Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen Narrator: Jim Frangione, Kacie Rogers
Series: Hart and Mercy #3
Published by Orbit on July 8, 2025
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 10 hours, 15 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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Immortal demigod Rosie Fox has been patrolling Tanria for decades, but lately, the job has been losing its luster. After one hundred and fifty-seven years of being alive, everything is beginning to lose its luster. When Rosie dies (again) by electrocution (again) after poking around inside a portal choked with shadowy thorns only she can see, she feels stuck in the rut that is her unending life.
Thanks to Rosie’s meddling, the portal’s inventor, Dr. Adam Lee, must come in person to repair the damage. When all the portals begin to break down, he declares an emergency evacuation of Tanria. In the mad rush to get out, Rosie and Adam end up trapped inside the Mist. Together.
And uptight Adam Lee in his bespoke menswear seems to know a lot more about what’s happening than he lets on….
Rosie is determined to crack the shell of his cool exterior. But the more she learns about Adam, the more she realizes that they both have personal histories as tangled and thorny as the plant that has them trapped inside the Mist. Maybe two people who have found themselves stuck in this life can find a way to unstick each other … just when their time on this earth seems to be running out.
I believe this is the last book in the Hart and Mercy  series and it sticks the landing solidly. The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam begins about ten years after the events of the prior books. Duckers finally found a partner who will stick with him in Rosie, well at least most of the time when she isn’t dead. Rosie has finally hit the portal into the Tanria and the mist one too many times and this time it isn’t coming back on and they have to send for the inventor to fix it. Except it isn’t Rosie’s fault this time, there is a spectral vine growing in the gates causing issues and soon it will overgrow in all the gates to Tanria.
Rosie has died about a hundred times. It is never fun and usually freaks people out. She had a hard time keeping a partner as Marshall until Duckers was assigned to her. They’ve been partners for years and always have each other’s backs. The relationship they have built over this years is a lot like family and I love the way they tease one another. They are assigned to watch out and protect Adam, the inventor of the portals when he comes to fix them. Soon it is realized that everyone needs to evacuate Tanria because all of the gates could fail at any time. And while there is water in Tanria, a normal human wouldn’t be survive for long since there isn’t any food except ambrosia and that isn’t going to work.
Rosie and Adam get stuck in Tanria when the gates fail, along with Duckers and a very surprised Zetti, new chef to the dragon preserve’s fancy restaurant. Rosie has had a small crush on Adam since meeting five years ago. While others might see him as dry and boring, she understands his deadpan wit and loves it. As they get to know each other, they find that maybe they have more in common than they knew and Adam probably understands just what is it is like to live long enough to watch all those around you die. The slow build of their relationship is delicious as Rosie drags Adam out of his isolation and sees what a caring man he is under that tweed suit.
Bonus for all the Duckers and Zetti fans. As they are also stuck in Tanria, they have some forced proximity to assist in hashing out the feelings between them. It has been ten years since they broke up and Zetti came back to Eternity even hotter than when he left. He has also made something of himself. But there is a history there and some baggage to dig through before the end.
I liked the lore to this story and role that Rosie’s trickster father played. Both in the long ago lore of the thief trying to steal immortality and in the substantial daddy issues Rosie has. It appears that Adam also has some issues with Rosie’s dad just to round some things out.  Rosie and Adam will have to make some hard choices to set the world right, do some much needed pruning and find a way to save their friends. They will also need to tame some of Adam’s issues with Dragons, he has his reasons but I don’t think he is used to the new to poodle like variety now in Tanria.
The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is a great place to wrap up the series. It gave us solid insight to the characters of the prior books and set Tanria to rights. I am happy with the ending to the story and the series. It seemed fitting and I felt at peace seeing where the dragon refuge and most of the characters ended up in life.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
I was really happy a different narrator was selected for this book. Kacie Rogers fit Rosie’s voice really well and made her feel like someone who came from the roaring twenties. She captured both the fun of Rosie and the solemnity of Adam. Jim Frangione did a really good job as well but only played a bit role as he was the narrator for the lore that set up this entire story. Overall a good combination.
Listen to a clip:Â HERE
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- 🎧 The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen @MeganBannen #JimFrangione #KacieRogers ‪@orbitbooks.bsky.social‬ #LoveAudiobooks @orbitbooks @RobinBridgeFour - July 7, 2025
- 🎧 The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen @MeganBannen #NicolZanzarella ‪@orbitbooks.bsky.social‬ #LoveAudiobooks #JIAM @orbitbooks - June 30, 2025
- 🎧 The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst ‪@sarahbethdurst.bsky.social‬ #CaitlinDavies ‪@macmillanaudio.bsky.social‬‬ #LoveAudiobooks #JIAM @RobinBridgeFour - June 27, 2025
I really want to check this entire series out! Every book in it sounds so good.
I’ve enjoyed them. Cute series in an interesting world
I enjoyed this author’s YA books, and she is a local author that even came and spoke to the students at the last school where I was a librarian. I tried the first one but just couldn’t get into it sadly. I’m glad it ended good enough for you though. Great review!
Nice! I love supporting local authors. I’ll have to check out her YA series.
The lore and story sound interesting!!
Yes…also each story is really different. I love that.