I am convinced I will forever love anything this author writes. The Celebrants gripped my heart and left me with a heavy hole after I was finished. I enjoyed following the friend group through raw and real life circumstances. This is the kind of novel you pick up when you miss your old friends and need a reminder that you too are lucky enough to have a tribe that no matter the distance...they will always come running.

Well-done!

This was a really beautiful story with a beautiful message.. but I absolutely read it at the wrong time. It’s a bit on the heavier side and I found it hard to pick up to the point it was almost a DNF. I’m glad I finished reading it but it won’t be a book that stays so close to my heart like The Guncle was for me

The Celebrants follows a group of friends who met as college transfer students as they move on into "real life." After the untimely death of Alec, one of the group members, they form a pact to reunite during each member's time of need to celebrate their life (while still living). As the book progresses you learn more about the lives, full of many ups and downs, each of the friends has built after college graduation.

I truly enjoyed The Celebrants. I found the first 50 or so pages a little slow, so I encourage readers to start this book when they have time to dig in to the book rather than starting it a few pages at a time. The book picked up after the first section & I found myself pulled in to this wonderful story about the challenges of life and how friendships can save us in many different ways. Overall the Celebrants is a beautiful story of found family & making the most of our lives.

Thank you to the author, the publisher & Netgalley for the ARC.

At the core, The Celebrants is a book about friendship, and how friends can become your family. We follow a group of friends throughout their lives, forever bonded by the death of one of their group members in college from an overdose of drugs. In memory of him, they developed a pact in which they could call upon each other to have a funeral while they're still alive, in an effort to lean on each other and get support if they need it.

I am having a bit of a hard time with this book. At times I truly enjoyed reading it. I prefer a character driven novel, and this is certainly that. The issues is, that I didn't particularly like most of the characters. That's probably on me, but I found them to be a bit overwhelming at times and insufferable. That being said, I did find that the writing was fantastic, and kept me enthralled throughout the book. I actually enjoyed the ending as well, and definitely teared up while finishing the book. While I didn't love the characters, I did feel like it was a good book overall.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

I really liked this book; it was sweet, funny, and sad. I liked meeting the characters over time as they came back together to “celebrate” several times, even as they had drifted apart over the years. I’m drawn to books where you get to see relationships change over time, and this book showed just that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

4.5 Stars

"There were lesson to be drawn from each of these images, each of their funerals: to live in the present, to live for yourself, and that we are never as alone as we thought."

In The Celebrants, Steven Rowley again tackles challenging topics with his characteristic wit and engaging writing style. The novel follows a group of friends from the time that they meet in college through the next decades of their lives. After an incredible loss, Craig, Marielle, Naomi, Jordan, and Jordy form a pact to hold each of their funerals while they are still living.

I felt connected to each character's story and felt the individual stories were woven well together. The Celebrants was both heartwarming and emotional. Steven Rowley did an excellent job of reminding us all that life is fleeting and we must show our loved ones how much they are cared for while they are still with us.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

After the overdose death of a friend, a group of college friends decide to have their own funerals before they die. It could be at any time but they would gather together to leave nothing unsaid. As we see over time, there is a lot unsaid! Naomi is a music promoter who is very tightly wound. Marielle is a gentle soul who finds healing in animals. Greg is an gallerist and the one they all call Nana. The two Jordans are married to each other and one of them is ill. The story covers many years in their lives and each section is one of the funerals.

I loved this group of friends who even if they were squabbling, always loved each other and ended up knowing exactly what to say. I loved the Courtney scale! Are you being Courtney Cox, Courtney Love or Courtney Thorne-Smith right now? I just loved this book.

The ending had me in tears but I did laugh out loud a lot during the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advance copy for my honest review.

A celebration of life, love, and found family. This was a sweet, heart warming novel and a reminder to tell the people you love how much they mean to you.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic, new book! I love Steven Rowley's writing! This book was sadder than I expected, given the title & cover. It was a of a slow start, and I didn't love it, but I enjoyed reading it.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I absolutely loved the Guncle by Steven Rowley but this one lacked the humor and lightheartedness that I loved. I gave it an honest shot but I did not want to force myself to read it. Thank you netgalley for the ARC. I loved the premise and the thought that we should honor our loved ones before they pass away, but I didn’t have a connection with any of the characters. DNF at 28%

This is a perfect follow up to The Guncle! Packed with the same heartfelt emotion, but plenty of humor, this one hit all the right notes. That said, I don’t think I was in the best headspace to read a book like this. While I absolutely love the message of telling your loved ones how you feel before it’s too late, it just hit a little too close to home for me at this point in my life. But I loved all the characters, and will definitely revisit this one when I’m in a better place to take it in!

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this heartwarming and humorous story!
The book focuses on a group of friends who met at Berkley in college. They've come together over the years to celebrate and support each other.
This particular reunion is filled with grief, stress, memories, and love. The book had a lot of thoughtfulness and dealt with chosen family.
I am a new huge fan of this author and can't wait to read more!

