2.75 stars

Ugh, meddling mamas.

I liked the writing and the magical realism aspects. The pacing, however, was a bit too slow for me.

Such a disappointing read for me. This book was not bad but just lacking. I found myself trying to connect with anything: the plot, characters, motivations, magic.

I am a lover of magical realism and will always champion the space for mysticism that adds magic to the real world without requiring world building/fantasy realms. So, I thought I had the right expectations going into this book even after devouring Durst's most recent whimiscal full fantasy novel. Unfortunately, I found myself slogging through The Warbler looking for any of the same warmth and life Durst put in her previous characters.

I didn't really enjoy any of the three POVs (Elisa, her mom and grandmother) that we follow. I think this book would have benefited from sticking with Elisa as she uncovers the history of her family and their curse. I just could not force myself to care for the women and their plights, even the discussion of fulfillment vs family, which is something I connect with.

The best thing about this book was the writing. There was some stunning prose that felt magical on its own but sadly it couldn't overcome the disjointed story and uninspiring characters.

Avoid the blurb if you can; I think it's best to go into this novel blind. The Warbler is the story of Elisa, who is constantly moving from place to place because of a family curse. When she arrives in a small Massachusetts town with some odd residents, she starts to learn the secrets of her family's past. I loved the way the story unwound beside Durst's exploration of the mother-daughter bond. There were some great reveals along the way and a satisfying ending that wasn't unrealistically tidy. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a digital review copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this magical realism tale of Elisa and the background to her family.

Elisa's mother told her - all her life - that if the women in the family try to lay "roots" anywhere, they will slowly turn into a tree. Her mother is now a willow tree by a stream, and Elisa has left her behind.

Elisa moves on every few months, but, of course, she breaks her heart every time to leave the people she has become close to, even without trying too hard. Each move means a new name and a new backstory. She has a list of places that she wants to visit, because they have had unusual things happen in them. She ends up in a town called Greenborough, Massachusetts. Even from the start, when one of the residents tells Elisa that she won't be able to leave the place, the reader can tell that this just might be the ideal place to help rid her family's curse.

The writing is beautiful, and you will not be able to put this down. There are many parts in this book where you will be left thinking about the female role in the family, and their (lack of) freedom in society. Enjoy!

I chose to read an ARC of this work, which I voluntarily and honestly read and reviewed. All opinions are my own. My thanks to the author, publishers, and NetGalley. (I also purchased this work in order to read it in its final format.)

If you love Sarah Allen Addison or Isabel Allende, you will love this book. Full of imagery, characters and strangeness. It was a bit overly schmultzy at points, but over all a lovely magical story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this earc!

This was really interesting, unlike anything I have ever read before!! I would definitely recommend it

A much, much bigger fictional story than I expected, of a curse born from mis-placed love. A curse that means Elisa has never been able to stay in one place for more than ten months, often much shorter, always leaving everything behind from fear of turning into a tree. Is this all in her imagination or is she really doomed. She comes to a small Massachusetts town, where there may be answers. She can’t stay long, yet she finds she also can’t leave. Trouble! Elisa better find out the truth, her truth quickly. Life as a tree is not a life she wishes for herself. But wishes don’t always come true. Thank you to Lake union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given

I just love the Sarah Beth Durst and the way she writes magical realism. Her books pull you in and keep you coming back for more. I loved the main character in the book and the growth and journey she went on. The supporting characters were just as great and i became invested in each of their stories and outcomes. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Weyward is still my number one read.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for my advanced copy of this book. My review is my honest opinion and in no way influenced.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

Plot: A family curse requires a woman to keep moving; otherwise, she will turn into a tree. She has never lived more than 10 months in the same place. But when she moves to a small town where “no one leaves”, she starts to uncover the truth about her past and seeks to learn why her family is cursed.

Review: I knew very little about this book when I requested it - but I adored the Spell Shop, so I knew I had to give this a try. And honestly - I liked it even better. The mystery was fun. The writing was so easy to follow. And this felt like a unique spin on the “have to travel to stay alive” trope. I’m convinced now that I must read Durst’s backlist!

