A review by wilybooklover
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

adventurous medium-paced

2.0

I’m so disappointed. I went into this book expecting to love it! Cosy fantasy romance is basically my brand and I was highly anticipating this one. Sadly, it fell flat for me (and really wasn't all that cosy IMO). 

The worldbuilding had some really interesting customs, but it also felt kind of clunky and not well-explained. Parts of it seemed very modern and distractingly American. Like, not being able to legally drink alcohol at the age of nineteen is a distinctly American thing. Why exactly is it in this fantasy world with zombies and demigods and souls that live in the appendix? And it just felt like it was trying too hard to be cute and whimsical which was discordant when combined with the angst and the high stakes of the plot. I thought the nimkilim were an especially interesting addition though!  

The other issue was that it felt like the story was constructed around the enemies to lovers and epistolary tropes rather than them developing as a natural part of the story? Like the tropes themselves felt kind of forced and thinly plotted. Don’t get me wrong, I love tropes but I need a book to offer me more than just tropes. The plot device that involved the letters ending up with each other was just way too convenient. And not realising who the letters were from, especially when they were describing their own nemesis situation in said letters right after seeing each other, was just too unrealistic to suspend disbelief. These people know each other's handwriting! The relationship development was rushed and all over the place; one minute they’re enemies (with extremely flimsy reasons for being so) and the next they’re in love, there’s no real gradual progression (literally, it’s like ten pages! At least on Mercy's part it is). They were apart for most of the book dealing with their individual problems, so we hardly get to see them interact meaningfully. Hart crossed the line into cruel too many times while constantly objectifying Mercy in his head — I didn't like him at all. He came across as pathetic and not in a good way.
Hart knowing the truth about the letters and not informing Mercy before sleeping with her also made me very uncomfortable.
  The ending just felt so melodramatic and unnecessary.

I did like the family dynamics and the side characters, especially Penrose Duckers. I just wanted more cohesion of all the various plots and more romantic development. Just... more in general. 

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