This book was an interesting foray into the lives of a group of friends who occasionally get together to celebrate their “living” funerals because of a pact they made in college. While I didn’t love the whole book the way it ended was perfect and emotional.

This book is going to be EVERYWHERE. It’s already been chosen as June’s pick for @readwithJenna and I have been lucky enough to read this early and let me tell you, it is so good.
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This book is being billed as #TheBigChill for a new generation. Also, side not if you don’t know this soundtrack it is perfection. One of my favorite soundtracks I had on double cd. Yes, I instantly just aged myself. Anyway, back to the book. A group of college friends made a pact. It’s been 28 years out of college and they are no closer to figuring out their lives. Whenever anyone needs it they reunite in Big Sur to throw each other a “live funeral” as a reminder what they mean to each other in times of struggle.
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This time it’s not the crumbling of a marriage, death of parents or art fraud. This time it’s for something so much more. @mrstevenrowleywrites has such a unique talent of writing topics that are heavy with such heart and the perfect dose of humor. There are many times I’m reading a sad book and just simply cannot, but this isn’t it. Yes, this book made me cry, but it made me laugh, it made me think, it made me feel all the feelings which is a true talent. This was a beautifully written book.
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Also, I highly recommend the audio. It is narrated by the author and it is so entertaining. This book comes out tomorrow!
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Huge thank you to @prhaudio @putnambookd and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was lacking for me . I had enjoyed Guncle so much that I had high expectations for this book as well. However, the character development was liking, and I cannot connect with a lot of the characters.

This was a story about friends who met in college and made a pact to celebrate their funerals while they are still alive. Although It did have the witty banter and humor that I expected from The Guncle, I did not enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped. I struggled to keep up with all of the characters and the audio felt a lot like an angry family gathering with a lot of arguing many times in book. I think there is definitley an audience that will love this book though.

Thought this was great! My favorite was the book shrooming scene. Hilarious! This was definitely emotional. Still love the guncle better!

4.5 ⭐️

All the things you’ve come to expect from Mr. Steven Rowley. Just wonderful writing and storytelling. The Celebrants was emotional, heartwarming, hilarious at times, full of witty banter and remarks, and overall thought-provoking. Rowley was able to make me both laugh and shed a few tears.

I love the way the story unfolded through the various living funerals and timelines, learning more and more about each character as we progressed.
This is a very character-driven novel and while those sometimes become slow for me, that was not the case here. There was exceptional character development and the way he chose to tell the story with each section dedicated to a specific character really propelled that forward.

This book reiterates how important friendship is, especially friends who become found family. I honestly love the idea of living funerals for those your loved ones so you can let them know the impact they’ve had on you and leave nothing left unsaid. 🫶🏼 I’ll be thinking about this novel for awhile!

Side note— I will say that The Guncle is still my favorite from Rowley, but this one definitely deserves to be recommended and read by all!

Thank you so much to @netgalley and publisher
PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for an eARC of the Celebrants in exchange for an honest review.

Steven Rowley quickly became one of my favorite authors after reading The Guncle, and in the same fashion, The Celebrants will have you laughing and crying as you ride the emotional roller coasters of these characters’ lives.

Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle have been friends since college, and though it’s been 28 years since they graduated, their pact remains just as strong. Over the years, they’ve met up in Big Sur to throw each other living “funerals” as a reminder that life is worth living. But this year is different because Jordan has a secret that could change the terms of their pact.

I wasn’t expecting this book to affect me as much as it did, but it was so heartfelt and raw in the way that it shined a light on the struggles of adulthood and the challenges we overcome in life. These five friends didn’t get to see each other often, but they were always there to lift one another up when they needed a reminder that their lives mattered, even if they couldn’t see it themselves. Highly recommend this book, but be sure to have a box of tissues nearby!

*Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing a copy of this book to review.*

I loved this story of college friends coming together later in life to reconnect and celebrate one another by throwing funerals (even though they're still alive). The writing is quick and heartfelt, and the characters are funny, witty, and lovable. I was surprised by how much I loved the Guncle, and for me, The Celebrants was a fantastic follow-up. Rowley is a talented writer and a keen observer of the world around us. I have to imagine he is a wonderful conversationalist. I'll certainly be adding him to my list of must-read authors!

While I wish I could have loved this, it fell flat. There was to much going on nothing was explain and I have a hard time with who was who. I love the first book by him this was not good

3.5 stars

Five friends lose one of their group before graduation. To make sure they aren't too late to let the others know how they feel about them, a pact is made. When in need of each other the most each may call the pact into action. They will all come together and have a funeral. One for each of them.
The storyline going from present pact to the pacts of those in the past years.

I loved the Guncle, however this story was slow. I wasn't really invested in most of the group.
But the humor and sarcasm was still great. And I loved the mushrooms on the ferry section to spread paprika and ashes.

Steven Rowley is an author that I look forward to reading. I wished I could meet the people in this friend group.

This book was a bit of a let down for me. I like the idea and concept but the execution wasn't quite there for me. It might be because I struggle when a novel focuses on too many characters. There were some good emotional moments.

