Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks Book Review
| Pub Date | July 25, 2023 |
| Publisher | Lassen Press |
| Page Count | 328 pages |
| Genre | Romance, Contemporary, Adult |
| Goodreads Star Rating | 3.96 |
| My star rating | 3.8 |
Morbidly Yours Book Summary
Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks is a romantic comedy about Callum, an Irish mortician who has to marry to keep his business and Lark, a recently widowed woman who moves in next to him. They couldn’t be more different, and yet as they grow closer, they start falling in love (despite all the reasons they shouldn’t).
Morbidly Yours Book Review
If there’s one thing I can confidently say about this book, it’s that it’s entertaining. I had a blast reading it, for the most part, and sometimes, that’s all that matters. Especially since I’ve been having bad luck with romance lately.
It’s also a well-written story, so you won’t cringe at the prose while reading it — at least I didn’t. The dialogue flows smoothly and there are some truly poignant parts that will make you tear up. The setting is stunning, though it feels a little small. And of course, I loved Callum as a male lead.
Authors so often write broody, manly-man love interests and it’s so refreshing to read one that’s soft and anxious, and not over-confident. Callum is a sweetheart, and it carries throughout — there’re no cringey personality changes when it comes to spicy scenes, and not once is he anything but his lovely, stuttering self. He also doesn’t overcome his stutter thanks to the powers of love, which I adored.
Unfortunately, this book wasn’t a perfect read for me either.
For one, I believe it suffers from having too much going on, especially elements that don’t feel realistic, necessary, or true to the characters.
Take Callum, for example. His grandparents left him the mortuary business — but only if he marries by the time he’s 35. If he doesn’t, the business will be inherited by his father, who intends to sell it to the highest bidder. The problem is, Callum loves his job, his house, his community.
But he also doesn’t want to marry someone he doesn’t love, and he is demisexual, so it’s a problem for him to feel any attraction to people he doesn’t know.
The thing is, his whole personality would have been enough of an obstacle for his romance with Lark, even without the silly forced marriage plot. It detracts from the heart of the story, of two people finding each other in unlikely circumstances, just for the sake of a little bit of comedy and drama at the end (which gets resolved last-minute, way too easily).
And Lark has enough baggage of her own. With her husband’s death and her guilt over it, the job and the new environment she’s in. Plus, she’s a bubbly, extroverted person where Callum is shy and quiet.
There’s a side plot for her as well, where her co-worker is horrible to her and ends up stealing her work. Which again, didn’t feel exactly necessary to the story.
But all of these little side plots only water down what really matters. Morbidly Yours is at its best when it allows Lark and Callum to connect honestly, without pretenses or plots pushing them together.
It would have been a much stronger book if it focused on the two of them — a heartbroken widow (perhaps struggling with her art?) and a shy mortician falling in love. Set in Ireland, with the two of them visiting beautiful vistas, and exploring grief and letting go, it would have been beautiful.
As an aside, all of the side plots and events feel a little infantile. They’re both over thirty — her, with a successful, loving marriage behind her — so some of their quirks and internal monologue felt contrived. That is not the way people would behave or think at that age, at least not in my experience.
But overall, if you’re looking for a well-written, fun little rom-com, this is a good choice. It has all the hallmarks of an early 2000’s rom com movie, some spice, and tons of sweet and swoony moments. Keep in mind that it also gets dark at several points, especially when it discusses grief, and that there are many gory images of dead bodies and what happens to them in the mortuary (be warned if you’re squeamish).
