Thanks to NetGalley for proving me an ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Bless Your Heart is a wild mystery/horror novel that keeps the action continuously moving and readers guessing about what will happen next. As someone who doesn't care for a lot of blood and violence (and this definitely had plenty!), it was never enough to make me want to stop reading.

The book centers around four generations of Evans women, three adults who run a funeral home, and the daughter, Luna, who is in high school. There is essentially a zombie outbreak (called strigoi in the book) and the Evans women have to put a stop to it.

The Good:
This was fast-paced and kept me guessing as to who the next victim would be and how the story was going to eventually play out.

The Bad:
It took me half the book to remember who was who with the Evans. I think it would have been cleaner to have just had three generations instead of four.

I understand zombies biting and killing people but I didn't understand how the strigoi clawed people to death with just their fingers. That made no sense to me.

I didn't care for the ending. The actual master strigoi was obvious so it made the reveal very anti-climatic. I also didn't like that Lenore's mother and daughter both died. It was too much and she and Luna didn't appear that affected by the huge trauma and loss that they suffered. I think the ending left the story with the possibility of a sequel, otherwise it was an odd choice to leave it open-ended.

Final Takeaway:
This was an interesting book and I liked getting out of my comfort zone with this genre. However, it just didn't deliver in the end for me. I give the plot a 7 out of 10 and the characters a 6 out of 10 with an overall grade of a C-.

One of my biggest hang-ups with "Bless Your Heart" is that the marketing synopsis isn't technically wrong, but it is definitely misleading (and the cover is even more misleading). Regardless of that aspect, this still wasn't a particularly good book. The book was lackluster enough that I considered quitting about 20-25% in, but powered through (mostly because it's not very long). Now, I can say that I wouldn't have missed much if I had just given up.

Despite being a short-ish book, there was a LOT of repetition, lots of overly-descriptive nonsense, and quite a bit of completely unnecessary filler information/scenes. Far too many people bit their lip/tongue/cheek 'hard enough to bleed' and/or wound clocks until their hand bled. And how many butterscotch candies can one woman actually eat in a day?! But the writing was also simultaneously, frustratingly vague; for example, That Godawful Mess was referenced far too many times for far too long before it was finally addressed.

I've seen some chatter that there's going to be a sequel, which makes some of the story (or lack thereof) make a little more sense. However, I'm pretty sure I won't be bothering to find and read the sequel whenever it appears.

3 stars

I was expecting this to have more of a dark comedy vibe, a la Grady Hendrix, but it ended up being light on the laughs and heavier on the horror and gore than I was expecting. As a horror fan, that wasn't an issue for me; I just had to adjust my expectations while reading.

I enjoyed the multigenerational aspect and the setting of a Southern family funeral parlor, but wish all four of the Evans women had been more developed, especially Grace and Lenore. I often had trouble differentiating which woman was narrating between those two.

The ending felt too rushed, especially the action sequence. The ending in general felt unsatisfying, but I've since learned there is a sequel in the works, which explains why some things felt unresolved. I'm not sure I was invested enough in the characters to read the sequel, but I'll decide that when the time comes.

If you are looking for an excellent vampire read set in the Deep South, look no further! You are going to love this amazing read! The protagonists and the plot truly sizzle, no pun intended!

Set in Beaumont, TX, Bless Your Heart is a slow-burn small town horror novel that was just the right amount of slice-of-life and strange/gruesome/weird that kept me reading until the very end.
I would say this book’s overall feel is B-movie horror( I mean this in the best way possible). It’s campy and pulpy good fun. I enjoyed the idea of inter-generational group of women fighting the undead. Lindy Ryan’s depictions of horrific scenes were just the right amount of shocking and gory, yet were paced out enough so that my brain could recuperate from the jarring scenes.
I was pleasantly surprised that the backdrop of the book is Beaumont, Texas in 1999, a time and place near and dear to my heart. I live very close to this town and was a middle schooler during this time! I enjoyed the author’s nod to southeast Texas restaurants(Rao’s,y’all!), shops (Parkdale Mall!),and the overall feeling of home and nostalgia in this book.
I will gladly pick up another book by Lindy Ryan and look forward to what she has coming up after this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

really good book and lots of suspense, you will love the mystery and have no trouble finishing this one

This book has it all, romance, horror, mystery, small town vibes. I loved the family of strong women who all have their secrets. I thought the gore and sweet family moment were in perfect balance of not too sappy or slasher. Will definitely read for this author in the future.

This book was INTENSE from start to finish!
First of all check trigger warnings for this one, the gore side of this book was a bit much for me and I feel I need to warn about that.
Other than that, this book was really good. I loved the characters and was getting attached to so many of them. I feel like if this was just a book about all these characters living normal lives (without the vampires) I would have also loved that.
The storyline itself, I found to be very well thought out and had me wanting to know what was going to happen next and how it was going to tie together.
I did have my suspicions about a few things and ended up being right, but I didn’t really mind that.
Overall this was a good book that kept my heart racing and me wanting to find out how it was all going to finally end!
I really enjoyed the ending, you could feel all the raw emotion the author put into this and it was just very heartfelt.
Thank you Lindy Ryan and NetGalley for my arc copy, I am leaving this review on my own.

I was totally in for this work which immediately made me think of Southern Book Clubs Guide to Killing Vampires. Would recommend! Thanks for the arc

The Evans women are the owners of the only funeral parlor in town. When the dead die, they busy them. The end. That’s how it’s always been.

