It is, at its core, a romance between 2 unlikely people, but also deals with topics of death, grief, and cancer. The characters felt so real and authentic, and the way they handle the serious subjects feels realistic. I liked it!

📣 a wonderful contemporary featuring a funny, train-loving heroine & a grumpy hero

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 have you read any romances lately that feature something you’ve never seen in a romance before? This book’s heroine has the BRCA mutation & chose to have a double mastectomy before the book begins.

I’ve seen some great things about FOUR WEEKENDS & a FUNERAL & it didn’t disappoint. With overtones of some fave rom coms, a funny heroine, supportive & also encouraging friends, & a grumpy hero who is gone for the heroine from the beginning even though his grumpiness almost, ALMOST hides it, this book is so good.

This is the first time I’ve read a romance featuring a heroine with the BRAC mutation. Alison chose to have a double mastectomy before the book opens, & that decision process—& the subsequent effects on her life is movingly (& sometimes humorously) included.

I’d recommend this one for fans of Roni Loren’s What If You & Me & other books in that series—the vibes & the heart of it are so good 🥰.

4.5 ⭐️. Out 08/06.

CWs: former death of a friend, grief, former mastectomy.

[ID: Jess holds the ebook in front of a vase of pink-orange hydrangeas.]

4.5 stars. I really liked this book, it was an amazing debut novel. I love how complex both Adam and Alison are as characters, and being in Alison’s POV, I loved going through her struggles and her journey with the BRCA gene mutation. I loved having her insight and watching her character development as she figured out who she was following her double mastectomy and the death of Sam, who to her surprise, was someone who got the ball rolling over how Alison was really feeling. I loved Alison’s chemistry with Adam, and how he brought out the real her and loved her for how she was and didn’t want her to change herself due to her thoughts about how she should live now that she lowered her chance of breast cancer. The ending at the trivia competition is PERFECT (iykyk). This was the romcom that I needed to help my reading slump, and I can’t wait to see what else Ellie Palmer has in store. Mark my words, she’s someone you should keep an eye on.

Thank you Netgalley, Ellie Palmer, & GP Putnam books for the ARC!

A stunning debut! I laughed, I cried, I want to follow these characters forever. Also loved the insider look at dealing with BRCA 1 and the aftermath of a mastectomy. More stories like this, please!!

This was very sweet, and it was interesting reading from the perspective of a woman who underwent a double mastectomy. The way Sam's calendar alerts paid off in the end was also really well done.

I didn't feel that there was sufficient build up of sexual tension before the two characters got together, which knocked it down to four stars for me. I did enjoy the book and will definitely read more of Ellie Palmer's books.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Putnam for the eARC!
Wow! What a debut! This is such a heart warming, feet kicking, giggle inducing romance novel! An absolute must read - with such authentic characters, a compelling story and message, how could I not adore this? One of the best romances I’ve read this year. I cannot wait to read more from Ellie Palmer. I can’t recommend this enough.

I don’t mean this in a bad way, but basically the entire book is about the MC’s BRCA1 gene mutation and its effects in her life - specifically her relationship with her mom and her body. I really wasn’t expecting it and it just wasn’t working for me, although for others it may be a great read! The romance seemed almost like a side plot to me but I did find it enjoyable. It was also very funny in parts!!

This was and interesting story and I enjoyed the romance aspect of it from a character that had undergone a mastectomy. I thought it started to fizzle out toward the end and the male character was a bit too serious and bland to keep my interest. Overall it was solid.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Well, it certainly is a predicament Allison finds herself in, still the girlfriend of a dead man! This was such a fresh perspective on enemies to lovers, factoring in the discomfort and tension of grief. That being said, the intertwinement of grief and budding love. The relationship between Allison and Adam grew very naturally and I fell in love with them as a couple. Ellie Palmer's character development reminds me a lot of Emily Henry's, which is the highest compliment. I can't wait to read what she writes next!

This book is a delight, and I really love that it is funny and warm and deals with a lot of different types of grief. Allison and Adam meet for the first time at her ex boyfriend's funeral---except that his parents, and subsequently most of his friends and family, thinks they didn't break up, and treat her like the grieving current girlfriend. Rather than add to the loss of their son, she agrees to help his best friend, Adam, clean out his condo. Adam is grumpy, and hot, and you guessed it - way more perfect for Allison than Sam, who turns out to have been a good friend to her, ever was. I loved the grieving for Sam and for the distance between him and his ex AND him and his friend, Adam, who feels they have grown apart. I loved the grieving Allison does for who she thinks she needs to be or could be in another life now that she has had a double mastectomy to avoid the high risk of breast cancer as a BRCA1 carrier. The escapades between these two are warm, funny, and restorative, which is wonderful, because I do think we need humor to get through some of the more difficult bits of life. Additionally, there are moments like an elementary school play set to the song "wobble," but "gobble baby gobble" for thanksgiving, which had me in stitches.

