I don’t know what Steven Rowley puts in his books, but I EAT THEM UP. This one started a little slow for me, but I was crying by the end. Immediate 5 stars.

Five friends from college (they’re also flat mates) attend the funeral of their sixth flatmate. He passed away, and they mention how they wish he was there to see his funeral. The friends make a pact to have living funerals and leave nothing unsaid. This book goes through those living funerals.

What a ride it was to go through their lives. I loved it. By the time I was 10% in I was sold on this book. Tonight, I couldn’t put it down to finish it.

Please pick this one up. It’s absolutely worth it! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five friends form a pact to celebrate each other at their lowest whenever summoned, with no excuses and no questions asked. Their alliance starts after their group of six becomes five. They contemplate that Alec didn’t get to hear all the beautiful things people said about him at his funeral and wonder if perhaps hearing these sentiments earlier could have prevented Alec’s death.

Post-college, the friends drift apart but are brought back together after two decades when Marielle invokes the pact. The group realizes how important they are to one another and vow to keep in touch. Between the five of them, they experience so many of the ups and downs that we’re all familiar with. They bicker, they joke, they fight, they love, they laugh, they reminisce, they dream.

The story is told from each of the five friends’ POVs as the timeline progresses and each character’s funeral is performed. Although the story's narrator changes, it’s a smooth transition and feels natural with the storyline.

Each of the five friends is quirky in their own way, and the characters feel genuine. You see their struggles and how life events have made them who they are. I'd compare this to a more serious version of the TV show Friends. There’s something unique about Rowley’s writing that makes you feel like part of this group. It reminds you that friendship is sacred and one of life’s greatest gifts.

Thank you Putnam Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

The Guncle has been in my TBR list for a while now (being a Guncle myself haha) but thanks to an advance copy, The Celebrants is the first book I’ve read by Steven Rowley, and I look forward to reading more of his work.

The Celebrants is a light, fun novel perfect for the summer. After the death of a college roommate, 5 friends from different walks of life make a pact to reunite for their funerals whenever their life calls for it.

The friendships are accurately depicted as our characters age and go their separate ways; years could pass without talking to each, arguments arise but forgiveness eventually comes around, buried secrets are revealed, inside jokes are shared. But when push comes to shove, the 5 characters truly care about each other and will drop everything to support a friend in need.

The novel deals with some serious issues – sickness, addiction, loss – but remains for the most part funny and optimist throughout. A few of the standout set pieces (notably the skydiving and ferry scenes) were laugh out loud funny.

I know you shouldn't compare books, but I loved Rowley's The Guncle so I guess I had some preconceived notions going in to this book. The story has a good premise - a group of friends who celebrate each other's lives in a ceremony like a funeral before the friend's death due to a sudden death back when they were younger. The joy that I found hidden in The Guncle as the characters unwind and mesh themselves into each other's world is absent in The Celebrants and this was sad to me. Did I expect this book to be the same as the last? Absolutely not, however I could never even figure out how some of these characters became friends in the first place, let alone remained friends for this long when I didn't even feel like they liked each other. I do very much enjoy Rowley's writing and will still recommend this book because there are some touching parts. Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the early access in exchange for my honest opinion. 3.5 stars

Steven Rowley writes some of my favorite literary fiction because his stories are just dripping with emotion and heart.

The Celebrants follows a group of college friends who, after one of their group dies of an overdose, agrees to host 'living funerals' for each of them to ensure that nothing goes left unsaid. The book is structured in a unique way with each section depicting the group reuniting for one of the funerals. You follow their lives and relationships through these snapshots into their time together as a group with each section more of a deep dive into one of the characters.

I love well-written found family and this group was wonderful to spend time with. The best literary characters are complicated - you don't know if you love them or can't stand them - and I definitely had my moments with each of this group. I loved how each character's funeral was so different and so meaningful to their own experiences and lives.

Content warnings: One of the characters dies of a drug overdose in the very beginning of the book; another character has a history of cancer; one of the characters' parents die in a plane crash

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was very heartwarming - both funny and at times incredibly sad, Rowley really captures the feeling of a friend group and loving your friends throughout their ups and downs. I loved the structure of the novel as well, and while it took me a little bit to warm up to it, once we were at the first funeral I was all in.

