This was a great premise, but for me it didn’t deliver wholly. The prose jumped around a bit too much and it didn’t have that “unputdownable” feel unfortunately.

This was a DNF at fifteen percent. The premise was great, but that was it for me. The writing felt like it wasn't finished and polished. It jumped around far too much for me to get a grasp of what was going on at one time. The characters were flat and very unlikeable, I would dare say stereotypical.

I was not able to finish this book, or even make a dent in it. I was shocked to see it was considered YA, it reads much more like a middle grade, middle school novel. I'm not sure if any teens/young adults can relate to this.

I've been a huge fan of Miranda Kenneally for years and though this new kind of book from her was bound to be a new favorite. Unfortunately my expectations did ruin that a little for me, but this was a cute story overall.

The book generally focuses on Lulu and Alex every year on May 7th, when their class goes on a field trip, and shows how their relationship ebbs and flows over their high school years. I was hoping this would ONLY take place each May 7th but there were a lot of disjointed chapters that went back in time as well. While they provided more context that I appreciated, the format was really hard to read and keep track of sometimes.

I LIKED both characters enough and Lulu's journey to publish her graphic novel was fun to read (albeit slightly unrealistic for a high schooler, no?)... but there really wasn't as much chemistry as I hoped? They had some good moments and I understand the pining after one another but I wasn't super duper invested in their relationship... I more wanted them to get together so I didn't have to read any more back-and-forth. I will say that I loved how their relationship did genuinely grow and mature throughout high school though. It was so realistic that they acted like selfish morons freshman year and realized their mistakes by senior year.

Overall, totally appreciate what Kenneally was trying to do here but I wish it worked more for me.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


Real rating: 3,5 stars.


I think this book is a perfect summer reading - sure, it's not without flaws and I'll talk about those shortly, but if you're willing to pass on it, "Four Days of You and Me" is a light and carefree reading to spend a few hours in total relax.

The narrative style of this novel is particular: the main focus is on four days specifically, May 7th of each school year, because they represent the day of the field trip for our characters.
The rest is all a flashback, but these flashbacks do not make up the entire past year - instead, they only tell us the key moments functional to the story of Lulu and Alex.

Lulu and Alex initially start off as enemies in their first year of high school: coming from two different middle schools, Lulu still knew Alex somehow because he was her cousin Grace's friend and now they're competing for class president.
It's on the first school trip that things change when, after a hesitant friendship and some flirtation, they get stuck in the museum's escape room and and then become something more.

From there it's a back and forth in their relationship - which is not too difficult to follow, even if from what I am telling you it would seem so.
We see them being together, break up, dating other people, thinking about their mistakes and choices, always ending - at their hands or at the hands of others - rotating one in the orbit of the other.

Normally the push and pull annoys me in a novel and for that I tend to avoid them when I feel even the slightest presence in the blurb. Here, however, it was different because we first know Lulu and Alex when they are 14/15 years old and it's all about the immaturity of being kids experiencing their first love - we see Lulu's desire to have Alex only for herself in every free moment and to be with him as much as possible and the frustration of feeling put in the last place when Alex is busy with baseball training and helping his family in the restaurant they own and we see Alex accusing her of being selfish because Lulu never seems to make an effort to understand he cares about her but he has obligations.

And there's no denying that Lulu and Alex are co-dependent, that they inevitably hurt other people because on an emotional level they always end up "betraying" them by continually thinking about the other, but it's something that would have bothered me more if it were adults involved.
Instead they are kids - yes, even at eighteen as seniors I consider them kids, although more mature than they were at the beginning - and therefore it's easier for me to "condone" them, even if a cynic would say this means creating a dangerous precedent for adult life. But this is a young adult and so I'm fine with it.

Undoubtedly the narrative style does not allow you to read the natural and progressive development of their relationship, it's a novel where too much is told and a little is shown - and the same can be said of the characters because, apart from some features, they are not studied in depth - but one can still grasp their maturity, their awareness on a personal and a relationship level.
I found the friendship Lulu had with Marcie and Dana towards the ending hardly credible, since there has always been rivalry and jealousy between them for more than half the book - also because of Alex.

I enjoyed the days dedicated to the last two field trips: New York and London are perfectly described and especially with the latter, it felt like I was back there five years later.
Above all, they made me feel nostalgic for my school trips - and regret even those that I didn't attend for lack of the necessary number in my class.

Sure, this book isn't something unforgettable, but it's still a cute and absolutely suitable novel for this season.

Four Days of You and Me was so incredibly cute and fun. I LOVE Miranda Kenneally so when I saw she was making more books I jumped at the chance to read her newest one. It was the perfect mix of fun and light hearted romance. I enjoyed the growth of the characters a lot and the ability to see how they change throughout the four years.

