I really enjoyed The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and was excited to read another story by the same author. Unfortunately, I found many elements in this book to be lacking. Most concerningly, I found the romance between Twyla and Frank to be underwhelming. As so much of the basis for their relationship is not present in this book (specifically their apparent over-a-decade long friendship), their connection was hard to become involved in. It felt like a long, meandering path to a foregone conclusion between two characters who are old and mature enough to know better. Maybe it's because of the age and experience of Frank and Twyla, but I found myself having much less patience with their miscommunication (or more accurately, uncommunicative) shenanigans. Their moments of "conflict" felt inane.

Twyla is a pretty great heroine! I loved reading about a middle aged mom and I thought this book offered a unique perspective not typically found in fantasy romance books. Her struggles were explored in an interesting way and I was rooting for her till the end. Frank, on the other hand, felt so underdeveloped in comparison. It may have been the lack of dual POV, but I found him to be painfully uninteresting. He's also not present for a good chunk of the middle of this book. I think his lack of development was the main reason I found the romance so underwhelming.

I thought the love triangle was unnecessary and not executed well. It takes so much time away from the (much needed) development of Twyla and Frank's relationship. Any semblance of tension is undercut by the obviousness that Frank is the endgame for Twyla, and Quinn never stood a chance. I mean, why even bother with a love triangle when the Frank's name is literally in the title? I understand that the point of Quinn was to open Twyla up to dating again and make Frank jealous, but it took up way too much time and contributed to a very abrupt shift when Twyla suddenly decides she loves Frank.

The balance between romance and fantasy was a bit off for me. While I liked a lot of new worldbuilding elements introduced (dragons!!!!), I found that sometimes the clunky exposition took away from the more important character building. The "mystery" felt half-baked and the truly terrible twist villain kind of ruined any fun found in the climax.

Even though this book was not my favorite thing, I still thought the ending was very sweet. I think I'll just go reread The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy now.

Keeping this as spoiler free as possible is going to be hard but here we go! There is just something about Megan Bannen’s writing that draws me in and never lets go. I haven’t stopped thinking about Hart and Mercy since I read it and now Twyla and Frank will be living rent free in my mind too. First off, I adore both main characters. Frank is a dependable and loyal man (and an incredible Dragon Daddy) with a heart of gold. Twyla is a strong and selfless woman who makes juggling kids, grandkids and a taxing job look easy. Their friendship is so wholesome. I love their witty banter, the way they randomly break out into song and how they always have each other’s backs. Their slow burn, best friends to lovers romance was so sweet to watch play out. I was curious what this book would be about after how the last one ended and boy did Megan Bannen deliver something just as exciting! DRAGONS!! That’s all I’ll say about that. The side plot with the kids and grandkids was cute and added an extra layer of relatability for me. It made me connect to Twyla even more. It showed that even though she’s in a later stage of life, she still has insecurities and doesn’t have everything figured out. Watching her growth throughout the story was heartwarming. I loved that Frank was right there supporting her and wanting nothing but the best for her. We get to see how Hart and Mercy are doing here and there along with some of the other side characters from the previous book. Speaking of side characters, Duckers!! I love Duckers. He is one of my favorite side characters and I was so happy that he played a big role in this book. The overall pacing worked for me. There was action, laughs, emotional moments, and a lot of love. Parental love, friend love and romantic love. I felt like everything got resolved in a satisfying way. I did NOT see that twist coming. I was so sure I knew who the bad guy was the whole time, but wow was I wrong. Megan Bannen has become an autobuy author for me after this one, I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next! I highly recommend this if you loved the first book and if you like fantasy, romance, demigods and dragons!

Thank you so much to Orbit Books for providing this eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I devoured this book as soon as it was in my hands and stayed up way past my bedtime because it was impossible to put the book down. I looooove Twyla and Frank, their story is so easy to read and impossible not to fall for. I particularly love Twyla’s character and her experience with motherhood and how the role of caregiver shaped her life. It made me cry more than once because it was so perfectly real and made me hurt right along with her.

