Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner is a powerful, emotional novel that explores grief, guilt, and healing. After his friends die in a tragic accident, Carver is left to navigate the aftermath and honor their memories. With raw emotion and authenticity, Zentner captures the complexities of loss, making this a deeply moving read for fans of heartfelt, introspective YA.

Goodbye Days is a book about friendship. It's also a book about death, guilt and redemption. Carver, Mars, Eli and Blake were the best of friends. One day, while Carver is waiting for his friends to come get him from work, his friends get in an accident and die. It looks like they were texting Carver back when the accident happened. The book starts with the funerals and follow Carver as he deals with his guilt and shame. He blames himself. Some of the family members blame him too. He has all kinds of guilt for texting them when they were driving. Survivors guilt. What if he had been in the car? Things get worse when a criminal investigation is opened into the accident. Some of the family's want Carver to pay. Blakes grandma makes the suggestion that they have a Goodbye Day for Blake. She and Carver spend the day together doing all the things Blake loved and telling stories. This gives them both some measure of peace and soon the other families want to do this as well. The other two days are not as sweet as Blake's grandma's. The day with Mar's dad actually brought me to tears. He is a severe man (I pictured Raymond Holt from Brooklyn 99 -but not the funny side of his personality -when reading his character), but I could understand his rage. It brought a lot of emotion up for me. I loved Georgia, Carver's sister. She was funny and sweet, and I love how she didn't stigmatize mental health. I feel that Carver showed growth and I feel that his feelings and behaviors are very believable in the circumstances. I loved getting to know Carver's friends throughout the book. I think this is a beautiful, but sad story and I'm so glad that I read it.

Goodbye Days is about love, loss, and finding your way when the only way you can remember is gone.
Losing a friend is always hard. Losing three friends and thinking their death is your fault is infinitely harder. For Carver, that's a reality.
Carver's three best friends died in a car accident right around the time he sent them a text. Now the father of one friend is trying to say Carver is to blame for the deaths because of the careless text message he sent. Going through grief and fear Carver must find a way to overcome his sorrow and continue to be the friend that his always was.
This book should be in every high school library across the country due to its relevance to todays youth.

goodbye days is about a teenage boy's grief and guilt after his three best friends die in a car crash. we follow carver as he experiences panic attacks for the first time, starts therapy, memorializes his friends with a "goodbye day" for each of them, and faces the possibility of legal prosecution for his involvement in their accident. heavy stuff. and i'm not quite sure what i was expecting here, but i was not expecting a novel that absolutely oozes with teenage boyishness.

i empathized with carver to some degree, but far less than should have. the kid is going through a lot of shit, but god, he's so ridiculously self-absorbed! he befriends jesmyn, the girlfriend of one of his dead best friends. but their friendship is ridiculously one-sided, and he does not provide her with mutual support in her grief. and when he inevitably falls in love with her, he puts the burden of his crush onto her! i really don't know why the book had to go in this messy direction.

the texting while driving premise definitely risked becoming overly didactic, but this is something that i think zentner handled well. it's not preachy, and the situation is believable on the surface. but the events become very contrived toward the end. everyone else's lives seem to revolve around carver to an unrealistic degree.

perhaps it's partially due to the teenage boyishness (and its permeating vibe of immaturity), but there just isn't as much sensitivity here as i'd expect in a book about grief. there are some iffy jokes and really cringey moments.

so goodbye days was a disappointment, but i might have enjoyed it when i was younger. i'm glad this book reminded me to veer away from books with teenage boy protagonists. so many jokes about testicles. do teenage boys really talk about testicles that much? i don't wanna know.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest (and belated) review.

This book was so sad! I really enjoyed it thought. I'm not a huge fan of Zetner's writing, but the emotional impact that his books have is really great.

this is a great book. my teens will love it. the inclusion of texts were a great addition to the format

I really enjoyed this book and this was another amazing book by my favorite author. I can't wait to read another book by him again.

I am sorry to say that no matter how much I love Jeff Zentner, I can't get behind the moral of this story. Yes, texting and driving is bad, but more along the lines of mental health and therapy, was not handled in an appropriate matter, and I know I am in the minority with this opinion, which is why I have put off sharing my thoughts.

The writing was strong, strong character voices, but I just have issues with the content.