When I requested this novel I was into the ideal of reading this novel but I discovered that I was unable to provide feedback on this book due to the series being archived prior to download and file/download issues. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience of not being to review and thank you for taking the time to provide me an ARC of this novel.

I have read almost all of Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series and have greatly enjoyed most of them.  Since I rarely read YA contemporaries anymore,  figured since this one was by an author I have good experience with that I would give it a try.  

Even though the time jumps in this book sometimes kind of confused me, I think I like how she did it.  The concept of her revisiting the same periods of time through the course of four years showed a lot of Lulu and Alex's growth over the course of high school which we really don't get to see much of in other YA books.  I thought their on-and-off again relationship was really realistic which always gets big bonus points from me and I liked how the book ended.  Overall I really enjoyed this quick read and I will probably continue to read anything she puts out!

Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I’m really sad I didn’t love this book, especially since it’s set on my birthday.  But the alternating timelines pulled me from the story.  I did read through Freshman year though. Ugh.

This was such a cute story! Omg, I devoured it. 
This book follows a high school couple from when they meet, get together, and go through break ups and make ups. It follows them for four years throughout their high school career. You see what happens on May 7 each year when their school goes on a class trip. Let me tell ya, their class trips were way better than ours were! You also get to see a little insight from each year in between the trips. 
What I liked most about this book was the relationship felt so real. They broke up and made up so many times over the four years. They dealt with jealously and figuring out how to be friends (or not) while broken up. What was great about this book is it was very open about teenage sexuality. About deciding to wait or not, buying protection together. It even mentions failed protection. I read a lot of ya, and I rarely see this. 
Four stars for this heartwarming love story. If you love ya contemporary, this is a must read! 

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.

I've enjoyed Miranda Kenneally's books in the past. I think she writes really good YA contemporary romances and this book seemed to have a romance that developed over a few years, so I was quite eager to pick it up. While in the end, it wasn't my favorite book from the author, I still had an overall pleasant experience with it. Part of my not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed Miranda's previous books could be because I'm no longer a teenager. Four Days of You and Me narrates the story of Alex and Lulu on four field trips over 4 years. The two have a very up and down relationship throughout the years and the book walks you through those highs and lows. As you can imagine, it's quite a drama-filled experience. Perhaps, if I had formed a stronger connection with Lulu and Alex individually and as a couple, I would have enjoyed the drama better. Their chemistry wasn't entirely there for me and I often thought their relationship was exasperating - again, I'm an old lady now and I'm clearly not the target audience for such books anymore. I also found the constant back-and-forth between the timelines to be jarring. Again though, that is very much a personal preference issue. I've never had much luck with books told in multiple timelines in the past. Still, despite my issues with the Four Days of You and Me, I can't deny that the story was readable and had a touch of an addicting quality to it that all of Miranda Kenneally's books have had. In the end, while Four Days of You and Me wasn't my favorite, I'd still recommend it if you're in the mood for a story like it.

Confession: I have been a big fan of Miranda Kenneally for years. So, I was excited to read a new stand-alone book from her. Four Days of You and Me is a cute frenemies-to-lovers story. Lulu and Alex's relationship is explored on one day throughout their four years together. Its a fun story that I was glad to ready. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

This one really missed the mark for me. I think partially I'm too old for it, but then when I think about some of the content and messaging of the book, I don't know that I'd want younger readers reading it either. I found the writing simultaneously immature/juvenile, and overly explicit and horny. Which you know, I guess is reasonably true to the teenage experience for a lot of people but it was still cringy and problematic overall. Props to the book for including conversations around contraception but that's probably one of the only level-headed actions that the characters take.

I found the characters pretty flat, and very shallow, and I didn't really believe their relationships because we weren't shown any evidence of it. It's like the book somehow couldn't stick to the premise of only being four days (more on that later) but still used that as an excuse to tell rather than show and to leave the characters as maybe one or two personality points rather than being actual complete people.

Now the premise (a love story told over 4 years, only showing us one day from each year) really appealed to me, I like it when authors challenge themselves to tell stories in new and intriguing ways but this just didn't deliver on what it promised. First of all, while most of the focus is on one day each year (the class field trip) there is certainly plenty of narrative that we're told that doesn't occur on those days. In fact the excursions really just seemed like a quirky place to arbitrarily set regular drama. So rather than creating a story around the premise, it almost seems like she had a story and was like "how can I make this different" and then sort of split up a narrative that way. Plus there were a bunch of unnecessary time jumps forwards and backwards that were just jarring, and were confusingly titled - it just really didn't work.

If you want a book that does this idea well, read Birthday by Meredith Russo, it's written really well, has diverse representation, and more considered depiction of teenage relationships in my opinion!

Miranda Kenneally is one of my favorite authors. Her books are always fun and keeps you engaged through the story. I couldn't put this one down. I loved how Lulu and Alex always found their way back to each other. Great read!!

