Based on the cartoon-style cover and the title, I expected this to be a dark comedy, light vampire read. It certainly was not! This is a story about what most movies today lead us to think of more like zombies, complete with feasting on humans. Though it wasn't as expected, the story did keep the plot moving and I was curious to learn the full story.

Well that’s a perfect book to read for Halloween but don’t judge a book by it’s cover! I thought I was getting into a funny, easy, vampire read….and holy cow, that was gruesome!

Four generations of Evan’s Women run a funeral home. And when bodies start turning up mutilated and disfigured (again, it’s gruesome!), they worry about what (WHO) has returned. Equipped with trocars from the embalming suite, the women try stop what’s going on before it’s too late!

Not my typical read, but for Halloween it was perfect!

Book review of Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you so much to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this cute, quirky book.
I used to watch Buffy on TV and this made me think of that show. Loved these characters and the quirkiness of each one.
The Evans women own a funeral parlor and have always been mainstays in their small town. People die, and they bury them!
Mina Jean Murphy is brought in for her burial as she has finally has passed due to cancer. There is only one problem, as she is prepared for burial, she decides to rise up from the dead. It seems that the original vampires, the Strigoi is back, and all the Evan's women are ready to rid the town of these vampires.
This was not a one off event, as more and more folks start to die, and the hunt ensues to figure out what is making the dead rise!
It's a good murder mystery and fun read.
This comes out in April 9, 2024 and I recommend you grab this one and you will love solving the murder mystery.
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It is 1999, and Strigoi, or the original vampires, besiege a small town in Texas. While trying to keep a lid on a situation quickly spinning out of control, it is up to four generations of Evans women to stop the Strigoi. Viewed by many in town as strange, the Evans family has run the local funeral home for decades. Luckily, these ladies are experienced vampire slayers.

Admittedly, I do not read much horror, but I love a good vampire story. I also love Bram Stoker's Dracula. Ryan's tributes to that iconic book were so much fun to read, including bits of Strigoi myth, and the first victims in both Dracula and this book share a name, Mina and Mina Jean. One of the heroes of Stoker's 1897 classic was a character from Texas. I don't know if this was set in Texas as a nod to Dracula, but either way, I loved the small-town Texas setting and all the 90's references as a backdrop for the bloodstained mayhem!

Told in a multiple POV format, this has excellent world-building, spooky vibes, a bit of a mystery, humor, secrets, and a fair amount of gore. I enjoyed the author's descriptive writing style and the generational family dynamics that round out the story. The Evans women were quirky, quick-thinking, and feisty. And I particularly loved the character of Ducey, the no-nonsense, butterscotch candy-loving matriarch.

I don't want to say much more for fear of spoilers, but this is fun, escapist, and dripping in blood and Southern charm! I read this during a stormy weekend here in my little corner of Texas, and it was a fun way to wrap up my spooky season reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Bless Your Heart is a kitschy tale that weaves the story of a small Southern town with the ghouls and nightmares of your classic 80s horror movies. We follow the Evans women, a family that owns the only funeral home in town. On the surface, it’s a bit creepy. But it covers up an even darker truth: they have to put down the undead before they rise up to feed on the living. It happened once, and now it’s happening again.

The premise of the book sounded so interesting—Southern charm plus hunting the undead. But the book itself lacks any charm that a small-town cast should provide, as it spends so much time flipping between different characters and viewpoints that the reader never gets to really know or like any of them. If feels like the author did this solely to show us the pieces of the story that the main characters didn’t witness, but for me, it just took away from the mystery and made it impossible to get to know the Evans women.

I think this book was a great idea, and could have been better with more polished execution, but I can’t say I’d recommend this unfortunately,

Thank you to St Martin’s Press Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was able to read this just before Halloween which added even more to the spooky vibe! This book had it all - horror with comedy, relationships between generations , and multiple POVs.

This was such an entertaining read!

I was skeptical I would like this book, but I was very wrong. I fell in love with the characters and I loved the mix of supernatural, horror and comedy that was mixed in. The writing was done in a way that made you not want to put the book down and just keep turning the pages.

I cannot resist a southern tale involving vampires, especially when it gives off Grady Hendrix vibes. But it didn’t quite live up to what I had hoped it would be.

Don’t get me wrong. This was a fun story. Fun, but not necessarily funny. I expected more humor from it, but that’s okay. It had plenty of other things going for it.

For example, it has four generations of southern women fighting vampires. I loved that!

It also has some rather horrific scenes, a couple fantastic twists, and an action packed ending.

I did feel there was a bit of repetitive filler, but it still moved along at a steady pace.

My biggest problem is solely a “me” problem, and not a flaw within the book. I’d also like to blame Mr. Hendrix for this, though. He has caused me to go into campy horror with the belief that there will also be strong social commentary involved. I had erroneous expectations here and that’s not fair to the story, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if those expectations had been met.

I am immensely grateful to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

I would like to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. I am sorry, I did not like this book. The original synopsis did not clearly state how gory and horrific it was. It was not what I expected and not something I am interested in reading. If you are into horror and Stephen King type books- this might be for you.

This is a fun ghoulish Halloween read. Not very believable but a light read for all the description of blood and guts!