I’m rounding my rating up for this - I definitely hope people find this book and give it a try!

4.75🌟

Small town magic meets generational trauma in this novel about a woman who’s searching for a cure to her curse. Elisa’s mother has turned into a tree, and Elisa will meet the same if she is to ever put down roots and begin to think of one place as home. We follow Elisa on her journey to find the cure to her family curse. She finds herself in a small town full of strange folks and wonders if perhaps they hold the clues to breaking the spell that is keeping her constantly moving.

I enjoyed this story of Elisa, her mother, and her mother’s mother. We see how one’s life affected the other and how Elisa is now alone, yet living with the consequences of the actions of the ones before her. Not only the curse that could turn her into a tree, but the trauma caused by a childhood filled with uncertainty, longing, and scarcity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

3.7 Stars
One Liner: An engaging read despite the flaws

Elisa cannot stay in one place for longer than ten months. If she does, she’ll turn into a tree. It’s a curse that made her mother and her travel all over the US, taking new identities and leaving without a backward glance.
After yet another move, Elisa is tired. She has been trying to break the curse but the first step is to find out more about her family. When she makes an impulsive decision to stay in Greensborough for the next ten months, Elisa is hopeful yet hesitant. After all, this small town in Massachusetts is a place where people cannot leave!
As Elisa stays back and might be turning into a tree, she desperately needs to uncover the secrets of the past and break free of the curse.
The story comes in Elisa’s first-person POV and third-person POVs of Rose and Lori.

My Thoughts:
Did you think I could resist a premise like that? No chance!
Well, the beginning is strong but then we get into a sort of uncertainty where the FMC seems to be repetitive. The chapters from the past helped a lot by providing backstories and preventing the current track from dragging (it still did).
The writing is pretty good even if the narration tends to go on and on at times. I didn’t need it to be that lyrical but okay. I was interested to know more, so it’s not too bad. Another round of editing would have sorted the issue and removed the repetition (especially about those kohl-rimmed eyes).
I think the issue is that the reader knows a few things before the FMC and has to wait for her to catch up. This works in some plotlines. Here, I don’t think it fully helped. When the reader wants Elisa to catch up fast and it doesn’t happen, we are bound to be a bit irritated.
Magic realism is an integral part of the storyline but I admit to being disappointed in this aspect. There’s a good atmosphere but the surreal part could have been stronger and a bit more prominent. Another scene with the three blue-haired ladies would have also helped.
The side characters, though not fully developed, are interesting and add their share of intrigue and drama to the plot. I do wish the men were a little more developed to match the women, but this is quite common in this genre (women’s fiction).
Since there is no romance as such, we have only one main lead, the FMC. This keeps the story within the required frame instead of adding unwanted tangents. That said, there are love and relationships and some of them play important roles. The focus is not on ‘lovey-dovey romance’.
The book deals with many themes but the central one is choice. It shows various facets of choice and how giving someone a choice should not result in disregarding their choice. The book also deals with mother-daughter relationships, female friendships, expectations and acceptance.
I guessed a good portion of the mystery at 45%. However, the author managed to give it a few twists in the last quarter. These align with the plotline and fit neatly, even if we don’t get detailed explanations for every question.
There’s an epilogue of sorts, and I’d have liked it to be longer. Still, I can see why it ended at that point. It works for the book’s vibe.

To summarize, The Warbler is a thoughtful read about choices, freedom, and mother-daughter relationships with a touch of magical realism. It has its flaws but it is still an engaging book.
Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This was so good!
Magical realism isn’t for everyone, so please know before reading: this has heavily unexplained magic and curses in an otherwise normal world.
I felt connected to Elisa, who had no roots because her family was cursed and had to keep going. As a military brat and military spouse, I also moved around a lot and it wasn’t always easy to break connections and start over again.
I loved how the story played out and the bit of magic mixed in.
I definitely recommend this!

