Reviews with content warning for Violence - Bless Your Heart

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan

9 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.

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coffeeandprose's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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knightressx's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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.

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natboyd's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a cozy horror set in a small Texas town in the late 1990s. It gives me Practical Magic vibes, with three generations of Evans women working together to fight Strigoi–monsters that are part zombie, part vampire, and completely terrifying–while also protecting the youngest Evans, 15-year-old Luna, from the monsters and from the secrets about her heritage. This is a fast, gruesome, entertaining read, and I was delighted to see it is the first of a series!

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ktdakotareads's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

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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.

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bxtskr's review against another edition

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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 🧛🏼

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thisbookisbananas's review

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adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Set in Beaumont, TX, Bless Your Heart is a slow-burn small town horror novel that was just the right amount of slice-of-life and strange/gruesome/weird that kept me reading until the very end.
I would say this book’s overall feel is B-movie horror( I mean this in the best way possible). It’s campy and pulpy good fun. I enjoyed the idea of inter-generational group of women fighting the undead. Lindy Ryan’s depictions of horrific scenes were just the right amount of shocking and gory, yet were paced out enough so that my brain could recuperate from the jarring scenes.
I was pleasantly surprised that the backdrop of the book is Beaumont, Texas in 1999, a time and place near and dear to my heart. I live very close to this town and was a middle schooler during this time! I enjoyed the author’s nod to southeast Texas restaurants(Rao’s,y’all!), shops (Parkdale Mall!),and the overall feeling of home and nostalgia in this book.
I will gladly pick up another book by Lindy Ryan and look forward to what she has coming up after this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

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fanboyriot's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Read For:

90s’ Nostalgia
Family Business

Southern Charm

Slaying the Dead

Strong Women MC’s

This made me think of “The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires” (but well written) meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It gave the small town vibes and a secret only a few knew about. Yet, there was still a great balance between horror and comedy.

Definitely something that would be fun to read with a book club tbh. There was drama, mystery, and of course, horror all throughout with some good old southern charm tying it all together.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lindy Ryan, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this ebook ARC in exchange for a review.

Release Date: 09, April 2023

POV: Switching, Third

Rep: Gay SC

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