So I really loved the undertaking of hart and mercy and was super excited to get into this one but unfortunately I don’t think it lived up to my expectations. It was cute and I really appreciated the later in life romance aspect as a fresh new take on the genre but I didn’t quite fall in love with twyla and Frank.

The first half of the book was quite slow and there’s a lot of exposition you have to pull through to get to plot points that made me feel like it was going a bit sluggishly. I can tell however that the author really cares about the world they’ve created and I do appreciate the originality of it all.

It did pick up in the last third of the book but unfortunately this hasn’t been a love 🙁

Review will be posted 4th July on Goodreads linked below.

“I know better than to make you face the day without caffeine, darlin’.”

Middle-aged protagonists
Cosy fantasy
Second chance at love
Dragons & Demi-gods
Best friends to lovers

This is the stand-alone second book to The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, having loved the first book I was over the moon at the chance to read the digital ARC. I wasn't sure if the second book could live up to the first but boy did Megan Bannen deliver!

This story follows middle-aged divorced/widowed best friends Twyla and Frank who work together as Tanrian Marshals. They are joined in the story by the ever hilarious Duckers to investigate a murder of their colleague and soon discover the existence of dragons. The mystery element of the story was interesting and I definitely did not see the villain coming.

You could see early on how much the protagonists loved each other, they have been best friends for years and it's clear they would do anything for each other. Frank is super swoon-worthy and romantic, Twyla is hard-working and dedicated, she was so blind to love it was infuriating at times but overall I loved her journey. Overall the romance was sweet and a little steamy. This story continues to build on the unique town of Eternity and we get to meet some old and new very lovable characters.

Overall, I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. It made me laugh and filled my heart with so much love. It was cosy, beautifully written and well paced, I actually think I preferred it over the first (which I loved!). I hope there's more stories to come from this series.

Thank you so much to the author, Megan Bannen, the publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would give this book a million stars if I could. I loved everything about it. Especially the characters being in their fifties. I'm only 40 but I'm a mum and I've never felt more seen in a book. It was beautiful and heartbreaking. Every married man should read this book.
I'm also the biggest Duckers stan now and need his book, like, yesterday.

“The Undermining of Twyla and Frank” is a cosy fantasy written by Megan Bannen. A sweet, light and fun book, characterized by effervescent prose, a fast pace and short chapters. The simple, but at the same time enchanting setting captured me with its quaint small town, dragons and much more. The mystery part of the novel convinced me, but most of all I loved the characters! Twyla and Frank are two fantastic protagonists, portrayed in a splendid way, and with wonderful development. But then we want to talk about the fact that they are two middle-aged people? It's not something I read often in fantasy books, so I really appreciated it! I admit that I'm not particularly fond of friends to lovers, but the development of their relationship convinced me! I found it tender, well analyzed, and mixed with a slow burn really slooow that made me sweat on several occasions!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to move to Eternity and fall in love and have a pet dragon. Is that too much to ask for?

I loved Hart and Mercy’s story and was a bit doubtful if the second book in the series would live up to the hype, but MY GOD it does! Frank was a swoony MMC and Twyla was our blind to love FMC and I loved both of their characters so much. The character arcs for both of them was spot on. The slow burn (which I normally hate) was written so well in this book.

Two best friends falling in love with each other in their early fifties is my new favourite trope. It was such a genuine and comfy love between them and it made me so happy and feel all the feels.

And DRAGONS!!!! I’m a dragon girl so this was everything. I honestly hope more than anything there are more books in this series.

Thank you, Netgalley and Orbit for providing me an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

4,5 stars*

The Undermining of Twyla and Franks is set a year after the events of its prequel, the Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. We follow Twyla and Frank, who are middle-aged Tanrian marshals, friends and neighbours. Everything has been quiet ever since Tanria has been cleared of the undead. Twyla and Frank miss the excitement sometimes. Everything changes after they find the corpse of a fellow marshal covered in glitter. Together with Duckers, they need to solve a mystery.

After really enjoying the first instalment of this series, this book became one of my most anticipated reads of 2024. I am happy to say this book delivered. I really enjoyed this book. It had me giggling on multiple occasions. I absolutely loved Twyla and Frank together, and their slow burn romance was absolutely perfect. I also loved that both characters were middle-aged instead of young adults.

Even though this story is a standalone sequel, I would recommend reading The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy first. There are a lot of little nods to the first book in this book, and I think it would be a shame to miss those. That being said, I recommend this series to everyone who likes cozy fantasy books.

