The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

By: Megan Bannen

Narrated by: Michael Gallagher, Rachanee Lumayno

"A uniquely charming mixture of whimsy and the macabre that completely won me over. If you ever wished for an adult romance that felt like Howl's Moving Castle, THIS IS THAT BOOK."—Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

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?

Set in a world full of magic and demigods, donuts and small-town drama, this enchantingly quirky, utterly unique fantasy is perfect for fans of The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Invisible Library.

"Truly outstanding romantic fantasy."—India Holton

"An unabashedly offbeat adventure."—Freya Marske

"I cried twice and smiled plenty."—Olivia Atwater

"A little sweet, a little spicy, a little sharp and entirely moreish!"—Davinia Evans

"I showed up for the fantastic, fun fantasy setting but it was Hart and Mercy that kept me reading."—Ruby Dixon

©2022 Megan Bannen (P)2022 Orbit

GAH! My Hart!

If I die, please send my body to Mercy’s Undertakings. I’d like a Viking boat. Please and thank you.

solidly fun and sweet

This was a cozy, easy listen that had me giggling, misty eyed, and warm. Definitely recommend if you're looking for those things.

You've got mail meets greek-ish gods

I had heard lots of mixed reviews about this series...I'm glad I didn't pay attention to them. This book was awesome, the narrators were awesome, and I love it so much!!!

Had me smiling and then sobbing and then smiling again

I love this story and enjoyed every minute (even whilst blubbering in bed while listening to certain parts).

Swoony Romance

Loved this! Like You’ve Got Mail meets Divine Rivals. Fantastic narration. I could not get enough! One of my top reads of the year.

Great zombie mythological love story!

Wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but very glad I listened. I would love to have a map of this fantastic world!

I wish all male characters were written like this.

I loved this book. It’s mostly romance with a bit of action. But the thing I loved about it was how the lead male character is written. He is the dark brooding type, but not at all in a toxic male masculinity type. The author shows how asking for consent is still sexy. And the sex scenes are realistic but steamy at the same time. I wish more romance novels were like this.

A fun and light reading story!

I loved the performance of the book and overall it was a super fun read! Perfect for a summer book!!

Fun!

At the beginning I could not understand much of the world builiding, but the development of the characters and the story made me intrigued with each passing chapthers. I really enjoyed it! The romance of the main couple is so soft. I imagined the letters would be the drama, but that plot twist was WAY more than I expected. But I loved the ending very much.
I recommend this book to fans of magic and a lot of romance.

Love letters, zombies, and a mortician

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

Plot: 1 (ETL, letter writing, zombies)
Writing: 1
World Building: .5
Characters: .5
Themes: 1
4/5

Spice: 1/5

The concept for this story was so interesting! We follow Mery, an woman who is woring to keep her family's undertaking business afloat after her father had some health issues. Hart is a federal marshall, patrolling and killing drudges (re-animated corpses by spirits), essentially zombies. He brings the bodies to the undertakers. Hart and Mercy absolutely cannot stand each other. One day, Hart sends a letter addressed with only "To a Friend" and Mercy receives a mysterious letter.

**Spoilers**

This was very much a character-driven book. We are focused on our main characters and their issues. Mercy is drowning in taking care of her family's business, trying to keep everything and everyone together. The business is supposed to go to her brother but he is not interested at all. I love how Mercy is plus-sized and is confiddent about it. We need more normalization like that!

Some of the story felt slow. I enjoyed the letters and loved seeing them get to know one another through them when in person they hate each other.

I was so mad at Mercy for being a jerk to Hart at the coffee shop for the meeting. She was just so upset she didn't see it in front of her own eyes. And Hart is such a big cinnamon roll.

Some of the world building was confusing. There are different names for the days of the week but we don't know for sure which they are (Wardensday, Bonesday, Wisdomday, Sorrowsday, Saltsday, Fortunesday). It took a while to really understand what some things were (Drudge, aquimaris, nikilim). Once I understood though, this was such a cool world! I definitely want more stories set in this world with Gods, portals, and lore. We barely scratched the surface.

There was also a good amount of action and killing. All of which were really well written. there were some cool scenes with Hart and Duckers. I was NOT expecting zombies and definitely not expecting the killing of zombies but I loved it.

I definitely teared up a few times.

The writing is fun. Not funny, but fun.

Themes: Grief, lonliness, putting yourself out there to meet new friends


Spice scenes are pretty vague and not super explicit.

I'd recommend this if you want an interesting world, Zombies but not scary. It was a great balance of tougher topics and comedic moments. This world is so unique and worth trying