“The Celebrants” is a heartfelt novel following a group of five friends from college who have known each other for nearly three decades. At the end of their senior year of college when their friend Alec dies unexpectedly, Naomi, Marielle, Craig, Jordan, and Jordy make a pact to throw each other “living funerals,” celebrations to remind each other that they are loved and that life is worth living. Over the past 28 years, they have been there for each other through divorce, grief, and job loss. As they reunite for another living funeral, one person has a secret that will upend their pact.

This was a very heartwarming and thought-provoking book about the power of friendship and mortality. It will have you laughing on one page and crying on the next. A great reminder to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you while they’re still alive to hear it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't think I could love a book more than Guncle, which is still in my top five favorites of all time. The Celebrants made me laugh and it made me cry, sometimes at the same time. I finished this while walking on the treadmill and honestly almost fell at some parts because I was so captivated in the story. Steven Rowley, I bow down to you. The Celebrants is the book I will push on everyone I know for the entire summer/2023 and beyond. Five stars aren't enough.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

A heart-warming story about 5 friends who agree to come together whenever one of them is in need...After losing their friend Alec before their college graduation, the friends invoke a pact for "living funerals" to let each other know how special and loved they are. Marielle invokes hers after her divorce. Naomi after losing her parents to a plane crash and Craig was "surprised" with his after pleading guilty to art fraud. Only the Jordans (Jordan Vargas and his husband, Jordy Tosic) have yet to invoke the pact, and Jordy has decided that it is time for Jordan to do so, He beat cancer 5 years ago but it is back and he only has limited time left. What you get is an honest portrayl of love and friendship with Rowley's signature humor and heart.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's sons for this e-arc.*

I was so excited to read this book, but it unfortunately didn’t work for me. I thought it was hard to keep the friends straight and wanted more from all of them in regards to emotions. I’m also just not a fan of long chapters, which is a personal preference. I am so excited that it’s been picked by a celebrity bookclub and I wish it all the success.

Rowley can do no wrong, this book is so good. It’s funny, it’s emotional, and it’s so well written. I really loved this and I think everyone should read it

Thank you for allowing me a chance to read this book! I really enjoyed it. I read The Guncle right before reading this one in order to become more familiar with the author. Both books have a ton of heart, and Rowley handles loss and grief in such an important and meaningful way. He really has a gift to make the reader laugh one moment and then cry the next. So many of us don't take the time to tell people what they mean and their worth while they are with us. Just today at the pool, Sirrus had a Tina Turner afternoon to celebrate her after her death this week. Why didn't we have Tina Turner afternoon before? We honor people after they're gone, and The Celebrants really got me thinking about finding ways to make every day meaningful while I'm here. I also have very best friends from college, and we're a male/female mixed group as well. I thought of them the enire time I read this book, and I'm going to include a photo of us from college as my Instragram review of The Celebrants. Made me want to book a trip to get us together more often. Bravo, Steven Rowley, on an amazing new release!

Review will be up on Sunday, May 28th at my Instagram page as well.

Steven Rowley’s newest release, The Celebrants, follows the lives of 5 friends over decades, after they experience the death of one of their own in college. Determined “to leave nothing unsaid”, Marielle, Naomi, Jordy, Jordan, and Craig all make a pact… to celebrate each other by giving living funerals at the pivotal times in their lives, ensuring that each of them knows just how much they are loved.

Steven Rowley has proven himself to be an author who digs deep into the topic of grief. Both The Guncle and The Celebrants are novels that explore grief, how it shapes our lives and changes us, and how we move through and beyond it. In The Celebrants, each character is struggling with some sort of loss, and it’s heartwarming to watch how the friends come together to support each other through each loss. There are nuggets of wisdom throughout the book, with witty banter amongst the Celebrants, as they call themselves, to lighten the overall mood of the novel. I absolutely loved how Rowley combined humor with grief in The Guncle, and truly felt emotionally connected with the characters in that novel. In The Celebrants, that combination of wit and depth is still evident, but I didn’t feel as connected to these characters. This could be due to the fact that there were more of them, but none of them truly burrowed into my heart like GUP did. Regardless, The Celebrants is a novel that reminds you to live life to the fullest, to say the things that need to be said, to make sure that those around you have no doubts as to your love for them. It’s a testament to the power of friendship and found family, in the midst of the good times and the hard ones. You’ll finish this book with a reminder to cherish those around you and to savor life, and that feeling is one that lingers long after the last page is read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this advanced copy, in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 3.75 rounded up

