One thing I loved about this book is that it jumped straight to the point. You don’t read too many books about funerals. This writing gave a new take on the “fake relationship” trope. I absolutely will be recommending this book and rating it a 3.5/5. I hope to read more books from this author in the near future.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for a free ARC of Four Weekends and a Funeral. This book releases on August 6, 2024.

Four Weekends and a Funeral, a delightful romantic comedy, is the debut novel by Ellie Palmer. It is a slow burn, closed door romance with enemies to friends to lovers trope.

In this book, Alison arrives at her ex-boyfriend's funeral only to discover everyone thought they were still a couple when he died. The one person who knows the truth asks her to play along and, in the process, she finds herself agreeing to clear out her ex's apartment with his best friend who is a major grump and seems to hate her. Alison and Adam spend the next few weekends sorting out the apartment of someone who was special to them both in different ways and end up learning a lot about each other and what they want out of life.

I had mixed feelings about the main character, Alison, but she grew on me as the book progressed. I adored Adam from the very beginning and found myself chuckling because his communication style reminds me of someone special in my life. And Alison's friends were so loyal and supportive. Even Russel was someone who was weirdly likable in spite of being incredibly annoying. And that sweet twist at the end was just perfect!

This is a warm and fuzzy kind of book, perfect for reading when you need to believe that the world can be a better place.

This is a perfectly written ROMCOM. The characters were lovely and the main characters’ banter were funny and their chemistry’s so good. This is the first book of Ellie Palmer I read and I will definitely be reading more books from her in the future.

I enjoyed this romance. I am a senior, but I loved these younger characters and their choices and thought processes. When at first we practice to deceive....

I was pulled in from the beginning and absolutely loved this book. As a Minnesota girl, the Minneapolis setting captured my heart, and the MC’s medical history and struggles promptly broke it again. A story of friendships, acceptance, hurt, and healing, Ellie Palmer does a fantastic job weaving the story together with lots of humor and romance to keep you invested. A great read and definitely one to recommend!

This book broke my soul a little bit. While I've never had cancer, I've had people in my life who have and going through this book while Mara was navigating the death of her (ex) boyfriend, life, and the potential of a new relationship. That's not to say this book was all doom and gloom and sad. It was genuinely funny.

The book opened with her at the funeral of her ex boyfriend Sam, who was a huge adventure seeker. Problem is, everyone at the funeral still assumed she had been dating Sam at the time of his death. This book takes you on the journey of learning all about Mara, about Sam, and about Sam's best friend Adam. It shows you how to navigate through the death of a friend and how that person lived and how it affects how they currently live their every day lives.

I loved this book and it made me feel so many things. Mara really struggled with her survivors guilt because she got a double mastectomy in order to prevent cancer and she feels as though she cheated. Adam felt guilt because he made all these promises to Sam that he didn't keep. It was so nice to see the relationship develop between Adam and Mara and how they handled so many things.

What an sweet story. I am usually not a romance reader, but I really enjoyed this book. Well written, and paced, and both characters are charming and likable.

Another win for a debut author!

Four Weekends and a Funeral was a delightful read. Having never seen the movie that the title plays off of, I don't know if it's similar at all, BUT, the beginning did have some While You Were Sleeping vibes and as a semi-feral stan of that movie, I was hooked. I liked the characters, the romance was cute, the dialogue felt natural and never awkward (and there was some good banter!), and I actually even laughed a few times. There are some levels deeper than just the romance, which really helped ground the story as well.

This is a great start for Ellie Palmer, and I will definitely tune in to see what she writes next!

"Four Weekends and a Funeral" by Ellie Palmer is a compelling and emotionally charged story that explores themes of survivors guilt, grief, and unexpected romance. The story revolves around Alison who presently finds herself at her ex-boyfriend Sam's funeral. The catch? No one knew they had broken up, compelling Alison to keep up appearances and pose as the current girlfriend of the deceased.

Palmer's story takes an intriguing turn when Alison agrees to help Sam's best friend, Adam, clear out the deceased's apartment over four weekends. As they navigate the emotionally charged task of sorting through Sam's belongings, the forced proximity becomes the catalyst for a slow-burning and unexpected romance between Alison and Adam.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is not just the budding romance between Alison and Adam, but Mara and Chelsea. Both with personalities nearly opposite to one another, they compliment the story through their support and friendship to Alison.

This is a closed door romance, but I found that the tension wasn't lessened because of it. Adam was so sweet, constantly caring about Alison and making sure she was safe and happy. He gave a very grumpy, no one gets me but you, vibe to the romance.

Overall this was a sweet romance, with great writing. I would love to read another one of Palmer's books soon!

Easily and unequivocally a five star read. I was laughing in every chapter. Maybe don't quote me on that, but it sure felt like it. There is, without a doubt, nothing I do not like about the plot, characters, or ending.


