This was interesting. Lots of weird phrases and words to describe the outbreak, and I got a bit lost here and there. Overall an OK read. I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was a deja vu plot that felt a mash up of several different books of the same genre.

I did not finish it as it was not my cup of tea.

Thank you #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this!

3.5 stars

Bless Your Heart was a fun read! Though it took me some time to keep Ducey, Lenore, and Grace straight, I loved the multigenerational aspect of the story. The plot was definitely unique - a family of woman who run a funeral home and keep their town safe from strigoi (aka zombies). I enjoyed Luna's backstory the most as she navigated high school and grappled with finding her place within her family. The story was more gory than I was expecting, and a little too descriptive when it came to strigoi attacks. However, this was balanced with dialogue that was full of southern charm. Overall, quite an enjoyable read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#BlessYourHeart:
Thank you so much Minotaur for my gifted copy.

Here’s the thing. I was born in Texas. I live in Georgia. I went to school in Alabama. I have the southern triangle pretty down pat. (There’s a few other states I’ve lived in the south, but let’s stick to the Jorts Triangle okay?) So if you’re going to say you’re going to give me a southern tale, I want a true southern tale. Not a saccharine/caricature of southern tales. I felt it was too hard of Steel Magnolias but more like a Not Another Teen Movie parody of SM (but like Steel Magnolia Vampire Hunters would be boss)

I felt like we had too much butterscotch candy, and not enough character development. Now I love multiple POVs but this was a bit too much for me.

But let’s talk about the good. Holy moly. The horror or deathly descriptions of the undead?! Amazing. It gave me Scream plus Walking Dead vibes. Did I close my eyes like my ears weren’t listening to the darn book? Yes. Lindy, boo, go write supernatural horror and I’m there ASAP. I did feel like once I had the audio it wasn’t as bad on the heavy southern, but still couldn’t keep my attention.

Overall, it genre bends between a cozy and horror? A corror? Hozy? I’d like to see what Lindy Ryan writes next.

Rise and shine. The Evans women have some undead to kill.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have a lot of love for Bless Your Heart! I thought this book was well-written, fun to read, and unlike any other novels I have picked up before. Lindy Ryan did a great job painting the picture of each scene and portraying the strong, opinionated characters.

The Evans women and their family business were brought to life with each page, and while what happened in the novel's final pages was not a complete surprise, it was still really thrilling to read and brought the book full circle for me. I also enjoyed the multiple POVs throughout- the author's ability to work in sections from the cops and other community characters added a lot of dimension to the story that I found developed the plot even better.

This was a funny, cozy mystery with a bit of Southern charm and a whole lot of spunk. I usually don't go for fantasy or horror, but this book was a hit for me. I would absolutely consider reading more by this author in the future.

Great for fans of Grady Hendrix, Elle Cosimano, or similar authors.

I really wanted to like this one because I love stories with vampires, but this one was not for me.

DNF'd at 35%

Rating: 3/5 Stars

The funniest southern cozy mystery!

When the body of Mina Jean Murphy is brought to the funeral parlor run by the Evans family and rises from the dead - none of the Evans women are surprised except for Luna Evans who has spent all of her teenage years unaware of her family’s unofficial second job as killers of the rising dead. When more and more bodies begin to wake up, the Evans women fear they have a Strigoi on their hands - an original vampire - who must be stopped at any cost.

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan is part horror, part quirky southern fun. With a riotous cast of characters, with big personality - the story movies quickly and stays light (in the way that all cozy mysteries can). There’s nothing overly remarkable here, but if it’s your genre of choice you’ll enjoy - 3 stars because it wasn’t hugely memorable.

Thanks in advance to Lindy Ryan, Net Galley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Not only is it is the 90s, the setting is a funeral home ran by the Evan's woman. Plus, there are Strigoi popping up around town. These vibes! I loved the generation of Evan's woman who have this task of keeping their small, southern town safe from the strigoi. Not only do they have to stop the strigoi, but they also have family secrets that they also have to protect.
This book is very reminiscent of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - great for Grady Hendrix fans!

This book follows the story of the Evans women: Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna. The three eldest Evans women run a funeral parlor. They also have a little secret side gig; they put down the undead when they rise. As the youngest, Luna has no idea about what her family does. Now that the dead are rising, it's Luna's turn to take up the trocar.

There's multiple POVs, including all four Evans women and a few side characters. Although I had my favorites, none of the chapters were boring. It kept things interesting to go from the matriarch of the family to the teenager, Luna, and then to one of the cops.

