Oh man I really wanted to like this book. I loved the Guncle. But I just really did not like this one. I felt like I couldn't connect with the characters. I felt like this book was a little all over the place for me. I just wish this book was better. But I am so lucky to have received and ARC.

✂️ P L O T L I N E
Six college friends become five after the overdose of one member of the group. The other five form a pact to schedule their own funerals when they are still alive and times in their life get tough. The scheduled funerals are meant to remind them that they are loved and lift them in their lowest moments . Friendships drift apart, and years go by before the first person decides to invoke the pact and call for the love and support of her old friends. Throughout the years, each friend takes a turn triggering the pact, until one year where the funeral scheduled might serve as final goodbye. 🗓 Pub Date- May 30, 2023

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
For lovers of “The Guncle,” Steven Rowley strikes again. This time with a slow burn book that makes you ball your eyes out. Steven Rowley has a way with words that makes you feel everything that is written so intensely. His words are witty, funny, yet emotionally wrecking. His story telling ability is unmatched. Unlike “The Guncle,” this story is a little more intense. I wouldn’t say there is any sort of climax, nor is the ending a surprise in any way. It is a book that reminds us that friendship is golden and “nothing should be left unsaid.” It is our responsibility to tell our loved ones the positive impact they have on us while we still can. Pick this book up when you feel emotionally stable, or need a good cry! Be ready to fall in love with each and every character as you indulge in this adult fiction book. Jordan, Jordy, Craig, Naomi, Marielle, and Alec have left an imprint on my heart, and I know they will on yours as well.

📚Read this book if you like
💫Queer characters 🌈
💫 Long lasting friendships
💫Scattered timelines
💫Emotional and reflective reads

👎Although I loved this book, I found that the scattered timeline confused me a bit until I got the hang of how the chapters were organized. (More of a me problem 😜).

⚠️Trigger warnings of overdose, cancer, and death.⚠️

🌈 𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🌈
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💕Q U O T E S
“ Everyone was on the same ticking clock. They might fool themselves into thinking that more time affords them opportunities to do more things, but the future is open-ended. But the world is simply too big. We weren’t meant to see everything, we weren’t built to do everything, we aren’t capable of knowing everything. At a certain point, peace has to be found with the choices we’ve made.”

🙏Thank you NetGalley, Putnam Books, and Steven Rowley for this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 💕

The Celebrants is a book about a group of college friends, after the death of one of their own, they make a pact to have a living funeral, a reminder that life is worth living.

Rowley has created a memorable group of characters. The conversations between them are bitterly funny, honest and true. This book is an excellent example of a found family story.

Loved "The Uncle" so very much, so the author's latest "the Celebrants" was an automatic add to my TBR! Happy to report that it's also very, very good. And yes, it does give off serious "Big Chill" vibes, for those that remember that excellent 80's film. This group of friends who continue to meet & celebrate life and the loss of one of their own are just so well-written! This novel is very, very character-driven, and it also really made me reflect on both life & death (my own and others). Highly recommend. My sincere thanks to the publisher for the complimentary DRC widget and to Net Galley - all opinions & ratings my own.

Steven Rowley can do no wrong. This was a beautiful story of loss, love, friendship, grief, and growth.

In The Celebrant, a group of college friends lose one of their own unexpectedly. After the loss they decide to make a pact to drop everything and each have a living funeral when life becomes unbearable to make sure nothing gets left unsaid. Like the Guncle, Steven Rowley has dialogue that feels like you’re in a room with the characters, and can feel the emotions they convey. This book made me laugh, cry, and most important question how I want me life to be and what relationships I have in my life that make it great. This book gave me Big Chill vibes, and makes you really feel like friends can make the best family. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, I’m grateful.

I finished this book without realizing this author was the author of Guncle! And that just made me love it more! This was sentimental and entertaining story of friendship. I was here for the vibes and really enjoyed it! Steven Rowley has become a must read author for me!