Fortunately I feel like at this point, plenty of time has passed, and I read and loved his newest release Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee, so I don't mind updating my thoughts now. I do not post negative reviews out in the world, so this has not been shared or voiced elsewhere.

Jeff Zentner has totally cemented a spot on my "favorite authors" list. 100%.

I know a large part of why I love his books is that they're set in Tennessee, and as a native Tennesseean, I love all the references to actual places. Fall Creek Falls, for example, and the Opry Mills mall and Ryman. His books just take me home and paint such an accurate depiction of my favorite state.

Characterization is another huge thing Zentner's got going for him. I have been so impressed with every character in his novels so far. They're all so authentic and believable that they feel like someone you've known for years. Carver, for example, felt especially real because of the way the author juxtaposed Carver's inner monologue with his dialogue, especially in memory scenes. Carver would have moments of stupid, teenage-boy banter with his friends, then spout out some beautiful, thought-provoking lines in his mind. I found that really realistic and honest because most of us do that, I think.

I can't count how many times I found tears rolling down my face as I read this. I felt like the saddest moments were the most subtle ones where something small would remind Carver how huge his loss was. This was definitely an emotion-draining novel, even more so than his previous.

At this point, I'll probably read anything this author writes, and I know this book was just recently released but I'm already hungry for more!

So here's the thing about Goodbye Days - I didn't love it. And I totally thought I would. It's my fault for hanging all my expectations on The Serpent King and that's not really fair. I feel like writing a book that is solely one character's exploration of grief is risky, because you're so much in that character's head. It's a lot of just talking about feelings and it's really easy to get bogged down. It was a little underwhelming for me. There were things I did like - Carver's therapist was a great guy. His sister, who wasn't around much, but clearly loved him and wanted to help him through his problems any way she could. The flashbacks to his friends were nice, but it felt a little, 'insert flashback here' whenever something came up in the present time. The book and I just never fully connected and that's okay.

This was my first time reading a Jeff Zentner book and it won’t be my last. Goodbye Days was a super powerful book. It was an emotional journey of guilt and grief and loss and how to move on with life after a tragedy. Carver broke my heart for about 99% of the book. He was just wracked with so much guilt and couldn’t see a way about of it. On top of that he had no friends anymore and was under a constant microscope at school or home. He was slowly drowning and it was heartbreaking. But it was also uplifting to see him slowly dig himself out of the dark hole he had made for himself. It really was an excellent story and one I’m so happy to have read.

Unfortunately, I lost interest in this book after picking it up. I may give it another shot in the future.

I was very wary of picking up Goodbye Days – so wary, in fact, that I let this book sit unread for over a year. I was afraid of this book for many reasons. I am not a big fan of contemporary fiction. It takes a truly spectacular contemporary book to keep me interested. Also, Jeff Zentner usually has a religious theme throughout his books, and I try to avoid religion in my books. It’s something that I truly do not enjoy reading.

These were my concerns going into The Serpent King as well, but when I finally picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a favorite, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. I was hoping that might also be the case with Goodbye Days, but I was very wrong.

I actually only made it about 50 pages into Goodbye Days. I suppose if I had read the synopsis more closely, I would never have picked it up at all. This book has one of the most completely inconceivable plots I have ever encountered. When I realized that a father was actually trying to press criminal charges against someone who sent his son a text, I immediately put the book down and decided I was done. (Maybe this father should be pressing charges against himself for not educating his son on distracted driving. Since this is a religious book, perhaps we should bring up that whole “casting the first stone” thing???) I was dumbfounded at the utter ridiculousness of this story.

I honestly don’t have words to describe how stupid I think this plot is. I can’t say much more on this book because I didn’t read enough to know anything about it. While I hated my experience with this book, I do respect Jeff Zenter as an author and I do think that he is a talented writer. If you love contemporary, you may love his books, but I don’t think I will be picking any more up in the future.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner.

I was so excited to read this because of how much I loved The Serpent King. And while I think I liked The Serpent King better, this was still a lovely read.

Carver is a normal HS kid with a tight group of friends, making them a funny and thoughtful foursome. But everything changes for Carver after sending a text to his friends knowing that they were in the car on the way to meet him. While responding to his text, his friend gets in a car accident, killing all three of them. Now Carver is not only dealing with the grief of losing his best friends, but possible criminal charges for knowingly texting while the recipient was behind the wheel.

