I LOVED this book so much! It was hilarious and heart warming and so fun to read! Definitely one to read at Christmas time!!!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely adored this book. Not only was the romance super cute, but the topic of grief was handled so well and made for a deeper story.
I knew I was going to enjoy this book when it started with a funeral scene. Sounds morbid, but it was kind of refreshing to read a romance book that starts with something so sad and emotional. This book also starts with deception, as Alison pretends she was still dating her ex at the time of his death at the request of his sister. So it's not a very uplifting story at the start. And that theme of underlying grief and sadness lingered throughout the book, and it worked so well.
Alison is a great FMC. I loved her inner monologues and interactions with her friends. I loved that her personality was so distinct. We got to learn of her struggles and experience with grief, and not only grief for her ex boyfriend's death, but grief for her own body after having a preventative double mastectomy after testing positive for the BRCA gene. And the looming fear of knowing she will have to grieve the loss of her ovaries one day, too, is a big character arc for her. It added a layer to the story that really helped me understand why Alison is how she is.
Adam is also the best MMC ever. He starts so grumpy and standoffish towards Alison, but as the story progresses, we get to see his character grow to love Alison. It made me internally say "awww" at every interaction between them.
Every single character in this book was great and added something. I enjoyed Alison's group of friends the most, though.
If you enjoy a deeper romance book, grumpy x sunshine, and forced proximity, I recommend giving this book a try!

CW: cancer, death of a loved one, detailed funeral scene, grief

I cannot believe this was a debut! What a heartwarming one! I loved Alison and found her very relatable. Loved the while you were sleeping and billy crystal nods. This would be a great read leading up to xmas as it has a lot of Christmas vibes and feels like a hallmark movie! Can't wait to see what this author has next!

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

I'm not sure why I was so surprised to adore this so much! While it does have a Rom-Com feel (I mean, fake dating your ex who not only dumped you but is dead while falling for his best friend!) there is also a deeper layer with dealing with grief, medical issues, and finding a way to be your true self. I love how Alison got through Adam's grumpy outer side and discovered his sweet inner core. The way these two revealed to each other hidden depths and formed a genuine friendship was fun to watch. Their banter, sweetness, and chemistry...so well done. I am still smiling! I enjoyed the romance, but also appreciated the friendship support of Mara and Chelsea. The characters felt genuine even when some of the situations were a comedy of errors. And the way the book came full circle was perfection!

5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I normally HATE when authors say *the MC looks like [insert celebrity name here],” but when you say he looks like a young Harrison Ford you have my full, undivided attention.
Onwards to more critical matters, this book had many features that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the friendship among the female cast of characters. There were so many cute moments, like “I throw a red M&M at her face, but when she catches it in her mouth, we’re both too impressed to remember what we were arguing about in the first place.” I think these relationships were my favorite part of the book.

This whole book was quite well done. In particularly enjoyed the cold open, “When I learn I’m still dating Sam Lewis, I’m at his funeral.” Bam, what a hook. This book was quite well written, with many quippy one liners and hilarious bits that left me rolling. There were also many sweet and tender moments. Overall, the writing was spot on.

I also liked the rep, the BRCA1 carrier was very interesting to learn about. I understand the author is also a BRCA1 carrier, so major respect for the author for sharing that part of her life.

My chief complaint is that one must suspend a certain level of belief for this to work. Like… Sam’s parents wanted his random girlfriend of a few months to help go through his things? Like… That just didn’t work for me. Clearly Alison and Sam hardly knew each other. I mean, she never stayed over… “I was never ready for that step.” I felt like that was such a strange thing to include. And part of me felt like it was some weird way to make it okay for Adam and Alison to move more quickly in their relationship. This was hammered home by the “I think you’ll always be a little bit Sam’s girlfriend.” Dude, you’re not his brother. It didn’t really seem like either of them liked Sam, or even mourned him very hard. And then, in the end, Sam secretly “approved” of the relationship and had intentions to set them up. I didn’t need that. It’s okay for living adults to consent to relationships after they lose someone without their approval. It was just an easy way to move the plot along to the happy ending without putting in the work. And don’t worry anyways, because they’re all in therapy now!