The first book in the series definitely took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it, so I was lining up to read this one for sure

Set in the same World as Hart and Mercy, we now follow Twyla and Frank, who became each others support following the ending of their previous relationships years prior. Now colleagues, and best friends, they have a retirement plan for a couple of years time... but neither could have anticipated how this most recent investigation would go

Since Hart solved the Undead issue, being a Marshall has been a pretty quiet job, however, a body is found covered in glitter and next to a massive set of footprints... could the Mythical Dragon thought to be extinct be the culprit

Enter dragon expert, Quill, who catches Twylas eye. But what does this mean for her and Frank's friendship, and what does it mean for their world if dragons turn out to be alive and kicking

This story was great, and I loved Twyla and Frank's dynamic. It was also great to catch up again with characters from the first book and see how they are doing a year down the line.

If you loved the first book, or love a cozy mysterious small town fantasy romance, you'll love this. Out July and thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown/Orbit books for the early review copy, as always, all opinions my own regardless

The first book of this series was such an instant favourite of mine. I couldn’t wait for this one! And it’s just as good! Perfect balance of a cute romance in a fantasy setting. I hope there will be more :)

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was already such a fun little read and this second book was no exception. First of all, I loved the characters. Reading about middle-aged protagonists was so refreshing, they should be represented more in fantasy literature. Their development was also really touching. Second of all, the plot was really entertaining, I mean dragons? I’m always here for it (even tho those ones are pink, yes, pink, you heard me!) The pacing was good and it was nice to read more about characters that were introduced in the first book (Twyla, Frank but also Pen). I also loved the fact that we get to meet Hart and Mercy again at a given point in the story. Overall, I would characterize Megan Bannen series as fun as particular!

I loved Frank and Twyla's story. Did I love it as much as Hart and Mercy's? No, but it was a very close second.

It was so obvious from the off how the two felt about each other and I felt like yelling at them both sometimes to get a clue.

I didn't like Quill, I wondered if he had a second agenda and also I did not like Twyla's family. I found them very demanding and unappreciative of Twyla and her time.

I found the book to be a little slow in that there wasn't much action until the last few chapters but I loved seeing Twyla and Frank navigate their friendship and explore their feelings for each other.

The easiest 5 star read of the year so far! I loved Hart & Mercy and tbh didn’t think the author could top it so I went in with lower expectations, but it actually turned out to be everything for me. I have never related to a book character so much as I do Twyla. Just everything she thought about motherhood, middle age and marriage was completely me! 😂
I laughed so hard at times because it was a true reflection of life after marriage and children. But I also loved the second chance at love and even more so the decisions they made in their relationship at the end. Frank is my new hero!

I have such fond memories of the first book: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, that when I saw this book, I squealed. Audibly. I could not WAIT to read this book and boy did it deliver on all fronts.

It just made me so happy and I was left with such a warm fuzzy feel good, immediately wanted to go back and relive it. It took me a few chapters to truly sink into it, but once I was in, I was absolutely hooked! It was super addicting and I always looked forward to cosying back up with this fantasy and getting stuck back into the pages. I just love the world this is set in!!

And I adore the characters. Twyla and Frank’s relationship was so wholesome and their dynamic was perfection. And also - dragons! Need I say more?!

Couldn’t give it less than 5/5 if I tried!

3.5/4🌟

Having absolutely adored the undertaking of hart & mercy I was so excited to get an arc copy of this book!

I loved getting back to this world and finding out about Tanria after what happened at the end of the previous book. It was nice getting more Duckers who was a favourite from the first book, and the little glimpses of Hart & Mercy.

I loved Frank & Twyla’s friendship and how you could feel how comfortable and happy they were just being with each other even though they didn’t realise they were in love for ages. Their banter was so funny and how they were with Duckers too! The dragons were also such great characters and I love that they ended up making a sanctuary for them.

Some things I didn’t massively like was that it was a very very slow burn with nothing really happening romantically until at least 60/70%, and then the third act breakup which I just didn’t see needed to happen at all - I do get where Frank was coming from, but I feel like he would’ve sat down and spoken to her about it rather than doing it how he did. I guess I just felt a little less into it by the end because of how long it took.

Im not sure what other stories could be told in this world now that Tanria is so different from how it was before, but I would still be very excited to come back to it!

This book accomplished perfectly what it wanted to do, which was tell a sweet love story about middle-aged best friends becoming lovers in the very entertaining world from The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. I thought the third-act break-up felt a little bit forced, but I must say I enjoyed myself enormously all the same.

