As women, we have expectations placed on our shoulders from a young age. We are taught to aim for marriage, then a kid, then a second kid. Modern times mean that we get education and jobs before marriage, but society’s definition of what a woman ‘should’ be has shifted only that much.

But a large percentage of women, even in this time and age, aren’t asked what they want. It’s always, “be grateful for what you have” and “don’t throw this away for some dream,” and not, “listen to your heart!”
So many of us have dreams of traveling, of seeing the world, of doing things beyond the atmosphere we grew up in, and we want to realize those dreams. Instead of encouragement, however, we receive a “Do whatever you want after you get married! You’ll have all the time then.”

I’m lucky to have found a man who understands and encourages me in so many ways. But so many aren’t.
And the central story of The Warbler is that battle between dreams on opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Warbler is the story of Elisa, who is cursed to grow roots and turn into a tree if she stays in one place for too long. She leaves after ten months and now, arrives in a town that no one can leave.

She is tired of moving and when she arrives in Greenborough, she hopes that she will find answers about her family’s curse. What she learns about the town, its people, its history, and in turn, her family, is what The Warbler is all about.

This book, with the topics I’ve mentioned before, won’t fill you with explosive fury. Instead, it lights up something inside you, a familiar, simmering anger, because you’ve already experienced some of these. You know what Rose feels like they were your own feelings. You also relate to Elisa and her mother’s feelings. The difference between these three is just one word: agency. Women have been denied agency in ways big and small, and when you read about these three women, you will pause and think.

I was in tears halfway through the book, furious too at a side character. Internalized misogyny is one thing; selfishness is a whole other thing. You’ll understand this when you reach the end of the book, but the path to that end is filled with potholes of emotion, patriarchy, and plot sluggishness. And yet, it somehow works.

Speaking of the end, it is a bit rushed and it feels like you don’t get all the answers to the questions that were posed throughout the book. It felt way too convenient and like the author took the easy way out by not revealing these facets and instead burying them in an air of mystery.
But, I do think that the overall story makes up for it because I came away from it feeling challenged AND vindicated. And if a book makes me feel these things, I’ll not complain much.

When a woman cursed to never stay in one place finds herself stuck in a town that won't let her leave, she is forced to face her family's secrets head on - and discovers way more than she bargained for. I really found the way the various curses interacted with each other intriguing and the modern day appearance of The Fates added some much needed levity. Elisa is a strong character, and although her grandmother's generation made me bonkers, I really loved Elisa and her new friends.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary fantasy about mothers and daughters and curses and choices. More drama (but not melodrama), less magic. Compelling but complicated characters. Slowpaced but interesting. Not at all like ‘The Spellshop’, so don’t expect the same kind of vibes! I like this one better, though I am not so happy with the ending.

Plot Preview:
Elisa’s mother has drilled into her that if she starts considering any place her home, a family curse will turn her into a tree. As such, Elisa cannot stay longer than ten months in any place, no matter how much she wants to. She is tired of running around and hence always looks for answers about a past that’s little known to her.
When she reaches a small town in Massachusetts that has some strange anomalies, she hopes to finally find a resolution to her quandary. Will her stay in this town give her the answers she has yearned for? Will her endless journey finally come to a close?
The story comes to us over three timelines: Elisa’s first-person POV in the contemporary time, and two more POVs from two separate historical timelines.

PSA: The Goodreads blurb reveals too much. WAY TOO MUCH!

First things first. Don't compare this book with ‘The Spellshop’, arguably the author's most popular title so far. That was a cosy fantasy with magical creatures and cutesy romance. This is darker in tone, has only human characters, and though there's a magical curse, the magic itself is barely present in the story.

Bookish Yays:
🌳 Elisa and the other two characters whose perspectives we hear. I love how each of them has a complex personality that isn’t always likeable but is true to life with human feelings and flaws.
🌳 The multi-timeline narration. I enjoy plots unfurling over multiple character and time perspectives, and this book handled this aspect of the storytelling quite well. The connection across the three narrators isn't difficult to figure out, so it is more about the how than the who.
🌳 The focus on mother-and-daughter relationships, leading to an exploration of intergenerational trauma and mental wellbeing and even possessiveness and control. The story explores the varied facets of parental love.
🌳 The sharp comment on how societal expectations influence women’s life choices, with the many compromises they need to constantly make being considered a necessary part of womanhood. This is especially felt in the POVs coming from the historical timelines.
🌳 A bookstore and a bookstore cat named Charlie – what reader wouldn’t like these additions!
🌳 Good utilisation of small-town ethos.
🌳 Excellent atmospheric description of the ambience, especially in the woods.
🌳 No romance despite the potential for such a subplot!

