This book was not what I expected. I was expecting a more conventional “superpower” story, but that does not mean I was disappointed. I enjoyed the way the story was crafted from the beginning; the oddness of the mom, and the partially unexplained rift between the sisters. It was enough to hook me and prompt me to read more. This is a story, ultimately, of two sisters looking for their mother. One is convinced she is lost and the other is convinced she abandoned them. The sisters have curious abilities that have shaped them into the people they are now, their world views, and their abilities help them in their journey. My favorite part was the campground full of people like them with equally unconventional abilities. There’s a happy ending too. More than one.

I especially liked that there wasn't a romance in this story. It was about finding family and rebuilding relationships.

I really liked this book. The story of this mom and her two daughters with their sixth senses is really good. I loved that each chapter gives a little bit more of the either the mom's back story or the sister's stories. I read this book really quickly because I had to see how it ended.

I liked the ending and thought it wrapped the book up nicely. This is a quick read that is really well written.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of ‘Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang in exchange for my honest feedback.

3.5 stars, rounded up! I really really really wanted this to be a 5 star read, I had high expectations.

The premise is good, two sisters who have drifted apart after their mother abandoned them set off together to find her 5 years later. Mixed with importance of family and a little magic/fantasy.

The relationship between the sisters was fun to watch flourish after so much time apart. The ending was a little blah for me though.

This book is for anyone who likes a unique plot and magic!

So sad to say that this book did not work for me. Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is one of my all time favorites, so I’m not sure if it’s partially a case of going in with too high expectations. I felt the plot just moved way to slowly and was hard to get engaged with. I didn’t connect with either of the sisters and that also made it hard to want to pick up and continue reading. Looking forward to more from Lang but this one unfortunately fell flat for me.

Another magical realism book! It’s a genre that I find is either a massive hit for me, or doesn’t quite do what it needs to. I would lean towards the latter in this scenario, unfortunately. I really struggled to connect with the characters here.

This was a bit of a strange read. While I didn’t love the ending, it was nice to see everything come full circle. Definitely a great journey of self discovery and closure for Finn and Zadie, and I did like how their relationship grew as the story progressed. Their abilities were a little hard to follow at times, but all in all this was an entertaining read and really well written. *I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Wilderwomen was a little of a mixed bag for me. I wanted to absolutely love it but couldn't quite manage it. I did like the characters but would have liked a bit more from the plot.

Zadie and Finn were abandoned by their mother five years ago. It leaves them wondering why she left and if she could possibly be out there somewhere. They both have special abilities and their mother, Nora did too. Finn has what they refer to as "echoes" which means she sees someone else's memories. When it happens, she loses time and it can be somewhat dangerous for her. Finn has an echo that appears to be a memory from their mother. This leads her to believe her mother is out there somewhere waiting for them to find her. With this new knowledge, Finn convinces Zadie to join her on an adventure to search for their missing mother. Along the way, they both discover a great deal about themselves and what their mother went through.

Even though I liked how the book resolved itself, I felt it moved slowly in the middle. Overall though, it was a good read with well developed characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I absolutely loved Lang’s first book, Beast of Extraordinary Circumstance. #partner

When I saw that her sophomore novel was set to release I jumped at the chance to read it and, it did not disappoint. I absolutely loved this magical realism book. It felt like an adult fairy tale.

Five years ago, Nora wilder disappeared and left her two daughters with no one but each other. Zadie, who can see the future wishes she had seen it coming. Finn can see the echoes of other people’s memories. Now, with Finn in foster care, the one close sisters are estranged. When Finn suddenly sees an echo if her mother’s past, she is convinced she can follow the echoes and find their mother.

This book is truly magical.

One of my most anticipated reads of 2022! This is a whimsical tale of sisterhood and finding yourself. Zadie and Finn set out to find their mom who went missing 5 years ago. Each sister has their own "sixth" sense, which they are using to help them on the journey of finding their mom.

I loved the magical realism aspects of the story and overall warmth. Ruth Emmie Lang has such a beautiful way of storytelling. However, overall, this one was a bit slow moving for me. I wanted the pacing to be a little bit quicker and the ending just fell flat. On one hand I still loved the book, but on the other, I expected WAY more from it after waiting literal years for this book to come out. If you are a fan of Glendy Vanderah, this may appeal to you. It has strong themes of the magic of nature, which I enjoyed.

the Wilderwomen is a great book about family, finding family, and sisterhood. I liked the addition of the main girls' psychic abilities. Zadie and Finn were lovable and complex characters. I appreciated the side/secondary characters as well, as they all seemed like they had something to teach the girls.

‘22 Word of the Year
mur•mur•a•tion *noun*
1) a flock of starlings
2) <literary> the action of murmuring: the murmuration of a flock of warblers

“As she counted to seven, the stars didn’t look like stars anymore. They were a flock of birds flitting through space on wings made of luminescent dust, a murmuration of starlight.”
~The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

Five years prior, Norah Wilder disappears in the night leaving her daughters, Zadie & Finn to navigate their teen years separately while constantly wondering why their mother would leave them behind. When the sisters make plans to celebrate Finn’s graduation on a beach holiday, Finn coerces Zadie to embark on a journey to find their long-lost mother with the use of their extraordinary abilities.

