Meredith Goldstein

After her grandmother dies, a girl travels to different gardens to scatter her ashes, learning about life and love along the way. From Love Letters advice columnist and podcast host Meredith Goldstein, this emotionally resonant novel with a touch of humor is perfect for fans of Robin Benway and Jenna Evans Welch. When Lori's Dorothy Parker-loving grandmother dies, Lori's world is turned upside down. Grandma Sheryl was everything to Lori--and not just because Sheryl raised Lori when Lori's mom got a job out of town. Now Lori's mom is insisting on moving her away from her beloved Boston right before senior year. Desperate to stay for as long as possible, Lori insists on honoring her grandmother's last request before she moves: to scatter Sheryl's ashes near things that grow. Along with her uncle Seth and Chris, best friend and love-of-her-life crush, Lori sets off on a road trip to visit her grandmother's favorite gardens. Dodging forest bathers, scandalized volunteers, and angry homeowners, they come to terms with the shape of life after Grandma Sheryl. Saying goodbye isn't easy, but Lori might just find a way to move forward surrounded by the people she loves.

Things That Grow

Alexis 

3.5/5 Stars 

** I received this as an E-ARC from Edelweiss Plus and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the way it went about the topic of grief was realistic. I really liked the writing and the flow of the story. I read this entire book in one sitting, it was super easy to get through. My frustration with this book comes from most of the adult characters. A lot of them just made bad decisions, and seemed so very selfish. I'm not sure if it was done on purpose or they were just written that way for the sake of the story.

 I got so mad and frustrated with the mother in this book that I almost DNF'D it because of that. She was honestly so selfish, she didn't seem to care about how her daughter felt about anything and just expected her to accept these decisions she made. I just didn't agree with any of the mothers decisions. Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS PROVIDED A DIGITAL GALLEY BY THE PUBLISHER IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION*

While I was a bit disappointed I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped to, I think that there were still some really important scenes and lessons that this book provided, and for that, I’ll consider it not too bad.

Things that Grow is a book that centers on the loss of an important loved one and parental figure in the main character Lori’s life. One second, her grandma is there and alive, and the next, she’s gone. It really gave me a bit of a reminisce to the loss I’ve faced in my life as well–cousins, great grandparents, grandparents, etc. I’ve lost a lot of people in the last two years alone, so having this book centering on grief was of big importance to me.

For one, Lori is a character you’ll either be seriously annoyed with or you’ll end up relating to. During my reading experience, she was a character I was able to relate to in some aspects. I’ve never been that great when a death has occured, so I completely adored the use of sarcasm and light and dark conversations throughout this book. I will suffice to say that these parts did get a bit overbearing at times, and I was able to relate the humor closely to something akin to The Office; so if you’re a fan of that kind of humor, you might really like this book.

Meredith Goldstein did capture quite a few of her characters really well. I enjoyed Lori’s character, and I both loved and hated her mother–mainly because the way she came off hit a bit close to home. However, there were a few characters I thought lacked majorly. For one–the love interest, aka Chris. Chris is Lori’s best friend who she is completely in love with and obsesses over every few pages, but she absolutely refuses to admit her feelings to because she’s afraid of their friendship being ruined. Don’t get me wrong, I normally adore this trope, but I think I disliked it in this book due to Chris’ character being so disastrously flat. He came across as more of an idea of a character than a fully fleshed out and developed one, and considering he’s a really important part of the story, that did take quite a bit away for me personally.

Next, the pacing in this book was horrible. It was decently paced in the beginning, and I was actually flying through it pretty quickly until I hit the 30% or so mark. That’s when it became extremely slow to me. If you’re a fan of slower-paced books, this’ll probably be perfect for you. But for me, I can’t really keep my attention fully on the story when I’m busy nearly falling asleep and yawning because there’s barely any movement in the plot.

There are some parts that made me uncomfortable that I’d like to touch on. At the beginning of the story, Lori is planning on how they’ll go about cremating her grandmother with her uncle Seth and Chris. During this planning, she randomly starts thinking about having sex with Chris. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing sex-positivity in Young Adult books, but I feel like it was more forced into this book than anything else. And sure, yeah, people grieve in different ways, but I just couldn’t overlook the fact that Lori was literally talking about her grandmother’s ashes (aka cremains) while also thinking about sleeping with her best friend. Along with that, I found it pretty weird that there were so many sexual innuendos her uncle made with and around her. I just find it weird that an almost 50-year-old man would feel comfortable talking about sex in general with his teenage niece. Building off of that, there was a TON of underage drinking in this book, and I mean, it was entirely encouraged by the adult characters too. This, again, felt forced into the plot, and it didn’t really do the story or characters and good.

Lastly, I want to touch on the author’s writing style. This is the main part of the book that kept me reading. Normally, if I’m not liking a book by about 30-40% of the way through, I DNF it. But Goldstein has an incredibly hooking writing style that just completely enraptures you from start to finish. That was one of the best aspects about reading this book, and something I appreciate.

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book and have decided to rate it 2.75 stars. But maybe my disappointments are things you actually like seeing, so I would still give it a chance if you haven’t yet read it.

Things That Grow

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