twyla and her sensible shoes than with characters in college.

There is a strong theme of how the old way of marriage is unfair to women (in m/f relationships, at least). A couple gets married, and then the woman becomes the maid, the cook, the planner, the default parent, the one who is just supposed to know everything and carry the full burden of the mental load of the family. That's how Twyla's marriage was, and she doesn't want to do that again, but she also has to grapple with how that is still affecting her decisions.

But also, there's dragons! There have long been legends of dragons in Tanria, but no one has ever spotted one...until now, and Twyla and Frank have to figure out what's going on. It's just as fun and sweeping as you would want a dragon story to be.

We even see some old friends again, with Hart and Mercy making an appearance, and Penrose Duckers teaming up for the dragon adventures. (Happy ending for Pen when??) I enjoyed this book just as much as its predecessor, and would buy a companion volume on the mythology and theology of the Old and New Gods, because I am that enamored with the world these stories exist in.

I absolutely loved this book! This is such a fun and interesting sequel to the first story. I do not usually like friends to lovers but the author has a way of writing that can not make me stop reading! I absolutely recommend this to everyone (especially people who like dragons).