So beautifully written. This premise of having a pact with your friends to have funerals while you are still living was so unique and dare I say.. fun! You’ll laugh, cry and fall in love with the characters. This book causes you to look at the good in life and to cherish the people in it. I love Steven Rowley’s books and I’m so happy this was chosen as a Jenna’s pick! It is so well deserved. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When they were in college, their close friend and roommate, Alec, died unexpectedly. The remaining group of friends makes a pact - to have their funerals while they are all still alive, so that the one being celebrated knows how much their friends loved them at what kind of impact they made. Marielle, Naomi, Craig, Jordan, and Jordy have gotten together three times since then, not when one of them is dying but instead when one of them is facing a major life change. For Marielle it was when she was getting divorced, for Naomi when her parents died in a plane crash, and for Craig when he was about to go to prison. However everything is going to change on this fourth trip.

This premise sounded FANTASTIC to me as someone who thinks we should normalize death so much more in our society and the open discussions we should be having. However....this in no way lived up to the high expectations I had.

This book has two timelines - we see everyone's funerals in the past and then at the end of every "section" we see the Jordans in present day as they prepare for the next trip coming up. I think the fact that the funerals happened so many years apart really affected my ability to get to know the characters. We only saw them for brief periods of time so there was almost no character growth to appreciate. Though this story happens over 30+ years, none of the characters really seem to become more mature. I also just didn't buy this friend group at all, they said multiple times that they barely communicated outside of the funerals and I just didn't understand why anyone was still going along with the pact since in the end they barely knew each other. I also find it really difficult to connect with books where I don't like any of the characters and that was also definitely an issue for me here. Also the two characters that get together in the end make 0 sense to me.

I just feel like the emotions could have gone SO much deeper. But ultimately I knew what the ending was going to be and I was neither surprised nor sad about it. Though I will admit by that point I was just trying to finish the book.

Ultimately, if you loved this, I am so glad for you! I think it just wasn't for me and that's okay.

Thank you to Netgalley and JP Putnam for the eARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m one of the few readers who didn’t love The Guncle. I liked it but it wasn’t a homerun like I expected it to be. I then read The Editor on the recommendation from a friend. I loved it.

The Celebrants definitely lived up to my love of The Editor. Though the stories are different the feelings they illicit are the same. I appreciated this friend group> I liked how we got to seesaw their lives evolved and how their friendships ebbed and flowed over time. I appreciated that at the most difficult times in their lives they came back together and were there for each other. This is a book that will make you examine your own life and relationships. It will pull at your heartstrings and remind you of what’s most important in this world. Go read this right now.

I LOVED The Guncle and have shared my copy with many friends. I still enjoyed The Celebrants but I just never felt that connected to any of the five characters. I really like the concept of the living funerals and helping your friends know how much they mean to one another while they are alive. I did have a few unanswered questions though and would have liked to see a bit more resolved!

His writing is the standout though and I loved how much you can feel for this group of friends, loved the heartfelt moments between the group and you could feel how much they cared for one another. This felt like an honest tribute to the growing pains of adulthood, friendships that evolve, and the ways our friendships can help support and save you among some challenges through life. Some characters were infuriating at times but I loved their bonds and the growth they all had together.

Steven Rowley books are amazing. They keep me in a constant state of slightly uncomfortable, laughter, and sadness. The celebrants had me wishing I had a group of equally amazing friends who I’ve known for so well and so long that we too could have a funeral. And, I always enjoy the California settings as I can definitely relate and easily picture where I’m supposed to be.

Loved! A totally different vibe than the Guncle but in a great way. I think this would make for some really great book club discussions too!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Loved the characters. A group of friends decides to have their funerals while alive and they promise to reunite when called upon to attend. We get each character’s funeral story and their background leading to this particularly difficult, life-changing moment. Some are somber, others laugh-out-loud funny. Rowley is talented at writing distinct characters and making the reader like them even when they are hard to like. Four stars.

I wasn’t even through the first chapter of Steven Rowley’s The Celebrants before I started crying. The tears continued to come and go as I read through this heart-felt story of six college friends. I did laugh, as well. The comical scenes were few, but when they did appear, they were laugh-out-loud hysterical. And therein lies Rowley’s appeal. His writing evokes intense emotions that, in the end, leave the reader feeling warm and fuzzy, rather than callously manipulated.

