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meghan_readsbooks 's review for:
Bless Your Heart
by Lindy Ryan
Stephanie Németh-Parker's narration for Bless Your Heart from Lindy Ryan really makes this book work! Thank you to MacMillan and St Martin's press for review copies of Bless Your Heart. I recommend this one on audiobook as I really thought the narration gave style to Ryan's writing that helped me enjoy the story more.
There is a lot to like in this story, it resonated with my buffy the vampire slayer loving self and my appreciation for stories with strong female characters and for family dynamics that are complex but funny and edgy, and for the part of me that likes a sneakily dark and gory story underneath the fun and humor (similar to some of grady hendrix's books). I really appreciated the voice acting that captured tone and spirit of the different characters, let the darkness sneak in but also the humor too.
My one note is that the writing, despite a solid plot and characters and themes I love... didn't always work for me, this is a really liked it but missing some of the pizzazz/pow that I was expecting, I think it was the somewhat scattered development of the plot as we were learning about two big plot points, the family story and then what was happening in the town (akin to a pilot for a show that has to do a lot of work to explain a lot of things.., it works but I hope it is a set up for another story that flows more effectively!)
There is a lot to like in this story, it resonated with my buffy the vampire slayer loving self and my appreciation for stories with strong female characters and for family dynamics that are complex but funny and edgy, and for the part of me that likes a sneakily dark and gory story underneath the fun and humor (similar to some of grady hendrix's books). I really appreciated the voice acting that captured tone and spirit of the different characters, let the darkness sneak in but also the humor too.
My one note is that the writing, despite a solid plot and characters and themes I love... didn't always work for me, this is a really liked it but missing some of the pizzazz/pow that I was expecting, I think it was the somewhat scattered development of the plot as we were learning about two big plot points, the family story and then what was happening in the town (akin to a pilot for a show that has to do a lot of work to explain a lot of things.., it works but I hope it is a set up for another story that flows more effectively!)