Thank you @minotaur_books for my digital copy. My thoughts are my own.

BLESS YOUR HEART, the debut novel for this author, is Southern gothic fiction at its best! This was such a fun read and it was totally out of my normal genre!

1999, Texas
Four generations of Evans women run the local funeral home, where they not only bury the dead, they make sure they don’t rise again! Things have been quiet for the last 15 years, but when Mina Jean Murphy rises from the dead, the Evans women know it’s happening again - the Strigoi, the original strain of vampires, are back! Be sure to swipe ⬅️ for the publisher’s synopsis.

This story with its quirky characters, snappy dialogue, and grotesque descriptions somehow still managed to tug at my heartstrings! The characters, though a little off beat, are quite likable. The unique storyline definitely captured my interest from the first page!

Read this if you:
*enjoy Southern fiction
*enjoy vampire stories
*loved Grady Hendrix’s A SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES

Wow! This was such a fun and original book. Don't get me wrong, it had plenty of blood and gore, but balanced it with humanity and love.

Set in the South, this book follows a family of women who have the responsibility of being a form of "vampire killer" in their small town. They've been down this path before but now their sleepy little town is waking up again and being targeted by a strigoi which is an original vampire. This means that the dead are rising and unless the Evans women can figure out who is starting the trouble, they will have trouble solving the problem.

In the middle of it all, the youngest Evans, Luna is sixteen and figuring out life. She doesn't like the restrictions her mother and grandmother have placed on her. But when she is made aware of the family secret, it all starts to make a little more sense.

This was a clever book with a well written storyline. I look forward to more in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC,

I loved this so much!! It had no business being as fun as it was. Southerners and vampires is a match made in heaven. Lindy Ryan has a gift at writing captivating scenes and convincing characters, and a few scenes that will haunt me a bit longer than I'd like!! I definitely recommend picking this one up.
Thank you!!

I love vampire books so when I received this ARC, I was so happy! Bless Your Heart is based in Texas (the year 1999) and the Evans Women run the only funeral home in town. They bury bodies, but it's also on them to deal with those who come back.

This book is fun, light mystery horror. The characters are funny and so realistic. It's the first book in the series and I can't wait for the rest! I loved the banter between the Evans women and find the overall story captivation and wonderful paced. It's not a scary book, it's more on the enjoy a cup of coffee and a few laughs book. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bless your Heart is a whimsical mystery involving vampires in a small town. The cast of characters are uniquely quirky, fierce and loyal to family. The first in a new series, and it left me wanting more from the Evan's women.

This book is full of humorous horror!

Thank you, Minotaur Books.

This was a fun read!

Four generations of Evans women run the local funeral home, and each one of them is full of secrets. Some of which may come back to bite them, pun intended lol

I knew of the legends of the strigoi but had never read a book that cast them as the main baddies.

This one has many POV, which at times slowed down my progress through the story because I sometimes got Lenore and Grace confused. But the chapter headings of the names really helped keep them separate!

Full of good old southern charm and sass - I definitely recommend giving this one a read!

Thank you @minotaur_books for sending me a @Netgalley widget to read an e-ARC of this book.

I so wanted to love Bless Your Heart, the plot sounds so funny and I'm a lover of vampire books and the cover 100% caught my eye.... but I just didn't have great feelings for this one.

For being a shorter book, I feel like I was reading this for days. The characters all kind of blended together and it wasn't your typical vampire story. It just didn't do anything for me and was quite forgettable.

If you like your mysteries with a good dollop of horror, you'll enjoy Bless Your Heart.

The Evans family has run the funeral home in a small town in Texas for years. Ducey, the matriarch, her daughter Lenore, her daughter Grace, and her daughter Luna make four generations of Evans women in one house, all in the family business (well, Luna is still in school, but she helps out when made to).

But they aren't just "normal" undertakers - when a body rises, they know what to do to send them permanently to the grave. Fifteen years ago, there was an incident, referred to as That Godawful Mess, but other than that, there's been little vampire activity. However, there have been several attacks and multiple people coming back to life after death. The original Strigoi (vampire) are back, and the Evans women must take care of business and put the Strigoi to rest once and for all.

This book was a little too graphic for me, and I guess I don't love horror with my mysteries! But it's not a bad book, just not the right one for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

I got through half of this book before I became disinterested. I enjoyed the fact that the book came across as a cozy, horror book. I also liked each of the characters within the book especially the relationships between the Evans women. The author did a great job establishing the family bond and genuine love that these women felt between each other. My biggest complaint and my reason for DNFing was the slow development of the plot. Mina rises from the dead and various characters are missing and then it was just characters pondering out loud what is going on. I needed a faster pace for the development and quicker clarity in regards to how the Evans women impact the reason for the "ghouls". We know that the existence of the ghouls pertains to the women and their relationships with men. (not to mention whatever is buried beneath the white rose bush) So then tell us at least the mid-50% of the novel and then use the remaining portion of the book to provide a resolution. Instead it felt like I was reading a lot of filler in an effort to make the novel longer. (I don't need to be told 10 times that Ducey likes butterscotch candy)

Excellent writing, interesting characters, witty dialogue, strong women, the undead and a major secret. What’s not to like? Multiple generations of the Evans family confront the gory, and they are quite gory, details of the destruction wrought by the undead. A fun read all around. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

"Bless Your Heart" by Lindy Ryan is a delightful and inventive addition to the realm of supernatural fiction. Set in a small southern town, this book introduces readers to the Evans family, proprietors of the local funeral parlor with a hidden secret: they're in the business of keeping the restless dead at bay.