This book is just another example of Rowley's talent. It has it all. I cried, I laughed, I was charmed, I was frustrated.... All the feelings.

Also, the idea of a living funeral may be the weirdest thing but, also such a good idea.

You can't go wrong with this one. In some way, it will touch you and be worth your time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

✨✨✨✨✨
Another Novel by Steven Rowley that will be widely acclaimed and beloved by many!

The celebrants is the story of a group of college friends who, after losing one of their own, make a lifelong pact to have “living funerals” for each other in a time of need. These celebrations, meant to be be invoked at a time when one of the friends needs validation and love, become the glue that keeps them connected into their later life. When one of the friends falls terminally ill, the pact becomes even more powerful and proves that love and friendship are just as important as romantic ones.

I have loved all of Steven’s writing and was especially in love with this last book, THE GUNCLE, and couldn’t wait to read what was next. This new novel had me engaged in the characters lives, wanted to know more and had me in literal tears at the end, something very few books have been able to do. My one note was that because there are so many characters and quite a few storylines sometimes their banter and jokes went on for too long, where some more details of their lives would’ve been great. Either way I absolutely loved this Novel and recommend it to all, new readers will be drawn to his writing style and want to read Rowleys older work, while fans will enjoy this just as much .

Out 5/30/23
Thank you to the publishers for the digital ARC!

The Celebrants
by Steven Rowley
Pub Date 30 May 2023
PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons
General Fiction (Adult) | LGBTQIAP+
Rating 4/5

The Celebrants is a sweet story about friendship that will stay with you for a long time to come. As a comparison, it brought back memories of watching the film The Big Chill.

Following a friend's sudden death before college graduation, a group of best friends agrees to hold "living funerals" for each other. Each group member can invoke one funeral at any time during their life. While they are still alive, a gathering is held to honor them and help them through a difficult time. The thought-provoking plot is about being there for your friends, even years later, and embracing life's ups and downs.

Thank you NetGalley, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for sharing this stunning book with me. Your kindness is appreciated.

Steven is quite the storyteller! I absolutely adored The Guncle along with this book. Steven has a way with words that are just so endearing and moving. I was so excited to receive this arc and it did NOT disappoint.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoy this author and the humor he writes. This book has some serious topics - centered around funerals and death. It took me a bit at first, but this book had me cracking up by the end. The characters are absurd at times and I’m here for that.

The last 1/3 of the book had some of my fave moments. While I struggled to get into the story at first, the last chunk of the book was worth it.

After reading The Guncle and meeting Rowley I was hoping to get a review copy of his new book, and succeeded.
Completely different than The Guncle, yet still dealing with grief and love, the characters grew on me.
Five friends brought together by the death of another friend, Marielle's boyfriend and Jordy's roomate, the 5 make a pact to call upon one another to have a funeral while they are still alive to show each other that they care.
The book is then seen through these funeral and how the friends have lived and loved .
We see how their lives have been lived and how they will go one.there is a very poignant ending.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my EARC. I will be telling everyone to read this book.

I absolutely loved The Guncle so my hopes were high for this book. I loved the unique premise but just couldn’t connect with any of the 5 main characters. The story seemed to drag on at point and was just really hard to get into.


Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️From the publisher:
It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living—that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.

But this reunion is different. They’re not gathered as they were to bolster Marielle as her marriage crumbled, to lift Naomi after her parents died, or to intervene when Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. This time, Jordan is sitting on a secret that will upend their pact.

*************************
My review:
I have now read all of Rowley’s books. In all of them the voice of the main character is loud and loving. This book centers on a group of friends from college but Jordan seems to be the real center. Each character has their strengths and their downfalls and like true college friends, their past is based on shared passion and liveliness. All of the characters are different and at times I teared up for each one and then got angry at each one. To me, that is the hallmark of good writing because I cared.

My one complaint is that for such a close and supportive group, they spent a lot of years between each funeral not communicating. I found that a little odd but I am always willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story. I would have liked to know more about Craig and Mariella and all that was unsaid between them. But the evolution of Jordan and Jordy was lovely. Rowley writes real people with real feelings…sometimes good, sometimes altruistic, sometimes unreasonable, and always deep. And the reminder to tell people how you feel about them in this life on Earth is an important one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5 stars. I’m grateful to have gotten this ARC from NetGalley and GP Putnam’s Son in exchange for my review.

