This. Book. Wrecked. Me.
No reading in public.
Cried my contacts out.
Had to take a few days in between readings at the beginning.
I thought I loved The Serpent King but this is an amazing "sophomore" effort.
Definite for Gateway consideration.

“Where are you guys? Text me back.” This seemingly unremarkable text from Carver Briggs to his three best friends may have precipitated the car crash that killed Blake, Eli, and Mars. Now the fourth member of their “Sauce Crew” must face both senior year at Nashville Arts Academy without his closest friends and a potential criminal charge of negligent homicide. Some of his classmates sympathize with Carver, and others (including Eli’s twin sister) blame him for the tragedy. Carver finds solace in the company of Eli’s former girlfriend, Jesmyn, even though part of him feels like he’s betraying Eli by growing closer with her. Meanwhile, Blake’s grandmother invites Carver to spend a “goodbye day” with her doing all the things that Blake loved best. As grief, guilt, panic attacks, and legal fees threaten the stability of Carver’s world he must find a way to make it through the goodbye days and go on living.

Jeff Zentner won the 2017 Morris Award for his debut novel, The Serpent King. In my opinion Goodbye Days, with its emotionally resonant depiction of a hot-button issue, is an even better book. The richness of Nashville’s arts scene and unique locales (including Centennial Park, the iconic Ryman Auditorium, and Parnassus Books) imbues every page and provides a wonderful backdrop to the story. Goodbye Days is a perfect choice for readers who enjoyed Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner.

Overall, this book was a good read. For some reason, I just did not find myself enjoying it like I thought I would. However, I think it was for me personally dealing with my own family tragedies the last couple of months that pulled me away from the book - and not how good the book was in and of itself. I would recommend it, truly, it was just bad timing for me so I will be giving it another read again in the future.

That was seriously intense. I was expecting profound and emotional from Jeff Zentner, but good God, I was so invested in the story I may have skipped two meals yesterday. No one could have taken this book away from me, unless they wanted to lose a finger.

Carver unintentionally killed his three best friends by sending the driver—Mars—a text message the latter answered while driving. Now he blames himself, and so do other people who want to see him behind bars.

I had no idea you could go to prison for texting someone while they’re driving, knowing they’re driving and will reply to you immediately. It makes sense. You should know better. Carver definitely should have known better. But the question remains: will he be convicted?

Although there are many sad scenes and death is one of the main themes, this isn’t a depressive book. Carver often thinks about the happy moments he and his friends shared. We get to know his best friends very well, despite their departure.

The goodbye days themselves are a good idea. They are important to Carver, but especially to the departed’s families. They help them remember their sons and say goodbye in another setting besides a graveyard.

This is a slow-paced book, so gather your patience before starting it. It also might make you cry, so keep some tissues next to you just in case. That’s it. You’re ready to experience Goodbye Days. Enjoy.

This is one of those books that took a while to get into, but was well worth the wait. I had all of the feels once I got into this story. This had everything you would want in a book. It made me laugh and it made me cry. I loved the characters and the romance. It was something I was not expecting, but ended up blowing me away.

This book was super super emotional. It was a good book. It was also extremely hard to read. The panic attacks were written so so well that it half broke my heart with just seeing a book really get it. But the sheer level of intensity + me reading it in like just a few hours because I couldn't stop + how palpable the levels of grief were = actually made for a completely emotionally draining and exhausting read. And while I really truly adored it, I did love the author's first book, The Serpent King, more...so I was accidentally comparing the two and this wasn't quite as good.

There is just so much heartbreak right here. The writing is so perfectly incredible that you not only ache for Carver, you ache WITH Carver. He sent the fated text to his friends to ask when they were coming to pick him up: and his friend got distracted while driving and ended up in a fatal accident. 3 teens = dead instantly. And Carver is crippled with the guilt of knowing he might've been the cause. And when a book makes you literally FEEL every heartwrenching twist of the proverbial knife as Carver tries to recover from this. You know the book is just made of magical wizard powered writing. I also think the book balanced it well with putting in jokes and lighter times too, so you weren't just sucker-punched 100% of the time with depression.

I also really felt for ALL the characters. We get to know Carver's friends through flashbacks and memories so by the end my heart thoroughly ached. The only problem is I found all the flashbacks slightly less engaging than the rest of the story and I wish it'd spent equal time developing the boys. But it felt like it spent 60% on Blake, and then like 10% each on Mars and Eli.

I hated how Carver never stood up for himself. But at the same time I get it, because he was suffering so badly with the guilt and the panic attacks. I cry though, that he had to go through emotional abuse from all the people who blamed him.

Basically this book was absolutely heartbreaking and also beautiful. It wasn't an easy read and it's definitely a book that will stay with me and leave me thinking.

