Thank you to PRHAudio and Netgalley for letting me experience this absolute gem.

I loved The Guncle very much, so I was very excited for this one. I have to say, I love this one in a completely different way but all the same. I LOVE, and I mean LOVE a good friend group in a story. This one is so unique and interesting; college friends who have decided to hold funerals for one another while they’re all still living, that way they get to hear just how loved they are before they actually pass away. This is prompted by the death of one group member, which adds a layer of grief and darkness to an already gloomy concept.

THE CELEBRANTS
Steven Rowley


I had so much fun with Jordan and friends while reading Rowley’s latest contemporary fiction title, THE CELEBRANTS. Out now!

A group of friends: Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle have known each other for decades. They meet to give one of their members a “living funeral” whenever someone needs it. Something they have done over the years as a tribute to their friendship and each other.

They meet and eulogize each other in life before death. This year one of the members of their friend group has a secret. And it’s going to change everything as they’ve always known it.

This book is a celebration of life and friendship, the ties that bind, what endures through the years, and what changes. I loved the idea of celebrating those you love in life when you still have the chance.

This is my first time reading Rowley and now that I know what to expect I’ll reach for his books when I’m looking for a feel-good book with great friendship dynamics.

Thanks to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and Penguin Random House Audio for the advanced copies!

THE CELEBRANTS...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all, THANK YOU to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for letting me read this book, even though I didn’t get to it before it ended up coming out a couple weeks ago.

With some authors, you just know what to expect. Right? A Fredrick Backman novel is going to be, well, like a Backman novel. Having read two of Steven Rowley’s previous books (Lily and the Octopus and The Guncle), I thought I knew what to expect. But really, I found The Celebrants to be a departure from those two!

For the first quarter of this book, I was getting into it, thinking okay, this is going to be really good. However, at that point it seemed to just keep going without much really happening. This is really a character-driven story…there’s not a ton of storyline. At first, that really threw me off and I was pretty unsure about the whole thing. Where was this thing going??

In reality, it’s just a succession of the friends’ “funerals” that are had during personal crises. If you’re looking for a really riveting story, you’re not going to find it here.

HOWEVER. starting at about 55%, the whole thing started to affect me more deeply, and I started really loving a couple of the characters. It just took a while for me to get there! I almost felt like giving up on it, but man, the payoff in the second half is so worth getting a little bored in the first half.

This book had some serious Midnight Library vibes, but in my opinion, was better. It really dives into topics of found family, what really matters in life, re-finding yourself, grief, and all sorts of super touching stuff. I highlighted a bunch of beautiful sentences and sentiments, and almost felt like my eyes were welling up at the end.

Overall, I do recommend The Celebrants, but don’t expect The Guncle! Go in thinking character driven, emotional story of friendship and found family and you’ll be in a better head space for it.

This was a sweet book about friendships, life, love etc. I liked the concept and writing style. The overall story wasn’t filled with a ton of events that really kept me turning the pages but it still did the trick of entertaining me.

DNF at 30%. I’m not sure what this book is trying to be, but whatever that is I feel like it’s trying too hard. This premise should have been my kind of book. But it does not deliver. If you are going to write a book about grief, lean in. Bring the emotions. But it’s not giving me that. If you want to be humorous, great! But the humor in this is not landing for me. At 30%, I still can’t tell the Jordans apart. I hate the two female leads and the MC is just…there.

At the end of their senior year of college, a group of friends endures the death of one of their own from a drug overdose. In the ensuing days, they make a pact to hold a "funeral" for each of the remaining group at a time in their life when they need support. They are each allowed one "funeral," and the rest of the group MUST attend. The reader follows the ups and downs of the group as they grow into late middle age. The author handles tragedy with humor, and the bond between these characters is always evident.

A tender story about the power of friendship and how it changes through the ups and downs of life. While I enjoyed this book, it did not give me the same “feels” as “The Guncle”. Rowley has become a must read author for me and look forward to his next title.

a heartfelt story that was very enjoyable

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

Since I enjoyed The Guncle a while back, I was interested in reading The Celebrants, especially during Pride Month. Steven Rowley is a strong writer and I loved all the detail and nostalgia he put into this novel.

While there were LGBTQ+ characters, the focus was more on the friend group and how they all leaned on each other during difficult times. There were a lot of rewarding moments and the dialogue didn't hold back. I even laughed out loud at times. The descriptions of characters and settings brought the story to live and made everything so easy to visualize. I also like how he took the characters out of their comfort zones.

Even though this was a good story overall, I had a hard time connecting to the characters emotionally. I know they've been through a lot over the span of the novel, but I just wasn't feeling that even as much as I wanted to. Maybe because they were so fenced off for the most part. Or because they were this close knit group of friends who barely saw or talked with each other unless it was convenient or they needed something.

It's a worthwhile read, especially if you are looking for motivation or a new lease on life.

