The title hooked me, but the story held me captive!

Allison finds herself in a tough spot when her ex-boyfriend, Sam, dies tragically. His parents, unaware of their breakup, treat her as though she’s still part of the family at his funeral. Not wanting to add to their grief, Allison goes along with it. Enter Adam, Sam's best friend, who is also in the dark about the breakup. The two of them are asked to clear out Sam's condo together.

From the start, there's tension between Allison and Adam. He's a bit short and grumpy, and she’s just trying to navigate this awkward situation. Yet, as they spend more time together, they begin to like each other's company. But the question remains: is it okay to develop feelings for your deceased best friend’s ex?

The characters are genuinely likable, and watching Allison and Adam’s friendship grow while they try to suppress their feelings kept me glued to the pages. There were some deeply emotional moments that resonated with me, and the author beautifully captured feelings I’ve struggled to express myself.

I also loved the banter between Allison and her besties—they are the kind of friends every girl needs!

This is a perfect beach read, so with just a few weeks of summer left, dive in—I’m confident you’ll love it!

OKAY so I've been sitting on this book for a couple of days. I finished this book and had so many feelings about it.

First, this was an incredible debut story. I loved all of the Minnesota references, pop culture woven in (had a hilarious discussion about my hubby's fave, Harrison Ford, and how grumpy he is in Working Girl lol), trivia... there was just a lot of fun sprinkled into this really heavy book dealing with grief.

Trigger warnings include... breast cancer. My mom had breast cancer when I was right out of college. She was tested for the BRCA1 gene, and luckily she was negative, which means I was negative. However, this is a story about Alison, who was positive because her mom was positive.

My own grief was brought to the surface while reading this book, but also my empathy. There are so many feelings I didn't consider when my mom went through breast cancer, and feelings that I certainly never considered like those feelings Alison expressed after her double mastectomy. Parts of this book just made me uncomfortable in the best way. At first, I was like, this is heavy and I don't like it. But then I kept reading, and I was grateful for everything that Ellie Palmer shared along this journey. The grief that women face when they're diagnosed with something that takes away part of their womanhood was handled with delicate care. As someone who has been battling infertility since before I was old enough to have kids, this was a warm hug on a cold day.

Then, throw in the complexity (and honestly, hilarity), of Alison being Sam's "girlfriend" at his funeral and then falling for his best friend's girlfriend while also going through his own grief process over losing his best friend and continually being confronted by Sam's parents and facing the reality of his growing feelings of guilt for the way he treated Sam before he died and then going and falling for his girl....

Truthfully, I loved this book. It walked the line with friendship, grief, love, romance, acceptance, denial, and so much more. It handled all kinds of heavy topics with care and yet still arrived at the end with a joy I didn't think was possible.

5 stars. That's all. That's the review. Please read this.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for an eARC of this one. These are my honest thoughts!

This is a delightful romance set in the Twin Cities. Alison tried becoming more adventurous after testing positive for the BRCA1 mutation and having an elective double mastectomy to remove the risk of developing breast cancer like her mother. In the end, her short term boyfriend Sam dumped her for not really being adventurous and now she is attending his funeral six weeks later where his parent's think that they were still dating. With her people pleasing nature, she agrees to clean out Sam's place with his friend Adam. I look forward to more books written by Ellie Palmer.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC for my honest review.

Four Weekends and a Funeral is about Alison, a woman who goes to Sam's, her ex-boyfriend, funeral to find out his family still thinks they are together. Sam's sister convinces her to lie about their relationship status since his mother was happy he was finally settling down. Alison then gets roped into cleaning out his apartment with his grumpy best friend, Adam.

I loved both main characters. Alison recently had a double mastectomy and is trying to live life to the fullest, which is what drew Sam into dating her since he is adventurous. Adam is getting ready to start his woodworking business, but has reservations on moving back to the Twin Cities from the North Shore. Both characters are going through their own grief and figuring out what they want out of life. While this book has a lot of heart, it was laugh out loud funny as well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and look forward to future books from this debut author.

Four Weekends and a Funeral was such a delightful debut! A miscommunication that led to Alison pretending to be the grieving girlfriend of her just-deceased ex-boyfriend also has her packing up his apartment with his gruff best friend, Adam, in four weekends. This story was wonderfully layered and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these main characters. Train enthusiast and BRCA 1 carrier Alison with her post-double-mastectomy new lease on life had Ross Gellar from Friends meets Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory vibes, and Adam was a protective cinnamon roll in a wood-working viking package. I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to seeing more from this newer author!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for gifting me with an ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this one. I think it had a lot of potential. Sadly, I just really didn't see the chemistry between the main characters and wasn't invested enough in their journey to continue. This is definitely an it's me not you situation though.

