Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Bless Your Heart

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan

8 reviews

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

Getting to know the Evans women was a lot of fun and this vampire story set in a small town was well worth it. I felt like this book kept the action going from start to finish while also feeling somewhat of a cozy horror (cozy in the sense of the relationship building but not lack of horror elements). It is gory, gross, and adds some new elements into vampire lore which I thought was a great way to revitalize what we feel we already know.

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amina_writes_books's review against another edition

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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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clairebonney's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

3.75

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michellec13's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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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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apairofducks's review against another edition

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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.

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kylereadsromcoms's review

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dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

As the dead begin to rise in a small Texas town, four generations of women must confront their past and prevent the undead from destroying their town. The Evans women have been tasked with keeping the dead dead and in the ground and their roles running the town's funeral parlor allows them to do that. However, 15 years prior, an incident almost destroyed the town and their family. Lindy Ryan paces this horror novel well and drops crumbs along the path without revealing too much until it's the right time. With plenty of gore and humor, Bless Your Heart is an outstanding entry for those who may not love horror, but are willing to give the genre a try. Thanks to Minotaur Books for the ARC.

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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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