I think there should be far more romance novels about middle aged people. It adds so many layers to the characters when they have more life experience and more baggage to work through. This is easily one of the most unique romance novels I’ve read for that aspect alone, and I deeply love it.

My only significant complaint is that I didn’t get nearly enough Frank. For about half of the book, the reader is told by Twyla what Frank’s character is like without being given many opportunities to show us. I love what we do see of his character early on, but I really wanted some more time spent with him to *show* me what his dynamic with Twyla is like.

Overall this is a hilarious, silly, and heartwarming rom and I loved getting to spend more time in Tanria and Eternity. Megan Bannen writes books that are so easy to love and I can’t wait to see where else she goes in the future!

I'm so happy to be back in this world. The combination of fantasy/western/romcom is just so much fun. The dragons are cute as hell too. The story and characters are great and I didn't want to put down the book. I did want to throat punch the FMCs son and could have used more development for his character but other than that I had a great time reading this book!

5 stars

This book was a delight. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is my favorite book of all time so I was so excited to return to this world. Twyla and Frank were both such great characters. They’re both working through a lot from their pasts and well as dealing with their feelings for each other. I loved their friendship and their partnership as marshals.
I also loved that Duckers was such a big part of this story. He was hilarious in the first book and I really enjoyed him in this one as well.
The baby dragon was so freaking cute and I really enjoyed the dragon/crime mystery plot.
This book was a great blend of fantasy, romance, humor, and heart

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC!!

Another exciting visit to Bushong/Tanria but this time we follow Twyla and Frank - this book has best friends to lovers, characters in their 50s and dragons, it was everything I wanted and more!

The relationship development between our 2 MCs was well done and didn’t feel rushed. The story was compelling and I loved how cute the dragons were - I also wanna visit the Preserve pls.

I utterly adore this world and was so glad we got to revisit it. There’s also some characters from the first book that feature heavily and we get to see Mercy and Hart get married😩😩

Overall loved this one and fingers crossed the author writes more in this world 🤞🏼

Middle aged friends to lovers Twyla and Frank will absolutely melt your heart and make you cheer or a happy ending. I mean who doesn’t love a fantasy love story.
-Portal fantasy
-Middle aged
-Friends to lovers
-Cozy fantasy
-Dragons!
-Miscommunication

Twyla seems to forget herself after motherhood but there has been a consistent loving force in most of her life, her best friend Frank. They work together and find themselves on an adventure (of sorts). We find out that Twyla can truly be the hero in her own story and even be a hero to those whom she loves.

#TheUnderminingofTwylaandFrank #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and #OrbitBooks

You can read my Goodreads review here;
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149187311

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Okay, so if you know me at all, you'll know that I absolutely adored Bannen's The Undertaking of Hart + Mercy when it came out. When I got the notification that Bannen had written a sequel to my beloved zombie-fantasy-romance, I about lost my cool. I think I screamed a little bit. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? All the reasons I loved Hart + Mercy are right here in Twyla + Frank. It's just as absolutely charming, odd, and absolutely original as the first book -- but this one has the added bonus of being about older people. Twyla and Frank are both in their fifties and what a breath of fresh air that is. They have people-in-their-fifties-problems, not young-people problems. They've been friends for twenty plus years, but still can't admit their feelings for one another.

YOU KNOW, THE GOOD STUFF.

Plus there's suddenly dragons in Tanria or whatever.

Seriously, Megan Bannen, I don't know what I did to deserve your books but holy crap. Thank you? Thank you, thank you. Thank you for making Twyla badass, but still a middle-aged mom/grandmother. Thank you for making her finally realize she deserves to be unashamedly happy. Thank you for making Frank such a sweetheart, too.

GOD, I JUST REALLY ENJOYED THIS. The characters of the previous book are present in the background, but only Hart, Duckers and Zeddie really have speaking roles. It works in a really just wonderful way. I'm spewing feelings here, but honestly -- please pick up The Undermining of Twyla and Frank. Especially if you loved Hart + Mercy.

I'll be over here waiting anxiously for anything that Megan Bannen decides to write.