This was cute and I enjoyed it. I liked how tough but also vulnerable Ali is. Adam is a great character who seems nice if not grumpy. I did think that maybe he fell for her a little too quickly by just seeing her at his best friend's funeral. The ancillary characters added a lot to my enjoyment.

4.5 stars ✨

I adored this book. Four Weekends and a Funeral took me a bit to get invested in the story, but once I got there I was hooked!

While this is a romance book, it does deal with some heavier topics. Think more Abby Jimenez than Tessa Bailey. Allison and Adam are both dealing with the grief of losing Sam, Allison’s recent ex and Adam’s lifelong best friend. When they are forced together for four weekends as they fix up his apartment for sale, they can’t help but bond and become friends. But with that friendship comes feelings they weren’t expecting and plenty of complications - especially when everyone in Sam’s family thinks Allison was still his girlfriend when he passed.

I loved the progression of Allison and Adam’s relationship. While they are able to bond over the loss of Sam, they also have other things going on in their lives that they’re able to connect over. They seem like realistic and fully fleshed out characters. Adam is such a grump, but also a sweetheart for everyone he loves. I’m a sucker for that. And Hallmark movie references.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for a review copy. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Must be me…
I thought this book was ok, seemed to take a long time from the beginning to the ending of the story. The premise for the two main characters was good, but I just didn’t care for either Alison Mullally or for Adam Berg, and of the two I liked Adam a bit more maybe because he didn’t give us his every thought. 364 pages to hear Ally go on and on… The book rated 3.5 stars for me, rounded up to 4. There were no major grammatical errors, and the two main characters were well developed. I will read other books by Ellie Palmer but hope the story doesn’t spend so much time on what I felt was too much on filler.
I received an ARC of the book from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

Read if you like books with:
🥺 Sad Girl FMC’s
☠️ Complex feelings after a death
😘 He Falls First
⛅️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🧬 BRCA Awareness
🙋🏼‍♀️ Trivia
🏡 Forced Proximity

I went into this one blind and it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting from the title and cover, but OMG, I loved it so much!!!

I loved that this book was really about following Adam and Alison as they had to figure out how to reconcile their complicated emotions around their mutual connection, Sam’s, death as the girlfriend and best friend according to Sam’s parents but to them, the ex-girlfriend and the friend that had been drifting away from each other for a while.

I really appreciated the realness in their struggles with this complicated emotional response that comes for both of them tied to their feelings around their relationship with Sam.

I also really loved how this tied into their healing themselves in more ways from the other life struggles with failed dreams, careers going in another direction than desired, and health & family challenge.

This book really had a great depth of emotion and a third act break up that totally made sense and was needed for both Adam and Ali to work though their personal shit before being in a place to really be together.

And then the ending… with the reminders, ugh, that got me in the feels, iykyk!

Thank you so much to Putnam for my ARC and finished copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I truly loved this book. I really enjoyed how the main characters had such depth to them and I loved how real and raw it was. I think Ellie Palmer did such a great job tackling a hard topic such as cancer and all the different emotions surrounding it.

What a fun debut from Ellie Palmer! We start at the funeral for Allison’s ex boyfriend Sam. Even though they broke up 6 weeks earlier, they remained friends and she came to support his family. Alison is mistaken as Sam's current girlfriend by his friends and family but before she gets a chance to correct everyone, his sister begs Ali to go along with it so as to not disappoint their mother as she thought Sam was finally starting to settle down.
She reluctantly agrees and while at the luncheon, it snowballs further and she also agrees to help clean out his condo along with Sam's BFF Adam who she has never met before as he lives a few hours away. Ali is not impressed with Adam initially. He’s not much for conversation and is grouchy, grumpy and gruffly and he doesn’t seem to care too much for her either. Unfortunately, he’s also very good looking but what does that matter with his shining personality?

Each weekend for the next four weekends these two pack up the apartment and also start to unpack feelings for each other. Their relationship begins so naturally and organically and it was very fun to see how it played out but it wasn't without tensions and personal struggles.

Sam is struggling with starting his own furniture business and not wanting to jump in too fast into a new business while Ali is bagging some of her own securities. As a carrier of the BRCA 1 gene mutation, she has undergone a double mastectomy and reconstruction to prevent cancer and also has to wrestle with the decision to possibly remove her ovaries as well. This causes her to have immense guilt as she feels like she cheated cancer, unlike her mom who got cancer and beat it.

Mara and Chelsea and supporting characters who enhance the book 100%. Sometimes the BFF characters are not fully fleshed out but this is not the case. They are fun and add so much to the book and I loved all their scenes and the advice and tough love they give.

A powerful message of just being happy with what you like and not trying to rediscover yourself or go on a journey in order to feel accomplished.


The tension
The car kiss
The trivia
The thin mints
The ending! I loved how it played out

PSA: book your mammogram!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for sharing this book’s digital advanced review copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book through a digital ARC from NetGalley
Author: Ellie Palmer
Genre: Romance, RomCom
Troupe: Forced Proximity, Enemies to Lovers, Grumpy Sunshine

An absolutely brilliant debut about grief, friendship, and being your most authentic self. Ellie Palmer has a fresh, clever, funny, insightful voice that will leave you charmed and introspective. I can't wait to read anything Ellie Palmer writes.

Wow - this story. Alison is attending the funeral of her ex boyfriend Sam when she finds out he had not told his family that they broke up. Adam is Sam's best friend and is also attending the funeral. Alison and Adam end up cleaning out Sam's apartment because his parents are too grief stricken to do it. Alison has so much going on in her life and I just really felt for her. Such a good book! 4 1/2 stars

I love supporting local authors and so when I heard about Ellie Palmer and read the blurb I was instantly intrigued. While you were sleeping is one of my comfort films and this book does give similar vibes. However, the pacing is what really caused my dislike for this book. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion and I was just waiting for something interesting to happen after the funeral. Unfortunately this book just couldn't hold my interest and I found myself struggling to pick it back up.

This is one of the best romances I’ve read in a while, I am so impressed that it is a debut. I am deeply obsessed with Adam and Allison and I will be bothering all of my friends until they read this as well. There is so much heart and humor and sweetness in this story, I could hardly handle myself.

this was such a beautiful book. it deals with so many heavy topics and it did it in way that didn’t make it feel like the trauma olympics. the romance in this book as well was so well done. this is the way i wanted the romance to be handled in How to End a Love Story by Yuling Kuang. i absolutely adored everything about this.

thank you putnam and netgalley for the advanced copy!

Four Weekends and a Funeral
By Ellie Palmer

This is a story about finding yourself, forgiving your mistakes, and knowing when to grab your future.

We start with a loss, build a friendship, and then correct a wrong.

I wanted to like this story more, but I found Allison somewhat annoying. I thinks that why it might have taken me so long to get through it.

I did appreciate the humor overly the sadness.

This book was perfect. I truly cannot think of a single thing I disliked about it. Abby Jimenez described it best in her blurb: “a cozy affirmation for introverts and homebodies about love, loss and being enough.”

In Four Weekends and a Funeral, Alison’s ex-boyfriend Sam dies and it’s only when she is at his funeral that she realizes he didn’t tell people. She ends up pretending she’s still dating Sam, which leads her to team up with his best friend Adam to clean out and fix up Sam’s apartment.

Adam is a grump who only speaks in monosyllabic sentences to Alison at first. But they form a tentative friendship that evolves into a connection bursting with chemistry and laugh-out-loud banter.

While this book is light and funny, it also deals with some heavier themes. It reminded me a lot of an Abby Jimenez book in that way, which explains why I loved it so much.

Alison is a BRCA1 carrier who has a preventative double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer, and I really appreciated reading about something I knew very little about before this book. Throughout the story, Alison struggles with survivor’s guilt as well as the concept of what makes a deserving and fulfilling life. As someone who deals with tremendous amounts of guilt for different reasons, and doesn’t always embrace the quiet moments that I love so much, her struggles really resonated with me.

Adam is lovely, too. He’s a cinnamon roll-at-heart kind of hero with a dry sense of humor who always makes Allison feel fully seen and known. Adam encourages Allison to live authentically and always reminds her of her worth, as a good partner should.

This was a novel full of heart, laughs and love in many forms — Allison’s friends are wonderful and so important to her. As you can tell, I’m beyond impressed with Ellie’s debut novel and will read absolutely anything she writes moving forward.

I met Ellie at a MN bookstagrammer event earlier this year and was so excited to read this one— it did NOT disappoint!!!

Alison Mullally arrives at her ex boyfriend Sam’s funeral, only to find out he never told anyone he dumped her. In order to help the grieving family and friends, Alison plays the part— it’s only for a day after all. Only, Alison agrees to pack up Sam’s apartment with Sam’s grumpy best friend, Adam. Over the course of four weekends the two grow closer and Alison isn’t sure how much longer she can continue to pretend…

This book was a great mix of humor, fun, and seriousness. Alison had a double mastectomy after finding out she has the BRCA1 mutation. After finding out that she “cheated” death, she vowed to live her life more adventurously… only Alison doesn’t really like camping or hiking or anything outdoors really. She started dating Sam in the hopes his enthusiasm for adventure would rub off on her. Sam soon realized she was faking and dumped her.

Read if you like:
• Grumpy/sunshine
• Minnesota
• Guy falls first
• Fake (does it count if he’s dead?) dating
• Forced proximity
• Trivia