Four Days of You and Me is another young adult contemporary that I really enjoyed. The way it was written kept me wanting to read more. While most of the story is told around the class trip, gaps of what happened during the year are filled in.
I really liked Lulu and Alex. They were both extremely likable. The fact that this book took place over a four year period really let you see the characters grow. Both characters really matured over the four years. If you have read my previous reviews you know that YA contemporary is hit or miss for me. This one was definitely a hit! I had trouble putting the book down. I really enjoyed the side characters as well. I liked how as the years went on Lulu’s friend group expanded.
The romance between Alex and Lulu was so sweet. Let me tell you I wish my first experience with love was anything like this. As I mentioned these characters grew and became better for each other and for themselves. I really loved this book, and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a cute book that will make you believe in true love.

Four Days of You and Me refers to four class trips high schoolers Lulu Wells and Alex Rouvelis go on each May with their classmates. Lulu, an aspiring graphic artist, and Alex, a baseball player and class heartthrob, start off freshman year as enemies. When they both run for student council president, Lulu's campaign speech is about things she will do to make the school greener, whereas he tells jokes and says, "Vote for me, I already told my mom I won." Of course, he is the victor. On the first class trip to a science museum, they end up locked in an escape room and by the time they solve the puzzle, they are kissing instead of bickering. Sophomore year their romance is deep, but Alex's packed schedule leaves little time for Lulu and she breaks up with him. As the school years unfold, they go through the ups and downs of teenage romance. They reunite on the junior year trip to Manhattan and then senior year they focus on what life will be like when they head off to separate colleges. Things come to a conclusion on the senior trip to London. The narrative alternates between the trips and flashback chapters that fill in the gaps chronicling the relationship of these two engaging characters.This book comes out May 5th.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC of Four Days of You and Me.
Okay, WOW! I absolutely loved this book. I LOVED IT SO MUCH!
Four Days of You and Me follows Lulu and Alex on the same day each year of their high school lives. What starts out as two classmates that see themselves as enemy rivals, slowly turns into something so much more.
This story follows along as friendships grow and relationships change/progress/fall apart. It's about growing up and falling in love and staying true to who you are.
This book has been my favorite YA book this year. It was funny and lighthearted, but was so relatable. It's a must read!

Every year, there’s a class field trip. And on said class field trip, Lulu and Alex manage to go from enemies to lovers to friends to enemies to friends to lovers. To sum it up without giving anything away, throughout high school, Lulu and Alex grow apart in order to grow together, navigating life with selfless love and mutual respect. But, what’s the end game when it’s time to head off to college?

Tbh, the beginning had me confused. The timeline of things, the back and forth each year, but at about 40% in, it made sense. Not only was the transformation within Lulu and Alex’s relationship, but also friendships. I hate to admit (if you’re reading this or plan on reading it) I definitely had some overlap with Lulu’s qualities. She was a relatable (and somewhat annoying) character. But, everything she was experiencing seemed so real. And, Alex. Well, he was a total sweetheart who clearly had flaws, but you just can’t help fall in love with anyway. Overall, an easy and just downright realistic YA novel I’d recommend to my YA romance readers!

I’ve been a huge fan of Miranda Kenneally since the days of Catching Jordan and often wait with great anticipation for her next book release. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book before it’s release and dove right into reading once downloaded. I’m a sucker for YA Romance novels and Four Days of You and Me was a Grand Slam! Not wanting to give away any spoilers, I’d like to give my thoughts on some of the characters I love.

Lulu- For me, Lulu is so insanely relatable, it’s unbelievable. She’s quick, cunning, and uses the same type of lango I’ve used since my high school days. I love how she makes up little dances in celebration, pays attention to great detail and is quick to dive into her passion when inspiration sparks. She knows exactly who she is and continues to fight for what she believes in. (Miranda Kenneally, Have we met?) Her drive with writing her graphic novel at her age is inspiring and I love that she’s the “Weird Hippie Garden Girl” in school.

Alex- Pizza maker, star baseball player, great friend and Lulu’s core shaking soulmate. Alex had tremendous growth throughout this story. At first impression, I thought “Oh geez, this is going to be one of books where the girl falls for the bad guy that always pushes her away. Stage 5 clinger.” Boy was I so wrong! I loved the relationship he had with his Papu. His sudden realization of what is important in life and the grand gesture he made junior year had me fist pumping and crying at the same time. His friendship with Ryan and relationship with Lulu is truly special. Everyone needs an Alex in their life.

