Reviews with content warning for Death - The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

157 reviews

midnightmoon_dreamer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The book was good but the storyline and some of the fantasy plot points were quite confusing. I also feel like the book could have been cut shorter and that the main relationship could have been better developed (some stuff didn’t make sense and too much back and forth). Nonetheless, I still enjoyed reading it and it made me feel things which is something I love in a book (I cried like 3 times).

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gsnape_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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craftysnailtail's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

If you like You've Got Mail and Pride and Prejudice, then you'd enjoy this. The premise itself was refreshing and immersive. You'd think all the talk about dead bodies would make the story less romantic, but it doesn't lol I enjoyed the character development- especially Mercy. I'll admit that this spoke to my grumpy male protagonist bias, and I wish it veered more from You've Got Mail than it did (at least, in the first half). But as a whole, this book was heartfelt, amusing, and incredibly romantic to me.

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capriqueen's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Took me a little bit to get into it, but once my son Duckers came on page I was hooked

The worldbuilding is one of the weak points of this book. Not the world itself, which is rich and fully realized, but the informing the reader of it. There’s way too much showing and now enough telling. This book could’ve definitely benefited from a map and a glossary. I spent the whole book piecing together the world, learning new bits of information here and there and adjusting the puzzle as I went

But the characters are great, the story is fun, and the romance is nice. The romance flipped On a bit too fast for my taste, but whatever. I really like that Hart and Mercy each had their own thing to work out,

and I like that Mercy and her family handled theirs on their own without Hart being a savior

The spice was alright. Idk if it’s publishers being wusses or what, but I wish “spicy” books actually committed to the bit instead of just alluding to the juicy bits

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mels_reading_rook's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, but I was not a fan of the tropes that were used. The characters were phenomenal, and I felt every emotion with them. I also loved the letters between Hart and Mercy as they learned to open up to one another. And the dialogue and banter could be so genuine and funny, I adored it so much!

One of the big elements that brought it down for me was the constant use of the miscommunication/non-communication trope. Every time the characters intentionally withheld information from each other, it was either to progress the plot or create conflict/future conflict. I'm personally not a fan of this trope, so I found myself frustrated with the characters at times. One standout moment was when

Hart met with Mercy at the cafe to reveal himself as her penpal, and instead of saying the words "I am your penpal," he hinted at it by paraphrasing quotes from the letters. And, since Mercy was already on the defensive at that point, it was only natural for her to not pick up on it.

My other major issue has to do with the climax of the conflict of their relationship and its resolution.

When Mercy learned Hart was her penpal all along, she threw him out of her home and told him that she never wanted to see him again. Hart, being a good man, abided by her wish even though it tore him up inside. After that, Mercy was bemoaning the fact that he never showed back up to her place. Instead of reaching out to him because she set that boundary, she shifts the responsibility onto him and waits for him to 'win her back.' Even at the very end when they reunite after Hart's harrowing experience, she shoulders the blame on him and told him he should've ignored what she said when she was angry and tried to meet with her. I really don't like that mindset. Again, this is a personal preference. I find that mindset very toxic, and it went against a lot of the themes of the story. Mercy was having stress because she felt no one was listening to her. And when Hart listens to her, she gets upset? Not my cup of tea.

Despite my misgivings, I loved the story and I definitely will be reading the sequel sometime soon!

This review can also be found on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5360286130

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straybutterfly's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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levesc17's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A sweet enemies to lovers romp with excellent secondary characters.

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rachelshubin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I absolutely ate this book up! It’s a very interesting fantasy story that was a tad confusing at first but pulled me in so deeply that I was thinking about Hart, Mercy and the gang any minute I wasn’t reading! I pretty much knew fairly soon into reading it was a 5 star read for me.

The world building and character development was phenomenal! It can be hard to do the whole “You’ve Got Mail” story when it’s hardly new but I absolutely love how it was done here. There were many side characters (Duckers, Zeddie, Roy, Lil & her husband, the nilkilims, etc) and they were very distinct and easy to keep track.

The dual POV being in both Hart and Mercy’s minds is really what made the book excellent for me. Their banter was great and the slow burn and tension paid off. Honestly who doesn’t love letter pen pals

The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy is like if The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston and Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross fucked. It slapped and I def think it’s in my top 10 of 2024!

Excited to continue this trilogy!

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kharlan3's review against another edition

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