Zenter handles immense grief in a compassionate yet realistic manner. Is Carver Briggs responsible for the accident that brutally and instantly claimed the lives of his three best friends when one of them attempted to answer Carver's text message while he was driving? The marriage of grief and guilt creates an offspring almost too awful, too heavy to bear.

It’s Monday Morning right now. I finished this book over a day and a half ago, but I haven’t been able to organise my thoughts about it, and so I just decided to pour them all out onto my review

· Goodbye Days was EASILY one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I ADORED Jeff Zentner’s The Serpent King and all the heart break and hope it made me feel, and I was so excited for what he would do with Goodbye Days.

· That being said, I REALLY REALLY wanted to enjoy Goodbye Days. I think Jeff is an AMAZING person, I love his writing style and this book IS THE PERFECT SET-UP FOR HEARTBREAK.

· I lost a friend recently. We weren’t ‘best’ friends by any means, but we were friends, and his death was so senseless and so reckless and it just shocked me that life could end that easily, and I really wanted to feel something with this book as the protagonist loses his THREE best friends.

· Goodbye Days WAS NOT what I thought it would be. For starters, I didn’t once FEEL that overwhelming grief that I wanted to feel, and that I felt when I heard the news about my friend. The book fell TOTALLY flat in this aspect, and more than feeling the grief, the main focus of this was getting back to ‘normal.’ It’s just how I felt – maybe not AS much with Carver, but definitely with Jesmyn.

· Another thing I couldn’t wrap my head around was Carver and his dead best friend’s girlfriend – Jesmyn. I would have liked them as friends, I REALLY WOULD HAVE, but I KNEW that he was developing feelings for her, and this feeling or wrongness settled around me that I couldn’t shake. I liked that they hung out, I LOVED that they had each other for support but it still felt all sorts of wrong to me.

· I did LOVE two very specific characters in the book – Nana Betsy and Georgia. Nana Betsy was honest and good and kind of an awesome grandmother (I went and gave mine a long hug after) and I FELT HER PAIN. More than anything else, I FELT HER PAIN. It felt like the pain I expected from Carver, but didn’t get. Georgia is Carver’s older sister and she too is all kinds of awesome. They made the book a whole lot better.

· I also wish we had MORE of The Sauce Crew flashbacks, and less Jesmyn and Carver (The Sweat Crew) because I feel like even AFTER the Goodbye Days for each of them, that I BARELY KNEW THEM, And HOW DO I FEEL SAD FOR PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW?

· Did I cry? YES. Big fat tears. This was a GOOD BOOK. It was highly emotional (and brought back memories from four months ago when my friend died) and DEFINITELY a good story, that I KNOW could have been better,

I would recommend Goodbye Days – it’s a thought provoking read, but not as much as I would shove The Serpent King into your arms and faces. 3 stars.

Crown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Goodbye Days. This is my honest opinion of the book.

One text message was all it took for Carver Briggs to lose his three best friends. As extreme feelings of guilt and anxiety engulf Carver over the deaths of Eli, Blake, and Mars, one of the parents, who happens to be a judge, threatens criminal action against Carver. With unlikely allies by his side, will Carver be able to help himself, and others, with their grief? Will he be able to free himself from the guilt over what happened?

Goodbye Days is heartbreaking but, at the same time, provides readers with a small measure of hope. Guilt is one of the most powerful emotions: it has the power to leave a person feeling completely useless, utterly lost, and totally gutted. The author turned a tragic, and all too common, story on its head by placing blame where you might not expect. Through a series of remembrances, readers are able to get a complete picture of some of the characters through the eyes of others. As a whole, Goodbye Days is a deeply moving, well written story about a teenager coping with unimaginable grief and pain.

What happens when suddenly your three best friends die and you might be responsible? This is what is torturing Carver, the sole surviving member of a foursome, a close-knit group of guys who had been best friends. Carver is tormented by his guilt and by the loss of those he held dear. After the funerals, he is a pariah to many at school, especially the twin sister of one of his dead friends. Adding to the stress is the possibility that he might be imprisoned for causing the accident that took their lives. And it’s all because of a phone call, a distraction that drew the driver’s attention away from the road. In today’s high tech world, distracted driving is a serious problem. This book highlights the devastation that can result from something as seemingly harmless as a phone call. But Zentner takes the premise a step beyond the obvious sadness of grief and guilt by incorporating a day of goodbyes for Carver and each of the dead boy’s families. Every situation is unique and the families all respond differently. It is uncomfortable for Carver to confront those who harbor hostility and yet he owes his friends a day of closure. This is a book about loss, healing and facing obstacles. The book is moving and touching and Zentner’s writing is crisp and beautiful. Another strong empathetic book by a talented author.

Jeff Zentner is a revelation. I couldn't love this book more. I could probably read it 10 times and learn something new each time. 5 stars

Last year everyone was talking about, and loving, The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner but for some reason I ended up not reading it. However, after hearing so much about it, and when I saw Goodbye Days on NetGalley, I decided I wanted to read it so I requested the book, twice, and got approved, twice. It was the first time it happened but it was funny to end up with two digital copies of this book XD. Because it was my first Jeff Zentner book I didn't know what to expect. I knew it would probably be heartbreaking (and it was) but I knew nothing else.

