Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan is the second book in the Bless Your Heart series. As I quickly discovered, it is best to read Bless Your Heart before embarking on Another Fine Mess. You need to know information and characters from the Bless Your Heart to read Another Fine Mess. I found Another Fine Mess to be this odd combination of True Blood, the Twilight series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie, not the show) as well as a pinch of paranormal mystery. I could envision the author tossing those elements into a pot along with the characters and stirring until they were slightly mixed (I imagined a partially mixed batter that was full of unmixed chunks). I began reading and I kept going “huh.” I was determined to get through the book, but the story never became easier to read. I felt like I was slogging through partially solidified concrete. Another Fine Mess is an overly complicated story that seems like it will never end. The storyline felt muddled and juvenile. I quickly tired of the repetitive details. Another Fine Mess was not an enjoyable story to read (as you can tell). I have been trying to branch out to discover new authors and genres. Another Fine Mess left me hanging from a cracked tree limb. I was grateful when I reached the last page.

Silly Southern fantasy. It's cozy, and fun...the undead in Lufkin/Port Arthur country? I am not only in, I'm pretty convinced it's factually correct...and resonant with the East Texas matriarchal culture I know well.

I haven't read Bless Your Heart, the first in the series, but I felt the ringing curse in its bones on first reading the title. The subtext of those three words is brutal in my childhood culture, and not obvious to non-Southerners. It sets up perfectly the basis of the series: These women, the Evanses, are restoring ma'at, are guarding the rightness of the world against Evil and evildoers. That's a story I always enjoy reading.

As is so often the case in families, there are a lot of secrets in the Evans line and some that never made it to those who need them most now. There are undead beings to slay and, unfortunately, no one alive who knows for sure how to do the slaying. The present duo of survivors must thus root around and find out what they need to know on their own. Their support system is robust. They learn both to expand family and how to let others help them heal from last book's events.

There is gore, there is a dread in the atmosphere, and a lot rides on the Strigoi (Romanian undeadies, see Eliade's Miss Christina for some background) not staying risen for one instant longer than can be managed. It's the kind of fun I had with True Blood, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and all transposed to a part of East Texas I know well enough to feel the story in my water.

If fun's the aim, and gore's not a deal-breaker, here's a good read. Expect the storytelling to mirror the characters' perceptions of events, ie not everything is linear and none of it is spoon-fed to you. This was an enhancement to me after I settled into the rhythm of the story, but that took some time. I can't quite say I bought into the ending's motivating factors but it was certainly of a piece with a series on this kind of supernatural-inflected topic.

I'll offer a solid four stars with a push to anyone in Southern culture to check it out.

3.5/5 stars, rounded up

Thank you Minotaur Books for the advanced reading copy!

Fun sequel to follow up BLESS YOUR HEART! This was another gothic 90's monster story, with a mystery at the back and drama front and center. The Evans girls are so fun to follow and I'm glad that, despite the ending of the last book, we got to see some great interactions between these woman.

I feel similar about this book as I did the first -- there were lots of characters and it could be hard to keep up with what storyline belonged where, which makes it hard to care deeply about some of the characters. The characters I DO care a lot about feel like they aren't featured as much as I would like to, and in this book I was let down by the way things turned out for some -- IYKYK.

Overall, these books have been consistently creative, fun and unique. While I wouldn't call them ground breaking, I do enjoy them, especially on audio, and I look forward to reading more of this series in the future!

This is my first foray with this author. It was quite interesting! I found out about the first book after the fact, so I’ll probably go back & read that. The Evan’s women were full of intrigue, zest & had a whole lot going on! I look forward to starting from the beginning

While I thought the first one was missing some of the humor I had expected, this one more than made up for it. Yes, the story was scary, as it should be, but there were moments where some of the absurdity (in a good way) just got to me and I couldn’t help but laugh, particularly when it came to any scene with Ducey. The monsters were more horrific than the first and this was the perfect mix of horror, mystery, and humor. Highly recommended but start with the first one to get the full story.

Another year and more undead ghouls and monsters causing havoc in Texas. (Rating: 3.5)

Another Fine Mess starts off directly after the events of Bless Your Heart. We are introduced to some new characters and some minor characters get more screen time in this newest installment. I don't want to say too much because it's really essential that you read Bless Your Heart before Another Fine Mess. Although I found Another Fine Mess a tad too long in parts, I liked that we saw even more POVs in this book. It does leave it on a slight cliffhanger so I'm hoping we'll get another book in this series next year.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

This series is 10000% my exact taste when it comes to horror. I was cautiously excited when I saw it would be continuing on into a series because I definitely wanted that to happen, but sometimes it isn’t always for the best. In this case, it absolutely was. I adore these characters, the small town, the southern tid bits, and, of course, our friendly neighborhood monsters. I really think fans of True Blood (the TV show, at least) would really like this series.