I couldn't get enough of Ducey's sass and addiction to butterscotch candies. The relationship between the Evans women was complex and well written. I really enjoyed the mystery in the book concerning a past event that changed the lives of the Evans family.

This was the perfect blend of southern comfort with a dash of horror. I loved the family dynamics present in the book. I'd be interested in the story of these women even if it didn't have vampires. It's written that well.

This was simply a delight to read. It was both funny and heartfelt. As I was reading this, I knew I wanted there to be a sequel. I'm glad that the author announced that a sequel will be coming. Let us all rejoice because once you step into the Evan’s funeral parlor, you won’t want to leave.

I'm really looking forward to seeing where the story goes in the next book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for review.

I love the cozy small-town vibes mixed with paranormal and mystery elements. The characters were all very interesting, but I did have a hard time connecting to them. I also wasn’t a huge fan of constant switching of POVs. The humor was great and was a nice balance to some of the horror/mystery moments. The pace is quick and has you flipping pages to find out what happens next. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fast paced, funny horror read. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

2.7 ⭐️ rounded up

This book started out so strong. It grabbed my attention immediately and held it for the first three chapters. After that, it was an uphill battle to keep me interested. Don’t get me wrong, there were good aspects to the book. For example, the horror part? The death and the bloodshed? Topnotch. It made my skin crawl at different points. Especially with Snow. This author can definitely write some horror.

But with that being said, the storyline fell flat for me. Too much focus on the butterscotch candies. There was no real character growth. And what little there was, it was eclipsed by the shifting POVs EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER. In my honest opinion, the book could have been better if it had stuck to two or three characters. I feel as if it would have given the characters more depth and a chance to grow. I get that the switching PoVs added to the horror aspects but one could have done without them.

Overall, it was an okay book. It had potential to be great but I just couldn’t enjoy it like I thought I would.

Far too many characters without enough development. Two POVs would’ve been plenty; ideally Deucey and Deputy Taylor. It also got confusing having 4 generations of the same family, and 3 would have sufficed. A mostly-silent fourth generation could’ve been added in, either as an infant/toddler or a mostly nonverbal wheelchair-bound elder who plays almost no role except a little shocking, well-placed axe at the end maybe?

As y'all know, I never read the synopsis. I look at the cover and decide if I should read the book. I liked the cover so I downloaded the eARC. I enjoyed the book and the multi-POV. I feel like it was a YA light vampire book. I guess maybe it wasn't “light" per se but compared to what some vampire books are this one is on the lighter side.

I enjoyed this book for that exact reason. It was a good palette cleanser between heavier books. I'm putting this book in the Borrow category.

What a great book this was! It was something a little different than I would normally pick and definitely wasn't what I expected that it was, but it was so good!

We meet the Evans women who own a funeral home in a little town. They encounter some strange things in their funeral home that is not so typical of the typical strange things you find around a funeral home. The little town is plagued by random gruesome dead bodies that not only the Sheriff is trying to figure out, but so are the Evans' family women.

We learn about some of the creepy occurrences and what they are. The Evans women definitely have their work cut out for them during this time, both at the funeral home and in figuring out some old family history/drama.

If you like some supernatural beings like draculas and zombies as well as some good ol' fashioned murder mystery with a tiny YA feel, this one is for you for sure! Go check it out. It was just released this month and you need to pick it up immediately!

#BlessYourHeart #NetGalley

Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna Evans know there are the dead, and then there are the restless dead. The Evans' funeral parlor is the only one in town. So it seems sooner or later they all come through there. But the general population of this small southeastern Texas town know nothing about the restless dead. That includes the Deputy Roger Taylor who is lead investigator on a string of murders and disappearances. The coroner has said that it may be some kind of rabid animal. Deputy Taylor has his doubts. And he thinks the Evans have something to do with it. He just isn't sure what.

I loved the cover and title. But, I thought the cover was a little misleading. It looks like it's going to be a vampire book, but it really isn't. The monsters they face, the strigoi, are for the most part zombie-ish in nature. In fact, Ducey refers to them as ghouls.

The main plot is about the ghouls and what's going on with them in terms of the towns people and the Evans family. There is a subplot about Luna finding out about her heritage since she is only half Evans. Plus she needs to find out more about the family business.

The story is told from alternating points of views. This includes all of the Evans women, the sheriff, Deputy Taylor and at least one more. It's a lot, but it works. It's coherent and easy to follow as each chapter starts with the name of whose viewpoint it is from.

