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Five friends make a pact after another friend dies young and suddenly…a funeral pact that can be invoked at any time, no questions asked. The five remaining friends can each have their own “funeral” with the goal that nothing is left unsaid and they reaffirm how much they mean to each other. Heartbreaking, but also positive.

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A group of friends gathers for the funeral of one of their college crew who died way too young. They make a pact to continue holding “funerals” for each other to honor those friendships while they are still alive and able to hear how they are loved. This was just so-so for me. Read it for book club and found more to appreciate as we discussed, but the characters didn‘t really grab me and the dialogue and humor felt a bit too contrived and clunky.

Since I DNF'ed my original choice for this prompt (too scary!!), this book worked just fine for #52bookclub24 #includesapersonalphobia. Skydiving. Enough said!

Overall, I enjoyed this one, though it did start out pretty slow for me. I definitely preferred “The Guncle“ to this, but it was still worth reading. And it was my #bookspin pick for June!

We hope that your special day is a dream come true @HOTPock3tt and @maich and that every moment is a happy and fun one to remember.

The #birthdayfairies are adding in some of their own magical #birthdaylove as the cherry on top of your celebration. Wishing you both a beautiful day!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!! 🥳🥳

🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂🎈🎂🎈

Book 29📚 3.9⭐️

It wasn‘t “The Guncle” but it was still super touching and cute. I love Rowleys writing and he does such a good job as a narrator!

5 friends make a “funeral” pact after one of them dies suddenly. Making sure never to leave anything unsaid.❤️

I‘ve read two books by Rowley — this & The Guncle. I think I‘m in the minority here but I prefer The Celebrants! While I don‘t disagree with readers who‘ve griped that the characters are unlikeable, I think the author succeeds in peeling back layers & showing us why; they grew on me as they aged through experiences & allowed themselves to become more vulnerable. While reading, I was moved to reach out to my own group of old friends. I‘m grateful.

“As much as these were the people she relied on to build her up, they were also the ones she would allow to see her when she was down. Even if they felt somewhat like strangers now, they had seen things, they had witnessed her when she was young and raw and exposed, in the time before she‘d learned how to hide her fragility.”

Pictured: Me with friends from high school, post-high-school, after seeing Roxane Gay speak at our hometown theater. 💓

Low end of the pick scale. The two Rowley books I‘ve read, that weren‘t The Guncle, bored me for a long time until suddenly they didn‘t. I checked this out from the library 3 times before I finished it. The characters aren‘t that likeable, and I had trouble distinguishing the two Jordans. I liked the last half better than the first. I wonder if I had less trouble with The Guncle because I listened to it. This and The Editor, I read the ebooks.

Is there anything better than a raw, rainy Sunday when you can snuggle on the couch under a blanket with a pile of books while ignoring the incessant football games that your significant other insists on watching? I‘m thinking not.

10-9-23: My 90th finished book of 2024! Back in 1995, about to graduate from Berkeley, Jordan, Naomi, Alec, Jordy, Craig and Marielle are inseparable. When one of their own passes suddenly the remaining friends create a pact which can be triggered whenever someone is in need. They have living funerals for one another so they all know how much they are loved. Very heartfelt and loving. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣9️⃣0️⃣

This author writes about death and grieving. And I still had to stop reading on the train today so my mascara wouldn't run down my face. There are some very funny parts to this. A group of college students make a funeral pact when one of their circle dies before graduation.

#BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks

Past pub date.
#ARC #Netgalley

Everyone was on the same ticking clock. They might fool themselves into thinking that more time affords them opportunities to do more things, that 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 ⏳

After the loss of one of their own, a group of college friends band together and celebrate each other by hosting funerals while each member of the group is still alive. 2 women, a gay couple (the Jordans) and a man each have their own struggles and need support at different stages of life. I loved the found family vibe and the realistic issues each character faced. Didn‘t love the way the 2 women were portrayed. Sweet, sad, funny, touching.

Up next on 🎧

#bookspinbingo

While I didn‘t enjoy this quite as much as The Guncle (which I LOVED) I still really liked it. The characters are somewhat unlikeable individually but work well together as a whole, and the narrator (the author himself) is amazing….I would listen to him read anything! The ending had me misting up, just like in The Guncle, and I love the way the author combines comedy with touching sadness. I‘m excited for what the author writes next! 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Although I love S. Rowley, I have to admit that The Celebrants did not quite work. It was good, but the build up to the end was uneven and kind of indulgent. The final chapter though was perfection.

I didn‘t fall in love with any of the characters and their friendship felt way underdeveloped on the page. Unfortunately, that was what the whole story hinged on. Could also be because I just read Happy Place and the parallel there with BFFs from college was super believable.
Still, the plot kept me reading and gave me a lot to think about, however cliché it might be: to live life to the fullest and share your feelings with the ones you love.

He was an astronaut, he imagined, like in one of those movies; his mission took him to a distant planet on the far reaches of the solar system, Saturn, perhaps, or Neptune.

#firstlineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

2023 Reads continued...

KOS - I never get tired of returning to The Grishaverse

TC - The power of friendships. Whilst not as good as The Guncle, still a lot to love about this.

