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nydhoggyr's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
Megan Montgomery writes in such a way that is so fresh, unique, and embalmed with such emotion, that I was engaged and fascinated from first page to the last!
Undertaking Love is the story of Bethany and George. Bethany is famous model who has pivoted to her dream career of funeral directing. She's bought out half of Smythe & Sons mortuary services from her best friend's father. Now Smythe & Co., Bethany butts heads against George Smythe, who's owns the other half of the mortuary service that has been in the family since the mid-1800s.
Bethany is empathetic, creative, and adventurous, and wants to bring deathcare into the future with the rest of society, focusing on extensive care for the grieving and more environmentally-friendly and green alternatives to embalming and burial. George is tightly controlled, battling compassion fatigue and career burnout, and old-fashioned. You can see how this might lead to some bickering...
What ensues is a touching story about compassion fatigue in servicing a grieving community, career burnout, and losing oneself in the pursuit of your work for others. Sometimes it was frustrating to watch George make so many mistakes and fight against Bethany or the betterment of his work or himself, but Megan Montgomery has a fantastic way of letting her characters organically show you why they are who they are on the page. We learn that George is struggling hard, but he cares immensely too, but lacks many of the proper techniques to protect himself.
Another thing Megan Montgomery does so well is inject her story with words that create an intense sense of the characters and the environment. Similes and metaphors that call to deathcare services and the gruesome things funeral directors see every day. Sometimes it's dark and gritty, and sometimes it's funny, but it creates a very strong sense of the space these characters inhabit.
Undertaking Love is the second book in The Last Responders, but is a totally fine standalone. You will walk away from Undertaking Love not being able to wait to read Morgue to Love though!! I know I can't wait to read Soula and Decca's stories!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Undertaking Love is the story of Bethany and George. Bethany is famous model who has pivoted to her dream career of funeral directing. She's bought out half of Smythe & Sons mortuary services from her best friend's father. Now Smythe & Co., Bethany butts heads against George Smythe, who's owns the other half of the mortuary service that has been in the family since the mid-1800s.
Bethany is empathetic, creative, and adventurous, and wants to bring deathcare into the future with the rest of society, focusing on extensive care for the grieving and more environmentally-friendly and green alternatives to embalming and burial. George is tightly controlled, battling compassion fatigue and career burnout, and old-fashioned. You can see how this might lead to some bickering...
What ensues is a touching story about compassion fatigue in servicing a grieving community, career burnout, and losing oneself in the pursuit of your work for others. Sometimes it was frustrating to watch George make so many mistakes and fight against Bethany or the betterment of his work or himself, but Megan Montgomery has a fantastic way of letting her characters organically show you why they are who they are on the page. We learn that George is struggling hard, but he cares immensely too, but lacks many of the proper techniques to protect himself.
Another thing Megan Montgomery does so well is inject her story with words that create an intense sense of the characters and the environment. Similes and metaphors that call to deathcare services and the gruesome things funeral directors see every day. Sometimes it's dark and gritty, and sometimes it's funny, but it creates a very strong sense of the space these characters inhabit.
Undertaking Love is the second book in The Last Responders, but is a totally fine standalone. You will walk away from Undertaking Love not being able to wait to read Morgue to Love though!! I know I can't wait to read Soula and Decca's stories!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief