I received a gifted copy of BLESS YOUR HEART by Lindy Ryan, thank you to St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio.

BLESS YOUR HEART is set in Texas in 1999. The Evans women own and operate the funeral parlor for their town. They do the usual preparations for burial, but sometimes there's more to the story. When a body is brought in showing signs of coming back from the dead, the eldest of the Evans women know that the Strigoi (vampires) are back again and they must train the new generation in their true calling.

More people around town start disappearing, dying, and coming back. Complicating matters more, Deputy Taylor is asking a lot of questions that threaten to bring out the family's secrets. Something unusual is going on and Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna Evans must get to the bottom of it to protect the town.

I didn't know a lot about this book going in, but I took a chance on picking it up during a readathon and wound up easily able to binge read the full book without any regrets. It is a horror book and there is gore to be had, but there's some humor and small town charm somehow mixed in as well. The family has a lot of secrets that not all of the members know, and certainly that the town doesn't know, so there is much to discover as the book goes back and forth between POVs.

I really find the different way authors handle vampire lore to be interesting and I enjoyed the new takes this author brought about. There are elements that felt familiar, but also some things that brought new life to the undead.

⭐ 4 / 5
Thank you @netgalley and @macmillian.audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ALC. The unbiased opinions presented in this review are mine alone.
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Delightfully gory!

Butterfly clips? Shopping malls? Glitter lipgloss (that is probably not safe for human consumption)? Bless my elder millennial heart! I loved the nostalgia this book elicited. This was the light-hearted, Southern-charmed story I didn’t know I needed. I guess it is best categorized as a mystery-horror but it’s not particularly scary and there is a charming quality woven into all the gore. Can the gruesomely undead be fun? Apparently.

For generations, the Evans women have owned the only funeral parlor in their small Southeast Texas town. People die, they bury them. Every once in a while one wakes up and they take care of that too. The Evans family is made up of Ducey - the butterscotch-loving, straight-shooting, spitfire, matriarch, her kind-hearted daughter Lenore, her reserved and emotionally haunted granddaughter Grace, and Luna, her 15-year-old great-granddaughter.

It has been 15 years since the last outbreak of Strigoi or “restless dead,” a mess that ended with two bodies buried, Grace with a scar on her hand, and her infant daughter without a father. When the bodies of two locals rise in the funeral parlor, the older Evans women realize it is long past time for them to share the family secrets with Luna. Meanwhile, a new ‘odd’ boy Luna’s age has arrived in town and other locals are going missing, some leaving behind brutally bloody scenes. Deputy Roger Taylor is scrambling to solve the mystery before more bodies pile up. As the investigation keeps leading back to the funeral parlor and Taylor begins asking questions, the Evans women realize their messy past may be repeating itself.

<i>Bless Your Heart</i> is a multi-POV novel, but Luna is arguably the main character. Although it is hard to get to know the characters on a deeper level with the multi-POV, it seems to work here. You get a sense for what is going on all around the small town and how everyone is connected. Since this is the first in a series, I’m thinking we’ll get to know everyone more in the coming books.

I was engaged with this audiobook from start to finish, but the last third is action-packed. I felt the wrap-up at the end was a little rushed and the ‘big reveal’ did not surprise me at all, but it was still wickedly entertaining. The narrator Stephanie Nemeth Parker was excellent. All characters had their own voice. A few of the characters have what can be considered “annoying habits” (e.g. smacking lips each time they speak). Stephanie Nemeth Parker performed these quirks quite well, as evidenced by my involuntary twitching with each one.

If you're squeamish and you hate discussion of gore and/or vomit, this book may not be for you (or just prepare yourself)…cause there’s A LOT! If you're not bothered by those things and you’re looking for a fun, nostalgic read - check this one out.

<u>*Content warnings*</u> (may not be all-inclusive)
Many occurrences of blood, gore, violent death, dismemberment, consumption of body parts, disembodied human teeth, and emesis. Death of a child (teen). Columbine school shooting (referenced). Homophobic slurs. Racism (referenced). Injury to animal (dog). For those with misophonia - the mouth noises exhibited by some of the characters in the audiobook may be cringe-inducing.

This book is so cozy, cute and spooky! The Evans girls are now running the local funeral parlor that grandma/mom, Ducey, has run for the past eighty years. Little Luna doesn’t know that the Evans ladies have been dealing with the Strigoi (original vampire) all these years. It’s time they tell the youngest little lady of the Evans pack so she knows who she is and what her family is all about.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Stephanie Nemeth Parker, was so good. She nailed it with the southern accents and immerses the audience straight into this southern vampire mess! The bodies begin to rise from the dead again after a short hiatus. The Evans family will have to figure out how to handle it before it gets out of control.