Bookish Mixed Bags:
🌱 The curses - actual and imagined. Loved them! But I do wish there had been more clarification on certain aspects connected to the curse. The mystery adds to the allure but it also frustrates.
🌱 The male characters have a relatively minor role to play in this woman-dominated plot. But even in their limited roles, there are a couple of interesting characters with good potential.
🌱 It’s not that difficult to guess where (or with whom) the resolution of the mystery lies. However, the straightforwardness of this doesn’t make the story less compelling.
🌱 The pacing is somewhat slowburn. The start is good but it soon begins to slow down. However, the second half is quite strong and I wasn’t bored at any point.

Bookish Nays:
🍂 Not much magic and too many unexplained scenes.
🍂 The ending is especially disappointing as it leaves many things unattended.
🍂 The title doesn’t suit the story for the most part, and once you realise the significance of the label through the plot, you will also realise (or at least, I hope so!) why it is such a poor title for this story.

All in all, I did like this story a lot. While the plot wasn’t a novel one, the characters and the multi-timeline narrative kept my attention throughout. Had the ending been better and more sealed, I might even have crossed 4 stars.
I think this contemporary fantasy works much better as a drama than as a fantasy. Though there are fantastical elements, the lack of detailing makes them feel more like a background to the reality-oriented plot.
Recommended to those who enjoy complicated character-driven stories with just a hint of magic. Not for those who are looking to recreate ’The Spellshop’ experience as the two books are very dissimilar.

3.75 stars. (Which would have been upwards of 4 stars had the ending been better.)
My thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing the DRC of “The Warbler” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Sarah Beth Durst knows how to write magical realism that captures your imagination from page one! The Warbler is a dark, modern-day fairytale involving three different timelines (past and present) of the same family: grandmother, mother, and daughter. The generational storylines were so fascinating and getting the point of view of each woman was a bonus. We have mystery, wishes, curses...filled with heartbreaking situations and many gems of life wisdoms to gather.

Rose (the grandmother) felt confined in her role as wife and mother. She always wanted a life of travel and spreading her wings beyond her small town. While I enjoyed reading about her story and could understand her feelings of being trapped (SPOILER) What a selfish wish to force upon her daughter (Lori) her own wants of never staying in one place...leading to a cursed life for Lori and Elisa.

Lori and Elisa's curse...oh, my. To never be able to stay put and call a place home was gut wrenching. The fact that the nomad lifestyle was not one of their choosing was even more devastating.

I really enjoyed the many layers of past and present. Little by little things are revealed but then more questions need to be asked and answered. The irony that others were cursed to never leave when Elisa could never stay. The twists and turns...ahhhhhh!

Overall, a satisfying ending, even though I think I still had some unanswered questions.

Highlight, the bookstore and cat!

I have read previous works by Sarah Beth Durst, and am such a fan of her writing. This novel is enchanting and emotional and tremendously touching. I love the magical realism and the focus on familial bonds. Highly recommended.

Thank you so much to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect about The Warbler before I started it. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of buzz/marketing for it going on at the moment. But I am glad I decided to give it a chance because I liked the author's The Spellshop last year.

In the Warbler we meet Elisa. Someone who carries something heavy with her. A curse that has been given through the family where they can't stay anywhere for longer than 10 months (or so they estimate) or they will turn into a tree. Two years earlier her mother took root at her final resting place. Elisa has had to continue to keep moving. She tries to find places that might have been important to her family, to find out if there is a way for the curse to be broken. When she comes to this small town in Massachusetts, she finds a whole lot more.

I think what connected with me in this book and what I appreciated was following the story of all three women. Elise, her mother and her grandmother. While this can be a bit of a hit or miss for me, I was actually interested in all their stories. How their stories ended up coming together. The mystery in the small town helped to make it hard to put down this book. I haven't had a book where I was sad I had to put it down yet this year.

Does this mean this book is without fault, no of course not. I would have loved to have seen more on the actual world building and the three sisters at the end. But that isn't really what this story is about. It is about these three women and if they grab you then this whole book will grab you.

5/5 glowing stars

"My mother is a willow. She stands by a stream that burbles like a toddler’s kisses, and her leaves dip into the water whenever the wind blows, to be nibbled by fish who don’t know any better."

That knowledge is at the root of Elisa involuntary nomadic lifestyle for as long as she can remember. Since she was a child, the women in her family have been on the run for a generational curse that prevents them from ever settling down. Whenever they stay longer than 10 months at a time, or attempt to make a place their home, their bodies will transform to trees, and they will be rooted there for eternity.
After her mother’s death, Elisa reaches a breaking-point. Tired of constant goodbyes, she sets out to get to the origin of their curse, in hopes of breaking it. Her journey brings her to a small Massachusetts town, seemingly cursed with the opposite faith; its inhabitants being unable to leave. As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want.

