Right off the top the book delivers an intriguing hook and the characters are loveable and charming. Once we get introduced to the funeral parlour ladies however the progression of the plot stalls and nothing much else happens for the rest of the 300 pages. The characters are running around a small Texas town asking questions, being generally clueless and incompetent and constantly alluding to some local drama from 15 years earlier that never gets explained.

300 pages of limp narrative that has very little to say and even less to show.

Lindy Ryan knows how to write visual descriptions really well but if I am promised horror and vampires I generally expect some action and not just dead bodies that become a topic of unrevealing conversations throughout the book.

By the way, the entire mythology around the Evans women exposes a giant plot hole.

From what I gather this title is intended to be the first instalment in a series. It certainly reads like a teaser, rather than a proper novel. In my opinion it would have been more successful being introduced as such and edited down to a half of its current volume.

Stephanie Németh-Parker is a fantastic narrator.

We follow the Evans women who own and operate the only funeral parlor in Southeast Texas. It’s their job to handle & bury all the bodies that come through their door . Well, it’s also their job to make sure that the bodies they put in the ground - stay buried. What appears to be a run of the mill business is actually a 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. Great writing all around - the descriptions of those gory and horrific moments were really well done. So fun to flip between sharp and witty dialogue and those really disgusting death scenes. And the messages woven in throughout with the teens of being yourself and sticking up for your friends and what you believe in was really lovely - nothing felt preachy. It is a bit slow so it was hard to keep my interest but still worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin's Press

This book was so cheesy and I really actually enjoyed it haha. I say “bless your heart” all the time and I thought it was hilariously done

This was such a fun listen. I really enjoyed the difference in voices for each character- it was thoroughly entertaining!

Enjoyed this one. You could tell it was a set up for the other books in the series and as long as you know that going in, you won’t be disappointed with the somewhat lack of development for some of the plot.

If you aren’t into vampires or gore, this one is not for you. It was witty and the characters were enjoyable,

Well…I read it and I’m not sure how I feel about it. To be fair, you should know I’m not all that into vampires, but I gave this book a try anyway because I liked the idea of a family of Southern women kicking butt together. It starts out scary, but ends up just being your run of the mill gore-fest. At a certain point I was bored with all the blood. I did enjoy the matriarchal element, but something was missing for me. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. I doubt I will continue to read the series.

If you do not like vampires, this book is not for you. A family who owns a funeral home also happens to slay vampires. The youngest woman in the family, Luna does not know what her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother really do, but she may soon find out as people are dying all throughout town. Police figure it must be by a wild beast. I absolutely enjoyed this book, especially the great-grandmother, who is a spitfire. Stragoi are as normal to their family as boyfriends to a teenager. I would absolutely love more of this story and family!

I love zombie/walking dead everything!! This book had it all! Which fun characters, fresh ideas and mystery! Highly recommend the audio for this one. Love the narrator and her use of all the different voices!

Highly recommend preordering this one!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I found this book a disappointment. From the synopsis I felt it could be similar to "A Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires" with maybe a little bit more fun moments. But this book felt like just a long set up for more potential books. I felt that both the characters and lore of the undead fell flat as not fully developed. It was not all bad but I did not find it particularly interesting or memorable.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

True Blood meets The Walking Dead meets Six Feet Under meets Supernatural- that's really the best way I can describe this incredibly original and unique book. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did, aside from the high level of splatterpunk gore that I am not a huge fan of. Thankfully, that mainly came towards the end of the book, and it was essential for the plot so I will give it a pass.
This book was fun, ridiculous, unique, and overall a delight!

Thank you, NetGalley!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lindy Ryan, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
This is a fun story about 4 generations of women who run a funeral parlor and moon light in tending to the undead.
In theory I should have loved this audiobook. Vampires, 4 generations of sassy southern women, murder, and mystery... all things I love to read about typically. I definitely enjoyed the story and the narrators were great. However, there was something keeping me from loving this one. I usually read books that are darker with more adult content so this was a nice palate cleanser, but it just sort of dragged on for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Bless Your Heart is a horror comedy set in the 90s that has some serious Practical Magic vibes and a lot of heart. The Evans women are notorious in their small town for being a bit strange. They run the only funeral parlor in town. They also keep the town safe from the living dead. We follow various generations of the family as the dead start rising faster and the bodies start piling up.

This book is delightful and so much fun.