But when town gossips Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead, its clear that the original vampires are back. Good thing the Evans women are there to fight to put them back.

As more folks in town end up dead, the deputies begin asking questions and the Evans women must figure out who’s behind the vampires return. As the saying goes, what goes up, must go down. As secrets are revealed, the Evans family must face that sometime, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.

This was a quick and interesting read. I thought that it was a fun take on a horror story, though it wasn’t exactly dark horror, more lighthearted horror or horror adjacent. The Evans family was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to know their characters, but I felt that this book was a little bogged down. There were so many points of view in the book I don’t think that we got to know any of the characters on a deeper level. I wish that that this one would have been told through maybe 2 to 3 points of view and we could have gotten to know them on a deeper, less superficial level. The story itself however was rather compelling and kept the story moving. I do feel like this book was a little slower than I would have preferred, it took a while for things to pick up and take off and I would have preferred we got to the meat of the story a little quicker. I felt that by the time we knew what was going on the book was almost over and there wasn’t time to finalize things nicely, and therefore I felt the ending was a little rushed. I do think that this book had a lot of potential, and it was a fun quick read. I would recommend it to some looking for a lighthearted horror read.

Thank you so much to the publisher, St Martins Press @StMartinsPress and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Four generations of the Evans family (Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna) run the local funeral parlor in their small Texas town. But when a series of grisly attacks begins in their home town, the Evans family must reveal their biggest family secret to the youngest amongst them--the Evans women fight vampires. To save themselves and their community, they must figure out who has risen--and put them down.

With a gripping prologue that hooks you and doesn't let go, this story is a supernatural mystery-lover's delight. Starring a curmudgeonly granny, a bumbling police force, and a teenager trying to grapple with her family's *second* family business, there's lot to love here.

If you enjoy a good supernatural murder mystery, give this one a shot. You won't be disappointed.

I have NO idea what the hell I just read, but I was THOROUGHLY entertained and enjoyed every second of this.

The southern element really shined through - do yourself a favor and read this entire thing with a southern accent for peak enjoyment!

Phew! I don’t know if I’m exhilarated or exhausted, but for a horror novel, I’m suffering from a crazy amount of emotional upheaval. This is not a perfect book, but it’s entertaining and engaging - I read it very quickly. Horror is not my preferred genre, but there’s something about female written horror that draws me in (I’m looking at you, Rachel Harrison). Maybe the relationships and connections between characters? Whatever it is, I’m here for it.

I received a copy of this book from Minotaur Books.

3 ⭐️

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. ❤️

This book is set in SE Texas and features multiple generations of Evan's women who run a funeral parlor, but all is not as meet the eye. What appears to be a run of the mill business is actually a strigoi or ghoul assassination business only, Luna, the youngest of the evans family isn’t yet aware of the actual business or what it entails. Bless your heart takes you through their journey to saving the town and carrying on the generational knowledge to keep the future safe.

I found it to be a bit show to fully immerse myself into which I found interesting bc I really enjoy this genre.

This was such a fun vampire novel!!! As a lifelong Southerner, I was completely charmed by this book even if it was about vampires. From mulitgenerational women characters to the small town Texas funeral parlor setting, everything about this book was just great. I really enjoyed this one.

I had a thing for funeral homes ever since “six feet under,” and I enjoyed the women running this one. Horror, sometimes gruesome, a vampire, and four strong women; this story does not disappoint.

This book was an absolute joy to read. If I had to describe it, it’s almost like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Practical Magic had a baby, and that baby was the four badass Evans women who kept their sleepy little Texas town safe from the restless dead.

I could not put this book down, and I especially enjoyed the multiple point of view chapters. This writing style also ensured that I kept reading. Most of the chapters ended on cliffhangers that weren’t resolved until later, and I absolutely needed to know what happened next.

I loved this book, and will definitely be purchasing a physical copy once it’s published. Thank you Lindy Ryan, for writing this awesome book, and to the publisher for this ARC from NetGalley.

I love reading new authors to find one I love even if I really don’t have time to add more to my list. I started this because both the blurb and the cover drew me in. I recently finished this, and I’m a little conflicted. I did really enjoy this book, but I think it needs to be reduced in pages a bit since it’s a little wordy in places. Also, they mention the “bad” guys as strigori, but I saw them as more zombies than vampires. Which brings me to my next point: gore. I don’t mind that at all, but this is a warning for those who do. Like I stated at the beginning, I really enjoyed this book. I also forgot at times that this novel takes place in the 90s even if the time frame of the events doesn’t matter, but it was a little nostalgic for me anyway when things were mentioned from that time. I’ll definitely read the next one in the series…and there has to be after a little thing at the end. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

This was just a meh for me. First off, do not judge the book by its cover, I thought this was going to be cozy mystery type and it was NOT. It was a slightly gruesome horror story which don’t get me wrong, I love a good horror story, I just found it lacking in some areas.

This is very descriptive at points so if you don’t do well with the idea of descriptive and horrific images I would stay away from this one.

It mixes the charming south with a classic monster story to bring you a gruesome yet adventurous horror story. It was well written I just needed more I guess? I usually can see images as I’m reading a book and I did not have that with this book.

Maybe I just didn’t connect with it. It was still good and I’ll still recommend it to people it just wasn’t unforgettable if that makes sense.

I just could not get into this book. Undead, southern beauty parlor, vampire slayers. Yeah, just not my cup of tea and the writing just couldn’t keep my attention. I tried, but ultimately sid not finish this one.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.