Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing the final book in the Hart & Mercy series, The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen. I really loved books one and two in this series and have been excited to see what will happen in the third installment. Did I enjoy this one as much as the first two books? Read on to find out!

From the author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy comes a new heartwarming fantasy rom-com with an opposites-attract twist set in the delightful world of Tanria.

Immortal demigod Rosie Fox has been patrolling Tanria for decades, but lately, the job has been losing its luster. After one hundred and fifty-seven years of being alive, everything is beginning to lose its luster. When Rosie dies (again) by electrocution (again) after poking around inside a portal choked with shadowy thorns only she can see, she feels stuck in the rut that is her unending life.

Thanks to Rosie’s meddling, the portal’s inventor, Dr. Adam Lee, must come in person to repair the damage. When all the portals begin to break down, he declares an emergency evacuation of Tanria. In the mad rush to get out, Rosie and Adam end up trapped inside the Mist. Together.

And uptight Adam Lee in his bespoke menswear seems to know a lot more about what’s happening than he lets on….

Rosie is determined to crack the shell of his cool exterior. But the more she learns about Adam, the more she realizes that they both have personal histories as tangled and thorny as the plant that has them trapped inside the Mist. Maybe two people who have found themselves stuck in this life can find a way to unstick each other … just when their time on this earth seems to be running out.

***Thank you to Orbit Books for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam was the weakest book of this series, but it still had a lot I enjoyed. Two things kept me from enjoying this book as much as I’d hoped. First, this story should have centered around Duckers. He’s been the throughline for the entire series. It would have made more sense for the story to wrap up from his perspective. Don’t get me wrong. He had some wonderful moments in this book despite not being the main character. I would have just loved to get even more insight into the repair of his relationship with a certain someone rather than a story about two new characters.

The second thing that didn’t work so well for me in The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam was the plot. The characters were trapped in Tanria alone for most of the story. They didn’t really do much except wander around and cook meals. This did leave space for plenty of fun interpersonal entanglements. However, the story just felt so slow. The mystery was really drawn out while also being super obvious from very early on. I get that the characters being stuck in Tanria was supposed to imitate the feeling of Rosie being stuck in her immortality. It just did it so well that the story suffered for it.

Despite those flaws, I still had a good enough time with The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam. The writing and world-building were great. Bannen is always really good at writing fun character interactions and snippy dialogue. I liked getting to explore a bit more of the history of this world. The way that the myths were entwined with this particular story was interesting and kept me wanting to learn more. I also always love getting to meet the new nimkilim in each of these stories, and the stoner dik-dik didn’t disappoint.

The characters and their interactions were really the heart of The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam since the plot was lacking a lot of forward motion. I liked the opposites attract dynamic between Rosie and Adam. Rosie was crass, impulsive, and super in your face. She did get on my nerves a little sometimes, but for the most part I found her character fun to follow. Her struggle with immortality and the prospect of losing everyone she loves over and over for all eternity added depth to her character. On the other hand, Adam was an adorable little “pocket man.” He was reserved, intensely focused on his work, and kept people at arm’s length. The two characters couldn’t be more different. Yet they worked really well together, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop.

Overall, The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam wasn’t my favorite book in this series, but I always have fun returning to Tanria. I’ll always feel a bit slighted that this story wasn’t told from the POV of Duckers. However, I did enjoy the main pairing despite constantly wishing for MORE DUCKERS. lol. The story added to the world-building in interesting ways despite the plot feeling like wading through molasses at times. With all this in mind, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen. If you enjoy fantasy rom-coms, this is definitely a series you don’t want to miss!