Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Bless Your Heart

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan

5 reviews

amina_writes_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the storyline was quite good (minus the random Andy request at the end, that seemed unlikely and a swipe from nowhere) and was definitely a page turner. Love that it took place in Texas yet still highlighted minorities that hardly get acknowledged with air time here like the goths and the gays. The narrative style between the different chapters/ perspectives was not well done and read just like a standard narrative cover to cover. A keeper due to many themes that are hard to find but hardly the writing itself.

Content Warnings

srivalli's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

2.0

2 Stars

One Liner: Ugh… nope! (Rant coming up)

1999, Southeast Texas

The Evans women own the funeral parlor in town and have been running it for many generations. Ducey Evans spent all her eighty years in the same parlor and keeps it going with her daughter Lenore and granddaughter Grace. Grace has a teenage daughter Luna who will one day join the business.

After the Godawful Mess fifteen years ago, the Evans women are thankful there’s no other drama in the town. However, things change when a body rises from the dead right in the parlor. Deputy Roger brings more news and a body mangled and half-eaten. As more strange events occur, the Evans women have to face the past and confront the Strigoi (dead-un-dead creepies) to take them down yet again. Will they be too late this time?

The story comes in the third-person POV of multiple characters (Lenore, Luna, Deputy Roger, etc.).

My Thoughts:

Alright! I’m curious to know if the cover designer got to read the book or what to work with a synopsis/ theme given to them. The cover does not match the book’s tone. It has lighthearted drama vibes. I expected something similar with a touch of seriousness. However, there is almost nothing humorous in the book. I like dark humor, but I didn’t find anything funny here.

The beginning is slow, which is okay since it establishes the storyline, characters, and their relationships. However, the middle is full of filler. We get the same stuff in slightly altered versions in different POVs. Does it help connect with the characters? Sadly, no. The characters still remain 2D and surface-level (even stereotypical).

The premise is terrific. But the execution is the opposite. Nothing really happens until the last 20% or so. Even then, it doesn’t pack a punch. Something happens, something else happens, some death, and blah blah…

When the book goes on and on about how the Evans women are the only ones to tackle the menace and should keep the town safe, they do nothing until the very end. It’s all about ‘I don’t want to reveal this secret, so what if people are dying?’ If the family had a proper conversation when they should, the book would have been 100 pages. That would have prevented the need for a sequel (why is this even a series?).

Multiple POVs are useful to provide insight into different characters. However, here, we get the same stuff we already know. In attempting to keep the Godawful Mess a secret for as long as possible, the POVs and character development were compromised. If I had read that term one more term, I’d have deleted the book from my reader. Argh!!

The book has quite a bit of gore. I wasn’t bothered, but it can affect some readers. I’m guessing it would be around 5+ on the scale of 10 (don’t take my word for it). Did I find it scary or creepy? Nope. It was a flat graph except for the spiking annoyance at the characters.

Though Luna was a stereotypical teen, she at least had a few expressions and emotions more than the adults. Of course, making bad decisions seems to be a family trait, so… *shrug*

To summarize, Bless Your Heart is mostly a hook to get readers interested in the series and contains more filler than an actual story. It did not work for me, so please check other reviews before you decide. Many loved it and found it humorous.

Thank you, NetGalley and St.Martin’s (Minotaur Books), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

***

P.S.:

The dog lives.

Content Warnings

kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a fun debut from Lindy Ryan and clearly sets up future novels in this universe. I really hope there are more novels set in this universe because I definitely have questions and there were a lot of loose ends.

Bless Your Heart is a multiple POV novel that pivots between the Evan's women, Deputy Roger Taylor, and various other town's people. We never get a POV from any of the Strigoi which I thought would have been interesting and showed more information about the Strigoi. I see where Lindy has easily set up more novels, but it kind of bothered me that there weren't more answers. The Evans women have essentially been vampire hunters for generations, but they still don't know really anything about Strigoi beyond myths and legends. It just kind of bothered me that there wasn't a stronger knowledge base.

I did really enjoy the central story and the rising panic/anxiety. About half way through as the reader you start putting pieces together and it gave me so much anxiety in a good way. This was the kind of book where I was quickly turning pages and completely caught up in the drama. I thought the ending did lack a little oomph, but again I think it's because the author is setting up multiple story arc. I will be disappointed if I don't see another book in this series.

Bless Your Heart is a fun thriller that will keep you on your edge of your set. Even if I still had questions at the end, I really enjoyed this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Content Warnings

apairofducks's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.25

This book is not at all what I expected from the cover. It’s much more of a horror novel than the quirky vampire cover, and it’s not really a vampire novel at all— still, it had great characters and fun (albeit incomplete) world-building.
My biggest complaint is that the pacing of every action scene was a bit all over the place, like the author didn’t have experience writing stories coming to a head and not just being characters hanging out, but overall, they worked.

Content Warnings

bxtskr's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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.

Thank you to the author and publisher for advance access to this title in exchange for my honest review 🧛🏼

Content Warnings

More...