This book was not what I was expecting by reading the synopsis. I expected a relatively light read with much good gossip between the funeral ladies. What I did get was a book that was mostly about PTSD, a romance, a lot of death,(and not just of the counties people) and an elderly woman who gets scammed for about $30,000 and what she is going to do to save her house. Religion plays a rather large part in this novel, but not to the point where the book is only about religion.

It was an interesting read, but it was not light and would not be recommended as a beach read.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Avon and Harper Voyager, the author, and NetGalley.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I am going to start by saying that this was not what I was expecting. I was thinking this would be a fun and light multigenerational story, and it started out that way, but then it moved into some heavy territory with death, PTSD, and mass shootings. That was unexpected, and probably what kept this from being a five-star read for me. With that said, I did truly enjoy a majority of The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County.

Right from the start, I adored Esther. She was that type of salt-of-the-earth person who I could not resist. She believed in being kind, working hard, and giving back. That came in handy when Esther found herself in a terrible situation. Now she was in need, and it was wonderful the way everyone in the community rallied to help her.

If I had to pick some of the standout elements in this book, the community focus would make my list. This was one of those precious small towns where everyone knows everyone else's business and will be there to lend a hand when needed. They repay kindness with more kindness and never forget those who helped them in their time of need.

I also adored the family focus. Esther, her daughter, and her granddaughters were quite close. Their love for their family shined, over and over again in this story, and the bonds they shared were something to be jealous of. There was also a strong found family vibe that warmed my heart. It was lovely the way the town embraced Cooper and his family and were there for them in their time of need.

I will admit, I came for a story about midwestern old ladies, and oh, how I loved those ladies. The story ended up a bit heavier than I had anticipated, but in the end, this was a very hopeful tale about love, loss, family, friendship, and healing which touched my heart.

I was captured by the premise of this book immediately! It made me think of the women at my grandpa's childhood church who pulled out a whole spread for his funeral reception despite his not having attended their church since he was in his 20s. The characters were vibrant and each had such distinct personalities. I loved seeing the pull of place take a really starring role, exploring how that might look from generation to generation.

Overall, I really loved this book. It was easy to read and compelling. The ending felt a little rushed to me but it could just be because I wanted to keep spending time in Ellerie County!

I loved how this book looks so light and fun, and it is in some ways, but it contains so much more. I really enjoyed everything about this. The plot, the characters, the wide range of topics... I think this is going to be a really popular book with wide appeal.

I enjoyed everything about THE FUNERAL LADIES OF ELLERIE COUNTY and my only mild complaints involve a wish for more. Author Claire Swinarski has written a book about families, real and created, struggling to deal with death in a small Midwestern town where food prepared by neighbors is the answer to almost every need. The food is the kind prepared for generations by loving hands with plenty of elbow grease, local ingredients and modest written instructions. When a much-loved neighbor falls victim to an Internet scam, the small town cooks decide to create a cookbook fundraiser to help her out. As they gather recipes to include in the cookbook, and discuss the value of including favorites and getting sponsors, the story takes on other issues. This is a good book with a few twists and turns. I only wish it had included some of the recipes. It seemed odd not to have them. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

A very cozy read and I adored the characters that Swinarski created - the small town vibe was spot on. I found myself laughing out loud at multiple points during some of the banter. Please do check trigger warnings because it does have some scenarios around PTSD.

Don't let the adorable cover and the sweet summary fool you, this book can be as heavy as a hot pot! True the story tries to stay uplifting, but with themes of elder financial abuse, PTSD, emotional abuse, and rampant alcoholism, it can only be so positive. I loved the characters and empathized with the situations they were dealing with. They felt real. I also liked how the characters, many related or having known each other forever, interacted with each other, both in the secrets they held and the secrets they shared. This is a group that has each other's backs, especially in times of need. Ultimately that is the story.