*standing ovation* Mr. Steven Rowley does it again. If you are looking for a book on processing grief then Rowley is your man, every single time. How he manages to make his readers confront the darkness of grief and death and loss but feel so hole by the end will forever mesmerize me.

The Celebrants is the most beautiful story of a group of found friends reuniting throughout their lives at their darkest moments. It's a story that shows the most meaningful of relationships can and will stand the test of time. It is proof that found family can (and usually is) more important than blood. It is an ode to the importance of platonic love in our lives. It's the story you need when you feel alone in the world to remind you that you are not. It's the reminder of the impact with make on one another and the necessity of sharing these words each other before it is too late.

I instantly fell in love with the characters in this book and felt like I was sitting with them in Big Sur hearing about their lives. The way Rowley makes you fall in love with each and every character in his works is truly brilliant. I was rooting for them, I was angry with them, I was grieving for them. The pacing is perfect, the story is enjoyable, and humor hits perfectly, and the feels are so so real. Read with a box of tissues.

Some favorite quotes:

"To think about life is to contemplate death - it's what makes living so valuable"
"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single one, and the life of that candle will not be shortened"
"Death is the starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow"

Highly highly recommend!!! Loved every minute of this book!

It took me a little while to really connect with this book which surprised me. The story was incredibly interesting and I love books with non linear timelines, but for some reason, I didn’t really feel it until about 60% of the way through. Marielle really frustrated me. She was such a brat during her chapter and I mean, I get it, she’d been through A LOT, but yeeeeesh. I found Craig to be really pretentious at times, but he grew on me towards the end. Naomi, I went back and forth on. There were some really great scenes (the skydiving and boat tour pages had me cackling) and I LOVED everything about the Jordans. They were so sweet and endearing. The overall message of telling people what they mean to you while they’re still here was really well done. The ending definitely made me tear up a bit. I do think a lot of readers will like this one and I ultimately did, but I was just expecting to LOVE it.
TW: suicide, drug use, death, illness


Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy of this ARC.

A college friend group decides to have "living funerals" after one of their pack, Alec, passes away suddenly before graduation. In this pact, each member of the friend group can invoke the pact when they're feeling like they aren't in the best place in life and could need a little encouragement, at any time during their lives.

While this friend group is quite chaotic, this was a really heartwarming story about being there for your friends, even years later, the various versions of ourselves we are as we go through life, and celebrating life as it comes. I definitely cried at the end - darn you Jordan and Jordy! This is a book I'll be thinking about for awhile - how we can light the candle of others to keep them going when times are tough, and how we can't hold things too tightly because really, we just can't control the big things that life will throw at us.

Read if you like:
- Friend groups
- Heartwarming stories
- The idea of "living funerals"
- Themes that will stick with you for awhile

A delightful read about a pact made by friends to celebrate each other’s funerals while the person is alive. Thought-provoking, happy, sad, and sometimes silly, this book is a heart-warmer in many ways.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really enjoyed The Guncle, so was excited to read a new book by the same author. Steven Rowley has a special knack for writing with humor and heart, and I enjoyed The Celebrants just as much as The Guncle. A group of lifelong friends created a pact when they were in college to reunite when one of them is at a low point in life, to celebrate that person and remind them how much they are loved. Despite going their separate ways after college and living very different lives, they still come together when one of them needs it. Rowley writes a cute story that has depth and poignancy - he will make you recognize yourself in the characters, make you laugh, and make you cry, and make you laugh some more. I recommend!

The thing about Steven Rowley’s books is how different they are except for the basics: people need people. This clever new “big chill” was so full of surprises—the type that college friendships bring—and yet also the emotional depth I’ve come to expect.

5 college friends, since they buried one, Alec, far too soon after graduation. And a pac they make—a pac to have a funeral for each other before it’s time, when they need it. One would think that this could get formulaic, except for the power of Rowley’s imagination and writing. I cannot even…😂🙌.

Endearing, exasperating, sweet, salty-1these people each have so much to offer, so much to teach, so much to do, so much to say. And them it gets even more real. Loved it.

Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest opinion. I just need the audio now…