With Morbidly Yours, debut author Ivy Fairbanks delivers an enchanting friends-to-lovers romantic dramedy.
A clever, immersive opening sets the tone: Lark Thompson, an upbeat, 29-year-old widow originally from Austin, Tex., mistakenly receives a box containing "five body bags, adult size" at her rental apartment in Galway, Ireland. Bewildered, cowboy boot-clad Lark sets out to deliver the misrouted package next door to Willow Haven, which she believes is a bed-and-breakfast. Instead, Lark finds a funeral home run by Callum Flannelly, a single, 34-year-old piano-playing undertaker who has social anxiety and speaks with a stutter. Both Lark and Callum face challenges that keep their lives in respective states of unrest.
After the sudden death of Lark's husband--a detail she guiltily conceals from Callum--she moved overseas to take on a nine-month assignment as a cartoon creator and animator. But once she meets deeply sensitive Callum, the two spend time together and strike up a friendship. Lark becomes determined to find shy, insecure Callum a wife before he turns 35 so he won't have to forfeit the family business, as required in his grandfather's will. During this pursuit, the relationship between Lark and Callum unexpectedly deepens.
Lark's and Callum's grief and reticence to fall in love anchor this lively first novel. Gaelic charm and a sweet, simmering romance, coupled with tender plot dilemmas driven by a well-drawn, small-town cast, lend hopeful buoyancy to the novel's more serious themes. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines