Elisa has been on the move her entire life. And if she told you why, you'd never believe her.

The Warbler, the oddly-named latest offering from Sarah Beth Durst, follows a twentysomething-year-old woman named Elisa Ellert as she works her way down her list of towns with anomalies, hoping to find a clue about a curse that has haunted her family for generations. As Elisa tells us early on, staying in a place too long will cause the women in her family to permanently transform into a tree:

"I was five or six when she first told me about the family curse. It hits the women in our family, my mom said, and it's simply this: we always have to leave. If we stay anywhere too long...if we even begin to consider a place our home...then our skin will harden to bark, our blood will turn to sap, and we will never be able to leave."

Oh, those Ellert women...always looking to "leave", one way or another (sorry, I couldn't resist). Setting aside the bad tree puns, Elisa eventually stumbles upon the town of Greenborough, Massachusettes. She's warned by some girls on her inbound bus ride that "it's the kind of place where people get stuck," but she arrives, befriends the owner of a local bookstore, and finds a place where she can live for a few months as she searches for clues.

There's the obvious mystery to the story—what's the origin of the curse?—but Durst also sprinkles in bits of townplace oddities that fall short of horror but definitely add an edge of creepiness to the story. She also builds in enough doubt to keep the reader wondering if the story's central curse is a manufactured malady from the mind of a madwoman. Durst effectively leverages flashbacks to both Elisa's mother's and grandmother's childhoods to fill in components of the mystery. At its core, though, the story is about destiny, and it explores the expectations others have for our lives, and the paths we choose (or fail to choose) based on those expectations, historical norms, or what is typical.

Durst's Race the Sands was one of my favorite books of the last five years, and while The Warbler doesn't live up to that high mark, it was still a solid and enjoyable offering. This is a good one for mothers and daughters, and will likely be enjoyed by anyone who's ever felt like they were trapped in a life not fully of their making.

Sarah Beth Durst has a way of transporting her readers to whimsical and weird worlds while simultaneously weaving themes that are ever so grounded and relevant. The Warbler is no different.

With evocative atmosphere and characters oozing with charm and depth, it's hard not to fall for this story. The Warbler is an introspective look at the people who raise us and how the echos of their teachings ripple throughout out day to day lives. It's engaging and thought provoking while still feeling cozy and magical.

A certain win for previous fans of the author!

Beautifully written, this story certainly keeps you guessing. An evocative mingling of harsh reality and an almost dreamlike otherness that weaves its roots through generations of women; all with differing dreams and aspirations for their lives. A literary lesson in the delicate balance of knowing when to hold on to your dreams with all of your might and when to let go and focus instead on the transcendent beauty of inevitable endings.

I won't be reading this. I've tried multiple times and haven't gotten into it. Thank you though for the opportunity. If I read it in the future I will come back and change this review.

The Warbler is a slow-burn mystery following Elise as she tries to discover why her family is cursed never to have a real home. They travel from city to city, never taking anything they didn't arrive with, including the connections they've made with other people.

The writing is lyrical and whimsical, and up until Elise arrives in a small and very interesting town in Massachusetts, I was interested but a bit bored. Especially because we get not only Elise's POV but also two others from different points in the past that slowly reveal how they are connected to Elise. While those POV's did give important background, I was itching to get past to the present and Elise. Once we meet Owen and Charlie and the other very eclectic residents of this small town and begin to uncover their secrets, things get a bit more interesting, and the pace picks up.. not a lot, but it does pick up, and I enjoyed the characters and the mystery. Each new piece of information just left us with more questions, and I loved every minute.

I fell in love with Ms. Durst’s writing years ago when I read “The Queen of Blood” and its sequels. She really knows how to build believable worlds. This was another of her books that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s 4.5 stars, easy.

I found myself feeling all the feels for Elisa and rooting (get it?) for her to find out about her past.

I felt sorrow for the lives that could have been, as well as anger for what caused irreparable harm to others.

It’s a beautiful tale that will haunt you and make you think about the cages we sometimes walk right into, and we don’t even notice the door closing and latching behind us. I will definitely be rereading this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ecopy. All opinions are mine.

A beautifully written story about a girl who is cursed and can’t stay in one place longer than 10 months. While we are mainly focussed on elisa in the present we also get chapters from Rose in the 60s and Lori in the 90s. What unfolds is a tale about motherhood and loving your child so much you do what you think is best. It’s a story about loneliness and what home means. It’s also about how different people want different things from life and that’s ok. It also has a bookshop and a cat so what more could you want

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

4 out of 5 stars

Elise (Lyssa, Alyssa, etc., et. al.) has been moving her whole life. Every ten months or so, she and her mother, Lori, pack up minimal belongings, disappear from whatever life, town, and names they've resided in, and head off in search of new temporary lodgings. A lot of the time, the places were run down, sometimes not even proper living situations. They usually had no money, and her mother taught her how to dumpster dive, how to swindle, and how to dupe. A romantic way of living it has not been. They have had to cut ties with anyone and everyone they've ever known, ever been friends with, ever loved, except each other.

Lori has explained to Elise that a curse runs in their veins - if they put down roots anywhere, those roots will become literal. Sap will run through their veins, leaves grow with their hair, and they will become trees. And so, they never stop moving.

Elise believes that this has always been the way of women in their family. When her mother dies and becomes a willow, Elise sets off with a purpose: travel to places with extreme oddities in hopes of finding some kind of family history, something that will help her break the curse.

In Greensborough, Massachusetts, she meets three blue-haired ladies, she gets a job at a bookstore, and she watches a woman run in front of a truck, all on the first day. She has little hope she will find what she is looking for here. Then the three blue-haired ladies send her to a property where hundreds of beautiful birds are caged, and a woman she is certain is the woman who ran in front of the truck earlier that day (and died, she thought) shows her a cabin and says her injuries are from a fall. Her mother seems to confirm what her daughter claims.

With each strange happening, Elise dares to hope she has finally found somewhere that might have answers. But with each new piece of information, she finds she has even more questions. People seem to truly be stuck here. There's a guitarist who strums a guitar with no strings, and a writer who doesn't write but sits, lips moving, in the local cafe.

The premise is mesmerizing, the story interesting. I did enjoy the read. I felt there were some loose ends that weren't tied up.

Warning: Spoilers ahead
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For instance...if the wishes were birds, where was the bird for the wish that made Lori run? Was the wish actually passed down to her daughter? How did Lori know it was passed down to her daughter? What exactly was the purpose of the three blue-haired women other than to fill in other plot holes? What did the man cleaning the pie display glass wish for? I can infer that he (or his mother?) wished that he was less of a mess, but still... Where did the statue come from? Why was it magical?

I see that this book was listed on magical realism and gothic lists, but it read like neither magical realism nor gothic lit.

I almost with this was part of a series so that the author hadn't felt the need to wrap everything up so messily.

This was such a unique and beautifully written story with a plot that immediately caught my attention. The idea of a woman constantly on the move, fearing she’ll turn into a tree if she stays too long in one place was extremely intriguing to me. I really enjoyed the way the story slowly unraveled Elisa’s past, as well as the history of the women in her family. The subtle twists throughout also kept me guessing as the story went on.

That said, I struggled a bit with fully engaging in the story at times. Magical realism can be hit or miss depending on my mood, and while the writing was lovely, there were moments where the pacing felt slow. Still, the ending was satisfying, and I enjoyed the overall themes of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an eARC of this book for an honest review!

This book follows a family through three generations as they navigate a curse that never lets them settle and find a true home. Ten months is the longest Elisa can stay in any place without facing the consequences of her family’s curse. Elisa is determined to find the origin of this curse and a way to end it. She finds herself in a quaint New England town, a town rumored to also be cursed prohibiting its residents from ever leaving. She quickly realizes there is something off about this town and finds herself immersed in finding a cure for both dueling curses, one that forces her to keep moving and the other that won’t let her leave.

A tale of a family legacy and the unintended consequences of wishes gone awry. I was invested in the story, it suffered from some pacing issues but overall I found the premise to be interesting. I was able to figure out the origin of the curses early on but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. Overall it was a cozy magic realism story that I enjoyed.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for my copy; all opinions are my own. The Warbler comes out on March 1st.

4.25/5
This a beautiful work about society's pressures and the way one wish can change the outcome of a person's life. I absolutely loved the multiple narratives from the 3 generations of women and how each are trying to cope with the pressures they see pushed on them. It's written in a unique first person narrative and then 2 third person narratives. The mother daughter relationships are pretty well made I wish there was more background on the grandmother/mother. The ending is kind of difficult to understand like I figured it out except for one part which kind of seems out there. Supporting characters were well developed for how short the story was. Finished this book in one sitting and loved it.
Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this book!

The women in Elisa’s family are cursed to always be on the move; to feel at home in a place, to grow attached at all, is to literally root oneself. After Elisa’s mother Lori gives up trying to always be on the run so she can have a stable life with a proper family, she gradually transforms into a willow tree. Following her mother’s death, Elisa tries to find out more about her family curse, which brings her to Greenborough, a town which some of its people says is also cursed: people from Greenborough can’t leave. With these conflicting curses acting on Elisa, she must race against the clock to break whatever curses are acting on her bloodline, and on the people of Greenborough. THE WARBLER is a small town story of a young woman trying to piece together her family’s history, following these three different women’s journeys. We see how a well-intentioned if reactionary decision made by one generation may be detrimental to the next, and the vicious cycle that such an extreme wish (or curse?) may trigger.

This novel is an exploration of human relationships, particularly between women, and how love can get twisted into an inability to let go, to make decisions for someone else by projecting your own fears onto them, even if that isn’t what’s best for them. It started out making me think of Gilmore Girls, with the cosy small town and people always returning, and endearingly bookish characters (I am a big fan of Owen the charming bookstore owner and his cat Charlie), although it also made me wonder if this would turn into a small-town romance with elements of fantasy which I didn’t quite sign up for—but it turned out I was wrong. The focus very much remains on mother-daughter relationships across the years, how they influence each other, and the very literal attempt at breaking free of generational trauma to live on one’s own terms, to exert agency and break out of the gilded cage that’s meant to keep one safe. I liked this one a lot more than I’d expected I would.

Beautiful writing. Magical realism. A compelling mystery. A bit sinister. A bit ambiguous.

I absolutely loved this.

I’d say it was similar to The Unmaking of June Farrow and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in pacing and tone, so definitely worth a read if you loved either of those!

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing an arc through NetGalley for me to review!

**3.5 Stars**

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free, advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own**

This is an odd book to review because there are so many positive things I liked about the book, but it ultimately didn't work for me. The writing is descriptive and whimsical which really pulled me in. The premise is so interesting and unique from the other books I typically read. However, the pacing was too slow for me. I enjoyed the latter half of the book, but the first half was too slow for me. I almost DNF'ed multiple times, but decided to continue. I'm glad I finished, but it wasn't a groundbreaking read that will stick with me.

I loved Sarah's other book The Spellshop so I was really excited to receive this via NetGalley. I did enjoy this story, however what ruined it for me was the blurb - It basically gives away the entire plot which is really unfortunate. It was still enjoyable even with it being so short as well ( I think the characters lacked some depth because of how short the overall story was) but I would recommend it, just don't read the blurb!!!

Sarah Beth Durst writes such lovely stories. The Warbler reads almost like a fable, teaching us to be careful what you wish for, or maybe more so to be careful imposing wishes on others. Following the stories of several generations of mothers and daughters, she tackles loneliness, love, expectations, and defines the concept of home, all with a touch of magical realism. It was a quick read that I truly enjoyed. Bonus point for Charlie, the bookstore cat.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the ARC!

In Sarah Beth Durst's The Warbler, Elisa lives a life on the run, afriad that she will suffer a curse if she stays in one place too long. These plans are interrupted when she stumbles across a small town where things don't seem quite right - and ultimately reveal family secrets she longed to know. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found myself rooting for Elisa all the way until the end. I recommend it for those who enjoy magical realism and women's fiction!

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an eARC; all opinions are my own.

This was pure cosy magical realism with a lovely premise about finding family, home and belonging. I love that there's not really a romance storyline to this, instead it's about finding truth and breaking a curse to be able to create a future. There are a few repetitive elements and I would love to have had more in the story about the periphery characters of the town but when I finished it I immediately said "well that was lovely" and I think that's just the most apt way to sum up this story. Gentle storytelling that moves quickly and makes for an easy, relaxing read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this digital review copy of "The Warbler" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Absolutely recommended for anyone looking for magical realism or a modern fairytale (of the Brothers Grimm kind, not of the Disney kind).

The prose was absolutely lovely, and the atmosphere was beautifully rendered. I really liked all of the characters and I thought that the multiple timelines worked pretty well, but as a result of the focus being split so much on the three different generation Elisa's story didn't feel as though it reached its full potential, so when the climax came around I was left a bit underwhelmed and wanting more.

Do we actually decide our own fate or has it been determined by those who came before us?

The Warbler backs that up to the wall. Either we are in charge of our destiny by our choices or we're simply at the receiving end of decisions made even before we enter into the picture. Maybe, just maybe, it's a whirlwind of so much more than that. And then add to this mixture a tincture of lies.....

"I've always lied to myself just as much as I lied to everyone else. It's easier that way."

Enter Elisa who goes by more names than a kettle of baby mice. She and her mother have been on the run since she was a child. They can never stay for more than 10 months in any location. On the road again........and again, and again. We'll find out, eventually, the reason why the rubber hits the road in a timely manner.

But this time Elisa decides to stop in a particularly small town in Massachusetts after the death of her mother. The intention is the usual ten months. The reality is that sparks are gonna fly immediately. Elisa is searching for her grandmother. And what she finds will shake her to the core.

I've not read Sarah Beth Durst before. Her prose is stunning in content and her depiction of Elisa is so intriguing. I like characters with spunk and with snarky comebacks. Elisa has no sense of identity, though, because of her mother's quaking fears. She's learned to be on the run. But this little town holds secrets of which Elisa is determined to unlock. There's also a handsome bookstore owner with a cat. Said store owner has secrets of his own. Throw in three elderly blue-haired ladies who seem to have their fingers on the pulse of the town. Like Hotel California, once you arrive, there's no turning back.

Durst does a fine job, but the revolving chapters, from past to present, give the readers a heads-up before our star Elisa stumbles over them. We'll pretty much figure it out ahead of time. And I wish that the blue-haired ladies had more on-air time and more depth in their backgrounds. The ending tightens up and stacks the chips neatly. I needed more answers. You will, too. Nevertheless, it's still a worthy read with some great woowoo moments. Check it out.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to Sarah Beth Durst for the opportunity.