This book for sure caught my attention by its unique cover. For sure gave me some southern vibes with the title with vampires thrown into the mix and I was like, sign me up!
One of the main things I like about this book are for sure the characters. They each have that southern charm mixed with witty dialogue that make me instantly take a liking to them. Especially Ducey, the family matriarch of a sort who for sure you can tell lived a life with a bit of dark humor after everything she has been through. Which I love. To the youngest family member Luna who you kind of feel bad for for her first introduction to her family’s vampire ‘Caretaking’ business. But she seems like one of those characters that after the initial shock she will take to it like a fish to water with minor missteps along their way. You feel like you are a part of their family/world. I feel invested in their story. Which is for sure a key to a great story.
Overall this book was for sure one of my favorites of this year. It made me smile, feel like I wanna cry and shook me to my core. A solid book that i would recommend to anyone looking for book filled with a southern charm and sass and most importantly, heart. And who doesn’t love a book about bad(bad word) women slaying vampires.

Thank you to the folks of NetGalley for the a ARC of this book. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

Small town / country vampires. I loved it. From the elder outspoken family member to the young’uns just figuring it out, there was a lot going on. I even had to make a hair appointment with my hair dresser from 30 years ago because she is still in a small town. (Just to make sure she was still there.)

Lots of fun and country charm. Definitely with a read if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a little “bite”.

Vampy and Campy family drama/cop procedural/ horror novel

Four generations of Evans women working in a funeral home taking care of business and making sure the dead stay dead in this small southern town where things aren’t as they seem.
Multi POV

Overall this was kinda the middle of the road for me. It was fine and fun but it didn’t hold my attention and answer questions the way I was expecting. I liked the creepiness of the strigoi and the family dynamics of the Evans women I probably could have done without the bumbling cop pov and just had the focus on the family. I’d probably read a second book especially if some of my questions get answered.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

This was a fun read! It was about a multi-generational family of women who keep a town safe from the undead, all while taking care of the dead running the funeral home. Make no mistake, these women are tough!

Loved this book so much! You can't help but side with the Evans women. The multigenerational family owns a funeral home in a small town. They are also faced with protecting the town from the undead. I loved the spooky mystery, the writing and the plot. Can't wait to read more from Linda Ryan.

I wanted to love this book. Horror + humor ticks my boxes. Add southern? yeah, please! But, somehow, the combo platter didn't work for me. And I'm pretty sure it's me, not the book. Although I go through very few reading slumps, there are periods when certain types of books please me or don't please me. Right now is not the right time FOR ME for this book. I've marked it TBR to try again when my capricious reading brain changes. I'm rating it four stars for the parts I read and skimmed, and for the premise, which is great.

Great read. I did get crossed up with the 4 different generations of women, but it was still, overall a good read. Even with my shortening attention span for many books, I did want to know what happened next.

Side note, I thought about the hair dresser, in the small town I grew up in, and I went to her for high lights the week after I finished this book. Hahaha.

I actually wanted to finish it. That’s a good review for me. Hahaha.

I was provided this book free of charge. All opinions are my own.

What a quirky fun read. I didn’t know what to expect with this novel, but I truly enjoyed it. It was a unique mix of mild horror, humor and enjoyable characters. I read a lot, and it is refreshing to read a book that is unlike any other. The author kept the action moving along, minimized the gore, and had enough surprises to keep me guessing. I think most readers, except the extremely squeamish, would enjoy this clever novel.

3.5 stars

Four generations of Evans women run a funeral parlour. They also happen to take care of the ones that don't stay dead.

This is an amusing, light read, a cozy horror would best describe this novel. I think this is the first of a duology, the ending left some things open to tackle next time. The vibe is Buffy meets Sookie Stackhouse, so decide for yourself if this will be too scary for you or not enough. I loved the four women MC's, each with their own particular quirks.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This southern gothic set in 1999 just post-Columbine stars a magical matriarchy that runs the only funeral parlor in their tiny Texas town–with a side job of sending any dead that reanimate back to the grave for good. The Evans ladies keep their secret skill close, only disclosing the true family business when the next daughter comes of age. A series of recent violent and disturbing deaths has local law enforcement thinking that a large animal is on the loose and on the attack; Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna know better, and hope to get everything resettled again before the townspeople gain a true realization of the monsters in their midst.

The strigori are a Romanian-based cross between a zombie and vampire: the restless spirit of a corpse rises as a flesh-eating monster that can only be killed for good with a metal stake through the heart. Some evolve to be powerful enough to pass for human, which is a whole ‘nother can of worms. The mythology is excellent, and the plot twists and turns include hints of romance and a lot of mystery.

The worldbuilding here is as complete as an excellent fantasy novel, down to nail polish trends, what was playing on the radio and in the movie theatre, and cultural trends, including what was on the national radar for news and concerns. I am not able to pin down WHY the story needed to be set in 1999 (note: are books set in 1999 historical? Am I … OLD?), but it works, and for this Gen-X reader, it was an accessible, authentic, and validating stroll down memory lane populated with landlines, malls, black trench coats, and misguided homophobia.

Point of view shifts from the Evans to law enforcement, availing readers to multigenerational perspectives. The characterizations are strong and distinct, and the dialogue is snappy and funny (“There’ll be time for math after the zombie apocalypse, points out one teenage character eager to help.”) It’s juxtaposed with truly disgusting descriptions of stomach-turning gore. To be able to balance humor, pathos and horror so wonderfully and viscerally is a true skill; Bless Your Heart is recommended or fans of Breathers: a Zombie’s Lament, Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sadly, it will not be out in time for Halloween, and is slated for publication in April 2024.

Side note: I love the vibrantly colored, flat, cut-paper collage look of the cover!

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #BlessYourHeart from #NetGalley.