I really liked this book, it was very different from anything I have read recently. I had a hard time at the beginning get all the names straight, but once I learned each of their stories you start to fall in love with each character!

This story was what my heart needed. Complex, beautiful friendships, set amongst the decades, with humor, intrigue, and genuine connection. While still sad at times, really felt like it was an ode to those who see you through the different phases of your life - even in the most interesting of ways.

Thank you to Putnam and Netgalley for the ARC!

BOOK REVIEW!
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
Publishing date: May 16, 2023

Well, now that my tears have slowed, I can write this review.

The Celebrants is a character study, focused entirely on the friendship of five friends (six, including Alec) that met in college. The story is less driven by events and more driven by the development of these people as they go through different stages of life but still find the need to return to the comfort of their chosen family. This is a love story of friendship at its core.

We lose Alec before the book even begins, but oh how we feel his presence throughout the story. This is so beautiful to me. It makes me treasure the deep friendships I have and hope that I, too, will be felt when I’m gone.

What Rowley does best is humanize his characters. You know them. You believe in them. The conversations are not just words on paper, they feel honest and hilarious and true. And he makes the act of grieving so fucking beautiful that I smile through my tears. The sadness is raw but real. And just when your heart hurts the most, Rowley has us laughing. I don’t know how he does it while making it all feel so genuine, but it’s a skill I rarely see and in which he excels.

Look, death has always scared the crap out of me. Whether it’s the death of someone I love or a complete stranger, death is a reminder that life is not infinite. That has always shook me. I have never read an author that handles death the way Rowley does. He has a way of making me appreciate the time I have left without the fear that normally comes with it. Each day is a gift. Instead of dreading and anticipating the end, love the present. Every book of Rowley’s is a spiritual experience that rocks me to my very core.

The Celebrants is a true treasure.

Guncle was my most favorite book of 2021! Steven Rowley is not only a brilliant writer, he’s also a composer playing the strings of our emotions, bringing out complex feelings we’ve been harboring. Each of his works makes you cry and laugh at the same time! He knows how to reach to the readers’ souls and captivate them with amazing stories!

This is modern Big Chill retelling couldn’t be more sentimental and ironically entertaining! Three decades of moving friendship story is so unique! At the 28th anniversary of their friendship, Jordans ( Jordan- Jordy: happy couple) , Craig ( mostly punchable but eventually tolerable) , Naomi (grieving her parents who are the victim of tragic accident), Marielle ( thankful for her only daughter and still miserable after her recent divorce) are gathered again in Big Sur to celebrate another funeral. That’s their tradition to celebrate the life after they’ve lost their college friend Alec at the age of 22!
As Naomi still deals with her own grief and Marielle is broken after her problematic marriage, Craig pleads guilty to art fraud! It seems like after three decades later, carrying the responsibilities of adulthood may already exhaust the most of them. They still didn’t figure at what to do with their one and precious life!

But Jordans: the power couple of the group deal with something more life changing. Jordan won his battle against big C five years ago but it reminisced and came back more powerful that meant he would barely live one more year!
For years the friends keep celebrating each other’s funeral but this time they can gather to honor one of them’s life which may shake their unique bonding to the core!

I’m not gonna give much away! This is so heartfelt story directly penetrates your soul! The character building is magnificent! Each of the characters were uniquely developed and you find yourself root for each of them including Craig!

Overall: I fell in love with this book and characters and I’m giving my well deserved five friendship stars without thinking any further!

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this incredible digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I highly recommend this book! I loved the friendships and the adventures. At first I thought the things they all did together during the funerals were... odd... but they revealed so much about the characters. And the adventures themselves were quirky and unexpected. I even came to have a soft spot for Craig, even though I thought he was annoying at the beginning. I feel like the author writes about grief in such an unvarnished and poignant way. It's hard not to think about his books weeks after finishing them; and this one will be the same.
The message about telling your loved ones how much they mean to you resonated with me, as I'm sure it will with many readers. Gorgeous cover, too.