This book won me over with is its charming blend of humor, horror, and familial bonds. Ryan crafts a spine-tingling and heartwarming narrative as the Evans women find themselves thrust into a battle against the resurgence of vampires in their town. The combination of supernatural elements and southern charm creates a unique atmosphere that captivates from the very first page.

One of the standout aspects of the book is its portrayal of the Evans family. Each member is fleshed out with distinct personalities and quirks, making them relatable and endearing to readers. From the matriarch Ducey to the young and curious Luna, every character adds depth and richness to the story.

While the book excels in its humor and character development, there are moments where the pacing could have been tightened. Some readers may find the story takes too long to ramp up fully, and the resolution feels slightly rushed. However, these are minor quibbles in an otherwise engaging and entertaining read.

Overall, "Bless Your Heart" earns a solid four stars for its inventive premise, well-drawn characters, and enjoyable blend of humor and horror. Fans of supernatural fiction will find much to love in this charming tale of family, secrets, and the undead. Lindy Ryan has crafted a novel that leaves readers eagerly anticipating the next installment in the series.

i guess i wanted to suspend my disbelief with this one and have some fun but once it got to the vampire storyline, i dnf'd

What a great book! I went into it not knowing what I was signing up for. Vampires, that's it. But the multiple POVs were great and I loved the insight they provided. The characters were compelling and I was never bored, no matter who's head I was in. I was just swept away by this book and the way it was written. I love the plot of ladies running a funeral home and keeping the town safe. So glad I had that chance to read and review this one.

Don’t let the cover fool you. Bless Your Heart may feel a little cozy, but it’s also a horror-filled gorefest, and I was here for it! This book gave me “True Blood”, “Night of the Living Dead”, and “From” vibes. I loved the small Texas town setting, the vibrant characters (especially Ducey!), the creepy moments, and the disgusting imagery.

The story centers around Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna Evans. They are a family of ghoul (called Strigoi) hunters. Strigoi are like a cross between vampires and zombies. They are terrifying blood-thirsty creatures. The Evans women are fierce and kick-ass, and I loved reading from all their perspectives. This book did have many perspectives, but it wasn’t confusing or hard to follow in my opinion.

I would’ve given this a higher rating but I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I wanted more from the ending and I didn’t like how certain things played out. It looks like this is the first book in a series though, and I am excited to continue on in this world.

If you like cozy horror mixed with gore and terror, definitely read this book.

3.75 bloody stars

I never, ever could have predicted how much I actually loved this weird little book. Bless Your Heart is set in Texas, 1999, and follows the women of the Evans family. The Evans women have been running the local funeral home for generations and as part of this gig, they also make sure anybody who happens to start turning into a strigoi (a type of vampire) after death becomes permanently dead. This can happen randomly to those who’ve had a particularly violent death, but this outbreak seems to be caused by something darker and more nefarious - a master strigoi. 

This is a multi-POV story and the reader gets to see things from the perspective of each of the Evans women, the sheriff, and one of the deputies. There are a few other POVs thrown in for dramatic effect, but they’re one-offs. The Evans women are a sassy, strong bunch and they’re hard not to love from the hard candy addicted matriarch Ducey, all the way to the dramatic teenager Luna. The sheriff is a gruff old drunk who’s seen too much and just wants his small town to be nice and normal and the Evans women prevent this, much to his chagrin. And then the deputy, Roger Taylor, who has his eye on Grace Evans, gets dragged into all the mess too and he’s unfortunately the one finding all the bodies. I really enjoyed each and every one of the characters and what they brought to the story. Even the side characters that didn’t get much page time were great and I suspect they might play a more important role in the next installment.

Bless Your Heart is certainly not for the faint of heart. It’s gory and the strigoi are a disturbing blend of vampire and zombie traits that will leave you thinking twice about eating whilst reading this book. This isn’t a suspenseful horror story - it’s a bloody one, but I think the somewhat humorous and personal elements balance this out nicely. It'll be easy to tell if this is going to be your cup of tea early in the story, as the Evans ladies have to dispatch not one but two recently undeceased that they've lived and worked alongside their entire lives. Nothing like a good trocar to the heart followed by a swift cremation!