Actual rating is 3.5 stars

Thank you to @NetGalley and @HarperCollins for the ARC copy of “The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County” by @ClaireSwinarski


“If there was one thing the funeral ladies understood, it was the power of a goddamn casserole to lift your spirits.”


Ellerie County, a small town in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where everyone knows your business before you’re even born and your secrets are known by everyone in town.. Even tourists.

Overall thoughts:

As someone living in Wisconsin, it was fun reading about different parts of Milwaukee, and Up North. The different foods, drinks, and seasonal events. Ellerie County reminds me of Hayward, WI and Door County, WI.

The Funeral Ladies group; this group of women are like village elders and take care of everyone around them. The name comes from the fact that they prep food, drinks and other arrangements for funerals happening at their church

Generational love and trials - one of the trials being scammers taking advantage of sweet elderly people like main character Esther. I also found this part entertaining because I think we’ve all dealt with some sort of “technologically challenged” grandparents

This book is in 3 different POV’s, at first I found this confusing when I was familiarizing myself with all of the characters

The author does a good job of discussing PTSD in a gentle / respectful way

This is a feel-good novel of the type you want to read when you need an escape from the harshness of the real world. Right from the start you have a quirky family in a small town with a supportive community and some romance to boot. I dare say all of us reading it want to magically transport ourselves to this town and be part of the kind of community that is both sweet and sassy (gossip, anyone?) and it doesn't hurt that the reader can picture the lovely home and nature surrounding it either.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. We all need books like this during challenging times. And.... recipes!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyage for my copy of The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Claire Swinarski in exchange for an honest review. It publishes March 12, 2024.
Wow! This book packs a punch and is a solid five-star for me! I adored the Larsen family. I found Esther to be so sweet and totally who I want to be when I grow up. I loved how supportive and loving she was with her whole family, and her whole community. I absolutely adored the idea of the funeral ladies, and honestly it has kind of inspired me to try to foster more community within my world.
I really appreciated the way that PTSD was treated in this book. I found it to be so real, so important, and so honest.
The ending was perfect, I just really loved this wonderful book.

I liked this book. Perhaps because it reminded me of my mother who was a ‘funeral lady’ bringing back memories long ago forgotten and the meaning of friendships between women long past their prime who continue to uphold old traditions.
There is the special love between Esther and her granddaughter, Iris and how Iris will do anything to help save her grandmother’s home. Others come in and out of Esther’s story and learn some very truthful life lessons from her.
There are other storylines in this book that may be triggers for some like PTSD, alcoholism and cancer. But overall, ‘The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County’ show how the simple love of cooking can bring others together and how treasured recipes finally written down can even bring love.
Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collin’s Publishing for an early copy of this memorable book. The comments and review are my opinion.

Besides this gorgeous cover first catching my attention it was also the author… Claire Swinarski, who wrote one of my favorite middle grades WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL RILEY? I was really excited to see this adult fiction coming out from her.

This one immediately had my attention… from the small town setting in the Midwest that was beautifully described to all the characters that made the community what it was.
With the addition of a famous chef in town with his son and daughter under tragic circumstances the Funeral Ladies make sure they are taken care of.

That’s about all I knew going in and the story unfolded from there into a much heavier themed plot then I realized I was getting into and I thought it was so well done. I could not put this one down. Quick paced with a bit of mystery, love, found family and forgiveness.

Oh and I must mention the FOOD 🤤 I would love to purchase a a copy of The Funeral Ladies cookbook. As well as eat a home cook meal from them.

Thank you Avon 📖

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Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published March 12, 2024.

I liked the premise of this book: that the older women in the community join together to bake food for all of the funerals. An Internet scam causes one elderly woman to lose $30,000 that could potentially lead to the loss of her home. An idea surfaces to publish a cookbook of these old-fashioned, comfort-food recipes to raise the necessary money.

If the book just focused on the cookbook and the friendships and the community coming together I think I would have liked it better. But there were so many subplots thrown in, from PTSD to a famous chef, that at times I was bored.

