Sometimes I gravitate towards books like “Thinks that Grow”. The main character is grieving over the loss of a loved one and you’re following the story of how she goes through life, after the death of her grandmother. As someone who is personally very close to my elderly relatives, this hit close to home. There are times I wished the main character handled things more maturely, but I remember she’s young and probably does not have a grasp on how to handle life without her grandmother given the loss.

Things that Grow by Meredith Goldstein – Publishing 9 Mar 21

I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for a truthful and honest review.

When Lori’s Dorothy Parker loving grandmother dies, Lori’s world is turned upside down. Grandma Sheryl was everything to Lori – and not just because Sheryl raised Lori when Lori’s mom got a job out of town. Now Lori’s mum is insisting on moving her away from her beloved Boston right before senior year. Desperate to stay for as long as possible, Lori insists on honoring her grandmother’s last request before she moves: to scatter Sheryl’s ashes near things that grow.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this book. It was so so slow, and, in my opinion, the characters were never developed properly. Going through Lori’s grief with her on her journey to scatter the ashes was poignant and dealt with ok but I just felt the book went on and on. The love story between her and Chris could also have been handled better too.

Apologies as really dislike putting a low review on, but I have no other option.
2 stars

Things That Grow is a story about family and grief.
When Lori’s grandmother dies she asks to be cremated and have her cremains placed in some of her favorite gardens, near things that grow.

I really liked all the characters in this story, it was interesting to see how everyone dealt with the death.
Another think I enjoyed was how the author described the gardens, it made you feel like you were there.

What stopped this from being a perfect read for me was how slow it was.
It did end up picking up but it took me a while to really get into it.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. It’s perfect for YA readers.

This book takes an irreverent and insightful look at death, grief and love.

When teenager Lori's Jewish grandmother dies, she is very confused by her request to be cremated and spread near "things that grow." Luckily, Grandma Sheryl leaves a list of potential gardens that she loved, leading Lori, her best friend Chris, and her Uncle Seth to go on a quest to fulfill her final wishes.

Lori's not only dealing with the death of her beloved grandmother, who she lived with, she's dealing with the loss of everything she thought her senior year would be. She planned to spend the year co-writing with her best friend, next door neighbor and crush, Chris, and filling out college applications and publishing the school magazine with him. Now, suddenly, her mother has a new boyfriend with a spare bedroom in another state, and wants to whisk Lori away to another life.

Spreading the remains brings this delightfully dysfunctional family together and forces them to deal with the truth of how they really feel about each other.

The quirky characters bring the book to life, from the Garden Girls, who I pictured like a greener Purple Hat Club, who lead to a deeper understanding of who Grandma Sheryl was, to Lori's mom, who wears crystals and works as a Life Coach even though her own life is a hot mess. Even Lori's sophisticated and selfish Uncle Seth made interesting choices throughout the whole thing. I also enjoyed the hints of romance between Lori and Chris. Underneath Lori's tough and sarcastic shell, you can see just how much she longs to be loved by her family and Chris.

A poignant portrait of grief, this book is filled with both sweet healing moments and dark humor, as after all, cremated remains are referred to as 'craisins' throughout the book. The sprinkle of humor and fun brought a lightness that perfectly counterbalanced the weight of the grief. This book is a masterpiece on dealing with loss.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While I was a bit disappointed I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped to, I think that there were still some really important scenes and lessons that this book provided, and for that, I’ll consider it not too bad.

Things that Grow is a book that centers on the loss of an important loved one and parental figure in the main character Lori’s life. One second, her grandma is there and alive, and the next, she’s gone. It really gave me a bit of a reminisce to the loss I’ve faced in my life as well–cousins, great grandparents, grandparents, etc. I’ve lost a lot of people in the last two years alone, so having this book centering on grief was of big importance to me.

For one, Lori is a character you’ll either be seriously annoyed with or you’ll end up relating to. During my reading experience, she was a character I was able to relate to in some aspects. I’ve never been that great when a death has occurred, so I completely adored the use of sarcasm and light and dark conversations throughout this book. I will suffice to say that these parts did get a bit overbearing at times, and I was able to relate the humor closely to something akin to The Office; so if you’re a fan of that kind of humor, you might really like this book.

