REVIEW: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (x 2) by Megan Bannen

JayneB- Reviews / Book ReviewsDark Fantasy / enemies to lovers / epistolary6 Comments

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.

Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.

After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.

If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most—Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares—each other?

Dear Ms. Bannen,

When this book was available as an arc to request, I debated over it. I waffled back and forth and ultimately ended up passing on it. That is until Kaetrin did her review and made it sound fun. Also weird but fun, too. Note – if you click on the link, scroll down as WordPress is being weird and showing my review at the top.

There is an amazing world that this book inhabits and I’m going to cheat and direct people to read Kaetrin’s review to cover some of it. The reader is, as Kaetrin mentions, dropped into it with no explanations. There are some things that it takes the entire book to get a handle on (equimares) and other things (autoducks) that never are described enough for me to visualize beyond that they are some form of transport. They never quacked so I’m guessing they’re not actually ducks. On the other hand, a prissy owl and a raunchy rabbit deliver the mail so who knows.

The strength and reason to read this book is for the relationships. They are not always good, there is frequent frustration, but that’s real life, right? Hart is a loner while Mercy is surrounded by family who don’t always understand her and what she wants. She doesn’t tell them what she wants while he avoids being tied down to anyone or anything. Their first “real life” meeting teetered on a knife edge between meet-cute and meet-ugly before tipping towards ugly where it has remained for four years. Something drives Hart to write a letter to “a friend” pouring out his need for … something … someone and the postal workers end up delivering it to Mercy who responds to the writer’s loneliness. Thus their “mail relationship” is started.

Yeah, we all know that is going to eventually blow up in their faces but along the way, they have an emotional change in their “we know who each other is” relationship that leads to some smoking encounters. Also, Hart is mentoring a young Marshall while they tackle the issue of lost souls inhabiting recent dead bodies and trying to broach the border and invade the human side. There are several other relationships in the book, a conspiracy that has to be uncovered, and Hart’s family life that must be delved into among other things.

The book is funny, grim, gruesome at times, has a loveable dog, and a unique way of having the villain taken out. There are wild swings between the book’s vibe – is this a cute enemies-to-lovers romance or is it a horror fantasy. At times it drags (it did take me a while to get into it and that wasn’t just because I was clueless about a lot of the worldbuilding) while once it gets going it tends to gallop too fast.

I liked that it’s clear that Mercy and Hart are actually made for each other (Yes, Penrose Duckers called that) and have much in common. I enjoyed their letters to each other. The reason their first meeting went so horribly wrong is understandable and the pain they can cause each other is cutting. Hate is often the flipside of love. It is fresh and different and I’m glad I read it (even though the last chapter is sugary enough to make teeth crack). B-

~Jayne

I’m not sure if it’s on sale but the current price at Amazon is $2.99

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Jayne

Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there's no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.

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