I think having Alison and Sam not serious in their relationship was such a missed opportunity to discuss more complicated feelings associated with happiness after loss. I think it would have been a way to really hammer home how some of these carriers my grapple with their own mortality in moments like these. It appears that the author was going for more of a light-hearted book though, so I understand the choice.

Furthermore, I would take the trip to Patagonia. Even if I hated hiking. I personally do enjoy hiking and trail running. So, when the author said “going trail running won’t make you better or more deserving” I took that personally.

“𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.”

💬What a truly wonderful, cozy, and emotionally engaging love story! I laughed out loud (several times), cried, and even felt giddy (no joke). This is exactly what I seek in contemporary romance novels. Though it started off slowly for me, picking up around the 30% mark, I absolutely couldn’t put it down after that.

Four Weekends and A Funeral is a closed-door, cute romcom. Allison attends her ex’s funeral, pretending they’re still together, and ends up packing his condo with his grumpy best friend, Adam.

As they navigate their personal struggles, this grumpy/sunshine story touches on deeper themes, including Allison's BRCA gene diagnosis.

This book felt like a warm hug. It explored grief, fear of the unknown, and our complex vision of self while also navigating the excitement of falling in love, the warmth of a friend, and self actualisation. Adam and Alison felt like complex characters who understood each other to their core and helped each to navigate the tricky feelings and emotions that arise while grieving. I love this story and I find myself wanting to know what is next for them!

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

Four Weekends and A Funeral is a closed door, super cute romcom.

Allison is attending the funeral of her ex-boyfriend, Sam, except no one knows they broke up. Allison is a people pleaser so she goes along with the story of grieving gf and ends up having to pack up his condo with Sam's grumpy best friend, Adam.

This is the classic story of grumpy/sunshine with forced proximity.

But this story goes deeper while telling us Allison's story with the BRCA gene. Allison is finding herself while dealing with her internal emotions towards having the gene mutation. Adam is also dealing with his own internal struggles. The two have found each other at the wrong time, but somehow at the perfect time.

Thank you Netgalley, Author, and publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

An unexpectedly delightful and entertaining contemporary romance. With dialogue and a storyline that struck me as Emily Henry - esque, I happily cruised through this tale in a day. But for the ending seeming rushed, this was a great read!

Recommended to fans of Emily Henry and Christina Lauren.

Many thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

This was a heart warming debut. This book starts with a big misunderstanding. Alison’s ex, Sam passes away but his family thinks they were still together so she goes along with it. I love how Alison wrestled with her complicated feelings about the lies, who she really is, her growing feelings for Sam’s best friend, and how her life was complicated by her recent mastectomy. There was a lot of heart in this book.

The book started off in such an interesting way that I was hooked and had to finish. I found the characters to be relatable. Adam is the perfect grump in this slow burn, grumpy meets sunshine story. Allison and Adam on the four weekends of packing up the house was interesting. Loved the supporting cast of characters. I liked the trivia competitions - I love trivia competitions. I really enjoyed the good banter in this book. Thank you to NETGALLEY and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a lovely debut! Allison and Adam’s chemistry and sexual tension were so good. The book did a great job highlighting friendship. I loved how female friendship was portrayed in this book, it was so refreshing to read about.

There is definitely an Emily Henry vibe to this book. Despite this being a romcom, it touches on heavy topics like mental health, dealing with grief, self-acceptance and much more. Overall this was an excellent read!

5 stars! This is more than just another fluffy romance novel that follows the same formula. The characters have real struggles and depth and they help each other come out of their shells and discover themselves. Loved the grumpy (Adam) vs sunshine (Allison) characters AND the fun side characters who are found family! The banter, the yearning, the pining, the growth, it’s all chef’s kiss! The spice is fade to black which is a bummer but I still loved it!
I’m so impressed this was a debut novel and can’t wait to see what else Ellie Palmer does!


THANK YOU net galley and penguin random house for the arc in exchange of my honest review.