That’s right. Extraordinary abilities. It’s a sister road-trip story with nods to magical realism that made me want to grab a tent & pack a bag and try to find Constellation Camp. The sisters with their differing personalities caused some laugh out loud moments, and with beautiful lines like then one I quoted above make this a dreamy read. It’s also a difficult read in that it’s hard to reckon with the idea that their mother abandons them in the beginning, but the moments shared in the sisters’ reminisces make this a worthwhile family journey to behold.

I highly recommend the newest from author Ruth Emmie Lang.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read the e-arc, and I had to grab the physical book from BOTM.

Ruth Emmie Lang's novel about a mother obsessed with birds and having two daughters searching for her across the country felt like the story that came at the exact right time. While we live in a pandemic world (that's not mentioned in the book), a lot of people took up bird watching in their backyards since we weren't allowed to travel for a while. I've been watching and feeding our backyard birds for years. Maybe you don't like birds at all or have a phobia of them, but you feel drawn to some other part of the animal kingdom, the planet, or the universe. Lang's main characters end up meeting people with all kinds of connections to the universe.

Zadie is in her 20's and her little sister, Finn, is just graduating high school. Unfortunately, Nora walked away from her daughters and their Texas home five years ago. Finn was only 12. She ended up in a foster home that was loving, kind, and financially secure. Zadie, however, goes on an arc of resentment towards her mother, jealousy perhaps of Finn, abandonment, and into a long span of learning how to bond with people again. Finn is a delightful free spirit, but a bit too much like her mother, Nora.

What makes the Wilder women special is their psychic abilities. Reading through Lang's chapters doesn't feel like speculative fiction or fantasy or superheroes. Finn's psychic episodes, called echoes, involve picking up memories that can overtake control of her. Zadie is the type of psychic who gets random premonitions, but since the day her mother abandoned them, she worked hard to repress the power from rearing up. Though having psychic abilities like these sound like they can fun and amusing for parlor tricks, Lang introduces deeply unsettling effects mostly with Finn who has less and less control over her echoes.

Lang's secondary characters are likeable and unique. Each one pops up as the girls travel from Texas to Washington state at precisely the moment help is needed. There are times when that kindness of strangers feels too easy, but since Finn keeps landing herself in dangerous situations, the respite from peril is welcome.

This story brings up various themes about family and relationships. Finn's foster family wants to adopt her. Zadie feels like she's all alone even with an unplanned pregnancy. Finn's foster parents show that family can be chosen not always biological. The campground residents who share their love of the stars with the girls, broaden the focus from personal problems to community to the life of stars. Then there's Joel, Zadie's ex-boyfriend who ends up tagging along for a chunk of their journey. Joel is an interesting sort of character. He's simple. Maybe he's supposed to have a low IQ or something else; he can't hold down a job but his heart is full of compassion and kindness. Joel is one of Zadie's biggest conflicts: she appreciates him, but she's not in love with him.

A widower father and three little spunky girls end up taking on a temporary family role for Zadie, Joel, and Finn for a couple of days. The father, Myron, goes through a lot of what Zadie has been through. It takes getting to know Finn and Zadie that gets through to Myron and helps him in a special way.

As Finn's condition gets worse, Zadie learns to forgive more. She wants to hold onto to her sister and other people they discover for the sake her baby having a chance at a family.

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy.

I feel like I have waited decades for another REL book. I loved Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance so so much and I thoroughly enjoyed The Wilderwomen just as much. I love the touch of sparkle and magic REL manages to incorporate into her stories and writing. I need more!

This book hooked me after the first chapter, but soon slowed down. It took me a lot longer to get through this book than I would have thought, though I am not 100% sure why. The characters are engaging, the writing is beautiful. I think its that very little happens to push the story along, and there is an uncertainty about why the mother left that was drawn out too long without enough clues to keep me fully invested in the story. I did love the organic relationship between Zadie and Finn, and the magical realism woven throughout the story. If I were to reread this story, I would want to try it on audiobook.

Bummer. "The Wilderwomen" may be my biggest book disappointment of the year.

After hearing nothing but the highest of praise for Ruth Emmie Lang’s debut novel, "Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance," I absolutely could not wait to read "The Wilderwomen." Those who peruse my reviews know I love magical realism, and I was thrilled to read Lang’s story of two psychic women embarking on a road trip to find their missing mom.

But the novel’s execution isn’t the best. Even though I enjoyed the sisters, Zadie and Finn, and all the wonderful moments of magical realism, I found the story a little bland. Never was I fully engrossed, and emotionally, I felt zilch while reading it, other than hollow.

