Synopsis
Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?
Review
I’m so glad I finally read this and that I already have the second one ready. It came highly recommended and I can understand why my friend enjoyed it a lot.
There aren’t a lot of books where I enjoy the romance and the world building and the plot. One always seems to be great at the expense of the other. And while this romance wasn’t perfect either, I still enjoyed seeing them find each other. I do wish it had involved less lying (even by omission) and think that their feelings weren’t as well-developed as they could’ve been. They had reasons to dislike each other and I liked seeing how they worked their way around that, but their obsession for each other was a bit quick for me and I would’ve appreciated more communication between them.
The world building was great though. It did take me a little bit to understand some aspects of it, but I enjoy having fantasy worlds that also have more tech than the average fantasy book seems to have. I don’t think everything needs to be explained to see how they can coexist and that was done well here. It just felt right in this world.
One of the highlights of the book for me were the side characters. Those so often get left behind in stories but here they really shone. Duckers could’ve easily been a character I’d hate but I somehow found him hilarious and the nimkilim added great comic relief as well. They just always seemed to have the perfect lines right when a breather was needed.
The two MCs were fun as well. I liked how different they were but you could also see why they’d work well together. Rather than an opposites attract situation, they complemented each other well and it was satisfying to see how they worked that out.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot that’s not related to the romance. It did feel that it took a bit to get going, but it was fun to see hints here and there once you realized what was happening. It was a great way to tie together the world building and the characters and their histories. I really enjoyed it. The ending overall was a bit dramatic and employed a trope that I don’t usually enjoy, but here it did feel like a good fit rather than an excuse to undo something significant.
I’m really looking forward to the next book and am glad the wait for the third one won’t be too long either.
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