We are first introduced to The Celebrants - Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Marielle, Craig, and Alec - as they gather together for a retreat in Big Sur. This is their third group visit to Naomi’s family vacation home. The first was immediately after Alec’s funeral, days before their graduation from UC Berkeley. Although we never “meet” Alec ourselves, he is as much a character in this story as the other five.

After Alec’s death, the remaining friends make a pact. Funerals, they understand, are for the living. The ones left behind. But isn’t it better to tell your loved ones what they mean to you when they are still alive? So Marielle suggests they have their own funerals while they are still alive to appreciate them. But they will “save them for a rainy day” - each able to call for their own funeral at a time in their life when they need it most. When they need to be reminded that they are loved. They may be scattering after graduation, but with the pact they promise to be there for each other.

The Celebrants is not a plot driven novel. I would categorize it as character driven, except even at the end, I didn’t feel like I really knew these characters. And what I did know of them, I didn’t especially like. Yet somehow I still felt a strong emotional connection to this story with its universal themes of grief, identity, and starting over. My repeated weepiness in the first half of the book developed into full-on sobbing at the end. And I love nothing more than a book that makes me feel.

I think we all have those friends we love, but too often neglect. We get busy and our lives may not intersect as often as they once did. Let this be a reminder to reach out and make them aware of their importance in your life. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Let nothing go unsaid.

Thank you to JP Putnum and NetGalley for providing this arc prior to publication.

I was fairly let down by this latest book from Rowley, after having really enjoyed The Guncle. So much of the emotional resonance of that book was shown and not over-explained. Here, I felt the opposite. Themes and emotional “messages” are stated outright. Of course some of that is due to the plot, naturally when people are celebrating each other intentionally, they’re letting out unique feelings. But the writing and the friendships felt flat and almost not emotionally believable because we aren’t shown enough depth here.

I feel that I may be in the minority here, and those with perhaps different life experiences or different friend relationships will feel differently, but I don’t foresee this book sticking with me.

I was so excited to receive an advance copy of this book! I absolutely loved The Guncle and I was so ready for Steven Rowley’s particular blend of humor and heart. The Celebrants was beautiful and I read it after a recent loss of a dear friend and so many of its themes rang so true. Highly recommend this beautiful reflection on life, friendship, chosen family, and leaving nothing left unsaid.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were relatable and so were the friendships. I felt a lot of emotions while reading this book but overall loved it and recommend it!

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
Narrated by: Steven Rowley
Rating: 4 stars
Pub Date: 5/30

Steven Rowley's The Celebrants is a heartwarming and sometimes hilarious novel about a group of friends who come together to celebrate life, love, and loss. The book follows Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle, a group of college friends who reunite every few years in Big Sur to attend each other's "funerals." These gatherings serve as reminders of their meaningful relationships and keep them connected through the years.

This story is full of humor, heart, and wisdom. While it’s a lot more heartbreaking than I realized (I cried a record number of times), Rowley's writing is funny and poignant, and he has a gift for creating memorable characters and stories.

As each friend calls upon the pact in their time of need, we’re reminded of the ways in which friendship can sustain us throughout life’s challenges. The characters are all complex and relatable, and while some are a bit infuriating at times, I couldn’t help but root for them.

I went back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook, and I felt Rowley’s narration added an extra layer of authenticity to the story. If anyone knows how these characters should sound, it’s him!

The Celebrants is deeply moving, funny, and sad and truly captures the essence of love and the power of friendship. This is the perfect choice if you're looking for a book that will make you laugh, cry, and think! Thank you so much to Putnam Books and Netgalley for the ARC and PRH Audio for the free audiobook!

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley made me think about if I should write a list of things I want people to say at my funeral.

Jordan Vargas hasn't seen his college friends in over five years, graduating in over twenty-eight.. Now five friends reunited at a funeral for a loved one, have come up with a pact to celebrate everyone's funeral throughout the year. To celebrate missed moments that others were to busy to celebrate and go to different places that had meaning. All the while, Jordan has a secret that may untether the pact and the friendships that the gang has come to know and love.

While different from Steven Rowley's hit "The Guncle", The Celebrants also has some home hitting messages. Told in a four weddings and a funeral format, readers are taken on a journey from one friend's funeral to the next and the unraveling of it all. This book reminded me that you find out who your friends are and try to stay with them. Also, that it's okay to reconnect with those you haven't talked to in awhile as it'll seem like just yesterday.