If there is one thing that I personally love, it is the Evans women and their strange abilities. I absolutely loved being back with this cast and crew of characters. This is the second book in the series, and I think it was just as good if not better than the first one. The reader is plopped right back into Texas in the late 90s a month after the last book ended and with a new victim when they thought everything was tied up. From there, the story progresses and more victims are found. The townspeople are starting to get worried again, and it is up to the Evans women to solve the mystery and hopefully stop the attacks with the help of Roger, the sheriff. I really enjoyed this sequel. I found it to have the same nostalgic tone of the first book, and I appreciated the humor along with the horror scenes. I could not read the book fast enough to figure out what was going to happen, and the reader is left on another cliffhanger that can only indicate more to the series is coming. I can only hope, at least. I truly had a blast reading this book, and this series is one that I cannot quit thinking about! Highly recommend it if you enjoy an easily readable horror-light book that definitely feels like it could be on 90s era VH1 or MTV. So much fun! 4.5/5 Stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Make sure to read the first book - Bless Your Heart - to appreciate the Evans women and their cohorts. By turns humorous and terrifying, with a mix of suspense and dare I say cozy mystery, this book is a page turner that I did not want to put down. As soon as I finished reading Another Fine Mess I wanted more!

Fun and horrifying and bittersweet. It was good to be back in this world and I like the path the story is taking. Belle is definitely my favorite!

This is a reminder to self to check where in a series the book is. I.e. I didn't read book one (and obviously this is majorly spoilery for that). That said, it doesn't take too long to figure out what is going on. This runs with an idea I've had for a long time i.e. wanting someone to incorporate funeral homes with fighting the undead, which is actually what the Evans women are doing in a southeast Texas town.

Lenore and Luna, grandmother and granddaughter lost a lot in book one including Lenore's mother and her daughter, Luna's mom, along with the previous sheriff who blamed them for the weird goings on. The new sheriff Robert was sweet on Grace, Lenore's now-deceased daughter and is more of an ally to the Evans women than his predecessor. Luna is of mixed heritage, human and strigori (sort of a vampire so she's technically a dhampir)

Lenore opens the story thinking about breaking one of her mother Ducey's rules: she brings in an outsider to the funeral home, Kim the goth hair dresser who'll help with making up the bodies for presentation because Lenore is drowning in work. Because the weirdness hasn't stopped. Something is killing people and stealing body parts and teeth, something she and Robert aren't going to be able to blame on a 'ghost coyote/wolf' hybrid and rabies for much longer, especially not with a canine expert in town.

Luna is on her own arc trying to figure out what sort of monster she is with the help of her friends like Dillon (Kim's brother) and Crane (Luna's boyfriend and another goth). The bodies start piling up and without spoiling it, the Evans women have some huge surprises heading their way.

I enjoyed this. I liked the premise and the characters. A few things did bother me. It seemed to drag a wee bit as it went over the same territory more than once (and there seemed to be a few holes in the worldbuilding that kept being summed up as Grandma Pie didn't tell us enough about these rising dead people.) Also I wasn't a giant fan of the climax because it felt a touch cliche, bad things going down at a school dance.

Maybe it bugged me because Luna was allowed to go to this vs sneaking out. Seems a little weird they'd let her with a mass killing monster out there. Also something huge happens with Luna's band of friends that we didn't spend enough time on in Luna's point of view, in my opinion. It lost some punch being seen by one of her relatives.

Still, really good story (though I think the blurb talking about humor might be misleading or my sense of humor is not this). I would absolutely read on in this series.

Another Fine Mess is book two in the Bless Your Heart series by Lindy Ryan.
I loved book one Bless Your Heart by Ryan. And was so excited to read the second title.
This was so much fun and bizarre and a total blast!
A humorous horror with a murder mystery underneath.
Lindy Ryan has such an incredibly unique and compelling writing style that I was sucked into this book so quickly and was honestly sad to see when it ended!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a totally captivating read.
It was quite unusual and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen.
I literally couldn't put it down.

Thank You NetGalley and Minotaur Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Ducey may be down, but she’s not out quite yet. When Lenore and Luna need her most, she finds a way to help them when they need her most.

I actually find this series to be absolutely brilliant. I can’t put it down, yeah, a little bit of me is appalled in someway. But I can’t put it down. I love it. Mostly I love how strong the Evans women are and how they are always there for each other. I hope there’s more to come in the future.

loved this romance and finding love and remembering love before the one. love the friends and the chemistry between the couple was on fire and loved the banter.

