I’ve been a fan of Ruth Emmie Lang since I read her debut novel, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance, and her newest work does not disappoint. It’s a beautiful story of family, sisterhood, and the storms that bring us together and tear us a part. It’s beautifully complex, and I’ll be recommending it to all my book club friends.

I can't begin this review without first saying that Ruth Emmie Lang's debut, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance, is one of my all-time favorite books. Like, if I could carry it around with me at all times like a blankey, I would...that's how much I love that book. I have given it as gifts, I have begged people to read it saying "read this and you will understand how I feel about books." It's because of this love that I had unbelievably high expectations of The Wilderwomen, bordering on unreasonably high expectations if I'm being totally honest. When I received the free review copy, I canceled all my plans (I had no plans, I never have plans) to sit down and read it.

In The Wilderwomen, the Wilder women have _abilities_: some embraced, some ignored, but none fully explained since Nora Wilder, mom of Sadie and Finn, disappeared from their lives years ago, leaving the girls untethered and confused about their uniqueness and their place in the world. When they decide to trace their mother's footsteps to try and find out what really happened to her, will they like what they uncover?

What makes Lang's writing so special to me is how she effortlessly weaves magic realism into her stories. It never feels forced or false, it just is. I always get so swept up in her prose that I find myself a little bit envious of her characters and their magic. I want to be magic.

But alas, I am not magic so I have to live vicariously through her rich and well-rounded out characters. Sisters Finn and Zadie are a delight. They are both headstrong, flawed, and trying to figure out how to reconnect with each other and find their mother and get much-need answers about their past in order to have a future. I was all-in for the journey and really enjoyed the characters met along the way also.

While this one didn't make it into my heart in quite the same way BEASTS did, I still loved it, I'll still re-read it and I still want to be magic. Thank you for that, Emmie.

**thank you to Net Galley & St. Martin's Press for the advanced review copy**

takes a hot minute to get familiar with the characters but once you do, its so good. thanks netgalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nora Wilder disappeared five years ago. Her daughters, Zadie and Finn, have special gifts where they can see the future and read people's memories, but they didn't see this coming. Now the daughters are setting out on an adventure to find their mom. Bouncing back and forth between Nora's pre-disappearance timeline and present-day, this story unfolds the relationships between mothers and daughters, the bonds of sisterhood, and the many gifts of the world. Will they reunite with their mom? Can they save themselves in the process? What will it all cost them?

This book is a wild, beautiful ride. I didn't have many expectations, and it took me a little time to buy into the magical realism part of the story. I still felt like I didn't fully get into it, but that didn't keep me from the suspense of the quest or the love between the sisters. I felt like there were some parts of the story that didn't go nearly as deep as I wanted. The writing is beautiful and Lang knows how to paint a vivid picture of nature. I could feel each setting as they arrived.

I liked how the magical realism/abilities were done and imagined. The story itself did not keep my attention like I thought it would. I was, however, satisfied with the ending.

My favorite character by far was Joel, but he was the least “interesting” but I liked the concept of finding and controlling the power within as portrayed with the two sister characters. This is a good road trip novel for when your reading tastes want an adventure.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted ecopy. All views expressed are my own.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared, leaving her two daughters, Zadie and Finn all on their own. Bonded by their shared gifts, but separated by the DOC, Zadie and Finn find themselves at a crossroads after Finn graduates from high school.

When Finn decides to turn their beginning of summer “bonding” beach trip into a search for their mother, will Zadie be able to come to terms with the way that Nora left them all those years ago? Will Finn be able to trace back her mother’s footsteps without losing herself in the process?

The Wilderwomen is a beautifully written story about family and mothers and their daughters. Like Lang’s first novel, the language and descriptiveness of the story is eloquent and riveting. I loved watching Zadie and Finn reconnect while also coming to understand why Nora left. A great book for those who are fans of magical realism.

Thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Ruth Emmie Lang for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Read if you like:

+ Practical Magic
+ Magical Realism
+ Family sagas / reunification

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Five years ago Nora Wilder disappeared and even though her daughter Zadie was able to see the future, she couldn't see that coming. On the other hand, Finn, her estranged younger sister is not also able to remember everything happened to her, but also to perceive other people's memories and when, on the day of her graduation's party, she's seized by an "echo", a familiar song and she wakes up alone in an aviary, not remembering how she got there, she realizes the memory belongs to her mother. Now, after convincing Zadie to look for their mother, following her "echoes" and hitting the highway, the sisters have to understand what exactly happened five years ago and why their mother disappeared. While following the echoes, though, Finn starts to slip away, losing herself in her mother's memories and struggling to come back to her own present and Zadie is forced to choose what's the right thing to do: keep following their mother's echoes or helping her sister, or lose them both.

The Wilderwomen is a brilliant story with amazing protagonists, with peculiar abililities. Written skillfully, focusing on Zadie and Finn and their lost mother, the story is intriguing, captivating and so extraordinary. A fiction interwoven with supernatural elements, an on the road trip story and with sisters who bond in order to understand what happened to their mother and solve the mystery of her disappearance, while also understanding their own relationship. Ethereal, thrilling and so perfect to read in every season, The Wilderwomen couldn't be more recommended.

2 sisters join forces to go on a road trip to find their mom. Each possess a distinct ‘power’ that they use to try and figure out where to go.

I really enjoyed this book. It didn’t have quite the magical feel to it that I was hoping for but it was still a fun read. My one tiny complaint was…I felt it was a bit too long. I am glad how the romance played out though.

The Wilderwomen pulled me in immediately. The writing is so beautiful and there were parts I had to pause and read again because I loved it so much.

This is the story of two sisters - Finn and Zadie - who each have their own special powers. I loved the way the magical realism fit seamlessly into the story.

The plot was where this lost me just a little bit - it was fine, but didn’t quite live up to the writing and the characters for me. Zadie and Finn’s mom left them a number of years ago - we get some flashbacks to before their mom left and then the story of the sisters in current time. I just found myself wishing for a little more.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang was provided by @netgalley in exchange for a review.

Nora Wilder has 2 daughters and one day she goes missing. The two daughters are separated. The older one is on her own and the other is in a foster family. The younger one is about to graduate high school and commandeers the graduation trip her sister had planned to try and find their mom. Sounds simple enough, but in this family the girls have powers that might be helpful in finding their mom.

❤️Review❤️

So I really enjoyed Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances last year, which made me super excited to read this one. It’s definitely a readable book, but I wanted something more from it. I didn’t find anything really enjoyable. Often times I felt like I was just trudging through the book and nothing was really pulling me into the story. It’s not a bad book by any means, but I was just looking to be more connected to the story than I was. So even though I didn’t love it, I would definitely try another book by her since I have been connected to a book by her in the past.

3 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#Netgalley #EBooks #DigitalBooks #BookReview #MagicalRealism #MysteryBooks #ContemporaryBooks #Sisterhood #NewBooks #BooksBooksBooks #WinterReading #Read

Two years ago I had read and loved Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance so when I got the opportunity to read and review Ruth Emmie Lang’s newest novel, I jumped at it. I procrastinated reading it and the longer I let it sit the less I felt like reading it so I finally picked it up one day. I would have thought a book that had characters with psychic abilities would have thrilled me a little more than it ended up doing. I had a very hard time connecting and caring about Zadie. This book has so many emotions running through it but I struggled to feel anything but boredom to be perfectly honest. The plot and characters just never fully gripped me. Overall I was just very disappointed with this book. Maybe if I read it in a more philosophical type mood this would have worked better for me as many people seem to have enjoyed it so I wouldn’t necessarily take my word on this one.

I was very intrigued, it just didn’t hit me right away. As the story develops, it gets better and better, but it took some time to get into.

Ruth Emmie Lang is a super interesting author, & this is the second book by her that I really enjoyed.

I wanted to like this one so much but I ended up not being able to vibe with it. It was too atmospheric for me. DNF @30%.