Oh man you guys I had 5-star expectations for this! I adored The Guncle so naturally went into this expecting the world and instead I spent the first half of the book in what felt like chaos to me. It absolutely has Steven Rowley’s trademark honest wit combined with warm hug, but I felt like it was lost on me until I was able to grasp all the different characters and storylines. I thoroughly enjoyed the second half and feel like I would’ve felt similarly about the entirety if something had been done to provide us with some more background and clarity. Because of this I wouldn’t suggest running to add it to your TBR pile… but I’m also not saying skip it forever. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right headspace and wanted something to grab me immediately and this just wasn’t that for me! It is the June @readwithjenna club selection though so food for thought 😊

The Celebrants Book Review {Spoiler Free Review}
Spice rating: 0/5
Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

When I first picked up this book I was very intrigued by the concept of a living funeral. This book helped remind me that we need to celebrate the living, not just mourn the deceased. I really loved the friendship and found family that the characters had formed and no matter what time had passed, they always found their way back to one another.

I loved the content but I did feel like it could have been executed in a better way. When the funeral pact would be called, we knew the problem that the character who called the pact was having but we never heard much about the resolution. It made me feel a little overwhelmed jumping from someone’s issues to the next. The way time jumped around was also a little hard for me to grasp, the characters were in their 20’s, now suddenly there in the 50’s. Then we experienced a flash back and we are back to age 20 again. It could’ve been the time jump or the amount of different POVS but I certainly did not feel any connections to any of the characters or care whose POV I would read next.
As said above, it was a good book, not a great one. I do not see myself rereading this book in the future but if it seems like it would be a good book for you, definitely give it a go and see if you like it.

I want to start by saying I loved The Guncle. It is one of my most recommended books. This was why I was so excited when I got the ARC for this title- unfortunately this one fell flat for me. I felt that the plot was confusing, there was way too many characters and it felt very disconnected. I ended up stopping about half way through.

⭐️⭐️⭐.5

𝘼 𝘽𝙞𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨-𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨—𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨—𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙚.

Unpopular opinion, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲 so I did go into this one with low expectations. While I did enjoy it a bit more than that one, I still didn’t love it as much as I wanted to.

I liked the idea of a group of friends making a pact to have a living funeral for one another. I think the concept was brilliant, unfortunately, I just struggled to connect with the characters - except for the Jordans. While I didn’t necessarily dislike the other characters, there wasn’t enough about them to really root for them.

This book did focus on grief and making the best out of the time we have left, but the story itself just fell flat for me. There is a lot of dry humor that I liked, and the overall strong friendship was so well written.

While I do think this book had so much potential with the great concept, the characters weren’t that strong to resonate with… the ending was beautifully wrapped up. I also liked that the audio is narrated by the author. I definitely would recommend this to certain readers, I just wish I would have connected with it a tad bit more.

Thank you so much NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Death, Cancer, Drug Use, Drug Abuse, Terminal Illness, and Death Of Parent

This is the story of five friends, Marielle, Naomi, Craig, Jordan and Jordy, who make a pact with each other after losing their mutual friend. Their pact consisted of reuniting at the house at Big Sur and throwing each other living "funerals," which they had done on several occasions. They did it when Marielle's marriage fell apart, Naomi's parents died, and Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. Now Jordan holds a secret that will upend the pact, and Jordy, his husband, wants him to tell their friends. This was a moving story of friendship, grief and bonds that hold tight. It was such a unique read and so heartfelt.

Thank you to Net Galley for this e copy of Celebrants by Stephen Rowley in exchange for a honest review.a group of six friends from college- Jordy, Jordan, Alec, Craig, Naomi and Marielle form a tight bond during their college days at Berkley so they are devastated when Alec commits suicide right before graduation.What caused this and why didn’t they sit it coming? Why do you only get to remember and eulogize someone when they are gone? The 5 remaining friends decide that they will have their” funerals” when they are alive so at different points in their life each friend is eulogized by their friends during a vulnerable point in their life.This is a great book about friendship and showing up for one another.

I really enjoyed reading this book, however not as much as others I have read from the same author. The premise of this story has so much potential and the characters were all well formed, however their relationships to each other just were not cohesive and felt inauthentic.

After reading The Guncle last year, I couldn’t wait to see what Steven Rowley had in store for us with The Celebrants. The Celebrants is a character-driven novel that follows the decades long friendship between Naomi, Craig, Marielle, Jordan and Jordy. After their college friend dies, the five friends make a pact to come together whenever one of them needs to be reminded that life is worth living and have a living funeral. Each of the five friends have been through their share of struggles and enacted the pact - from divorces, to the passing of their parents, to jail time - but when one of the members receives a devastating diagnosis, it’s time to bring them back together again.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book - everyone goes through hard times throughout life and it’s so important to have those people by your side during those times. This book is both heart warming and gut wrenching at times as each of their stories unfold. Steven Rowley does a superb job at writing characters and storylines that will grip you! I thought this was really well done and it was a true look at life, friendship, and grieving.