This book was not my original pick for the Pride square for Bingo, but I’m currently trying to sort out what is going on with my library purchase request for Hers for the Weekend by Helena Greer (it won’t get here in time for me to get it read for Bingo). Also, I hadn’t picked out any seasonal romances for myself this spooky season, and then I saw all the reviews people were doing on Goodreads and felt a bit left out. So here we are with a romance featuring a demisexual undertaker with the title Morbidly Yours to fill that spot.
My enjoyment of this book was rocky from the beginning. I’m currently sitting at a 2.5 rounded up because I felt the narrative was wildly uneven. The pacing was off, it felt a little quick and rushed for me from moment one, but also dragged on. I don’t know how else to describe it.
Morbidly Yours tells the story of a slow burn romance between a young widow who is running from her grief and a socially awkward demisexual undertaker. Lark, our widow, moves to Galway for a 9-month job as an animation director and her apartment is next door to Callum’s family’s Funeral Home. So, what we get here is a neighbors to lovers situation. Callum’s also in a place of personal conflict because his grandfather’s will requires him to be married before his 35th birthday (also conveniently less than a year from the start of the book) in order to inherit the family business, and if he doesn’t his estranged father is going to inherit and immediately sell it to their local competitor.
There was quite a bit I liked – the characters, the slow burn was decently done, the demisexual rep, the grumpy/sunshine vibes, the darker humor when it was there, and everything related to Lark’s friendship with the bad-ass Maeve. But there was nothing that was great. Which is a bummer because there was a lot of potential here. In the negative column we have almost everything related to the reconciling of Lark’s grief and self-imposed punishment for her husband’s death, including all things related to her sister-in-law specific to its pacing, and the lack of focus on Callum’s social anxiety in the back half of the book. There was also a lot of inconsistent decision making from the characters, while also getting stuck in some narrative ruts that made certain sections drag out and not leave room to take the good things and make them great (for example, really digging into how Maeve’s death affects Lark and Callum).
Bingo Square: Pride.
