I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan Series: Bless Your Heart #1
Published by Minotaur Books on April 9 2024
Genres: Adult, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Southern charm and graphic violence collide in this funny and heartwarming story.
“Put me in pink lipstick or blue hair if you want when I go,” the old woman was saying, “but bury me with my brassiere on and I’ll haunt you.”
Bless Your Heart was a fun horror story with unforgettable characters, lots of humor, an intriguing mystery and plenty of blood. While I had a few issues, I enjoyed this overall, especially the characters, who steal the show and make this a memorable series opener.
The story takes place in 1999 in a small Southeast Texas town and revolves around four generations of Evans women, who own and run the town’s only funeral parlor. Ducey, Lenore, Grace and Luna come from a long line of Evans women, and they’ve always had a very important job to do. When the dead decide to rise—and they inevitably do—it’s the Evans women who stop them and keep the town safe. Fifteen year old Luna is the youngest, and she hasn’t yet been told about the “real” family business. But when a body turns up that has the markings of a strigoi attack—an undead monster who tears apart their victims—Ducey and the others know it’s time to let Luna in on the truth.
As more bodies begin to pile up, the elder Evans women begin to wonder if the past is coming back to haunt them. Fifteen years ago, something terrible happened (what they refer to as the “Godawful Mess”), and since then they’ve done everything they can to stave off the danger. But the “restless dead” won’t stay quiet, and now they must figure out the cause before more innocent townspeople die.
It was the cover of Bless Your Heart that first caught my attention, but after reading it, I can firmly state that this cover is a little misleading. Yes, this is a story brimming with humorous Southern charm, and there are plenty of lighter moments. But folks, this is a violent, bloody tale about strigoi—a cross between vampires and zombies—and the author delights in graphic descriptions of viscera and blood and body parts. And truthfully, these creatures are more zombie than vampire, which is why the woman with vampire teeth on the cover is so confusing to me. The human characters aren’t too excited about seeing the horrifying remains left behind after a strigoi attack, and so there is a lot of vomiting going on as well, lol.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the characters, who are a delight. We have the matriarch of the family, 84-year-old Ducey, who loves butterscotch candy and a good, spicy romance novel. Ducey was one of my favorites—I loved her witty remarks and wise words. Then there’s her daughter Lenore, who lost the love of her life and is having a hard time dealing with it. Grace is Lenore’s daughter, and Luna is her daughter. There’s a bit of mystery surrounding Luna and her father (who isn’t in the picture), and the reader doesn’t learn the truth until later in the story.
There are quite a few side characters as well. I really liked Roger Taylor, one of the town’s deputies, who knows there’s something “off” with the Evans family but he doesn’t yet know what that is. Luna makes a new friend named Crane, a goth boy who seems a bit shady (he’s described as having greasy hair, a long trench coat and he smokes). Then there’s the Sheriff, Buck Johnson, who is one of the more unlikeable characters, although I had a soft spot for him because he has a Red Coon dog named Belle that he loves more than anything (I mean, how can you hate someone who loves his dog so much?) For dog lovers, don’t worry too much about Belle, she survives the story (although some scary things happen to her!). There is one thing that happens that I really didn’t like, though, and it involves Belle and Buck. I’m adding a hidden spoiler here if you’re curious (highlight below to read spoiler). Belle is attacked by a strigoi and disappears, and Buck is distraught. Someone finds her and nurses her back to health, but before Buck finds out that she’s OK, he’s attacked and killed by one of the ghouls! I don’t know why but this really pissed me off. He died not knowing whether she was alive or dead.
As for negatives, I thought the world building was a little confusing at times. There seem to be a lot of rules surrounding the strigoi, how you kill them, how they rise from the dead, etc, and I thought the author made those rules overly complicated. And for a mostly light hearted story, there’s an underlying seriousness that took some of the fun away. The ending was quite shocking in a way I was not expecting, and while it was an exciting ending, there are some sad, heartbreaking moments.
Still I’m glad I read Bless Your Heart, and even though I’m not sure where the author will go in the sequel, I’m definitely going to check it out.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Since I’m always intrigued by vampire stories (even though this one sounds a bit different) I will have to add Bless Your Heart to my TBR soon – of course, given your warning about the abundance of blood & gore, I must remember not to read it while eating a meal… 😉 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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Ha ha yes, definitely don’t eat while reading it;-)
The cover design is way too cute for a book that contains that much gore Glad to see you liked it!! I’m going to have to keep your spoiler method in mind because that’s awesome.
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I think I saw another blogger use that spoiler method, which is easy and doesn’t require a plug in!
Yea, I agree with your spoiler pissing you off. It was a fun book and I see it is now listed as a #1 so I’m kind of excited there may be a sequel on the way.
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I’m so curious to see what the next plot will be:-)
Interesting — I wouldn’t have expected that much vomit and viscera, based on the cover! 🙂 Sounds like there are some fun elements, but more gory than I would have expected.
Some of the scenes were pretty disgusting, lol. And I read horror all the time, lol.
Southern women kicking strigoi ass. Yes please. Adding this to my tbr
Snapdragon recently posted…Rise of The Planet of the Apes |Movie Review|
It was lots of fun:-)
This sounds like an intriguing read. I like the sound of the concept behind it with the unusual family business. With a cover like that I can see the gore that you’ve mentioned catching a lot of readers off guard.
I thought it would be more lighthearted!
Excellent quote! I have to write that into my funeral instructions. But I think cremation is more common now.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…2024 Library Love Audiobook Challenge & #Giveaway #LibraryLoveChallenge #Giveaway @BooksofMyHeart @angels_gp #AudiobookLove
LOL I love it too!
Glad you liked it. I am curious about this one.
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I think you’d like it!
Blood, gore and vomit, definitely not what I pictured when I first saw that cover 😀
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LOL I know!
Interesting choice of cover for a story with the content you describe. Just by the cover I’d have figured a cozy horror/romance sort of story about traditional vampires. As that old song said, things that make you go hmmmmm….
Exactly, this cover has a horror/rom com vibe, and it didn’t quite work for me.
After seeing the cover for this one – I went looking for it on the grounds that it looked to be a lot of fun. After reading your excellent review, I’m now very relieved that I didn’t get hold of an arc!! And that seems a huge shame – I hate it when the cover is so misleading for prospective readers and very much hope that it doesn’t impact too much on the book’s popularity. Though I’m very glad that you mostly enjoyed it, Tammy:).
It WAS a lot of fun, but maybe not for you, lol.
Gore is the last thing I would have expected watching the cover, but I am glad you enjoyed it all the same! It seems like the mix of horror and fun moments creates something unique!
It was sort of shocking to be honest! For a “vampire” story I was shocked at how much blood was laying around, lol.
This one’s on my list for May! I’m also finding a lot of vampires and vampire like creatures in my reading lately. I’m glad this seems more light hearted than most of them, I need variety
It’s good to be forewarned. I would definitely not be expecting strigoi type vampires looking at the cover.
Lynn 😀
The title and cover on this grabbed me, and I think that I’ll have to pick it up because I do enjoy stories like this with humor. I will keep in mind the thoughts you have about how the rules are a little more detailed and confusing than maybe necessary. But maybe if you read the sequel they will play out in that? Anyway, great review!
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