I absolutely loved Megan Bannen's first book in this series and was thrilled to return to the beautifully thought out world she has invented, with its carefully constucted customs and religions. This book picks up around a year after the first, and the Marshalls who patrol the world of Tanria, the prison where the New Gods had imprisoned the Old Gods, are finding their work a ittle, well, dull now the drudges, body stealing zombie souls, have been vanquished. With the danger in Tanria now reduced to the odd smuggler, there is even some consideration being given to whether Marshalls are needed at all.

Twyla just needs two more years of the lucrative work to finish putting her youngest child through medical school, and then she and her professional partner and best friend Frank can retire and set up the ranch they have been planning. But the discovery that dragons might not be the myth everyone thought they were and the interest an eminent dragon scholar shows Twyla changes everything in her comfortable if predictable life. Widowed after a long and often unsatisfactory marriage, Twyla has no interest in romance, but she can't deny it's nice to be wanted. Only she can't work out why Frank is being so odd about it.

A gorgeous When Harry Met Sally crossed with Shirley Valentine about a middle aged grandmother finding herself again alongside a slow burn friends to lovers with added dragons. Clever, inventive and highly enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Netgalley, Megan, and their publishing team for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for a review.

I was thrilled to return to the worlds of Eternity and Tanria to see where the story would lead. The book chronicles the escapades of Twyla and Frank, two marshals from Tanria in their fifties nearing retirement, whose routine jobs take a dramatic twist. Not only do they stumble upon the corpse of a fellow marshal, but they also unearth a concealed Tanrian treasure: dragons that emit glitter, no less.

In parallel, there is a simmering friends-to-lovers storyline between Twyla and Frank. In summary, I award this book a resounding five stars and eagerly anticipate its release to make a purchase.

I loved the first book but the second just didn't hit the spot the same! The main characters just didn't hit the spot.

This is inspired by When Harry Met Sally. Although it doesn't particularly follow the same plot,

The dragons! Throwing up glitter was a hilarious choice. But there was just so much that didn't work for me. Twyla complains a LOT about being "old/average".

The book was honestly less about the relationship between Frank and Twyla and more so about Twyla coming into her own as an individual person rather than being "just" a mom/wife/ widow. it definitely felt like a book about a middle-aged woman coming into her own again after having children and being relegated to being seen only as a mother/motherly figure. Which is great if that's the story you want to tell! But it wasn't what I expected/wanted

Such a good, heartwarming read in an interesting world that pulls you in. An easy read that I would definitely recommend, especially if you enjoyed The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. Refreshing character ages and stories.

I had so much fun reading this. I loved the first book in the series and when I found out there was a sequel - with an older couple as the main focus I requested it immediately. It is so refreshing to read a romance story about a couple in a fantasy novel that are not either a) a young woman and 1000 year old person/God/other generic fantasy creature or b) two young people. I really enjoyed the way this book tackles a lot of important topics such as sexism and gender roles, family, the conflict of work/life and also with a unique take on dragons as well. There were also MULTIPLE scenes that had me gasping with laughter. Those of you who have read it will know what I mean when I say the pillow case scene. While there were certain things in the novel that did get a bit annoying as a reader e.g the amount Twyla says "ope!" Is quite noticeable - the relationships between the characters more than make up for it.
I will definitely be rereading this!

Gosh, I absolutely loved this book and I don't even know where to start with this review.

This book was magical, hilarious, and incredibly romantic. It had me grinning like a dork while reading because it was just so swoon-worthy.

The story is set in the town of Eternity, where widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker and her neighbor Frank Ellis join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, they are still patrolling the dangerous lands of Tanria, despite the misgivings of Twyla's grown children. Twyla, who seems like a small-town mom, finds her career in law enforcement a refreshing change from domestic life. Their job takes an unexpected turn when they discover a fellow marshal's body covered in liquid glitter and Frank ends up fostering a baby dragon. As they delve into a deep and dangerous plot, Twyla realizes that her true soul mate might have been her best friend and neighbor all along.

I found it refreshing to see a story about two 53 year old best friends, and their slow-burning romance had me on the edge of my seat.

I love how the author, Megan, delves into the societal expectations on women, particularly their "place" inside a marriage and the pressures to fit society's standards of beauty. It felt like she was speaking to every married woman who has learned to love their new body and is trying to stop fitting into everyone else's expectations.

I seriously loved Frank and Twyla's story, which was based on trust, companionship, and friendship that turned into the most beautiful love ever.

A big thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Megan Bannen for sending this book my way in exchange for my honest review.