Book Synopsis

A grieving mother and son hope to survive Christmas in a remote mountain cabin in Pennsylvania, in this award-nominated chilling novella of dread, isolation and sinister spirits lurking in the frozen woods. Perfect for fans of The Only Good Indians, The Shining and The Babadook.

Two weeks ago, Christine Sinclaire's husband slipped off the roof while hanging Christmas lights and fell to his death on the front lawn.

Desperate to escape her guilt and her grief, Christine packs up her fifteen-year-old son and the family cat and flees to the cabin they'd reserved deep in the remote Pennsylvania Wilds to wait out the holidays.

It isn't long before Christine begins to hear strange noises coming from the forest. When she spots a horned figure watching from between frozen branches, Christine assumes it's just a forest animal--a moose, maybe, since the property manager warned her about them, said they'd stomp a body so deep into the snow nobody'd find it 'til spring.

But moose don't walk upright like the shadowy figure does.

They don't call Christine's name with her dead husband's voice.

Review Quotes

"Lindy Ryan weaponizes the dread of grief suffered in isolation. Horrific and heartbreaking."
Jamie Flanagan, screenwriter The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Fall of the House of Usher

"COLD SNAP is an intrusive thought, an open wound. It will consume you."
Stephanie M. Wytovich, Bram Stoker Award(R)-winning author of Brothel

"A powerfully affecting study of bereavement, illuminated by a sense of the uncanny and mysterious that builds to vivid scenes of breathless nightmare terror."
Ramsey Campbell

"Cold Snap reads like a whiteout of blinding grief. The deeper you plunge into this haunting novella, the more you lose sight of your surroundings. Before long, you won't be able to tell where the pages end and reality begins. It's that immersive."
Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

"The frost bite fever dream that is fresh grief. I read this book in one sitting, and I still feel the chill. An ode to old school King and also something entirely new. Add Cold Snap to your holiday horror reading list, it's a must!"
CJ Leede

"Lindy Ryan takes old tropes and makes them fresh in this creepy and bizarre little book about grief."
Ally Wilkes, Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated author of All the White Spaces

"Steals through your soul like a winter chill--a heart-rending, darkly humorous hymn to grief, guilt and love. This is a perfect Christmas horror story that's so crisp and cool, it'll leave your fingers frostbitten."
Josh Winning, author of Heads Will Roll

"Cold Snap is a well-observed study of trauma that doesn't shy away from the high weirdness of fresh grief. A delirious horror with arresting images and powerful tension."
Verity M. Holloway, author of The Others of Edenwell

"As uncomfortable as anxiety-induced insomnia. Cold Snap reminds us with icy precision how nothing should be taken for granted, especially family."
Polly Hall, Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated author of The Taxidermist's Lover

"A brisk read ... which is a testament to its page-turning quality and the gripping nature of the story. Definitely one for the cold and dark nights that lay ahead."
Bloody Flicks

"A Haunting and affectiing novella that portrays the wrenching nature of grief and guilt" -Library Journal

Praise for Bless Your Heart

"Such a brilliant blend of banter and dread. Authored with the confidence of a storyteller who knows every inch, cadence, and beat of their tale. Instantly cinematic. And if you're anything like me, you're going to wish you were part of the Evans family, working at the Evans Funeral Home, just so you can spend more time with these people. Lindy Ryan is on fire with this book."
Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Daphne

"The Evans women have arrived and these southern belle slayers are carving out a spot in our undead hearts. Lindy Ryan has harnessed the charm and horror of a Romero-helmed Steel Magnolias, equal parts Carson McCullers and Bram Stoker. Bless her heart."
Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

"Lindy Ryan is among the most electrifying voices in the horror genre today. Her writing is devastating, beautiful, and horrifying in all the best ways. With her new novel, she's created a group of characters you won't ever forget set in a world that's sure to get under your skin. Bless Your Heart is everything you could want in a horror novel and more. Highly recommended."
Gwendolyn Kiste, Three-time Bram Stoker Awards(R)-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals

"A flesh-ripping, heartfelt good time. Lindy Ryan has crafted a matriarchal line in keeping with Practical Magic but with the added gory fun of Dead Until Dark. I was utterly charmed and can only hope I haven't seen the end of the Evans women."
Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile

"If you don't think a horror novel can somehow feel like Steel Magnolias meets Buffy with a dab of Straub's Ghost Story, well . . . Bless Your Heart. Lindy Ryan's debut novel is a bloodsoaked blast, packed with delightful characters and shockingly gruesome mayhem. And its ending seems to imply further adventures involving the Evans women, something I would welcome like a glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day."
Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings

"A gloriously gruesome, compulsively readable debut that is as grizzly as it is clever and heartfelt, offering an inventive, poignant, and thoroughly entertaining exploration of legacy. Absolutely brilliant."
Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth

"Lindy Ryan's debut, Bless Your Heart, is a delight! Small-town, multi-generational horror about a family of monster-hunting women who make sure the dead can rest, it's a creepy romp that begs for sequels. Check it out!"
Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and All Hallows

"Gory, spine-chilling, and deeply Southern, Bless Your Heart is a women-led fight against the rising dead. An absolute must-read for anyone who likes their horror with bite."
Darcy Coates, USA Today best-selling author of THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE and GALLOWS HILL

"Sparkling with magic and Southern charm, Bless Your Heart is a witty and compulsively readable story about family, duty, and the power to protect the ones we love the most. I was delightfully charmed by the women of the Evans family!"
Maureen Kilmer, author of Suburban Hell and Hex Education

About the Author

Lindy Ryan is a Bram Stoker Awards(R) Nominee and a Silver Falchion Award-winning editor, author, professor, short-film director, and anthologist whose books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. A Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree, Ryan is the author of BLESS YOUR HEART, COLD SNAP, and more. She is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue, the world's leading horror culture and entertainment brand, and the "Chill Quill" columnist at BookTrib. Her guest articles and features include NPR, BBC Culture, Irish Times, Daily Mail, and more. In 2022, Ryan was named one of horror's most masterful anthology curators, and she has been declared a "champion for women's voices in horror" by Shelf Awareness (2023). Her animated short film, TRICK OR TREAT, ALISTAIR GRAY, based on her children's book of the same name, won the Grand Prix Award at the 2022 ANMTN Awards. Lindy also writes contemporary romance that has been adapted for film.

On social @LindyRyanWrites and at LindyRyanWrites.com.