Movie casting suggestions (focused mainly on their forties and fifties):
Jordan: Wilson Cruz
Jordy: Matt Bomer
Marielle: Maggie Siff
Naomi: Keiko Agena
Craig: Chris Messina

Brilliantly written, funny, and moving. This is another win for Steven Rowley, perhaps his best yet.

✨Book Review✨
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PUB DATE: May 30, 2023

First, thank you to @netgalley for my gifted copy of this ebook for my honest review

This book will equally make you cry and appreciate those closest to you. I absolutely adored this one. Though I loved Guncle for it own reasons, this one just hit me different. Not sure if it’s because I too have lost someone close to me or for an entirely different reason but this book has me in my feels.

Steven Rowley’s writing style is unique it is storytelling way. Pulls you in. And keeps you invested in every single character!

Definitely recommend picking yourself up a copy of this book if you haven’t done so already!

There is a reason the Celebrants was selected as the RWJ book - because it is truly phenomenal. Steven Rowley is a master storyteller; he creates the kind of world and story I want to get lost in and can’t help saying - just one more chapter. The Celebrants is a true gem of a novel and I highly recommend!

Five friends, a pact, and a lifetime of memories. The Celebrants follows the Jordans, a husband duo with the same name, and three of their college friends, Craig, Naomi, and Marielle. In their final year of Berkley they lost the sixth friend of their group and made a pact to celebrate one another in the form of living funerals. If one of them called, they'd be there. The idea seems preposterous, no one thinks they'll really follow through, but as life happens they find one another together, celebrating the beauty of each other in the midst of their lows.

The Celebrants was my final June read and boy did it knock every other book out of my mind. I couldn’t put it down, Steven Rowley's writing pulls you in like you’re watching a movie. It features 5 friends and the events of their lives that pull them back into one another’s’ orbit. Instead of celebrating just the wins, these friends celebrate the losses, the hard times, the moments where you need the uplifting joy of friends. It’s emotional, complex, a journey in a book that is beautiful and soul-shifting. It made me consider my own friends, my own trials and tribulations, and the love that helps you carry on. I loved every single character, I appreciated the emotional rollercoaster it took me on, and I’m now going to shove this in every person’s hand that I can.

Steven Rowley does it again! The Celebrants revolves around a group of friends, decades after their college friendships were formed. They gather to celebrate each other by throwing "living funerals". While this theme of reflective friendship has been done many times, it did not feel redundant or old. Steven's way of narrating the human relationship is unlike any other. I would recommend for a lovely summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! I love a book that focuses on the friendships between a cast of characters. While romance is obviously fun to read about and experience, I do feel like books tend to overfocus on it, forgetting about how important and equally rewarding a strong platonic friendship can be. So I loved that this book is centered on a group of friends who have all been friends since college who have a pact to get together and hold a 'living funeral' to celebrate their lives anytime one of them needs it. The characters were so wonderfully flawed and realistic - I absolutely loved reading about them. Highly recommend this one to anyone looking for summer read!

The Guncle was one of my favorite books so I was super excited to read The Celebrants. I love the idea of having a pact amongst friend and no matter when or where they each get to call to have their funeral while they were living so they don’t leave anything unsaid. Although I didn’t fully connect to their friendship or characters it was still enjoyable and I give it 3.50 stars. Some if my favorite quotes from the book were:

“What do I do now?” Marielle finally asked. “With what?” “With my life?” Jordan fluttered his lips until they tickled. “Anything you want.” “Be serious.” Jordan was. “It’s all going to kill you. You might as well do something fun.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make the most of your moment. But that starts by living in the present.”

“I learned something today, and I want you to learn it too. We think we have control over everything—we hold on so tight—and the truth is we don’t. We don’t have any control at all. Not over the big things.“

“Do as many things as you can to remind yourself you’re alive.”

“There is fire in us still.” He took Jordan’s hand. “In all of us. And there will be right up until the end. Nothing is over until it is.”

“To think about life is to contemplate death—it’s what makes living so valuable. Our time here is limited, gone in the blink of an eye.“

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

book featured here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs34ihWr3A8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Uhg this made me so emotional. This was expertly written and I loved the layering of past and present, and how deeply I loved every one of these characters.

representation: Asian woman, gay latino, gay white man

spice: none

tw: overdose, suspected suicide, cancer, death of a loved one

The Celebrants is a unique found family story about a group of college friends who created a pact to celebrate each other’s funeral while they are still living. This book really highlights how life and friendships change over time and how it all comes to an end eventually.

The Celebrants doesn’t have the same pizazz and heartwarming feeling as the Guncle did but it still managed to tug at my heartstrings some at the end.


Thank you @putnambooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was a wonderful read with found family, friendships, and explored grief and love. I thought it was a really unique take and different concept from his other novel, The Guncle. The characters were relatable and multi-faceted and will leave you both happy and sad as it balances the emotions throughout the book. Very character driven, and though they were flawed, there was something to love and relate to about all of them!