Max- Oh Max… I was rolling with laughter when Max talked. He said some of my favorite lines in the book, “It’s so hot in here. And it already smells like farts. How is that possible? We’ve only been here for two minutes.” Or his witty way of comparing someone to Elmer’s Glue. He’s an honest, loyal friend that is looking for companionship. Which is hard being the only “out” student in their school. Max gets his moment and I ugly cried for 5 minutes.

This book took me from age 32 to 16 within the first few minutes of reading. I laugh hysterically at all the quick wit said within these pages. I cried with joy and sadness throughout this book. I fisted pumped and at one point I even shimmied my shoulders. Four Days of You and Me has made it into my list of favorite books and was well worth the wait.

First thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the arc of this book.
Enemies to lovers.

So this book is about Lulu and Alex and their relationship throughout high school. They have had a rocky relationship from the get go. They were rivals from the beginning until one day it changes it all.

This book I believe is a good meaning to a high school relationship. I do feel like I understand where both of them are coming from when they did get into fights and break up. It shows how much their relationship grew throughout the years of high school. Overall I would recommend this book to others.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I am a huge fan of Miranda Kenneally so I was thrilled to get a hold of this title. While this is a good read, it is not my favorite of her books.

Four Days of You and Me almost gets four stars from me.

Four Days of You and Me is the first young adult contemporary book by Miranda Kenneally set outside of the Hundred Oaks series. Every year, aspiring writer Lulu, along with the rest of her class, attends a class field trip. During freshman year, the field trip sparks a relationship between Lulu and a fellow classmate, sports star Alex. Four Days of You and Me documents their changing relationship throughout their high school years.

I have read every book in the Hundred Oaks series by Miranda Kenneally, so I was excited to see her first book outside of the sports-themed books that she wrote in the past. For me, the Hundred Oaks series was hit-or-miss, but overall, each book was a quick and light-hearted contemporary. Four Days of You and Me was everything that I would expect from this author. Therefore, if you like Miranda Kenneally’s other books, then you would probably enjoy this book.

One aspect of this book that set it apart from Kenneally’s other books was the timeline. This book takes place on the same day throughout a four-year period, with flashbacks to other events that happened in the same year. Sometimes, timelines in books that frequently jump around can be unsuccessfully executed, which makes the book confusing to read. I think Kenneally did a nice job of jumping back and forth between different times without confusing the reading. Despite some problems I had with pacing towards the end (unrelated to the time jumping), I think the jumping to different periods of time actually made the book a quicker read and motivated me to continue the story.

That being said, the pacing in the last 20% of the book wasn’t my favorite. There were plot points introduced quickly into the end that could cause large rifts between the main characters or greatly impact their futures. When I expected the all is lost moment or some major area of conflict in the plot, it was resolved quickly with little impact on the story. In a sense, it was nice not to have a huge bomb dropped at the end of the book because throughout the story, you grow up with all the characters, and it leaves more of a bittersweet tone surrounding their last hurrah before graduation. At the same time, the problems weren’t as fleshed out as issues presented earlier in the book, so the ending felt slightly rushed.

Another aspect that I enjoyed were the characters. Since you see these characters from their freshman year, you get to see how they all grow, not just the main characters. I always wonder what happens to a character after the short time span we typically see in a novel, so it was cool to see how the characters in this novel literally grow up before your eyes. Getting more in-depth with all the characters also made the ending of the story emotional. Thinking about all the highlights of their high school career and then knowing that they will grow their separate ways will help readers in high school or people who graduated high school really connect with this story because they can themselves or their friends within the characters in this novel.

That being said, I did have some personal preferences that impacted my reading experience. Lulu, the main character, wants to write graphic novels. Throughout the book, we see her write the story, then she goes onto query agents and get more into the publishing process. For me, I don’t always mind when characters are writing a book, but for some reason, it always puts me off when such little details about the publishing industry are within a novel. To quote one of my favorite contestants from Survivor, Michaela Bradshaw, it’s like when a magician pulls a bunny out of a hat but they walk in with the bunny instead—it just takes away the magic of being fully immersed in a book, like the characters are real people, but now you are reminded that they are not.

Overall, Four Days of You and Me is a fun and easy to read contemporary book. While I did enjoy this book, there were some aspects that weren’t my favorite or could be improved. I give Four Days of You and Me three out of five stars.

I’m having a rough reading year. I don’t know what’s happening! The books sound good, so I read them. And they are not good. Unfortunately, this happened once again with Four Days of You and Me.

Four Days of You and Me is about Lulu and Alex. They have an on-again-off-again, love-hate relationship throughout high school, and the book’s main focus is one day each year of high school when their class goes on class trips.

It sounded promising. In fact, it sounded adorable! Endearing, sassy, funny—you get the idea! But that is not what I got.