I initially wasn’t really crazy about the idea of Bless Your Heart being the start of a series because I thought it was going to be a standalone, but by the end I was actually pretty delighted by the idea of returning to this world! It seems like Luna will be the central character in the next installment as she explores the heritage of the Evans women. Overall, I had a blast reading this book and couldn’t put it down. I’d highly recommend this, especially for folks who enjoyed Grady Hendrix’s book The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Thank you so much for my gifted copy from the publisher!

The Evans women have always run the funeral parlor in their small southeast Texas town. Ducey, her daughter (Lenore), her granddaughter (Grace), and her great-granddaughter (Luna) work hard to make sure everyone gets a proper burial and that the dead stay dead. The women in their family have been fighting the undead for generations but things start to get strange when multiple community members rise, others go missing, and a very mysterious teenager moves to town. The same thing happened 15 years before and the Evans women if history might be repeating itself.

I didn't realize that this book is the first in a series and I really enjoyed it. It's "light horror" if that's a thing, but it was a great mashup of genres! I've seen it described as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Steel Magnolias and I think thats pretty accurate. The book takes place in 1999 and it was fun to see lots of pop culture references to that time. I was a little surprised by the ending but I'm looking forward to the next book and seeing what happens next!

I liked this book! It was definitely not what I pictured walking into when I started the book, based off of the blurb and cartoonish cover I expected it to be a bit more lighthearted beach read. There is lots of gore and violence and twists and turns. If you like Santa Clarita Diet you'd like this book.
The book definitely kept me guessing and I did not expect things to occur but they did!
This is written in a multi-POV style and at points can come off as a bit disjointed regarding the timeline of the plot. Strong, independent women with tight family values but a complex relationship is a huge theme and one I really enjoyed among the small town setting. The whole plot was very unique and I appreciated that.
The author did leave some plot threads laying loose to allow her to entice you into the next book.

Thank you to Minotaur & St. Martin's for the eARC!

This was such a fun and twisty read. I loved the character dynamics and their southern charm. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

In a previous review, I mentioned that books containing vampires are some of my favorites. I also mentioned that I very rarely review them. That was until last week when I read two ARCs that included vampires and vampire hunters.

The cover and the blurb attracted me to Bless Your Heart. I was interested to see how a book about women funeral parlor owners and vampire hunters would read, if I could connect to any of the characters, and if the storyline was good. I am happy to report that it was a yes to all of those.

The main storyline of Bless Your Heart was interesting, and it kept me glued to the book. The storyline centers on the Evans women (Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna), their family life, The God Awful Mess-which took place fifteen years earlier, and their history with vampire hunting. Bless Your Heart was a well-written and gut-wrenching book that had me up reading late.

The author did a fascinating job of telling the storyline. She chose a different family member/law enforcement/victim and had the chapter revolve around what they were feeling/doing. The chapters containing Ducey, Lenore, and Grace were self-explanatory (with the funeral parlor business and killing the vampires). Those chapters also gave insight into how The God Awful Incident affected each woman. Luna’s chapters were a little different. In the beginning, it showcased how she was an ordinary teen. But, once she learned about the family’s side gig (the vampire killing), her chapters got dark, fast. The law enforcement chapters showed the confusion and the different theories floated around. And lastly, the victim’s chapters were the most heartbreaking to read, mainly because the people who were killed and turned were doing nothing but going about their daily (or nightly) chores.

The Evans women were unlike any characters I have read. They each had their own personality, and the author allowed those personalities to shine. At the same time, I saw how dysfunctional they had become after The God Awful Incident. But even with that, I liked how they banded together to protect each other and Luna.

The horror angle was on point. There was a point where I started to dread when a new body was found. Each scene was worse than the last. I don’t get grossed out easily by stuff like that, but I got close in this book. Blood and gore spread across the pages; by the book’s end, it was one bloody scene after another.

The mystery angle of the book was good. I was taken by surprise by who the master vampire was and how Luna figured into it. While that was going on, The God Awful Incident was revealed, and it indeed was A God Awful Incident. It was the revelation that led to a shocking revelation about Luna. Both of those revelations took me by surprise. I did have the master vampire pegged on someone else and was happy that I was proven wrong.

The end of Bless Your Heart was heartbreaking. I’m not too fond of it when there are deaths involving main characters. But the ending scene gave a glimmer of hope. Because of what was shown, I am super curious to read book two.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Lindy Ryan for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Bless Your Heart. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

I enjoyed this book, especially the beginning. It starts off with a quick witted east Texas charm that had me giggling. I enjoyed the storyline of the Evans women, Deucy is hoot, and their secret. I did feel like it was slow going with the backstory at times and some of the plot went off track, or nowhere at all. It felt a bit like it was mucking along and although it was a bit predictable, there was one part at the end that I didn’t see coming. I think the main reason I liked it is because my best friend is from southeast Texas and It was relatable enough to make me laugh out loud.
Thank you to Minotaur Press for my digital ARC in exchange for my review.
TW: Violence, gore