This is the story of two sisters who are just a bit different than the rest of us that go on a quest to find their missing mom.

What I liked:
-the character development-even side characters were fleshed out and had growth during the story
-the bond between Zadie and Finn it changes and evolves throughout the book but is always present
-Joel-he seems like a throw away character at first but he added to the story
-the pull that Finn felt between her birth family and foster family felt honest
-Zadie's growth throughout the story and journey with grief
-strong but vulnerable female characters who are very different from each other

What I didn't love:
-Nora's story felt forced at times. I appreciated a lot of it and the longer I sit with it the more I appreciate certain parts, but some of it felt a little less organic.

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang - 4/5

The Wilderwomen is a book that will always be one you think back on. Ruth Emmie Lang put so much thought and energy into this book; from the story line, the characters and the world they live in. It is thought-provoking, fast-paced and all around a great read. I love how the sisters have a complicated relationship, makes them more relatable, and we get to watch each sister unfold and grow.

I would recommend this story to anyone who likes fantasy.

This book has such an interesting synopsis, and after reading Lang's last book, Beasts of Extraordinary circumstances; I knew that I would be in for a special story.

Typically magical realism really works for me. I like the balance of real life and fantasy, I feel like stories like that have no limits. I felt like the book started off strong; really letting us know who these two sisters are and setting up the mystery of their missing mother. Although I love a good road trip/ long distance journey storyline, this felt a little stale. 

What I liked about this book was the quirky characters. I liked that we got such an array of characters as the sisters were on their journey. It kept  me from putting this book down. 

It pains me that this book really didn't work for me. Even the fun characters along the way couldn't save this book. The ending was really weird and unique and it just didn't feel like it all made sense. 

I will definitely read more by Lang, even if this was a disappointment for me.

This book was slow to get going, but once it got into it I was invested in the story. I feel like the story was great, but the medium wasn't right. This would be an amazing mini-series. Lang did a great job at describing everything in the book so I felt like I could really see it coming to life. I was worried it was dragging out the ending, but it was pretty gratifying. I wish there was no epilogue, but oh well. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a free copy for a review, sorry it took me so long to get to it.

This was a great read! The writing style was beautiful and I loved the symbolism woven throughout. Two estranged sisters, who drifted apart after their mother’s disappearance, decide to take a trip together to search for their missing mother and find out why she left. Both sisters have their own gifts and their own distinct paths to follow. This book was super unique and I appreciated the magical realism. I enjoyed it a lot

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I wanted so badly to love to this book because so many of my friends did. I just didn’t find that it held my attention well, I had to go back and reread several parts of it

I thought the story line was decent, a little drawn out in my opinion. This book isn’t one that will stick out for me. The cover is beautiful though!

When their mother abandoned them five years ago, Zadie and Finn were seperated and Finn went into foster care while Zadie was old enough to be on her own. Now they reconnect at Finn's graduation party and decide to take a road trip. But Finn has a gift that lets her see into others memories of she's in the place they happened, and she's picked up a trace of her mother. Perhaps it's a clue of what really happened. But she'll have to convince her sister to use her psychic ability to help her. But the farther Finn delves into other memories, the more she starts to lose herself and Zadie has to decide which is more important... finding their mother or saving her sister from her gift.
I liked this story with a touch of magical realism and a bit of the paranormal but it's not overdone. It focuses more on the relationship of the two sisters and their connection to the people along the way as they try to find their mother. My biggest problem was that I didn't really connect with the characters and the explanation at the end was a bit farfetched. But overall a pretty good read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. This did not affect my review.
Although I tried desperately to finish it prior to publishing, I could not force myself to push through this book. I would pick it up, read a page or so, fall asleep, and not touch it for days/weeks. I can say I have finally finished it and WTHeck!? I never really connected with the characters and that ending seriously made me roll my eyes and say you have got to be kidding me. I know I am in a minority on this one, but I am disappointed. I will update my Goodreads review with some spoilers. But all I can say is I feel like I wasted some time on this book. It just wasn't for me, but it is for others.

Yhe beauty of The Wilderwomen is in the small details author Ruth Emmie Lang adds to the plot of two half-sisters search for their mom. Twenty-something Zadie and half-sister Finn who recently graduated from high school venture out on a road trip to the west coast to find their mother, Nora. Both Zadie and Finn have echoes when they can feel and hear memories. Lang fills the novel with banter between the two young women as they read and discuss romance novels. Lang also adds to the story as the daughters listen to their mom's rock cassette tapes as they travel. The novel is full of determination and abandon and the supernatural--perfect escape reading.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted eARC for my honest review!

This was a beautiful tale of sisterhood, found family within those who aren’t blood relatives, and magical aspects that truest suck you in!

I very much enjoyed the journey the sisters went through to find the secrets of their mother’s sudden departure years prior. From Zadie’s visions to Finn’s “echoes” as she calls them we embark on a journey where they find more people like them and find themselves along the way.

I will definitely recommend to others!