First of all, this book had a weird writing style. It was in present tense and the writing also didn’t have any flow to it. It felt like I was reading a list of actions, like, “I smiled. We laughed. Max said, “Hi!”” (Obviously, this isn’t a direct quote).

Then there’s the fact that this book just skipped around all over the place. I was expecting to read about the four days only, but instead, we got unnecessary flashbacks to different times throughout the school year. We could have had little explanations of what happened the rest of the year and been just fine, but instead we got angsty chapters without any real plot development, giving explanations I didn’t care about.

Lulu and Alex also lacked any real chemistry. It felt like the author was too quick to start the story without setting anything up. It was practically shoved in our face that they were into each other (but they also hate each other!), but, um, why? Alex doesn’t have any character, and Lulu is annoying and selfish.

Some things just didn’t add up too:
-Apparently, the freshman class president makes decisions for the whole school like putting in a garden!
-Five minutes of conversation=love!
-Super small schools have all the sports and a separate field for each one!
-Super small schools even have their own baseball stadiums and batting cages!
-You can just walk into an escape room!
-The friends don’t need personalities!
-The main characters don’t need personalities!

I only read the first half before I had to DNF it. Four Days of You and Me just felt really immature and lacking.

I joined NetGalley to help me find more young adult literature for my classroom library, but also because I love to read. And for as cheesy and corny as young adult literature can be, there are some really great books out there. Books that can appeal to both teens and adults.

This is not one of those books. This book is strictly for teens; it is 100% a teen romance. I do not know a single adult who would enjoy this book, but again, it wasn’t written for them.

Teens, probably love-sick teens who think you can only find your true love during the four years of high school, they will love this book.

What I Didn’t Like:

The main character was not likable to me at all. I feel like I didn’t know her. She is a writer and an artist, but there isn’t anything but perhaps a paragraph that lets the reader know why this book she is writing is so important to her. Her friends are all more likable than she is, especially her best friend, Max. I liked his character a lot.

The time shifting. I usually like this writing style, but in this book, it was just confusing.

The fact that this book perpetuates the lies that high school is where you find your best friends and your true love. Teen Romance as a genre probably just isn’t for me.

As a middle school teacher, I couldn’t put this book in my 8th grade classroom. There are multiple sexual scenes that are pretty graphic (in my opinion) for a teen book.

So. many. clichés. I rolled my eyes quite a few times throughout the books. I had never read this author before and kept telling myself that this was probably her first novel. It definitely is not.

What I liked

Max, her best friend, is really enjoyable and a good best friend to a girl who, quite frankly, is extremely self-centered.
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I’m sorry, I really am. I just can’t think of anything else that I liked about this book.

DNF-ed at a bit over 10%. Sorry, I am not in the mood for books that I just don't enjoy. Normally I would be more forgiving, but now with everything? No. I need books I like. Books I enjoy.

The characters are pretty flat. I don't get why Alex and Lulu have to get together (I don't see any chemistry in the parts I read just hate and dislike with some almost kissing which seemed not appropriate given everything). Plus, what a dick move that someone protests against frogs dissecting (still can't over that this is a thing in the US, ewwww) and that you as president make the decision the class goes to a biology museum. Or that gum thing, also whut? And how he bitched about her graphic novel, so what if it isn't possible, it is fiction, anything can happen. Or how he talked when she told she was vegan (though girl, not everyone can be vegan and I hope you understand that). And how he then proceeded to just not care about the garden. The dude is a dick. No thank you. Hard pass, I don't want to see a romance with that.
Plus, I can't get a reading on Lulu and what she is about.

And while I normally love the author's writing... it just wasn't for me this time. A shame. I thought this would be fun and reminded me a bit of Birthday which featured every birthday of two character from a certain moment. Only in this one we see mostly fieldtrips and some other stuff. So I was excited, but eh.

"Alex studies my screen. "Is that girl living in a cave?"
Pleasure fills me. I love it when people can tell what I'm drawing."
Um how bad is she at drawing that she is full of pleasure when someone can recognise something?

Would rather not rate, but Netgalley still has no system for not rating but yes on giving feedback.

First of all, thank you to Sourcebooks for an ARC of this book. It was the loveliest surprise of my quarantine to find out they'd sent it to me unrequested.

I've read all of Miranda Kenneally's books and they are all sweet, cozy romances, usually with some sports laced in, and flawed but real teen characters. The same applied here, Four Days of You and Me has a romance full of tension and teens that act like teens.