I thought that this addressed grief and guilt in a very real and poignant way. Survivor guilt is a real thing, especially when one feels like they are responsible. The overall premise was always a bit shaky for me. I can understand prosecuting someone when THEY were the ones texting and driving, but to go after someone who sent a text to someone in a car seems like a stretch, especially a teen. Of course, grief is not a logical beast and often demands a culprit. In this instance, the "culprit" passed away in the accident, so Carver it was.

Ultimately, great read, sweet for YA, addresses a lot of heavy emotional issues in a palatable way.

Jeff Zentner’s writing always has the ability to make me feel for his characters. I have been so lucky to have found his books and characters as they have shaped me as a person. Goodbye Days was a tough read on a normal day, but reading it and thinking about the people I’ve lost throughout the years really struck a chord. This book was beautifully written and was just a pleasure to read.

Unfortunately this book just didn't work for me. It's not that it was bad exactly, it just wasn't for me. I really loved Zentner's debut novel THE SERPENT KING but just didn't find that same kind of magic with GOODBYE DAYS. The overwhelming sadness at the start of the novel didn't draw me in enough to want to find out more about the characters. It was a bit confusing to have so many characters at the beginning that never really had an introduction, which was most likely why I felt it was hard to connect with them. They just seemed random to me. I'm sure that would have changed later in the story, but I didn't read far enough to find out.

This book was fabulous. I cried a few times and was happy with the ending. I thought it was a unique idea. I will definitely suggest this book to teen readers, particularly those who have experienced grief.

I loved this book overall! It was so poignant and honest, and had a strong guy main character. It was well written, but the pace was slow in some parts.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO GOODBYE DAYS BY JEFF ZENTNER?
Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner is a book that I wanted to read regardless of which format it took. I LOVED The Serpent King even though it made me feel all the sad feelings. Initially, I wanted to physically read this via ebook or actual book. I thought that I would have a better experience and take away more from it. However time just got away from me and I happened to have a review audiobook copy of Goodbye Days and well, here I am.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Zentner’s Goodbye Days is about this boy named Carver who loses his three best friends. You see, he sends his friend Mars a text. Mars is driving. Unfortunately, Mars reads the text and as a result gets into a car accident that kills himself, Eli and Blake. As you can imagine, this is horrific and tragic all around. Compounding matters is that Mars’ father is out for blood and is trying to get the state to pursue legal action against Carver and hold him responsible for the deaths as he sent the text message.

Zentner’s book weaves this looming threat of legal action against Carver’s grief and memories. Carver finds himself connecting, though, with Eli’s girlfriend and also with his therapist, Dr. Mendez. Meanwhile, on the other end of this reaction spectrum is Blake’s grandmother. Rather than hold Blake responsible, she asks Carver to hold a goodbye day with her for Blake. This means that Carver and her do things that she used to do with Blake and they share memories and stories about Blake. Word of this spreads and Eli’s family requests a goodbye day as well. So, this book is about Carver’s friendship with his three best friends and how he says goodbye to all three and moves forward with his life.

HOW DID I LIKE GOODBYE DAYS?
I feel a little bit weird right now because I am getting all sad writing about Goodbye Days. It is not a book for the faint of heart. I mean, if you want a book with FEELING and that will make your eyes actually leak, this is the ticket. It is a beautifully written book. And you can’t help but want Carver to be okay in the end. Meanwhile as you learn about his best friends and how they each join the friend group, what happens to them just feels worse and worse as you think about it. I mean, shit, I am still sad AND THESE ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. Not even the main character. That’s how hard this book just hits you. I loved this book and will shout that you need to read it right from those rooftops.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook of Goodbye Days is narrated by Michael Crouch. He’s such a good narrator. I mean, especially when it comes to reading young adult books. He was the narrator for Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda which FYI was also great via audiobook. So, as it turns out, he really is talented and it is not just a fluke. I was nervous about listening to this on audio and not getting the same experience with the emotions and pathos. Crouch just really nails it though and brings across everything I wanted to experience while reading this book. So, however you choose to experience this book will be well worth it.

This book was such an emotional read! I had tears in my eyes through the majority of the book .I did have to set it down because I knew it wouldn't be a good fit for our box-but i do plan on finishing it again soon!