I received The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen in my July 2022 Adult book box by Fairyloot. Up until then, I hadn’t heard about this book or its author, and, if I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t convinced that it would be a book I’d enjoy. Read on to find out whether or not I was mistaken!

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is set in a fantasy world in which marshals (like Hart) ensure the safety by taking out dead people who have become possessed (strangely enough, by shooting them through the appendix). The dead are then brought to a undertaker: enter Mercy, a young woman who is desperately trying to keep her father’s undertaking business afloat after he has suffered a heart attack. Mercy is constantly juggling the workload, her family’s secrets from one another, and finding her place in a world where the sons are expected to take over the business and not the daughters. To make matters worse, there’s a particular marshal who manages to get under her skin every time they interact.

After one of such confrontations, Hart finds himself incredibly lonely and he decides to write a letter addressed only to “a friend”. Obviously, he does not expect anyone to receive it, much less reply. Before he knows what’s happening, Hart finds himself slowly opening his heart to his new pen pal. Who happens to be Mercy, of course.

A heart-warming rom-com fantasy

I have to admit, I was grinning like a fool while reading this book. It’s cute, it’s heart-warming, it’s mildly spicy, very funny, and yet, at the same time, it’s also a bit weird and unexpected. How often do you encounter stories set at an undertaker, let alone tales in which human souls reside in the appendix?

When I just started reading, I was a bit bothered by the long sentences which seemed to make the relatively straightforward romance story needlessly complicated. I did soon get used to this, however, and I didn’t even notice it anymore a couple of chapters in.

I especially loved reading the letters. They were so…real and raw due to the emotions that were expressed in them. Hart suffers from PTSD and a profound sense of loneliness, while Mercy is getting completely overworked and increasingly desperate by the state of her family’s business, and the way these two grow towards one another by expressing their fears and thoughts is just *chef’s kiss*.

Although the typical “grumpy/sunshine” dynamic is normally not my cup of tea, this book did manage to bring it in such a way that it made me smile quite a lot. Usually, you would expect to find this dynamic between the love interests, but that was not the case here. Rather, I would say that it perfectly described the relationship between grumpy Hart and his sunshiny new apprentice (read: side kick).

I also liked how “weird” the worldbuilding was in some aspects. Of all the fantasy creatures you can come up with, who picks “fury frogs”? Lol. Loved it.

Being fat myself, I really appreciated the body-positive vibes throughout the book. There are still not enough bigger FMCs around, let alone books in which there’s no fat-shaming whatsoever, not even from annoying side-characters or something.

Reading about adult main characters (Mercy is 30, Hart is 36) was also a nice break from my usual Young Adult books. While I would categorise this book as Enemies-to-Lovers and Fantasy, it’s a far cry away from my usual genre. Would you consider this Urban Fantasy? I’m not sure what to call it.

I gave this book three gemstones out of five.

Note: I feel like this book could easily have been a four gemstone read, if I had been its intended audience. I’m simply not that into light rom-com tales, although it does help that this one is set in a fantasy world. While I did greatly enjoy book 1, I simply do not have the capacity to continue this series for now, so I won’t be reviewing the other books.

Age Category: Adult (fine for older teens as well)

Representation: LGBTQ+ side characters, PTSD

Do you want to discover more?

If my review inspired you to pick up the first book, don’t hesitate to check it out at Goodreads or at the below online stores:

Amazon.nl: Paperback Edition

Special editions

As I mentioned in the introduction, I got this book as part of the Fairyloot Adult Fantasy subscription. Their edition has an exclusive cover, illustrated end-papers (which are very cute, by the way. They feature polaroid pictures of the main characters and the dog), foiling on the hard cover, stencilled edges, and is signed by the author. Fairyloot also published part two and part three (in 2024 and 2025 respectively), featuring the same customisations. You should be able to find these editions on the second-hand market for about the same price as they were originally sold (around € 30).

Similar to this

I think I’ve only read one other Fantasy rom-com series in my life, namely the Twin Crowns Series by author duo Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber. This series is clearly Young Adult though, and tells the tale of two sisters, one a princess, one a witch, who are struggling for power in a medieval fantasy setting that doesn’t accept witches anymore. My review can be found here.

If you are looking for more books about rival/enemy pen pals, you definitely should check out the very popular Divine Rivals, book one of the Letters of Enchantment Duology by Rebecca Ross. It’s still on my TBR-list, but I’ll add a review here once I’ve read it. It’s the story of two rival journalists who fall in love via magical letters.

Strangely enough, this book sometimes reminded me of the writing style of V.E. Schwab. Why? No clue to be honest, but it did. I’ve loved several of her books, and would definitely recommend The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (My review) and Gallant (My review).

The worldbuilding, on the other hand, reminded me a bit of the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Series by Juno Dawson. This series follows several witches who are working in tandem with the government of the UK against evil (or so they should be, anyway). My spoiler-free series review can be found here.

On the rest of the series

As mentioned above, I personally will not be continuing the series beyond book 1. Below, I’ve added links to the Goodreads Entries for the next parts of the series in case you want more information:

• Book 2: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
• Book 3: The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam

Please note that these are more or less stand-alone stories, each featuring on a different couple (but set in the same world and the later books will contain spoilers for the earlier ones).