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.

Somehow, Steven Rowley has a tendency to just make you FEEL things. With books like Guncle and Lily and the Octopus, I was ready to SOB. Yet, surprisingly, sobbing was really minimal in Celebrants.

In this non-linear story, we follow a cast of college friends who meet whenever one of them is going through a crisis to have a funeral for themselves while still living. We learn about each character through their funeral and how they get through their crisis.

I think the thing that removed me from being as emotionally invested in the characters is just how large the cast is. There are 6 characters we’re expected to get emotionally connected with and some are a lot less interesting than others. Then the ones that are supposed to be really hard hitting, feel less impactful because my emotions were supposed to be spent from a prior character.

This led to so much of my interest coming in waves. I didn’t love the opening, then really liked the first funeral, was less interested in the second, hated the third, loved the fourth, and so on an on. It was a promising premise, but I really didn’t care for the execution.

I really enjoyed this story of life long friendship. Even though the subject matter was a bit melancholy.
I liked that we had multiple POV and I liked that it showed the messy side of friendship as well as the good parts.
I thought the story was the perfect length and I liked that we saw a little bit of everyone’s past as well, so we could better understand their actions.

I started reading The Guncle last year and for whatever reason, I put it down and never picked it back up. So, I was looking forward to reading my first book by Steven Rowley. This was the July book club pick for my local book club.

A handful of college friends decide to make a pact where they will call on each other in their time of need. The plan? Have a funeral while the person is still living, so they understand how much they are loved and nothing goes unsaid.

I loved the friendships in this book, and the witty banter between the characters. I laughed out loud several times.

I did find several scenes to be way too drawn out. I also don't do well when talking about terminal illness, so trigger warning for those who feel the same.

I did like the ending and although this was not my favorite, I am still looking forward to reading The Guncle.

Thank you for the ARC!

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam, the author, and NetGalley for the free gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I first picked this one up because of my obsession with the Guncle, and it truly lived up to the hype.

The Celebrants was such a sweet story. A lifelong friendship with tons of twists and turns, that was super relatable and made me feel all the feels.

I love how Steven Rowley’s book focus on relationships and emotions instead of big plot lines, which is not what I usually look for in books but the way he writes it is so impressive and actually makes you feel the feels.

This book covers all the emotions it will make you laugh and it will make you cry.

Well, dang. One of my most anticipated reads of 2023, The Celebrants by Steven Rowley didn’t quite meet my expectations. I really wanted to love this book, but was left a bit underwhelmed, unfortunately. The concept was definitely unique, and perhaps even a bit morbid. (Which I appreciate.) Ha! A group of friends make a pact to hold “living funerals” for one another in order to express their love and appreciation before they die, rather than after. Definitely a fun, yet odd spin on friendship fiction.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚:

I think my biggest complaint about this novel would have to be about the characters. They just fell really flat for me, and none of them really stood out. I can barely remember their names. This was such a bummer because that’s what I loved so much about The Guncle—the dynamic characters.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙:

Near the end, a few buried secrets were uncovered, and a lot of shit hit the fan, so that was fun. You know I love (other people’s) drama! Also, the characters are older. Like, even older than me! Ha! The story takes place 28 years after their college graduation, so that age range is very relatable to me.

Overall, this one was pretty “middle of the road” for me. The plot was original, but the characters were weak, in my opinion. The characters generally make or break a story for me, so I had to dock some major points off for that. I still recommend it if you’re a Steven Rowley fan. The Celebrants gets 3.5/5 stars from me!

Steven Rowley is a literary genius. This book was incredible and I loved it even more than The Guncle.

A group of friends enacts a pact to have a living funeral. It brings them together during times of trials and tribulations. So well written. Heartwarming, heartbreaking.

You have to read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced copy of this book. The Guncle was great and this book didn't disappoint either. I loved the humorous/cheeky tone.

This one made me weep in the end! Heartwarming read about a group of friends transitioning from college to life as adults and how they navigate their friendships evolving. Love the author as the narrator.

DNF. I just couldn't get into this book at all. I ADORED The Guncle but this book felt like a slog. I wonder if I just wasn't reading it at the right time or in the right mood!

I wasn't a huge fan of this one which is ashame! Thankful for being able to read it though. Thank you!

Sometimes good books come at the wrong time. This was how I felt reading The Celebrants by Steven Rowley. Rowley's novels have been hit or miss. (I loved The Gungle and The Editor!) The Celebrants. This book focuses on a group of friends who decide to host one another's funerals BEFORE they die. So much of the book focuses on death which, personally, was difficult for me. I also didn't really care for any of the characters. Much of the character's snarky humor just hit me the wrong way for some reason. Picking this book up at a different time I would feel differently about it. I guess this one wasn't for me. I do appreciate the publisher and author for gifting me with an advanced copy.

After being completely blown away by The Guncle (SO GOOD!), I was super excited to pick up The Celebrants. This book is a total emotional rollercoaster! Five friends reunite in Big Sur to honor a decades- old pack to throw each other living “funeral,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living.

This is such a sweet tale of friendship that will have you both tearing up and laughing. Told in multiple point of views, this book is a celebration of life long friends, found family, and imperfect characters. It wasn’t quite as unique as The Guncle, but I still really enjoyed it! Four stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own. This one is out now!