4.5 rounded up to 5 for goodreads.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, author Lindy Ryan, and Netgalley for providing me the ALC in exchange for my honest review. The audiobook will be released on April 09, 2024.

4 STARS

It’s 1999 in Texas, and you’ve got Southern charm, mysterious deaths, and the rise of vampires. The story centers on the three generations of Evans women who run the town’s funeral parlor. Not only do they bury the dead, but they also slay vampires. As the bodies start piling up, the local cops are on the case but have no clue that the murders are more than they appear. Only the Evans women can keep the town safe from these “restless dead.”

I was surprised by just how much I was engrossed with the audiobook. I was wholly invested in learning more about the Evans family history and seeing how they interacted with each other. They love each other and have close bonds but also deal with the typical friction that exists within a family. Although the story’s scale is contained, the author keeps the story exciting with good pacing, deadly stakes, and great characterization. Each POV voice felt distinct.

The narrator Stephanie Németh-Parker does a fantastic job. She brings the story to life with animated delivery and uses character voices. I highly recommend!

This was a fun supernatural Southern drama featuring four generations of Evans' women who run a funeral parlour and have secretly been handling all the undead who plague their town. When the body count starts to rise they realize something extra unusual is going on and there may be a new 'big bad' in town.

A perfect mash up of Practical magic, True Blood and Buffy the vampire hunter that oddly worked, I really enjoyed the family dynamics and world building in this story. Great on audio and recommended for fans of authors like KJ Dell'Antonia and Charlaine Harris. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is listed as a horror-mystery. I do feel that it is more of just a horror book. That is perfectly fine with me. I spent my teen years reading Clive Barker and Leigh Nichols (Dean Koontz pseudonym). Plus, being a teen in the 80s, I spent time watching horror films such as Nightmare on Elm Street. So, going into this book, I was ready for horror and blood.

This book is based on the Romanian mythology of the Strigoi. I know that many people are not aware of the stories surrounding them. So, the picture on the cover doesn't really make sense to many. The Strigoi are a mix between a vampire and a zombie. They start out as a zombie/ghoul type of being that will feed on humans and gain strength. As they gain strength, they will start to appear more and more human. In the original tales of the Strigoi, they can turn invisible and shapeshift. That didn't occur in this book though. However, the beheading and placing the head face down is mentioned in the book as it is in the mythology.

I really love when authors blend mythology and their writing. Lindy Ryan did a wonderful job of spinning a centuries old tale into a modern yarn. She definitely did her research when it came to the Strigoi and the legends surrounding them.

This was the first time that I had listened to a book by Stephanie Németh Parker. For the most part, she did a pretty good job. There were a few characters that were a little on the annoying side. I am not sure if it was that she was overexaggerating them or if that was the way that they were truly written in the book. For instance, the coroner smacked his lips every time he talked. The narrator would make the noise as she was talking in his voice. It did start to grate after a while. Again, it could just be the way the character was written though. If the sentence said that he was smacking his lips as he said something, then I guess she would have to do it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. They way it ended, it does seem like there might be a sequel. I actually hope there will be. I am definitely on the lookout if there will be.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an open and honest review.

Yes I have a type, and yes, almost always it includes vampires. I was super excited for this book, and unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I was waiting for this story to pull me in the entire book and that just didn't happen. I thought it was going to be funnier and have more of a goofy southern charm aspect. Overall, it was a fun book and I don't regretting pushing through this book. To me this felt like a YA version of a Grady Hendrix book.

Part of this could have been because I received the audio version from Macmillian Audio. I like the narrator's voice for short amount of times but I tended to having to rewind because I kept zoning their voice out. This is a me problem, not a problem with the narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the audio-arc of this book!!

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

This is a perfect cozy horror novel. Less horror. More dark fun. I really felt like we were missing a prequel but as the story developed further, then we start unraveling what we've been missing. I think this would make a great series if the author wants. I'm left wanting more. I'd like more on their history more on their future.

Also not me all worried about the dog the whole entire time.

If you loved the Sookie Stackhouse books like me, you will also enjoy this book. The Evans women own the town funeral parlor a perfect job for a family that understands the dead don’t always stay dead.

I listened to this book, and Stephanie Németh-Parker did a fantastic narration. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the advanced audio copy.

I listened to Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan and definitely enjoyed it! I love a good supernatural story, in this case Strigoi! These blood thirsty vampires filled the tale with action and conflict, while the multigenerational Evans women’s filled it with humor and badassery! With such a cliffhanger ending I will be looking forward to the next one!!