A fun, quick read that is full of chilling but comedic charm! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Initial Thoughts
This was a fun and entertaining read! The four generations of Evans women were all great characters. I was hooked pretty early in the book and couldn't wait to see how things would work out in the end. There were some pretty big surprises worked into the story which I really appreciated. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did a fantastic job with this story.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Full review to be posted soon.

Definitely a different style of book than one I’d typically have on my shelf. This book was an engaging and fun read. A little bit darker and gorier than I had expected, but if you can get past that there are lots of laughs to be had!

The Evans’s women are the owner/operators of the only funeral parlor in their small county of southeastern Texas, and they have been for many years. When the dead die it is their job alone to make certain that they make sure they’re brought to their grave with peace. But sometimes they also have to make sure they stay dead. Suddenly residents are showing up dead and going missing, and the deputy officer is asking too many questions. Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna must now take up their blades and take care of business, the one only they know how to do.

Ever want to read (or listen) to a paranormal mystery that will make you giggle and be mildly grossed out at the same time? This is definitely the pick I recommend; I had an incredibly fun time listening to this book!
I received an Advanced copy of the Audiobook version of this book, big thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to have a listen before it is released.

My favourite aspects of this book were absolutely the characters, the Evans’s women are an absolutely joy, they have the right amount of sass and charm that really makes you love a story regardless of what the story does, I am pretty certain I could read an entire story about the Evans’s family just doing their day-to-day funeral business, they have wit, courage, and the right amount of humour.
The only thing I would add to this book is I wish we would have spent a bit more time in Ducey’s POV, she was absolutely a gem and I would have loved to hear more of her inner musings. I was expecting a tad more laughs but I do believe the right amount of humour was mixed into the story that it balanced the mild horror and rest of the storyline to make it all vibe in nicely!

There are a couple things that might bother readers in this novel, there is some body horror, some descriptions of body parts and other things being not where they’re supposed to be, to put it delicately. It isn’t gratuitous or overly described but could still bother certain readers!

I consumed this book as an Audiobook, it was given to me for free as an ARC in exchange for honest feedback. The audiobook comes in at 10H49M, it will also be available as an eBook coming in at 304 pages as well as a physical book also coming in at 304 pages!
Bless Your Heart is set to be released on April 9th 2024! Pre-order is now on many of your favourite websites and retailers!

Can I start off by saying I absolutely loved Ducey's character!? She's one to talk her share of smack then conclude with "Bless her heart!" Lol. I thought she was such a great character in this book!

The Evans women (Ducey, her daughter Lenore, and her daughter Grace) own the only funeral parlor in town, and their family has been doing so for years. Their work is the normal laying the dead to rest, up until recently. When Mina Jean Murphy died, she was brought to the parlor, and not soon after did something strange happen. Mina started moving! She had died, however became a strigoi (risen from the dead like zombies, but feast and suck blood like vampires) This, surprisingly, was not new to the Evans women. The last time they encountered a strigoi was 15 years ago, but this time was different. Strigoi are popping up left and right! The Evans women need to figure out how this is happening - who is raising the dead? It doesn't help that they haven't told Luna, the youngest Evans female, any of this. She has no idea of what her family does.

I enjoyed this book a lot, however I wasn't too fond of the multiple POV. The Evans women POVs were great, but did we really need any of the deputy's POV? Did we need Kim's POV?..


Thank you to NetGalley & publisher for providing me with this awesome ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a clever and engaging listen. It was a little darker than I anticipated, with less black humor (I was expecting more of a Southern Ladies Guide vibe), so was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. It was a very interesting story though and a great listen, as the narrator did an excellent job differentiating her characters without going over the top. There is a heavy emphasis on family and the bonds between women, which I really enjoyed. I would definitely look up Lindy Ryan again, and was pleased to see that it is listed as "Book #1" - although I do hope there would be some shifts in focus, as I'm not entirely sure that the fundamental elements alone would be sufficiently interesting to support multiple books.

A huge thank you to Macmillan Audio for granting me access to this extremely unique read by Lindy Ryan. Bless Your Heart is quirky, it's serious, and it's at its core a book about family. I really enjoyed this as an audiobook. The women in this book are all so different from one another but their unconditional love is evident in everything they do for one another.

Luna's family is different. They own the funeral parlor in town. Her whole life, Luna has been surrounded by death as the women in her family work to lay folks to rest. However, recently, there have been more deaths than usual and by no means are they typical nor natural. The Evans women know something is up and their worst fears are actualized as they realize it's worse than they ever could have imagined. Now they are forced to confront what's happening while trying to keep their own secrets buried.

