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The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen Narrator: Nicol Zanzarella
Series: Hart and Mercy #2
Published by Orbit on July 2, 2024
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 12 hours, 16 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla’s rewarding career patrolling the strange land of Tanria remains a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank's job a lot safer...and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals near an enormous footprint—and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon—they are grateful to be back in action.
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as danger closes in and Twyla and Frank's investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might be the person who has lived next door all along....
I remember when I was in my twenties, I thought fifty was old and I imagined grey hair and Wilford Brimley as the posterchild of what that looked like. Now that I’m much closer to fifty all of those notions seem silly. I’m close to being in the best shape of my life, in a great place in my career, financially stable and have time to do activities with my husband that we love. Fifties look so different now that I’m knocking on the door to it. I was so happy that both Twyla and Frank, the main characters in The Undermining of Twyla and Frank, the second book in the Hart and Mercy series are firmly in their fifties and still living super full lives and are about to have a second chance at love.
Welcome to the town of Eternity where there are portals into the Mist and the land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods. Frank has spent his entire career being a Tanrian Marshall and patrolling the dangerous land to make sure nothing escaped back into Eternity. When Twyla’s husband died, he recommended Twyla, his then neighbor, to become a Marshall and his partner. That was eight years ago and the two have an easy banter and fun working relationship and friendship. They are best friends and easy confidants, so much so everyone in Eternity believes them to be more. No one was more surprised than Twyla when a professor shows up after she and Frank find a baby dragon and shows an interest in Twyla, moving her and Frank very outside of their comfort zone.
I appreciated that this was a love story of two people in their fifties, who had first marriages, raised their kids and now are empty nesters thinking about what they want for themselves. I totally connected with Twyla, who was a mother and often thought of what she was supposed to be doing for others. It is hard to move from that to thinking about what you want and putting yourself first. Twyla also has a bit of baggage from the way her marriage was. She made choices, not realizing what they meant at the time and she wants to make sure her daughter doesn’t make the same mistakes she did. I loved that Frank knew her so well. His first marriage didn’t work out but he seems like such a good man who constantly tries to be there for Twyla and her family. He was fine in the friend zone when he thought Twyla would never want someone after her husband, when he finds out she is entertaining thoughts of dating the professor he needs to decide if he is going to carry his torch forever, or is he going to risk everything they are for more.
This was a fun book. The dragons are cute and it was so much fun that one of them imprinted on Frank. I thought it was easy to understand how the the relationship between Frank and Twyla fell into such a comfortable rhythm. I liked the interactions they had both with different family and friends as they try to figure out the relationship between them. The world is really cool too. Tanria is like the old west, modern technology doesn’t work there and you have to use things that were around when the old gods were trapped there. There are new gods and lore behind them too. You never know when one of them is going to show up to ‘help’ you in your life. The mystery of the death of another Marshal was interesting but I had my suspicions of the culprit early on and was right, still one of the more interesting villain speeches I’ve read.
Overall this story really worked for me and I liked the shift of the romance to couple not in their twenties. It adds some additional depth to the series and I’m glad Megan Bannen took a little risk to tell this love story.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
Nicol Zanzarella is a new to me narrator. She did a good job with the story and I enjoyed her portrayal of both Twyla and Frank. A few of the side characters had some odd voices, specifically Rosie who sounded more like a man. Still for most of the book it was easy to tell who was who and she had a lot of fun with some of the singing phrases.
Listen to a clip:Â HERE
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I had the same feeling about the 50s. I like to read about older protagonists.
Same…It is good to see that some authors are expanding out to have ‘grown up’ characters be more than just a side character to the story
I’m in my 50s but still feel like I’m in my 30s. Age is just a number. And this series sounds so fun! Foster parents to a baby dragon? I’m so in for that. 😀
Awww I’m loving that “older” couples are getting more and more books.
Me too. I take special note when the MCs are 40 and above since they tend to really resonate with me.
I loved this author’s YA books, but just couldn’t get into the first one in this series. But everyone else seems to really like them. Great review!
I believe I liked the 2nd half of the book more than the first on the first book. But I loved You’ve Got Mail, which is what it seemed loosely based on.