This book was a really cute read. The characters were cute and a lot of their behaviour reminded me of myself and my friends when we were that age, which made me laugh a couple times! The plot and characters could have been a bit better, but honestly the book was super cute so I really recommend reading it!

I love sitting down and just inhaling a book – by that I do not mean smelling a book although that is great – I mean ripping through the pages so fast that you look up and you’ve read the book in one go. Four Days Of You And Me by Miranda Kenneally is a book that I picked up after reading a real door stopper and I just fell right into the story so easily. I completely gelled with this book.

Four Days Of You And Me is about Lulu, who is running for freshman class president as the book opens. She loses to Alex, a baseball player and popular kid. This makes Alex Lulu’s mortal enemy. So, we get to where Alex and Lulu are on the freshman class trip together. They end up locked in an escape room. After they figure out the way to escape, they have this attraction to each other. So, the book details four years of on and off relationship between Lulu and Alex. The pivot moments are around the annual class trips. You see, there is an endowment at their school for a special class trip every year. I should also say Lulu is working on writing a graphic novel and Alex works at his family’s restaurant but is also a really talented baseball player.

I don’t know what exactly it was about this book that I just ate up. There was something interesting about the plot structure and timing. It would go into detail on the trips but then we would get flashbacks from the previous year to get context for certain events during the current year’s class trip. I think this moved the story along and kept it from being mired in the mundane or boring.

There are SO many elements of this book I enjoyed – from the chemistry between Lulu and Alex – to her friendships with Grace her cousin and Max her best friend. I loved seeing Lulu’s interactions with her classmates over four years and how she grew as a person. Plus, how Lulu chased her dreams. The romance scenes were sweet. I mean, yes there’s some graphic moments so maybe don’t hand this to a kid. Still, overall, Four Days Of You And Me is an excellent young adult contemporary and the perfect beach or vacation read (even if that vacation is just in your backyard given the times we are in).

I did not finish this book as I wasn’t really feeling the storyline. From what I read, I found the story and characters to be cliche and cheesy. I’m sorry I can’t give you a full review, but I just wasn’t captured enough by the story to finish it.

In Four Days of You and Me we follow Lu(lu) and Alex. We meet them again on the same day for 4 years. How did their relationship develop? How did they develop themselves? 

There were a lot of time skips in this book. One moment your reading about them in year 1, a moment later you have a flashback to something that happened before. This made this book a bit vague. I didn't follow the story that well at first and I hated the jumps in time. Later on, the story became a bit easier to follow and flowed a bit more. All those jumps made reading this book not so smooth. The pacing was a bit of, because of that. 

I loved following the same characters for a longer period of time. With other YA you only read about the characters for a few weeks or months, but this was 4 years. I loved their development and how their relationship developed. 

Another great aspect of this book are the several side characters. I loved Ryan, Grace and Max. They were so lovely and a great addition to the story. The friendgroup was great and I really liked reading about all of them.

so i loved the hundred oak series, contemporary romance with a side of sports, are totally my thing. i honestly don't know why, because i am the least sporty person ever. i think it's because the stakes with sports are so clear and the conflict really tends to work for me.

four days of you and me is a much different concept from her earlier work. this isn't bad, it's just different. and while miranda is usually an auto-buy for me, i had some hesitation based on the premise because if there is something anyone should know about me is that i am not a big fan of flashbacks.

and so we follow alex and lulu's on-again, off-again relationship over the course of four years, set on during an annual field trip. the conceit is great. it's just that this kind of conceit is so not my jam. i am rarely interested in what characters did in the past, i want to know the here and now and what it means for the future. and that's the other thing...where things end...it's not that satisfying?

there's a lot of build-up with little reward? i don't know. i know these are teenagers and life is obviously still uncertain. but it just felt like a lot of investment for not enough return.

**four days of you and me will publish on may 5, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/sourcebooks fire in exchange for my honest review.

Miranda Kenneally has been an auto-buy author of mine for a long time now, her books are always my go to when I need a pick me up. And it’d been a while since I’d read any of her books, so you could say that my eager anticipation of Four Days of You and Me was an understatement. Once again Kenneally did not disappoint when it came to this book, I enjoyed the twists and turns we were given with Alex and Lulu and how the chapters panned across the past and present of their lives during their time at high school. There were seriously so many ups and downs, that I was at times dead set that Alex and Lulu weren’t meant to be. But I liked how Kenneally kept us guessing at how things would end up between them. The friendship groups in the story were a delight too, seeing them change up, pan out, but still remain strong over the years. I thoroughly enjoyed Four Days of You and Me, this book made me super nostalgic of the trips I made back in my high school years and the meaningful and long-lasting friendships I made during that time. If you haven’t already picked up this lovely book, what are you waiting for?