Meredith Goldstein did capture quite a few of her characters really well. I enjoyed Lori’s character, and I both loved and hated her mother–mainly because the way she came off hit a bit close to home. However, there were a few characters I thought lacked majorly. For one–the love interest, aka Chris. Chris is Lori’s best friend who she is completely in love with and obsesses over every few pages, but she absolutely refuses to admit her feelings to because she’s afraid of their friendship being ruined. Don’t get me wrong, I normally adore this trope, but I think I disliked it in this book due to Chris’ character being so disastrously flat. He came across as more of an idea of a character than a fully fleshed out and developed one, and considering he’s a really important part of the story, that did take quite a bit away for me personally.

Next, the pacing in this book was horrible. It was decently paced in the beginning, and I was actually flying through it pretty quickly until I hit the 30% or so mark. That’s when it became extremely slow to me. If you’re a fan of slower-paced books, this’ll probably be perfect for you. But for me, I can’t really keep my attention fully on the story when I’m busy nearly falling asleep and yawning because there’s barely any movement in the plot.

There are some parts that made me uncomfortable that I’d like to touch on. At the beginning of the story, Lori is planning on how they’ll go about cremating her grandmother with her uncle Seth and Chris. During this planning, she randomly starts thinking about having sex with Chris. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing sex-positivity in Young Adult books, but I feel like it was more forced into this book than anything else. And sure, yeah, people grieve in different ways, but I just couldn’t overlook the fact that Lori was literally talking about her grandmother’s ashes (aka cremains) while also thinking about sleeping with her best friend. Along with that, I found it pretty weird that there were so many sexual innuendos her uncle made with and around her. I just find it weird that an almost 50-year-old man would feel comfortable talking about sex in general with his teenage niece. Building off of that, there was a TON of underage drinking in this book, and I mean, it was entirely encouraged by the adult characters too. This, again, felt forced into the plot, and it didn’t really do the story or characters and good.

Lastly, I want to touch on the author’s writing style. This is the main part of the book that kept me reading. Normally, if I’m not liking a book by about 30-40% of the way through, I DNF it. But Goldstein has an incredibly hooking writing style that just completely enraptures you from start to finish. That was one of the best aspects about reading this book, and something I appreciate.

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book and have decided to rate it 2.75 stars. But maybe my disappointments are things you actually like seeing, so I would still give it a chance if you haven’t yet read it.

I love the sentiment of this story. It covers important themes, and there is beautiful imagery used to describe the connections between grief and the cycles of nature. However, the story didn't go as deep as I hoped it would. I appreciated Lori's relationships with her family members, but she felt a little shallow/flat as a main character. I also didn't feel that the connection between Lori and her love interest, Chris, was strong. I would still recommend it for middle grade readers!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of things that grow in exchange for an honest review.

While Things That Grow is certainly well written, it missed the mark for me. It's description implies an emotional journey while its plot is actually closer to melancholic. Maybe I just missed something major here, but I was expecting this to go a lot deeper and to me at least, it felt like it was just scratching the surface.

I didn't really feel like Lori learned about "life, love, and how to laugh again along the way" because when we meet her, she's already matured beyond her years. Lori starts off already managing to find the humor in things and basically taking care of all the adults in her life so there wasn't much space for her to grow.

I enjoyed the concept of this book in dealing with grief and trying to honor that special person in the best way possible. Sadly, this books was not for me. I could not relate to any of these characters and that made the reading experience less enjoyable than i would of hoped for.

This is a really special book. It’s clever, cathartic, and will be beloved by the teens who need it most. Some books about grief are better to stay away from when you’re grieving yourself, but not this one. Not this one. You can read this one grieving, angry, frustrated, or sad and THINGS THAT GROW will give you that nice cry or big hug that you need.

Her grandma’s wish was to be cremated and buried near things that grow. So this family, along with the grandma’s garden club and some chosen family members, take the list of gardens from her will, with the intent of leaving her cremains in 4 different gardens. There’s a love story woven in along the way.

I think this will be a great pick for school libraries especially. I think the readers who connect with this book the most are going to remember it and love it for the rest of their lives.

The one thing that I didn’t connect with was that the book made it sound very common for Catholics to be cremated, that is incongruous with my experience.