Lu and Alex have chemistry and their group of friends is solid. Following them for four years is not the problem, although one could argue the relationship between Lu and Alex has tinges of obsession that make it not all healthy. But we've all been teens. We can remember the obsessive component of teen love.

The pacing of the book is what made me take out some stars. The idea of following this same set of characters over four specific days out of four years seemed fun, but when all the flashbacks were laced in, the pacing felt off.

While romance is the one genre where we know when we go in that things will turn out okay for the main couple, part of the fun is the tying off of all the plot points. Instead of that, what we get in the last couple of chapters is rushed in. We get so many things thrown at us, Lu's literary deal, her scholarship, Alex's wrists, and we don't get any answers. I like my romances a little better tied off.

Despite that last point, Miranda Kenneally never fails to build addictive worlds into which I am happy to fall and spend an obsessive couple of hours remembering what it was like to be a teen.

It's official, I heart Miranda Kenneally. I really liked her Hundred Oaks series so I was quite excited to see another offering from her and requested this title without any thought at all. I find her stories really emotional and I find it very easy to become emotionally invested in her characters and their relationships with each other. It was no different with Four Days of You and Me. The story resolves around the same day in May every year as the main character, Lulu, and her classmates go on a field trip. What I loved about the book is though the main story centres around the four days over the course of four years that all the extra information is also included. Mostly about the Lulu's relationship with enemies-to-lovers Alex but I also really liked to see the progression of Lulu's character and her friendships. Once I'd started reading Four Days of You and Me I didn't want to stop! More from Miranda Kenneally.

Four Days of You and Me reads like a wannabe "The Fault in Our Stars", but without the cancer. A good fluff piece, it focuses on the four-year relationship between Lulu and Alex, sworn enemies to lovers to acquaintances to friends to lovers to wherever they end up after the novel ends. It is a good book to enjoy in the moment, but does not last long in the mind afterwards.

FOUR DAYS OF YOU AND ME by Miranda Kenneally | Grade: C+ | No spoilers ahead.
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This one certainly has its cute moments, but as a whole, it fell flat. And this is one of those instances that the problems of the book have nothing to do with the author or their writing style. This is my first Miranda Kenneally book, but from what I understand she is like the queen of cutesy YA romances. And that is not hard to believe: this book is heavy on the romance and it plays out decently well. However, the most important part of the book, the plot, is what really tanked this novel. Now, I will admit that I see the appeal of the plot. After all, it is what drew me in to begin with. However, as good as it may sound to watch a relationship grow over four years, tracking it by the same day each year, it just doesn’t work out in all actuality. Even if you include short one-off chapters from other points in the years. Again, I don’t believe that this is the fault of the author, but just one of those times where a seemingly good idea cannot possibly be executed well. I ultimately was completely apathetic towards the characters and didn’t honestly care about them or their relationships. In the end, this felt like a science experiment gone wrong. It had its good parts, but overall I didn’t care for it as a whole. I would still be open to reading Keneally’s other works, but this one does not need to shoot to the top of your To Read list. A very special thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for an advanced copy of the novel. While I of course appreciated this opportunity, my review is presented without bias.

Each May 7th the students of Coffee County High take an educational field, with each year getting better and better. Focusing on the four trips of Lulu and Alex, this book gives snap shots into their relationship. While they aren't always happy or together, their chemistry is unmistakable.

Lulu is passionate about living green and helping out her fellow students. She hopes to become class president freshman year, just as she was in middle school. However, her competition is this funny charismatic baseball player named Alex. As a result of this election, there is some bad blood between the two. They aren't talking when they go on their field trip to the natural history museum, but when they get locked in an escape room and must work together to get out, the rest is history. Both have strong opinions about their lives and futures, familial expectations create serious friction in their relationship, but they just might have what it takes to make it as a couple.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the characters. I had fun with their friendly competition. The side characters were developed and I loved them. Alex's grandfather was super cute. The field trips lended themselves well as backdrops for this romance. I wouldn't mind spending more time in this world.

Miranda Kenneally and I have had a rocky relationship. Of course, she's completely unaware of this--our relationship or the rockiness of it. Some of her books I've loved and others I've straight hated. So I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this one. One thing has become clearer and clearer to me and that is that Miranda Kenneally's books tend to have a political agenda. And I can 100% say that I despise this. Write stories that feel authentic and stop trying to go through a checklist of current political issues to address.

I very nearly DNF'd Four Days of You and Me very early. Clues were dropped that Max, Lulu's best friend, was gay but I decided to wait things out until it was confirmed. And then by the time it was confirmed, I felt too invested in Lulu and Alex. My issue comes from how it seems almost impossible in YA literature today for best friends of the opposite sex to be anything but in love with each other or one of them to be gay.

