In December of 2022 I read Megan Bannen’s The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. I devoured it, it sunk into my soul a bit and left me with big feelings that I had a tough time initially putting into words. When Bannen’s second book, The Undermining of Twyla and Frank was announced I immediately put it on my to read list and was even more excited by Emmalita’s review in June about a love story between two folks in their 50s. When I got my hands on it, I was not disappointed, this was an incredibly good reading experience for me, but it didn’t quite make it to 5-star glory.
Like its predecessor, The Undermining of Twyla and Frank is a Fantasy Romance which blends both genres in ways that help strengthen the other. At its core, this is a friends to lovers story. Frank and Twyla have been neighbors for over 20 years, best friends for more than a decade, and partners at work for the last 8. They are Tanrian Marshals, charged with keeping the magical former prison of the Old Gods safe, but that work has gotten a lot less intense since the drudge problem was solved. As we find them in the story, they’ve got two more years until they retire (Frank can go now, but Twyla needs two more years to be fully vested since she started later) and are planning on opening a Bed and Breakfast on the coast in their shared retirement. These are people who have deeply built a life together but have never crossed the line into romance. There are several reasons for this, and each of them is explored in the book.
I’ve seen some Goodreads reviews complaining that this volume is boring, and while I was never bored, I can see the way in which this slow, thoughtful book might leave people feeling that way. The action of this book is integral to the plot and narrative, but in so many ways it is there to serve the emotional development of its characters, because it’s the discovery of dragons – and a baby dragon attached literally to Frank – that brings new people and new circumstances to their lives. Including a draclogist in short shorts and an ascot.
Bannen writes big, tough emotions and characters who step up in their own lives. For that reason, it makes sense that this book is told only from Twyla’s perspective, but I think Bannen missed the opportunity to do something really interesting from Frank’s, even if it was only a handful of chapters. Twyla is stuck in so many ways, her role as mom and grandmother still dominates so much of how she is viewed by others, and how she views herself. She has also had 13 years as a widow to unpack how unhappy she was much of the time, and how little she trusts the institution (which boils over into how she relates to her children). But the years working as a Marshal have given her another view of herself, and she’s piecing together what it is she wants (and believes she can have), but oh so slowly. There is also a big well of loneliness in her (and Frank) and that is something that Bannen seems truly interested in exploring. How we handle loneliness in our lives says so much about us, as does how these characters seek each other in those times.
So, if I have so much positive to say, why isn’t this book five stars? The mystery of how the dragons were awoken, and who is at the center of the conspiracy that led to a dead Marshal left me uninterested. I was interested in the ways in which these new dragons were researched and how thoroughly Bannen incorporated them into her world (and how much she fleshed out her world – much better worldbuilding this time), but all the other mechanics felt clunky.
Penrose Duckers, however, remains a perfect star and I love him, and I loved his relationship with the older, parental Twyla and Frank as they helped him navigate some choices he needed to make.
Bingo Square: Smash.
CBR16Sweet Books: Cozy.