The ending, too, misses the mark. The explanation given for the mother’s disappearance just seems silly, and I was wholly unsatisfied with it.

I think this calls for a second BUMMER, don’t you?

Despite my disappointment, I will still read Lang’s "Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance" one of these days, along with whatever else she decides to write next. My hunch is that "The Wilderwomen" is nothing but a fluke, and there is still literary greatness to come from Ruth Emmie Lang.


My sincerest appreciation to Ruth Emmie Lang, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

I loved how the two sisters gradually came together despite their hardships. And I loved how they came together to find their mother. The concept of the novel was an interesting one but I found myself intrigued to find out more about each of their specialties and to discover why their mother truly left. I think it was very well written!

What if our world had just a little more magic in it?

In The Wilderwomen, we the readers ride along in a journey of two sisters traveling through America. In addition to being immersed in the sumptuous landscapes they find, we have the sisters' unique backgrounds and magic shaping their views of this world.

As someone that read a lot of more ‘traditional’ fantasy genre reads this year, The Wilderwomen was a bit of fresh air. And it’s not just that it falls more into the ‘magic realism’ category either, though that is certainly the case. Here is a story that manages to be totally unique. Lang uses this to her advantage as well, creating a sense of mystery by slowly unspooling details about the characters’ magic instead of sharing it with us all at once.

I should note that despite its aura of mystery, the book’s tone isn’t face-paced and suspenseful, nor does it aim for this. It’s a more emotionally-driven story, with lyrical prose that succeeds in putting readers right alongside the sisters on their meandering road-trip. I ended up forgetting about the outside world for much of the day as I just kept reading through the story.

If there was any issue that I had with this novel, it would likely be the ending. The explanations and information revealed did make sense to me. However, knowing the reason for certain events in the story didn’t feel like full resolution in such a character-driven story. I wanted more reflection, perhaps more confrontation, or just something more that dealt with the reveal and the huge impacts it had on the family. For all this time this book took with the journey, the ending felt relatively rushed.

So while it may not have stuck the landing, so to speak, it was still an overall solid routine. I had a lovely time along the way, getting to know our leading sisters and their slightly extra special world. I would recommend it to readers of magical realism and plan to pick up Ruth’s earlier work, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance.

After reading Beasts last year and falling head over heels for the writing of Lang I knew I needed my hands on this one. The Wilderwomen has secured Lang a spot on my auto buy author list. As with her first novel this is not a story to devour it’s something you have to take your time a savor. I love the world building here, from Texas to Washington the landscape is turned into a lush mystical representation of itself. The characters are where Lang really shines. These are some of the most complex, most beautifully written characters. Zadie and Finn both had past trauma and that paired with their abilities opened their characters up to a wonderfully written emotional depth. Their developmental arc was smooth and clean. There was no lingering things that I felt were unresolved with them at the end. The side characters introduced are some that will stay with me always. I do want to also touch point on the magic system used in this book. Summing it up for me it was simply “wow”. The abilities that were presented were so unique and so beautiful. This story will live rent free in my head right next to Beasts for a long long time.

Let me start by saying Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance was one of my favorite reads of 2021. Unfortunately that meant this one was a massive letdown. It wasn’t anywhere close to as engaging as Beasts was & I kept finding myself unable to read more than 10 or 15 pages at a time. The characters also weren’t interesting enough or charming enough to hold my interest.

I was a huge fan of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances by this author. It was my first exposure to magical realism and I immediately fell in love with this author's writing. I knew when I saw she was releasing another book that I HAD to read it.

I'm a sucker for books about sisters. My little sister is my hero and my favorite person so I love books that make me think of her.

The Wilderwomen felt similar to Beasts. It was sentimental, touching, insightful, and emotional. My mom took care of my sister and me. It causes a special sort of bond to form. Nora, has a special "sixth sense". Although her two daughters have unique gifts as well, she doesn't share information about her abilities with them. Zadie, has premonitions about future events. She is guided by an internal voice giving her glimpses into the future. Finn can hear and see other people's memories.

The story is told through older sister Zadie's perspective. She grapples with her feelings of abandonment and her desire to have a relationship with younger sister Finn while guarding herself from heartbreak. When Finn asks to change their scheduled vacation to a cross-country trip to search for their mother, Zadie struggles with disappoinment and feelings of rejection and inadequacy. As they use Finn's gift to track Nora, the girls begin to explore their conflicting feelings about why their mother left.

I loved the concept behind Nora's disappearance. I also appreciated Zadie's anger and resentment toward her mother. The way she loved her mother and hoped that their relationship would change. Her fierce loyalty and protective instincts toward her little sister, made my heart squeeze.

Although I didn't love this one as much as Beasts (because, come on, it's Beasts), this was definitely a 4.5⭐ read for me. I would recommend this one for magical realism fans and people who love to break their own heart with deeply emotional stories about family, freedom, and coming together after falling apart. Thanks for the early copy, NetGalley!