Alison, the main character is going through a real, hard scenario and I think the way the grief and acceptance of that is written is beautifully. After reading the About the Author and the fact that she has the BRCA1 mutation, I know that this was a genuine perspective which I truly appreciate. Adam was charming and relatable. It's a closed door romance, and had all the build up and tension that I just eat up.


This is a story worth reading.

I really enjoyed this book! I especially liked the friend group, the references, and the witty banter. Though there were heavy topics, the writing kept it light, and it was fun to read.

I will definitely be looking for more by this author.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was less rom-com and more slow paced than my typical read. I kept waiting for the promised tension and it just wasn’t there in the story.

Thanks to Net Galley and PENGUIN GROUP for the temporary ARC to review.

Allison Mullally shows up to her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral only to find out that everyone believes they were still together. When his sister asks Allison to go along with it, she agrees to keep up the ruse.

Suddenly, she finds herself agreeing to clean out Sam’s apartment with his best friend, Adam. Allison makes it her mission to crack Adam’s icy exterior and make a new friend. But will they become more than that?

This is a classic opposites attract / forced proximity romance, but it doesn’t feel formulaic or overdone. For one, Allison recently underwent a double mastectomy as a BRCA-1 gene carrier. That adds an extra layer of character development and motivation that not all stories have. It’s also set against the backdrop of a young man’s death and the different ways people grieve.

I loved the story between Allison and Adam, as well as Allison and her friends. This is a sweet, engaging read with a few delightfully spicy scenes. Highly recommend!

What a great story! Uniqueness to the story line that I haven’t seen before. The author kept me guessing and there were so many twists and surprises. It was a story about two people finding themselves and you find yourself rooting for them both. Very interesting beach read that kept me anxious to flip the pages. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something light and fun.

Four Weekends and a Funeral is a debut novel touted as romantic comedy, but as someone who doesn't often pick up and read that genre, I was pleasantly surprised that it was so much more than that. Without stating as much, Four Weekends and a Funeral is also a novel about grief.

Set in Minnesota, the book opens up with the main character, Alison Mullally, attending the funeral of her ex-boyfriend, Sam, who didn't tell his family they had broken up. Without giving away any spoilers, the story then takes us through different types of grief and how they are experienced uniquely for many different characters.

I loved the healthy presence of therapists, raw emotions happening in the moment, and the natural flow of pacing while so many heavy things are happening at once.

The banter had me laughing out loud and relating so much to the dialogue! It's witty, fitting, and true to the characters developed on the pages.

The only thing I didn't like were some editing issues needing one more revision in the advanced publication copy I read at the time of my review (expected publication date: Aug 2024). A few intense scenes that were more show than tell were missing showing words in the narration to describe what the characters were doing. Example: oftentimes, bodies would be positioned one way and then the next sentence would describe them positioned differently without explaining how they got there. This did disrupt the flow of the story for me when it happened.

Being enthralled by the plot overall, I still look forward to rereading the final, published copy once these changes are made. And I highly recommend Four Weekends and a Funeral as an anticipated read for next summer!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for an advanced digital copy of this book.

I have to say - I loved it! I love the plot of thought to be enemies to lovers and the characters' processing their grief of losing their friend. I really liked that the story didn't have too many subplots to follow. The end was perfect and just wrapped it up in a perfect bow.

10 out of 10

Thanks to Net Gallery And Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this book early

This was such a cute, heartwarming romcom. It gave me major While You Were Sleeping vibes. I loved all the characters. For kind of a dark start, it really is not a dark book. (I do feel like it's worth noting there is a lot of explict cancer/BRCA talk, which I hadn't been expecting to be so front and center, in case that is something you're actively avoiding.) But it was a great book about not only finding yourself, but accepting yourself and falling in love.

I wanted to love it. It started off with great pacing, was super easy to read, and I enjoyed the story. Our main characters were quite fun, despite the book kicking off with a funeral. I really enjoyed their relationship. Then at the 70% mark, the book unfortunately became an uphill slog through a Minnesota blizzard. At that point, the characters were actually sort of mean to each other (to the point that I wasn’t rooting for them anymore) and the pacing just fell apart.

One thing I really appreciated was the handling of grief our main character goes through. That was done well. It felt incredibly authentic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

THEYRE BRINGING BACK ROMCOMS BABY

this had that beautiful storytelling and laugh-out-loud whit that nora ephron portrayed so well done in the 90s. this story is sexy- adam and alison are exactly my cup of tea and to watch them fall in love was a true honor. i highly recommend checking this one out for a fun romance packed with a punch

A very sweet romance of two people coming together at a difficult time. I found the discussions of navigating health diagnoses and grief very poignant.