I almost felt like Miranda Kenneally made Lulu be a political activist as a means to cover all of these issues that she wanted to be sure and touch on. But perhaps the most frustrating thing for me with her books and characters has always revolved around her portrayal of Christians. In this case, there was only mention of characters that go to church. Yet there's a feeling I get any time she mentions these characters. A hostility. Or maybe a passive-aggressiveness. Or just the impression that she views all Christians or "church-goers" as hypocrites.

Ironically, this is the 2nd book in a row that was really conceptual focusing on large gaps of time in between scenes between the main characters. Maybe This Time by Kasie West was the other. I liked the ideas but the execution is a different thing. Maybe This Time covered a year and there was little interaction between the characters in between the moments shown in the story. Four Days of You and Me covered one day each year for four years but also had flashbacks between these four days that showed the characters interacted in between the main 4 days and gave a better sense of life for the characters.

I liked Lulu despite her constant political causes. She's working on a graphic novel and I always enjoy seeing pieces of the publication process. Her rollercoaster ride of a relationship with Alex felt so realistic to me. And that's one thing I feel Miranda Kenneally does really well in her books. Alex was more enjoyable to me but I find myself feeling this way about the male leads often. It could simply be the difference in who is narrating. But I often feel that way with dual narration books too.

Being from Alabama, I've visited Six Flags over Georgia many times in my life. Granted the last time I visited was when Husband and I were dating so that was over 11 years ago. But some things mentioned about the theme park were just flat out wrong. The Scream Machine does not have any loops or places where it goes upside down. It is an old wooden coaster that was built in 1973. One of the--it not the oldest--coasters left at SFOG since the Cyclone was torn down and replaced. Goliath was mentioned that your feet dangle and this is only partly true. There's still a floor beneath your feet--unlike Batman--but you are sitting in bucket-like seats that do allow your feet to dangle a bit. It really takes minimal research to get these minor details correct. I mean I know probably the majority of readers haven't been to SFOG and won't know the difference, but for those of us who have, it's a little discouraging to see these inaccuracies. And it's ironic because Lulu mentions taking notes on their trip to London about things she might need to reference again if she ever decided to write a story in that setting. I mean a park map would have told you the Great American Scream Machine does not go upside down. A few other small things didn't line up with my experience or knowledge of the park. But I think I've proven my point.

When all is said and done, Four Days of You and Me was a mixed bag. On the one hand, I liked the characters and their stories. I liked Alex. I liked Lulu. I liked most of the side characters. The story felt authentic to teenagers of today. But what didn't feel authentic was the constant political causes that Miranda Kenneally included. And I say this not because Lulu was a political activist but because Miranda Kenneally has included these types of things throughout several of her books. I also don't enjoy the hypocritical way she portrays Christian characters or any character that "goes to church". Even though it is clear to me that Miranda Kenneally knows how to write and craft a story, I don't believe I'll personally be reading any more of her books in the future as I'm sure she's not going to back off including these aspects in her work. Four Days of You and Me gets 3.5 Stars from me. Have you read Four Days of You and Me? What did you think? Let me know!

I've always been a fan of Miranda Kenneally's books since her first book came out! So of course I wouldn't want to miss out on her newest book, Four Days of You and Me. This book is definitely one of my favourites by her and I already want to read whatever she comes out with. I read it so fast that I got distracted from what I was supposed to do that day. It got me out of my reading funk. If you are a fan of Jenny Han, you will want to read this book immediately.

Thank you for the chance to read and review FOUR DAYS OF YOU AND ME.

Miranda Kenneally is on my short list of go-to authors, and her Thousand Oaks series is one of my all-time favorite YA Romance series; I loved every one of those books. I was really excited to see what she came up with next, and I was not disappointed.

FOUR DAYS OF YOU AND ME did feel like a bit of a departure from her previous YA books, but not in a negative way. If anything, Lulu and Alex are the quintessential teenage couple, and I enjoyed getting see them grow and learn, and figure out who they were as individuals and as a couple.
Are they dramatic? Yes. But so is the teenage experience.
Was is stressful, and at times, painful to watch them fall in and out of love several times over? Sure.
Was it worth it? Absolutely!

Read it.

Teen readers are clamoring for a great romcom. There is a lot of room on the shelves for something like this. Kenneally has captivated readers with her Hundred Oaks series. In Four Days of You and Me, Kenneally follows the relationship of two teens over 4 years. There were parts that worked great for me, but the characters were not always likable and I found myself with no one to root for. Overall, teen will read it, but I'm not sure this going to be a giant request.