Alison attended the funeral of her ex-boyfriend but apparently no one knew that they already broke up 6 weeks prior. the whole time at the funeral, everyone assumed that she's Sam's girlfriend. especially his family. when Sam's parents were debating on who should handle Sam's condo and stuffs, without thinking, Alison volunteered. along his best friend, Adam so it's settled. for the next 4 weeks, Alison & Adam spent their weekend sorting through Sam's stuffs and preparing the condo for sale.

of course with this arrangement, the plot was predictable from a mile away. unfortunately i didn't connect with the MC, and I didn't get the couple's chemistry. I know that the topic of this book is survivor's guilt but i found Alison's mindset annoying sometimes. she literally gaslit herself and hurt people who cared about her in the process. good thing it's all solved by the end of the book, tho.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is perfect for lovers of the grumpy-sunshine trope, closed door romance scenes, and fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez.

Set in Minnesota, the book opens with Alison attending her ex boyfriend, Sam’s, funeral. Unfortunately Sam neglected to tell his parents that he broke up with Alison, and now Sam’s sister is begging Alison to pretend that Sam was happily settled down with her at the time of his death for the sake of Sam’s grieving parents. People-pleaser and sunshine Alison agrees, and then agrees again to pack up Sam’s apartment with Sam’s BFF Adam, who’s literally nicknamed the Northshore Grump. Over the course of four weekends in Sam’s apartment, Alison and grumpy Adam fall in love. Adam is actually a furniture maker, and I enjoyed how the author/Alison poked fun at the Hallmark trope, especially since most of this book is set during the holiday season aka Hallmark Christmas movie season. But even though this book is funny at times, their mutual friend’s death and Alison’s own struggles with her breast cancer scare give this book a more serious tone than the typical holiday rom-com. When Alison’s mother was diagnosed w breast cancer, Alison was tested for the BRCA gene and tested positive. Though her scans came back negative for cancer and she’s already had her mastectomy, Alison is still processing what she’s lost and the steps she needs to take in order to ensure a cancer-free future. Even though it was difficult at times to read, I really liked how the author educated her readers on the physical and more importantly mental effect that this ordeal had on our FMC and could have on any one of us or someone we love. Alison’s journey to healing and loving herself is tied directly into her brief but memorable relationship with live-life-to-fullest Sam, and Adam, the only person who seems to see her for who she really is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This story was a surprise! What most stood out to me was the inclusion of cancer concerns: BRCA mutation and preventative mastectomy. Alison's experience with breast cancer risk is not just a background note, but central to the story and so compassionately written. "Four Weekends and a Funeral" feel like a realistic story of everyday people and everyday scenarios.

The romance is pretty slow (and fade to black), but there are good hints at chemistry and sensitive adjustment from grief to friendship. I also appreciated how self acceptance is a major theme and that healing and therapy are serious considerations. A fantastic debut.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Attention all Emily Henry fans -- this one is for you!! I gave this one a solid 4.5 stars.

Almost immediately, these characters and this story jumped out to me as "real" with relatable flaws and emotions. Both Alison and Adam were lovable characters, with so many sweet moments between the two of them. I loved the way their relationship evolved, how they interacted, and just how funny and deeply intense some of the scenes between them were. And every character, including Ali's friends, were like this! They felt like real people, and that's one of the things I liked most about this.

Fair warning, breast cancer/cancer/cancer treatment (including preventative) is a huge theme in this book. It's pushed a little hard, but relevant to Alison's "flaw" and character development in the book.

All the stars for Four Weekends and a Funeral, I absolutely adored this book! What sounded like a bit of a funny premise turned out to be an incredible read on grief, moving on, and figuring out who you are in your life. The authenticity of Alison and her future not only finding out she had the BRCA 1 gene, but losing her ex-boyfriend was so incredibly real I felt like I was talking with a friend while reading this story.

Oh my goodness, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book this much. It’s crazy how your ex boyfriend dying could spiral into so much more. Spending 4 weekends to clean out said ex boyfriends apartment with his best friend not knowing that the messages Sam was sending was all meant for her and his best friend to fall in love. They were meant to be!!! Ugh, I just wish I could stay in this book. Falling in love with her body after having a double mastectomy, learning she doesn’t have to pretend to like things just to find joy in life, and taking the chance on love with the most unexpected situations. I loved this and thank you for providing me with a copy to read.