A beautifully written story that I flew through. Super easy to read. It was a story that was magical, emotional, and I loved the sisterhood bond. I loved going to each stop with the Wilder sisters on their journey and got engrossed in their little slices of magic. All the people they met along the way was also such a joy.

I really enjoyed this lovely book. Just the right amount of magic, a beautiful story of sisterhood, and a re-found family. There were bits of heartbreak but just enough light to keep it from ever being too dreary. In particular I loved Zadie. As an eldest sister myself, she made complete sense to me. The prose was well-written and the ending satisfying. All around a great book and I look forward to reading more Lang in the future.

I really enjoyed Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance so I was excited to read this one. I struggle with magical realism sometimes because the real world aspects can sometimes jolt you out of the story, but this one worked really well. Zadie and Finn both have a six sense, and I really loved to see how the powers effected the lives of each sister, along with the trauma and difficulties from their mother leaving. Since Zadie was legally an adult, her life after their mother left was drastically different from her sisters, who was able to be put in a foster home with a loving family.
The sisters journey to find their mother and themselves was incredibly crafted. I loved the various people they met and seeing others with another sense and hoe each person copes with it.
This really was a lovely story about self identity, and self worth, family, forgiveness, and love. I would've given this book five stars BUT the ending was a little too neat for my liking, and Finn's choices at the end really bothered me.

Ruth Emmie Lang really grabbed me with her first novel, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances, and it became one of my favorite books I read last year. So, I was really interested in her latest novel and while she has a wonderful way of writing I just couldn't get into the story in this one. I still look forward to what she writes next.

I'm sad because I'm a big magical realism fan and this let me down. The characters and the mystery element fell flat for me. It was too slow to keep me engaged the whole time.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I kind of enjoyed this book but it wasn’t my favorite. I read it awhile ago and I, honestly, don’t remember very much. The pros were me were the writing style and the characters. I remember loving them so much. The cons were the plot and the ending.

This isn't really my type of book so I had a hard time connecting to the story and ended up not finishing the book.

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wilderwomen is about a set of sisters, Finn and Zadie, who go in search of their missing mother, Nora Wilder.

The vibes of this book, the characters, the slight nod to magic/paranormal in the real world is amazing. I don’t feel I have much to say beyond that. Wilderwomen is one of those books that you enjoy reading, want to read again, and just overall is a great story you get absorbed in.

The theme of love and missing drives this book forward to an ending that brings happiness. This book presents the reader with unusual women who have gifts that make them so. For the girls, Zadie, who possesses the skill of being a psychic, and her sister, Finn, who can tap into memories, the disappearance of their mother Nora, eventually sends them on a journey to find their lost mother.

This is a strange tale, when years later Finn taps into a memory that she soon realizes is her mother's. Finn begins to slip away into those memories and Zadie realizes that Finn, just like Nora, will one day vanish seemingly into the wind. What can Zadie do to stop the progression and not lose Finn too?

The girls decide to set out on a mission to find their mother, whose fascination with birds, seems to drive her. The girls having been apart for the last five years come together in what seems to be a search that will yield little results. However, they are driven by dreams, by sensing their mother is out there, by the knowledge they need Nora to be able to go on.

This interesting tale is heavily involved in the fantasy realm and magical realism is heavily present on each and every page. I liked it, and had the compulsion to finish it even though at times felt bogged down with it. Definitely a story that was designed for those who believe the human spirit perhaps has the ability to go beyond the everyday.

Thank you to Ruth Emmie Lang, St Martins' Press and NetGalley for a copy of this tale.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

The Wilderwomen follows two sisters, Zadie and Finn who go on a cross-country quest to find their mom, Nora, who disappeared five years prior. In those five years, Zadie and Finn grew apart, since Zadie was 18 and Finn was placed in foster care. After Finn has a memory of their mom at her graduation party, she convinces Zadie to turn their trip to the Gulf Coast into an adventure bigger than either of them could have imagined taking. Zadie refuses to use her psychic powers, while Finn is all too eager to lean into her gift of experiencing other people's memories.

Lang's writing is whimsical and enchanting. Much like her debut novel, The WIlderwomen captures the reader on the first page and will hold onto them until the end. Since neither has spent much time with the other since their mom disappeared, their hesitancy is apparent. What's even more apparent is the love both Zadie and Finn have had for each other the entire time. The way that the story progresses, and the challenges that they both have to face demonstrates the growth Zadie and Finn experience in a way that felt authentic and true to many sibling relationships.

My one gripe is that the last third of the book seemed to move incredibly quickly. Zadie and Finn had seen so many setbacks and delays in reaching their final destination, that attaining what they set out to do seemed like it should've taken a little longer. I do have to say that the imagery of the book and the descriptions of Texas, Arizona, and Washington were stunning, and I could picture everything that Lang was describing. I now want to plan a trip following Zadie and Finn's path!

If you like magical realism, stories about sisters, stories about mothers and daughters, or even just a good old roadtrip with personal growth, I highly recommend picking up this book.