Book Review: The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy

Happy Halloween! I was successful in reading all the books on my Halloween-y tbr with The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy by Megan Bannen being the last one. I had heard great things about the book and was excited to read it. I loved it so much more than I was anticipating!

This book is a quirky, paranormal romcom and was so fun to read! The novel follows Mercy Birdsall and Hart Ralston. In the world they live in there are old gods, new gods, and beings called drudges that are like zombies basically. When people die, if they’re not taken care of immediately, they can become reanimated and start attacking people like zombies.

Hart is a marshal who patrols the wilds of Tanria to make sure drudges don’t make it into the towns. The only way to put down a drudge for good is to pierce it’s appendix. Mercy works for her family’s undertaking business. They wrap and salt the bodies, build the boats, and let the bodies sail away to their families and then to the afterlife across the Salt Sea. Mercy and Hart have known each other for years and after a tense first meeting, they’ve been enemies. He calls her “Merciless” and she calls him “Hart-ache”. They bicker so much whenever they have to see each other, which is whenever Hart is back from his rounds in Tanria and is dropping off bodies to Birdsall & Son.

One day Hart writes a letter to no one in particular and addresses it simply to a “friend” it ends up getting delivered to Mercy. The two unknowingly become pen-pals and start to develop feelings for one another through their letters. But what will happen when they find out their beloved pen pal is their enemy?

This book was so whimsical, fun, full of love and emotion, with a splash of fighting zombies! I loved Mercy and Hart so much. Their bickering banter was fun and when they get together (with the truth about the letters still not completely known) it is so sweet. Hart understands Mercy so well and puts her first which means so much to her especially when she feels under-appreciated by her family. Mercy cares for Hart and worries about him while he’s working, which means so much to him because it’s been a long time since he’s had any family around.

This is such a good enemies to lovers romcom and spicier than I thought it would be! Okay, it’s not super spicy, but honestly, I was not expecting spice in this book in the first place. I thought maybe a bit of steam so I was pleasantly surprised by the spice!

Anyway, I loved the book so much! Megan Bannen is coming out with a spinoff book next year called The Undermining of Twyla and Frank. Twyla and Frank were briefly introduced in The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy as fellow marshals. I can’t wait to read it!

Read this if you want a enemies to lovers, paranormal romcom.

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