I have been waiting for this book since June 2020. I loved Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance. I thought it was just so magical and whimsical. It just brought me so much joy. So right away I had to add this to my to read list. Unfortunately, this story didn't grab me. Yes this book had the fantasy and magical realism the other book had. I just wasn't fully invested in this story. I just finished the book and I already feel most of what I read slipping from my memory. I'm so bummed because I was looking forward to this. I really wanted to have another favorite from this author.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I absolutely LOVED! This book. Ruth Emmie Lang does it again.
This magical story of two sisters journey to find their lost mom was so beautiful.
The Wilder sister go on a journey to find their mom who had disappeared five years prior. In their journey they find so much more. They find forgiveness, love and family. It just proves that love never leaves not even through anger, distance or missing years.
There were some crying. Yes I can’t get through a great book without a few tears. That just means it perfect.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.

I first fell in love with this gorgeous cover. The blurb about the book matched the cover vibe so I knew immediately I had to read this one. And my reading journey did not disappoint. Magic realism meets family drama with a dash of mystery and characters I grew to care about and the final result was a story with a huge emotional and visual impact. I love reading stories that play out like a movie in my mind.

Zadie and Finn are sisters with special abilities - Zadie has premonitions of the future and Finn experiences echoes of other people's memories. When their mom suddenly and inexplicably disappeared 5 years ago, Finn was placed with a foster family while Zadie who was of age at the time, decided to suppress her gift. Zadie is angry at their moment for abandoning them but Finn wants to unravel the mystery of her disappearance. In an effort to reconnect the two sisters decide to go on a beach vacation together. Except their plans get derailed when Finn experiences an echo of a memory that might be their mother's...

Both Zadie and Finn were complex and complicated characters with an even more complex relationship to their gifts and their mother. I loved being a companion on their journey - both the literal search for their mother but also the figurative one of figuring out how to connect with their true selves and to each other. They also meet a colourful cast of characters along the way. This is a multilayered beautiful story about identity, families and sisterhood.

A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! I loved it so much that I purchased it as my very first Book of the Month selection!

I really wanted to love this one especially after seeing so many wonderful things about it, but it just wasn't for me. I didn't feel connected to the characters, the story felt slow and meandering. I think many others will love this, but not me.

Ruth Emmie Lang's The Wilderwomen spins a complex tale of three women whose gifts set them apart from the world and each other. Their struggle to reconnect and solve the mystery of their mother's disappearance makes for a wild ride. Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared, leaving no traces behind. Nora had been increasingly having trance-like states where she wandered off and stared up at the birds in the sky, losing all time and memory of these events.

But she also tended to leave her kids behind which caused pain, especially for Zadie who was the oldest. As the older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent Nora from vanishing. She feels as though maybe she might have stopped Nora if Nora didn't make a huge mistake right before she left.

Without their mom to hold the family together, the sisters have drifted apart. Zadie’s estranged younger sister, Finn, was put into foster care and is being raised by foster parents who are good people who are eager to adopt her. She can’t see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an “echo” more powerful than anything she’s experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird…

When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora. Instead of heading to the beach for vacation, Finn talks Zadie into a road trip following Nora's tracks guided by Finn's 'echoes' of Nora's memories with hopes of piecing together a path leading to their mother and discovering why she left five years ago. Against Zadie’s better judgement, and the fact that she's both pregnant, and recently separated from the babies daddy, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn’s echoes to retrace Nora’s footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years:

Why did she leave? But the more time Finn spends in their mother’s past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide what lengths she is willing to go to to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good. Zadie is also up against her own failures. She pretty much ignored her abilities for years thinking that maybe she'd end up like Nora. Without following the past and finding out what their mother’s holding back, they can not fulfill their future dreams, and Zadie is likely to lose her sister like she lost her mother.

The journey also includes Finn, who was Zadie's ex at one point, and a few surprises along the way. Along the way, they met so many fascinating and likeable characters, many of whom had special abilities of their own like hearing the music of the stars in the sky, communicating with trees, or being able to paint someone’s future. This book has a tendency of going back in time to the months and days leading up to Nora's mysterious disappearance, and might give readers clues as to what really happened.

There are heartwarming moments and the ending wraps everything up nicely. It also has some surprises that readers may not expect.

Love a story with a strong sisterly bond! The Wilderwomen was a surprise for me. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did but I’m glad I took a chance on it.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the detailed descriptions throughout. This story left me excited to read other work by the author!