Lighter moments are juxtaposed with horrific deaths. There[s a mystery as to who the master strigoi is. There is a dog, Belle, and she doesn't die in the end. There are more deaths than I expected. The ending did surprise me. I did not guess in advance who the master strigoi was.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's generally well written. The world building in terms of how the restless dead work was interesting. I liked the Evans women. And I find I am looking forward to the next book in the series. If you like your horror with just a dash of lighter moments, then this could be a good book for you.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my review.

I will unfortunately be DNFing Bless Your Heart. I really appreciate the eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts; thank you, NetGalley, the publisher, and the author.

I was so excited by the plot of this one and loved the idea of a group of Southern women in the 1990s running a funeral home and taking down the Strigoi. However, this failed to capture my attention by 18% in. Even though I didn’t make it too far in, I’m already tired of hearing about how many butterscotch candies one characters sucks on and have grown weary of the skirting around the Godawful Mess as it’s referred to.

Since I didn’t finish this, I’m going to give it two stars rather than one star to be more fair.

In Southeast Texas in 1999, three generations of Evans women run the only funeral parlor in town. But when bodies start arriving and rising from the dead with a hunger for their neighbors’ flesh, Ducey, her daughter Lenore and her granddaughter Grace all know what must be done: the dead must be put to their final rest as per familial custom.

Sometimes cozy and sometimes grisly, Bless Your Heart is a novel with engaging characters, sprinkles of dark humor, horrifying antagonists and more than a couple of secrets. I enjoyed reading about the Evans women, their struggles with their complicated history-particularly following an event fifteen years prior known as the “Godawful Mess”-and at times with one another.

Each member of the family has their own distinct personality and while their mindsets sometimes differ in terms of how they view the vampiric Strigoi and the nature of death, their love for one another is still paramount.

Lindy Ryan does a wonderful job of capturing the nature of a small Southern town; where relationships, secrets and grudges are closely intertwined. The secondary characters are also interesting: with Deputy Roger Taylor trying to puzzle together a growing number of disappearances and dead bodies and Crane, the mysterious newcomer to the town who captures the interest of Grace’s daughter Luna.

The Strigoi are portrayed as utterly horrifying and bear characteristics of both vampires and zombies. The gore depicted from their attacks was initially surprising, but helped to emphasize the extent of their threat as the number of victims increased.

The tension in Bless Your Heart builds steadily to its thrilling and emotional climax, though I wish we had spent a little more time with Ducey, Lenore, Grace and Luna prior to the conclusion.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and Lindy Ryan for providing access to this ebook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

The story begins in the year 1999 within a small Texas town where four generations of southern woman ranging from the age of fifteen to eighy-two run the one and only funeral parlor where it may seem strange to some folks but for the Evans women it is their day to day livelihood. Deputy Roger Morgan usually delivers the bodies to their morgue without problems but today he has to talk to the women about this particular body that he thinks was torn apart by wild animals and wants to prepare the women for the horrific state of the corpse while in the meantime in the room next door Mina Jean is getting her final touches for her viewing when she suddenly sits up out of her open casket!

They have to get the deputy out of the building immediately because they have work to do that they haven't had to perform in a long time and the three women are the only ones privy to the information that they are also monster hunters when dead bodies sometimes wake up.

Luna has no idea about this other work but today she will get a fast and rough lesson to the devastating secrets that her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother have kept from her all these years! What happened to all the men in the Evans family anyway and what will happen to Luna when she finally learns what happened to her father!

What a wonderful, engaging and fun book this was to read! This novel had a little bit of everything thrown in and it played out so well. Definitely atmospheric with the southern town influence and also taking place in 1999 was very realistic and entertaining while trying to imagine that this could possibly happen. Such great fun!

The author Lindy Ryan was a fantastic storyteller and the writing was simply captivating! I felt as if I was watching a terrific horror movie with dark humor and I enjoyed this book so much!

I highly recommend "Bless Your Heart" to all horror readers and some others as well if they can handle quite a bit of the graphic gore in many of the unusual situations many of these characters will encounter. I just have to say again how wonderful and unique this book truly was. I will be looking forward to reading more books from this talented writer!


I want to thank the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Net galley for the opportunity to read this novel and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 1/2 LIVING DEAD 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

Bless Your Heart was a fun romp. I loved the "proper lady" theme but mixed with vampires. Well done.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved that the humor and thriller were both in the book. I can't wait to read more about this author. I would definitely recommend this book.