Reviews - The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

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7.29k reviews for:

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

3.75 ⭐️: I did enjoy this one though it was a bit slow. I just didn’t really get the big deal over the whole letter thing. I think the author made some really interesting g choices for a love story. I’ll certainly read the next one

erikavedder's review against another edition

3.0

I know this book is probably be enjoyed by a lot of readers, it just wasn’t for me. So much is spent “world building” without ever really describing the world. Just a lot of jargon that you have to do your best to pick up along the way. The premise of this book is fantastic. The execution just didn’t grab me. I didn’t hate it, but as much as I wanted to, I also didn’t love it.

deltadam's review

4.0

adventurous funny mysterious sad fast-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Content Warnings

inertia_ash's review against another edition

4.0

cute!

For fans if You’ve Got Mail. Hart and Mercy despise each other, but when Hart decides to write a letter to a “friend”, they realize they may not be so different after all.

This was a cute little read!

brandonstanderson's review

4.0

adventurous emotional lighthearted

ezatuesday's review against another edition

3.75

emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

keepreadingbooks's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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

There are books that blow your mind and change your life, the serious and literary ones, and then there are the books that only humbly aim to make you a little happier, a little more optimistic; the ones that live up to all your expectations of what you needed and wanted at a certain time but won’t win any major prizes. That is The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy for me.

The world-building is nicely complex, good enough to work as a fantasy on its own even without the romance plot, and both the main and secondary characters are fully fleshed out and just dang loveable. There are high stakes (the highest!!) and real problems that our love interests have to navigate. I don’t know that cosy fantasy romance can be done any better than this, honestly.

I do have one tiny issue with a scene in the book. It’s no secret that it’s heavily inspired by You’ve Got Mail, and I just happened to rewatch the film a few weeks after reading this (first time as an adult, so I couldn’t remember the details beforehand), and while I am fine with the rather big inspiration the film provided for the romance plot of the book, I realised that the café scene in both are almost identical. That bugged me a little, because certainly the same could have been achieved in a slightly different manner to make it more unique and original. As for the rest of the inspiration, The Undertaking fixes a lot of things that haven’t aged well in the You’ve Got Mail plot, and thank goodness for that!

I can’t wait to read more books from this universe, so of course I’ve already ordered the sequel.