Thank you to Ellie Palmer, Putnam, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this. I learned a lot throughout as well about BRCA mutation which I didn’t know about before. The slow burn was perfection!

Allison finds herself in an unusual situation when she shows up to her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral and is asked by his sister to pretend that they never broke up. Fake dating a dead guy seemed like a harmless enough ask until she is forced to team up with Sam’s best friend Adam to clean out Sam’s apartment over four weekends.

Allison and Adam have great banter and are drawn to each other, but in order to give a relationship a real shot, Allison has to come clean and be vulnerable.

I can’t believe this is a debut!! I really enjoyed it, and I was hooked by Allison and Adam’s banter and connection. This book also features a trivia team, which is always a favorite of mine!

While this was definitely a rom-com, it also contained some heavier notes. Allison carries the BRCA gene and had a preventative double mastectomy. She struggles with guilt and feeling like she took the easy path by avoiding chemo and radiation. I thought this topic was really well handled, and it felt realistic and empathetic toward Allison’s guilt.

I highly recommend this book! It was a funny and romantic debut, and I absolutely loved it!

Content warnings: Death, cancer

Thank you to Putnam for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

The hype is real with this book. It's everything everyone has already said about it. It's beautiful and heart-wrenching, with everything in between.

Delightful romcom with witty banter and sexy 30+ characters. If you love a good enemies to lovers but with a little bit of dark humor, you’re in the right place. Writing was really enjoyable and the plot and pacing were even. A little angsty at times, but overall I enjoyed this one a lot.

If you are a seasonal reader, then this book is perfect for you; especially this time of year. I thought this was a great cozy book for the start of Autumn.
This is the first book that I have read from this author, and I am so glad that I was accepts for a arc copy. I will be looking for more books, as I really enjoyed the writing style of this author.

This book will bring out all of your feelings, just to warn you. I laughed, cried, and even wanted to throw the book across the room a couple times. That right there should tell you how good of a book this is!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spicy meter: 1/2 a 🌶️ (closed door/fade to black)

Four Weekends and a Funeral was the perfect cozy read to get me ready for autumn. The book does move through the major end of year banking holidays, but it really felt like a fall book to me. I loved Alison’s friendships with Chelsea and Mara. I found Alison to be so frustrating sometimes, but I also saw a lot of myself in her people-pleasing tendencies. I also truly related to her being a 30-year-old woman and learning to figure out what she actually wanted for herself. Adam was a sweet grumpy counterpart to Alison’s quirkiness and I did really like that they pushed each other. He’s definitely molded like a classic Hallmark movie character and I ate it up. This book did read like a sitcom at times (think Friends, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother) so once I accepted that, I was able to get really into it. I do see how some people would definitely not love that, but I was able to lean into it. I loved the outlandishness and “would only happen in fiction” moments. I’m dropping a star because the writing style did take some getting past for me at first and the numerous “topical” references that either felt aged (Harrison Ford?) or I just could not relate to and could not be bothered to Google. Overall, this was a solid feel-good read and perfect for a rainy day.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is such a unique story. I really enjoyed the main characters. It made me laugh and cry. Alison and Adam have great chemistry.

4.5 stars rounded up! Alison shows up to her ex-boyfriend’s funeral only to discover that everyone thinks they never broke up. While cleaning out his apartment, she starts to fall for his best friend, Adam. I absolutely LOVED this one! Alison is so hilarious and sarcastic, and I loved Adam 🥹 they are so cute together, and the grumpy/sunshine vibes were immaculate 🤌🏻 I also liked Alison’s friend group and their pub quiz nights, and I loved how Alison realized that it was ok to be exactly who she was with Adam and everyone else. This was an adorable, funny, and heartwarming debut, and I can’t wait to read more by this author!
TW: cancer

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the opportunity to read before pub day! ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. FOUR WEEKENDS AND A FUNERAL is out now!

Everything about this was perfect. The characters, the banter. I adored it and savored every part of it.