Book Review: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen was recommended to me by a writing friend. It's a little known romantasy with companion books set in the same world: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank and The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam. While there aren't awards pouring in (a crime!) the book is utterly charming. 

Hart works as pretty much a zombie hunter/guard of the zombie zone, whose job is to prevent the zombies from getting to the general public. Mercy runs her father's mortuary, although isn't given the credit and a competitor is trying to shut them out of the market. Hart often brings zombie bodies to Mercy, but the two had a miscommunication early and haven't gotten along since. When Hart writes and anonymous letter to a friend, the magic post brings it to Mercy, and they begin an anonymous pen pal exchange. But when Hart's new apprentice gets involved and more zombies than ever are running amok, Hart and Mercy can't help but put aside their issues and admit there might be more going on than they thought. 

I liked Hart and Mercy as stand alone characters, each going through more than just falling in love. The world was interesting but not so intricate or busy that the romantic vibe was lost. It was cozy as in not world-ending in scope but had meat to the bones of the plot. The romance felt earned and deep.

On the downside, the bad blood between then began as a misunderstanding, which is one of my least favorite tropes to set up dislike or tension. But maybe I'm just a talker.


This book is for you if you enjoyed the secret-identity pen pal romance of Divine Rivals, the cozier world building of The Phoenix Keeper, and if you enjoy zombies minus the gore. This book is not for you if you're looking for a horror-genre zombie book, if you're looking for epic fantasy, or if you want a hard magic system.

I'm probably going to read the other two books in this world. Have you read them all? Who's your favorite couple of the three? Let's discuss in the comments.