After the death of a friend, five college friends make a pact to throw each other a funeral during their darkest moments so that nothing is left unsaid. This book was so lovely. It had humor and heart. As soon as I knew what was happening, I didn't want to get to the end. A moving and inspiring novel that I will recommend to everyone!

THE CELEBRANTS by Steven Rowley

Read if you like:
-Found family
-Emotional stories
-Books with older characters

I overall enjoyed this book and the premise was heartwarming, however it felt like the characters hated each other the entire time. That is the one thing that kept me from enjoying this book more. It seemed like none of the characters cared about the lives of the others until something came up that made them feel like they needed a community, and called upon their old friends to throw them a living funeral. When the friend group was together, they were bickering constantly and were mean to each other.

I would still give this book a try if you enjoy found family or books that are emotional. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of The Celebrants in exchange for an honest review!

The Celebrants was a unique storyline full of life long friendship, strength and true love. I couldn’t get enough of these friends and the hurdles they overcame. Steven Rowley sprinkled lots of humor throughout this book even in the serious times. What a great book!

Steven Rowley has such a gift of mixing humor and sadness. He gets the ratio so perfect that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. I loved the guncle more, but this was excellent. Will read anything he writes

As someone who has a close-knit friend group, the premise of The Celebrants drew me in. I was intrigued by the idea of a group of decades old friends gathering together to throw living “funerals” for each other when they need it most. The Guncle was my favorite book of 2021 because of how emotional the story was and that same emotion is present in The Celebrants. Rowley has such a knack for writing characters who seem so real and for capturing universal human emotions. This story was heartfelt, warm, and celebrates friendship. The only thing I really didn’t enjoy was that the chapters were very long for my taste, but that’s a minor gripe on my end. Overall this story really moved me and I hope that my friend group will have the same love for each other decades into our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Publishing as well as Mr. Rowley for this delightful and heart-warming ARC. I enjoyed it a lot.
#NetGalley #PenguinGroupPublishing #TheCelebrants #StevenRowley

The newest book by this talented author is here and he’s still on fire! “Lily and the Octopus”, which is his debut novel, is one of my favorite books. “The Guncle” was sweet and adorable. His newest novel, “The Celebrants”, is another wonderful and unique story. When their close friend dies suddenly, best friends from college, Jordy, Jordan, Marielle, Craig, and Neomi decide that they want to hear their eulogies before they’re dead. They make a pact that each of them can call for their own “living funeral” one time each. Whenever one of them calls, the other four have to come running, no questions asked. What follows is as tough and heart-rending as it is beautiful.
This concept is actually a really great idea for real life. The idea being that we don’t wait until our loved ones die before we tell them how much they have influenced our lives and how much they mean to us. As each of the friends invoked the pact, I felt that more and more. I even made a point of telling my husband how much I love him and how lucky I feel to have him and our children. Reading this book made me want to tell the author how grateful I am for this idea and for his gift of prose. I’m expressing that gratitude here and I hope he sees it. In addition to that, this story really demonstrates the power of friendships. This story takes place over a 28 year period. The friends go through long periods of time without speaking to each other but, when one of them calls for their funeral, each comes running and they’re easily able to pick up where they left off. They go through great times and hard times but they always have each other.
All in all, this is a feel-good read. It will bring about tears and laughter but I came out with a serious case of the warm fuzzies.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley follows a group of college friends through different stages of life as they navigate the challenges of adulthood.

Steven Rowley is one of my favorite authors. I adore The Editor and The Guncle—highly recommend if you haven’t read those yet. So I was especially looking forward to his latest, The Celebrants. And in more exciting news, Jenna Bush Hager from the Today Show selected it for her June book club pick!

As you can tell I had high expectations. I did like it overall. But I didn’t love it. Some of the characters fell a little short for me.

There are elements truly standout and I thought the whole living funeral idea was very interesting. I read this one quick and was curious where it would go.

But the people and their friendship wasn’t where I expected it to be. I was left wanting more.

I do think if you’re a gen-xer, you’ll really enjoy this novel with all the references and such.

Overall, this book is fine (3 1/2 stars) and it would be a good read on a plane ride. But I do think his other novels are much more compelling and impactful.

I must say, I went in expecting more hearty laughs like I got with THE GUNCLE, and while that didn't happen, this one did get me in my feelings, just in a different way.

This book had a pretty unique concept: Jordan and his friends made a pact to host "living funerals" for all the friends in their circle so they would know the impact they made on each others lives while they were still alive to hear it. My senior English teacher had us write our obituary for a final writing assignment, and it was sobering to have to think about what you brought to the lives of others. At 17 my world was so small and self-centered. I vowed that I would start living my life differently, and I have.

I guess I was expecting that same feeling of nostalgia for that grand epiphany I had at 17. I found it really difficult to connect with these characters, and overall, it just lacked the emotional punch I was looking for,

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this early read. THE CELEBRANTS is out now.