An amazing book! Beautiful, well crafted and it was so hard to put it down! Would have read it in one sitting if I had had the time!
I'd have given it 5 stars but some things weren't explained well at the end. For example, if both Elisa's mother and grandmother turned into trees, then how are they buried? It occured to me that their spirits might be in the trees but the process described seems like a physical one? I think that should be given some thought and explained a bit better. I get that leaving things to the imagination is sometimes the best policy, especially in this strange tale, but, sometimes, a well-worded sentenced in the right place, that implies but not fully explains, is more than enough.
I'm hoping the author will fix this and I will look forward to reading the final book after publication.

Sarah Beth Durst outdid herself with this story. The twists and turns just kept coming. Following Elissa as she tries to end the curse that she is under, she finds herself in her mother’s hometown trapped. I love the overall theme of finding yourself, by not letting yourself be trapped because someone else is holding you back. Literally being trapped in a cage like a bird. I hated Cora, she was so selfish. But besides her, the book was amazing!!

Sarah Beth Durst's The Warbler is a stunningly beautiful tale that feels like stepping into a dream. The story’s enchanting world and its deeply compelling characters drew me in completely, blending heartfelt emotion with moments of gripping tension. Durst’s lyrical prose makes every page a joy to read, while the themes of resilience, hope, and finding one’s voice resonate on a personal level. The twists were unexpected, and the ending left me both satisfied and wanting more. This is a must-read for anyone who loves fantasy with heart and soul.

Imagine Wayward mated with One Hundred Years of Solitude, and their lovechild married Addie Larue and moved to Star's Hollow.

This is a cosy read, but also a real page-turner. The story follows three generations of the same family, and how the women are trapped by their own and others' expectations. The elements of magical fantasy weave beautifully into that theme.

Well-written, emotional, and and satisfying.

Elisa and her mother have never been able to settle in one place for more than 10 months or a curse will turn them into a tree. So far so weird. The writing and story are very intriguing and there is something likeable about our main character, despite her questionable moral compass owing to her nomadic lifestyle. She moves to towns where strange occurences or "miracles" have taken place and in the latest one she moves to Greenborough, it is one weird thing after another. She finds a lot of information about her family history and works with the local bookshop owner to attempt to release the entire town from the grips of something magical and mysterious. The writing was captivating and the chapters flicked about in time from the main character in the present day to her grandmother in the 60s and her mother in the 90s. I thought the end was disappointing for the main character, but fit well with the tone and overall arc of the story.

Durst is such an accomplished author and no two books by her are ever the same. This takes your contemporary story about a mother and daughter who live migratory lives and slowly merges it with a magical realism fairytale filled with curses and wishes. It reminded me a bit of AS King's work. Durst's descriptive narrative sinks you into the story, with so many little details that make you wonder if this is a true story because it feels so real. I really love how accessible Durst's writing is; it makes reading feel natural, not like a chore.

I think this would make for a good book discussion book, because there can be many interpretations of the magical realism. Is she truly cursed? Or is it a metaphor for the traumas we pass on to our children? How do we make amends with both the baggage our parents gave us and we will give our children? How do the effects of overcorrecting how our parents raised us affect our kids? What is home? How do we come to terms with wanting to live our life differently from what others expect of us? How do we learn to let go of people?

After reading Durst's The Spellshop, I was expecting something very different, something cozier or less mysterious. I was therefore pleasantly surprised with The Warbler.

It has a little more sinister vibe to it and there is more drama in terms of the mother/daughter interactions. It feels like a more serious type of read, which I appreciated after burning out a bit on cozy fantasy last year.

I enjoyed the insights into people who settle in their lives, who always long for something different.

"She couldn’t help seeing the future splintered in a dozen different directions— every yes was also a no to a hundred other futures, a hundred other Roses. How did she know one of them wouldn’t fit her better?"

However, I do have to say that I felt the connection to the title was rather tenuous and felt somewhat forced. The conclusion tied up loose ends, but also felt rushed. Overall, good though.

Thank-you to the publisher and NetGalleyUK for an eARC in return for an honest review.

The Warbler is a really lovely book that leads you wondering what's real and what's not, and whether there are mundane explanations for what is going on, or whether magic is afoot. I really enjoyed the build of tension, and the gradual unveiling of the characters, and where what they believed might not be as accurate as they thought.