The premise of The Warbler reminded me a lot of two other recent popular novels - A Short Walk Through a Wide World and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – and I was interested to see how Sarah Beth Durst would make this her own. Straight out of the gate, I loved this book by far the most out of the aforementioned ones. If you're in the market for a great magical realism story along those lines, but with a more mature (less YA-) feel: don’t pass this one up!

What I loved:
Sarah Beth Durst weaves a beautiful generational tale about familial bonds, expectations, regrets and what it means to be free. Through the perspectives of 3 generations of women (Elisa, her mother and her grandmother), we uncover the origins of their curse and the way it intertwines with the towns history. It can be difficult to craft equally compelling protagonists and their storylines, but the SBD does it with ease. I didn’t expect to be this emotionally invested in such a short amount of time, and yet…
On a surface level, there’s already a lot to love. The mysteries do a great job of pulling you in, and keeping you hooked. Then SBD does slightly magical small-town settings incredibly well – just look at The Spellshop. She also introduces her romantic- and friendship-subplots in such a gentle way that I really appreciate. Romance is not the main focus of this story, and Durst knows this. The romance never tries to steal the spotlight away from the rest of the story - which was one of my problems with Addie LaRue and A Short Walk - but supports and adds to what its truly about.
At its heart, this story is about family and these three women’s yearning for freedom, for themselves and their daughters. Tragically though, they all have a different image of freedom, and the hammers they use to smash their own cages are the same that forge the bars of their daughters’.

Inheritance in all its forms plays a big role in this story. A trigger warning might be in order for (genetic) cancer, which is at least part of the metaphor. This made it a hard hitter for me personally, but I really loved the way the story explored all its different aspects. Especially the way these three women all dealt with the dilemma between full commitment and self-preservation in loneliness, all in different- but relatable ways… Let me just say: there were tears in my eyes, which is so rare that it almost guarantees a favourite-of-the-year-spot when it does happen.

What I didn’t love:
If I had to mention a single downside, it would be its timeline. The story takes place over the course of a couple of days, which feels like far too short of a timeframe for the development that is being made. I’d have kept the story exactly as is, but made it so a little more time would pass between chapters, making the developing relationships and insights a bit less insta-lovy and a bit more realistic.
Overall, can’t recommend this one enough. If you want an outrageous blurb to take out of context, here you go: In my opinion, this was like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue but better.

Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Warbler is a dreamy and creative contemporary fantasy. Elisa has never stayed anywhere longer than ten months, or she will start to become a tree. Why does this curse haunt the women in her family? As Elisa flees anyplace that starts to feel like a home, she tries to retrace the steps of her mother and discover why their family became cursed.

The Warbler was very difficult to put down once it hooked me. Sarah Beth Durst writes beautifully about grief, feeling stuck, and the idea of fate. Elisa’s curse is unique and compelling to watch as Elisa attempts to unravel the secret behind it. Sarah Beth Durst creates a cozy small town atmosphere, though it’s clearly a town with secrets. I enjoyed the flashback chapters as the reason behind the curse is discovered. The Warbler is the type of book that will have you thinking about it long after the last page.

Readers who enjoy books about familial curses, the bond between mother and daughter, and creative contemporary fantasy will enjoy The Warbler.

Thank you so much to Sarah Beth Durst, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

The women in the family are cursed to turn into trees if they stay in one place too long, so every 10 months Lori & Elisa move somewhere else & are never allowed to return to a place they’ve been. After her Mom passes, Elisa tries to track down her family history & figure out a way to reverse the curse, ending up in a small Massachusetts town that doesn’t let people leave.

I enjoy magical realism & this started off as a nice mother/daughter story, but then it took a turn & the ending felt incomplete. It goes from being incredibly slow to incredibly rushed & ends without any actual resolution. Every single character was unlikable, but the most concerning part is that we don’t get answers to any questions.

What happens with the curse? Who were the blue haired ladies?

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

The Warbler by Sarah Beth Dunst
Contemporary mystical magic. Gothic.
The women in her family are cursed. Elisa had the time limit drilled into from a young age. Ten months is the longest they can stay in one place. They can never return, leave anything behind, or take anything with when they leave. Putting down roots means turning into a tree. Literally.
Elisa leaves the man that just proposed and ends up in a small town in Massachusetts. She is warned not to stay in the town but there is something pulling her there. She notices usual people and happenings around town. Like the man playing a guitar with no strings. She stays, hoping someone will recognize the photo of her grandmother. As she gets to know the people and their history, she also learns some of her own family history. She realizes there is something wrong here. But she can’t leave.

Curse or simply habit? Perception or believe?
These gothic novels always leave me asking questions. What’s true vs. twisted half truths?
I found myself listening and reading closely to figure out the truth. You get answers but there are also more questions.
Well written and intriguing. For me, disturbing. I like straight answers.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

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!