The audio at times made me laugh out loud because of how quirky some of the characters were. Be prepared to crave a butterscotch after reading this one. I anticipated this being a light read based on the cover art, but there is a lot going on within this book.

I was originally drawn to this book because of its cute and colorful cover! It was definitely a wild ride and not something I usually would be drawn to. I did enjoy the story and the humor! Buckle up because there are some interesting secrets buried in this small, southern town!

Thank you to MacMillan audio and Lindy Ryan for the early copy of this book.

🎧AUDIOBOOK REVIEW🎧

Bless Your Heart - Lindy Ryan
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️

“A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish from debut author Lindy Ryan.”

I absolutely loved this story of 4 generations of women who run the only funeral home in their small town. The Evans women were charming, funny badasses and I truly hope there will be more books to come from this series. I wouldn’t describe this as horror (though there are a few gory parts) but more paranormal mystery.

Recommend if you like:
- Multiple POVs
- Strong women
- Paranormal mystery
- Dark humor
- 90’s references
- Southern charm

Thank you @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for my copies!

As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover! I was expecting something along the lines of The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, or even the tv show iZombie. This book was definitely not what I was expecting. The cartoonish cover and sticky sweet title are where the pleasantries ended. The storyline had a lot of promise, the family of Evan’s women running the only funeral home in town, and the undead needing to be tended to - what’s not to love about that! The description and title really had me hoping for some dark humor and perhaps a little southern charm thrown in just for fun! Truth be told, I did find parts of it charming, like the southern whit and nosey neighborhood, but I didn’t connect with the characters like I had hoped and the book was more morbid than I was expecting. I have worked for a local hospice provider for many years, so dark humor comes pretty naturally to me, but I just found a lot of the moment more cringy than entertaining. I was particularly bothered by the nonchalant way that the columbine school shooting was casually dropped into the story while relating to one of the characters. I found that particularly to be distasteful and unnecessary to get the point of the character across. I did like the idea of the story and even mostly liked the female character but this just fell a little flat for me personally. I do know there are those who will love this book, and I will absolutely recommend it to those in my book group that I think will find it entertaining, it just wasn’t the book for me.

I do want to thank the author Lindy Ryan, the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook. I so appreciated the opportunity to listen and share my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book. Loved the characters, loved the story, loved the voices in the audiobook. It’s written so well it quite literally played like a movie in my head the whole time.

This book was incredibly fun. I loved following the multigenerational story of the Evans women as they deal with a vampire outbreak in their small town. The world that Lindy Ryan built was so interesting. I enjoyed the different types of vampires that we saw. All of the Evans women had distinct and interesting personalities. The book was a great mix of horror, mystery and comedy. Stephanie Németh-Parker's narration was great. Highly recommend the audio version of this book! This feels like it could be a series and I really hope we get more adventures from this crew.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Ghouls, funeral parlors, and strong, fierce women, oh my!!!! I ate this book up (no pun intended 😝). It felt new and fresh, and I had a slow burn with connecting with the characters, but about halfway through, I loved them! I sincerely hope that this will be a series, because I need more of the Evans’ women!! Thank you so incredibly much to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook 💕

I adored this audiobook! The narrator perfectly captured the personalities of all of the characters in this tale. Part mystery, part Texas Belles meet Dracula, part story about learning to love and grieve those we’re bound to by blood and tragedy, I devoured this tale. Fans of Grady Hendrix will revel in the Texas rebuttal of Georgia’s Southern Bookclub’s Guide to Killing Vampires without feeling like they’ve heard this story before. This would be a great generational read to share with older YA readers who handle the occult well AND grandmas looking for a fresher read. My only complaint is that I have to wait for more tales from the universe.

Bless Your Heart really reminded me of a 90s style comedic horror movie in all the best ways. The Evans women reminded me a lot of the women in my family.. the tough southern kind who always step up and get things done. The relationship between the 4 women (great grandmother, grandmother, mom, and daughter in case it takes you a minute to figure that part out like it did me) brought not just humor to the book, but also a surprising amount of emotion and warmth that I wasn't expecting.
This is one that I would really love see turned into a movie.

The only drawback was there are A LOT of POVs to follow and it can get kind of confusing.

I enjoyed this so much! The Evan’s women all had their own personalities but they were all equally amazing! The whole time I thought I knew where it was going, but I was very very wrong. It kept me wanting more all day long, I finished in one sitting. The narrator was fantastic! The butterscotch’s reminded my of my own great grandmother. It was truly a wonderful book! I am going to get more from the author now.

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