It could have been a really sweet book about the funeral ladies and their cookbook but I feel it missed the mark.

It did make me miss my grandmother and her homemade pies. 🥧❤️

I must say that Claire has done it again and created another great book full of small town, community, family and romance. This was a feel good story for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I did not expect that to hit me in the feels so much. The family dynamics were so real and honest, it made me deeply miss my family. I loved the community of the funeral ladies so much, thinking of having a group of women that you grow up with and support each other until the end is so magical. And Cooper and his family joining into it all was a lot. The topics of PTSD, shooting and gun control, and alcoholism were talked about so beautifully and kind. I honestly really enjoyed this.
There were some jumps in the story that were a little confusing, but overall I enjoyed the writing and the characters so much. Now I need to find a local cook book.

I've been reading a lot of books lately about small town characters, either in the Midwest or in the South, and I have never found one that I didn't like. This is no exception.

First of all, while the book is funny in parts, a little bit of domestic fiction, romance, and is a heartwarming tale, there's a lot o serious stuff going on. Parental loss, PTSD, elderly scamming, addiction, The central character, Esther, the one in need, having been duped, and is in danger of losing the family home. Even while her family, friends and community are rushing to her aid, she is helping each one of them with their problems.

Food, family, love, laughter. Helping each other through difficult times. That's what the book was about, and I loved it. I was especially happy with the ending. And how can a book with recipes be bad?!

I can't wait to read more books from this author. Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are mine and freely given.

If there's one thing about me, I'm a sucker for a family drama that involves funerals. This was such an enjoyable read, and there were parts that were SO relatable (hello, Catholic guilt?!). I absolutely loved Esther and wished she was my grandma, but I had a hard time getting into the plot about Cooper's PTSD.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me this ARC!

The title of this book caught my attention and I had to read it after I read the description. Claire Swinarski is a new author for me.

Description:
Armed with a Crock-Pot and a pile of recipes, a grandmother, her granddaughter, and a mysterious young man work to bring a community together in this uplifting novel for readers of The Chicken Sisters.

Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days. Iris, Esther’s whip-smart Gen Z granddaughter, would do anything for her family and her community.

As she watches her friends and family move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she’s found the missing piece of her puzzle. Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he’s been looking for.

It doesn’t seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you mix the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness—things might just turn out okay. Includes Recipes

My Thoughts:
This book reminded me of growing up in a small town and of a group of older ladies at the church I attended when I was young. This is a heartwarming story of family and community pulling together when one of their own is in trouble. My heart went out to Esther after someone online convinced her she was in trouble and Esther loaned her a lot of money - then found she was scammed and she may lose her house. I loved the way Esther's granddaughter Iris did everything she could to help her grandmother. The story of the chef and his family added depth and intrigue to the story with the PTSD issue, their family issues, and the celebrity. The funeral ladies are a treat and are such great friends. I just loved all the characters. Claire Swinarski has spun a great story and I will look for more of her books in the future.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager through Netgalley for an advance copy. Expected publication on March 12, 2024.

This emotional story of families coming together and coming apart set in the picturesque Northwoods of Wisconsin is a testament to the importance of family and friends. Iris is the adult granddaughter of Esther, one of the "Funeral Ladies" of Ellerie County. Esther has been scammed out of a significant sum of money, and Iris has convinced her to create a community cookbook to raise the lost funds. In the meantime, celebrity chef Ivan and his children Cooper and Cricket come to town for a funeral and settle in as they try and heal from the death. Iris and Cooper hit it off, but Cooper has serious PTSD to deal with. All these characters come together to help each other out, and try to find answers to life questions like what do you do when love hurts? Does wisdom really come with age? How fiercely can you love those around you?

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County is a novel about community, friends, and family. It was interesting enough, just a bit disappointing to me. Thanks to author Claire Swinarski, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.