Another Fine Mess is grislier than the typical small-town whodunit—but it’s rare that bloody supernatural thrillers are quite this much fun. It can definitely be messy at times, but the Evans women and their expanding circle of allies make for such likable characters that you’ll be eager to see what’s in store for them next.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

In Another Fine Mess, written by Lindy Ryan, we return to Southeast Texas in 1999 and the remaining Evans women as they cope with the events of Bless Your Heart. But grief isn’t the only thing they must contend with, as pets start to disappear and grisly human deaths also begin to occur. Something monstrous is roaming and the Evans women are the only ones capable of putting it to rest.

I absolutely adore this series.

I wouldn’t call it cozy per se-while the gore and deaths aren’t gratuitous, they may be a little jarring to readers expecting otherwise. But it’s the characters and their relationships with one another that continue to draw me in and also crush my heart at the same time.

While the main characters remain distinct and interesting, I also appreciate the growth of the secondary characters-Luna Evans’ friend Crane, Sheriff Roger Taylor and new funeral employee Kim Cole-as the Evans’ circle is forced to grow to both accommodate the changes in their lives and also the greater need for assistance in containing a situation that is beyond their usual scope.

The antagonist of the novel is horrific, tragic and a unique twist on what I initially assumed was behind everything. Lindy Ryan shines a light on supernatural creatures that are not always given much attention and her utilization of them is both great and terrifying.

Nevertheless, finishing Another Fine Mess is bittersweet. I enjoyed the time spent with the characters, experienced more than a few heart-wrenching moments and look forward to the next book in the series. But if there will only be a trilogy, then I will be sad to say goodbye to the Evans family, allies and the heartfelt, humerous and nightmarish moments.

Thank you very much to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing access to this ebook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC copy for Kindle!

Another Fine Mess picks up where Bless Your Heart left off, and while it brings back the witty charm of the Evans women, I’d strongly recommend reading the first book before diving into this one—otherwise, you’ll likely feel a bit lost. The story builds on supernatural threads introduced earlier, and without that foundation, this book won’t fully click.

This is a horror novel, but not one that leans too hard into gore or shock—it’s more about atmosphere and quirky small-town darkness. That said, I didn’t find this installment quite as engaging or memorable as the first. The humor felt a little toned down, and the plot, while interesting, wasn’t as tightly woven. I also found it a bit tricky to keep all the characters straight at times.

One thing I really wish is that the first book had given more depth to the supernatural elements and the Evans family’s role in all of it. Without that groundwork, this sequel feels like it’s filling in gaps that should’ve already been explored.

Still, there’s a lot to appreciate. The Evans women remain sharp, witty, and fiercely loyal to one another, which adds warmth and personality to the darker moments. And the 90s setting brings a nostalgic, small-town vibe that gives the book its own kind of charm.

Overall, this is a solid continuation for fans of the first book, though it didn’t quite land for me the way Bless Your Heart did. 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed the first book and Ryan's fresh take on mythological Strigoi and vampire lore, but I liked this one even more. It is darkly funny and creepy, yet it also has a lot of warmth and Southern charm.

Set in 1999 in a small East Texas town where the bloodthirsty undead roams. It features the Evans women, who run the local funeral home and serve as secret monster slayers. Once again, they must covertly save the townsfolk while the press is breathing down their necks.

The Evans women are fantastic characters. Tenacious and spunky, they balance big hearts with badass monster-slaying skills. Their dialogue is often hilarious. The Evans family history is still shrouded in mystery, but we get a bit more of it as some things won't stay buried. And, a few new faces are welcomed into their fold, adding an element of found family.

The story is atmospheric, with great world-building and compelling supernatural lore that is unfolding gradually. While it is horror with some gore and a high body count, it remains fun and escapist, with heartfelt moments throughout. I even shed a tear or two. I am very intrigued to see where Ryan takes this series next. There is enough background presented that this could work as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading both books in the series.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the gifted review copy!

Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan is a fun and engaging read that really stands out thanks to its well-developed plot points and unforgettable characters. The story is smart, entertaining, and part of a series that keeps getting better. If you enjoy books with personality and heart, this one’s definitely worth checking out.

Another Fine Mess. More like, Another Exceptional Book by Lindy Ryan.

It was so good to be back in the world of the Evans women. Lindy Ryan, once again, crafted a tale that kept me on the edge of my seat with its twists and turns, but also made me laugh out loud, and even brought a tear to my eye at times. There is humor, horror, grief, and love and I enjoyed every second of reading this book.

Thank you to Lindy Ryan, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read both physical and digital copies of this wonderful book.