Overall fantastic read, highly recommend. I will certainly read the next book by this author.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

The good: There are some truly laugh out loud moments with this novel and I appreciated the humor. Also, the cover is absolutely beautiful and the descriptions of the gardens makes me want to visit and enjoy each one.

The not so good: The attempted romantic tension between Lori and Chris added nothing to the story. Maybe if Chris had a personality it would have been better, but he's basically there as a prop.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I entered for this earc a while back and I already recieved it via Edelweiss+. Thank you so much and I hope I enjoy it and will leave a review soon! Thank you for the opportunity as always.

What is the literary definition of "meh"? That is how I feel about this book. I don't feel the spark between Lori and Chris and I'm just left underwhelmed (and at times super frustrated) with the story. The concept is great! Watching this family cope with grief is very moving and the framework centered around gardens was a great idea.

I am certainly going to be in the minority of readers on this one, but it just didn't knock my socks off.

Oh man this was really great and fast read. Lori’s Grandma Sheryl dies suddenly and now she has to worry about having to move from Boston to Maryland right before her senior year and leave her best friend Chris who she is in love with as well of course. Sheryl raised her for the past 2 years to give her some stability since her mom kept moving them every time she got a new job/boyfriend. Her grandmother loved gardening and she wanted her ashes spread in a garden and she left 4 options of where she wanted to go. So to stall her Mom with her plan of selling the house and moving her out, Lori tells her they need to spread the ashes sooner rather than later and everything has to wait until they get this done. I really loved that Lori is a writer and Chris her bf is an artist and they publish a magazine that has her stories and his art. Sheryl was an English teacher so she loved to read and garden since she retired and her favorite author was Dorothy Parker so every place they leave her ashes Lori does a reading from one of Dorothy Parker’s poems or just awesome one liners which are always fabulous and snarky. Her Uncle Seth is a writer as well as a college professor and he comes to stay with her while her mom has to go back to Maryland for work and goes on the road trip with her and Chris to spread her grandma’s ashes. Just a really good story and light hearted for the fact that it was dealing with grief but in a beautiful way and with some awesome comic relief moments which just made me cackle.

Thanks to HMH Children’s Book Group and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Lori’s grandmother, whom was also her guardian, passes away and in her will, she asks her craisins (sorry, cremains) to be spread in gardens she loved. So Lori, her uncle Seth, and best friend Chris – join on occasion by others – visit different gardens to place her cremains. Meeting some very interesting characters along the way, Lori learns more about her grandmother’s passion of reading and gardening.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a rather easy read, it didn’t feel overweighed with grief and offered many opportunities for comic relief. As I read, I wondered where the author got the idea and upon reading the acknowledgements, you find the author had a similar experience. You can tell in the writing, it’s almost like a memoir. Although not, the book and characters feel real.

I am glad Chris and Lori finally got to together at the end. If they stayed in perpetual state of “friendship” I do not think the story would have finished as uplifting as it did. Overall, I think this is a great novel and I am glad judging a book by its cover paid off! Love the cover! This is not my typical genre, so it’s always nice to find books that do not fit the mold. Great story, great characters, and a lovely novel that makes you want to enjoy ‘things that grow’ even more.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group and Netgalley for this ARC. I look forward to adding it to my library after its release and sharing it with my students!

I wanted to love this one since I really enjoyed Meredith's YA debut, but I struggled to connect with the main character of Lori. I did love the road trip they took and the gardens. I loved the idea that we return to the earth when we die. I loved her relationship with her uncle Seth and of course Grandma Sheryl. There's also a nice friends to lovers romance with Chris. I also liked that the book originated in Massachusetts, which is nice to see. Fans of Jenna Evans Welch will like this one!

This book was received as an ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group - HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I could not help but love the sentiment of this story and the beauty of gardens and things that grow. When something dies, it becomes within the earth and I love how Lori was so determined to take a road trip to one of the greatest gardens in the world all in memory of her grandmother. I always have a soft spot in my heart for books that emphasize the importance of love and how precious the relationships you have with your family and love is not always lost when it is someone's time to go. I know our teen book club will have very insightful conversations with this book and it will be very popular with our YA community too.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.