I absolutely loved this story! It brought on all the feels 💗. I was so invested in this group of friends and their lives, and I adored The Jordans! I read somewhere that it has The Big Chill vibes, and I agree, but I also got St. Elmo's Fire vibes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Scale of Courtneys - Cox, Love, Thorne-Smith - was my favorite obscure detail. 😂 College friends create a pact after their close friend dies far too young. Throughout life, anytime they‘re struggling, they may invoke a “living funeral” so no one is ever left wondering the impact they‘ve left behind. A lovely, thoughtful concept, but the nonlinear storytelling was a bit confusing, but overall, it was impactful.

Here‘s my #weekendreads
1: The Witness Wore Red
2: Night Walks and Other Essays
3: The Celebrants
4: Memories of Tomorrow
5: The Medici Manuscript
6: And Then There Were Nuns

I loved this book nearly as much as the author‘s other book “The Guncle”. College friends make a pact after their friend overdoses right before graduation. They‘ll get together to have a “live” funeral when each of them comes to a crossroads—divorce, deaths of parents,a looming jail sentence, etc. it‘s actually very funny and poignant and a reminder to live your life well regardless of the time you‘re allotted.

Read my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin and got a Bingo. Yay me!

⭐️⭐️💫 The Guncle was one of my favorite books of the past couple of years and I was so excited for this, but it just didn‘t work for me. The characters weren‘t very well developed and most weren‘t particularly likable. There were several plot developments that I didn‘t buy (hard to believe these friends would honor a pact they made in college after not all getting together, and hardly keeping in touch, for 17 years.) Ok, but suggest #borrownotbuy

This book was just so beautiful and amazing. I really loved The Guncle and I loved this one just as much. I will definitely read anything that Steven Rowley writes because I just love the message behind his books. I listened to the audiobook of this one and I loved it because Steven Rowley is also the narrator and it was so fun. I loved it so much!

Big fan of Rowley‘s storytelling. I was expecting more crying on my part, but still excellent.

I absolutely loved everything about this. Rowley writes fully lived in characters that feel like they are a part of your world. There were laughs, there were tears, there was a lot of sober contemplation that really pierced my heart. Just wonderful.

I never know how the scores of my last 9 books will play out until I gather my index cards to build my grid. This might be the most solid B (4 stars) I‘ve had in one grid. But oh, my tagged favorite!

5* = Loved It, want to shout out loud about this book! I do/will own/keep a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F

A beautiful (and sad!) story of friendship and the importance of celebrating each other. Sometimes the friends we make in our 20s are the ones that understand us the best. In the Celebrants, Rowley visits a lifetime of hopes, dreams, and transitions and the ways we shape and are shaped by friendship.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley was at the top of my Summer Reading Stack. I laughed. I cried. It makes you want to live life to the fullest. "You only live once. That was the truth of it. But if you do it right, and he felt that he had, once is more than enough."

And my best life involves lounging in a caftan on a warm summer afternoon. ?#57daysoffun

Loved this… so sentimental yet funny with quirky characters and unexpected situations. There is something that happens to a close friend group when one passes too soon… you are bonded in a terrible but permanent way. And here, Rowley explores that, but also pushes to keep the friendship alive with a pact that they needed more than they realized. #ISpyBingo: 3+ people, cloud

My #GuiltyPleasure? Buying books even though my library has them simply because I want to read them sooner! I paired this with a fave party song from my high school/college years by an artist gone too soon like Alec in the book.

The book is a wonderfully bittersweet story about friends who gather for funerals for the living so that they leave nothing unsaid among them. Rowley is so good at melding emotion and humor! #TitlesandTunes

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A celebration of friendship and found family, an invitation to laugh and cry at the ridiculousness and beauty of life, an encouragement to tell someone about the positive impact they‘ve made on your life while you can. “The Guncle” is my favorite by this author, but this was definitely a good one. 🎧

Steven Rowley is a pre-order author for me and this book only confirms my full-price commitment. Each novel he writes (and don‘t you just love the orange spine on this one!) is quite different than the others yet he weaves two things into those unique stories. First, of course, are his gay characters I wish were real and in my orbit. Second, is the movement through grief both funny and sad his characters travel. Bravo to both here!

All the stars! This is easily my most loved book of the year. When I was at 80% and only had 2 hours left to listen, I was sad that it would be over soon. I adored these characters, and they made me laugh out loud multiple times. Definitely the perfect book to start out Pride month!
Coincidental buddy read with Joyce!

What I admire most about Steven Rowley is his ability to write books that are both absurd and reflective. The prose are always styled, honest, thoughtful, humorous and fully human. This latest book once again mixes hope and melancholy, leaving the reader laughing and simultaneously sobbing. Loved listening to the audio read by the author.

Good Morning friends!! Look at my beautiful view 🤩I love waking up near water 💙This new book from Steven Rowley is so fitting as im currently spending the week with “old” friends celebrating the wedding of one of their children. Nothing is better than getting together with friends who have known you through all of your stages #TheGoodTheBadTheUglyTheBeautiful

Woohoo 🥳 I TOTALLY forgot I pre-ordered this audiobook…yay…..airplane listen ✈️🎧 ✔️

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.

I was so excited to receive an #ARC of this book as I was a huge fan of the Guncle. With similar charm, wit, and humor, though the somber tone and challenging themes carry throughout the story. A ‘Big Chill‘ for our time, I appreciated the exploration of the aging experience, complete with health issues, divorce, aging parents, and a “what‘s next” lens. Some pieces were laugh out loud funny and that kept it from becoming too dark. #Bookspinbingo

Coming at the end of May! #PublishedinMay #MayMontage