Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks is a debut contemporary romance that explores grief (4/5 stars)

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks is a debut contemporary romance that explores grief. We follow our two main characters with alternating points-of-view.

Callum can only inherit his family’s undertaking business, the only life he’s ever known, under one condition: if me marries before his 35th birthday. Lark, an American animator and illustrator, fled to Galway, Ireland to escape the memories of losing her husband. When Lark befriends Callum and learns of his plight, she agrees to help the introverted mortician find The One.

I picked this one up from Kindle Unlimited, off a recommendation from a booktuber I follow. This was a very solid debut, and I didn’t actually realize it was a debut until after I was done reading. I ended up reading the last 70% of this book in one sitting! I’m excited to read more from the author as she continues to publish.

I really enjoyed the writing and though I wanted them to kiss way earlier, the romance develops well. Callum self-identifies as demisexual, if you’re looking for books with that representation. He also has a slight stutter. There’s some spice here, with dirty talk if that’s your thing.

There is a lot of exploration of grief here, as Callum is grieving his grandfather who raised him after his parents went away, and of course Lark is grieving her husband. I found myself tearing up quite a few times.

Tropes in this book include: slow burn, friends to lovers, friends with benefits, grumpy/sunshine, cinnamon roll hero, neighbors

CW: grief, death of spouse (prior to book), death of parent (prior to book), descriptions of mortuary techniques

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