Carver, the main character was a great guy. I loved to read this book from his point of view. While he feels guilty about what happened to his friends it was still really cool to read when he was remembering about them and getting to know his friends from that scenes. It still hurt sometimes to read from his POV due to his grief and the guilt he felt but I really enjoyed his character development and he coming to the terms of his best friends deaths. I also loved the idea behind the "goodbye days", even when some of them were kind of weird. It's a good idea... just not good to do with some people who might ruin everything.

I really loved this book and the story. It was really deep and it showed different ways to deal with grief but there were a few things I didn't like as much. I really didn't like that a lot of people blamed Carver for what happened to his friends. I understand why he felt guilty and I can see why a few people would want him to be guilty but in the end he wasn't the one who made the decision that ended up with his friends lives.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While there were a few things that might have got me mad it was still a great and emotional read. I 100% recommend this book, but beware because it's not an easy read.

I have to delete this for now will add link to post on Hub later on.

After being completely blown away by Jeff Zenter's debut, The Serpent King, his next book, Goodbye Days, secured a spot near the top of my most anticipated books of the year list.

Carver Briggs' three best friends all died in a car crash. The driver was replying to a text that Carver had just sent. Now Carver is dealing with loss and guilt and a possible criminal investigation.

You guys, this book is an emotional read. I think I was crying within the first couple of pages, and then every few chapters the tears would start all over again. I love so much about this book. I love how Mr. Zentner handled the complicated relationship between Carver and Jesmyn. The scenes with Blake's grandmother were so heartbreaking! I liked that Carver had a supportive sister and good parents. I really enjoyed all the scenes with the lawyer and the therapist. But one of my very favorite things about this book was the portrayal of a tight group of guy friends.

Grab some tissues before starting this book!

After being super impressed by The Serpent King (worthy of all the hype!), I was more than a little curious to see how I would feel about his sophomore novel Goodbye Days. My conclusion? Jeff Zenter has a magical ability to suddenly make me cry and cry and cry. So prepare yourself. This novel starts off on the somberest (yes, this is a word now) note as Carver struggles with his belief that he killed his three best friends, Mars, Eli and Blake, by sending them a text while knowing they were on the road. The families of his friends either absolve him of all blame, somewhat blame him or outright hope he'll go to jail. In fact, there's going to be a criminal investigation. But in the middle of all this grief, Blake's grandmother asks Carver to share a "goodbye day" together to honor Blake. Then one by one, the other families reach out to Carver to do the same. It's an extremely emotional, raw and moving journey as Carver is forced to face his feelings and share in everyone's pain too. It just felt so real, especially as we witness the very human and flawed reactions this horrible time has brought out in everyone. There's no one way to grieve and this book exemplifies that. But through it all, we also see heartwarming moments as Carver remembers his best friends, reaches out to his sister for support (loved their relationship), befriends Eli's girlfriend Jesmyn (who's Filipino!) and bonds with Carver's grandmother. Goodbye Days is a book that will undoubtedly make you think and more importantly, feel.

Do I recommend?: Yes! I sincerely mean it when I say that I'm looking forward to the next book Zentner will make me cry over.

An innocuous text asking when his friends will pick him up from work upends Carver's life and snatches his three best friends away from him. Mars, distracted by replying to the text, crashed into a stopped truck, killing himself and Carver’s two other best friends, Blake and Eli. Now Mars’ father, a judge, has called on the district attorney to open an investigation and weigh charges of criminally negligent homicide against Carver.
While I didn't care for the suspense of whether or not the investigation will happen and what will happen to Carver, I did understand why this plot device was used in the book, which is not to trivialize the horrible car crash. I think it helped the reader to contextualize Carver's emotions and inner turmoil. Needless to say Carver is mess. He is riddled by guilt, feeling responsible for his friends' loss, and friendless. The investigation amplifies these emotions and stress, causing Carver to have panic attacks, which send him into therapy.
Zenter does a wonderful job in creating empathetic, flawed, and diverse characters. Once again it is his characters that are the highlight of the book. I liked Carver and did not find him whiny. He is introverted and it is clear that his friendship with Mars, Blake and Eli brought him out of his shell as we see in his flashbacks. I also loved his close bond with his sister. It's very rare in YA that we have solid sibling friendship/bonds. Carver's friendship with Jesmyn, Eli's girlfriend, felt natural and awkward as they are both dealing with their grief. Carver's growing attraction to her and the possibility of being more than friends with Jesmyn also felt real.
My favorite parts of the book, however, is the actual Goodbye Days as Carver attempts at atonement by spending the day with his friends' loved ones. Each Goodbye Day brings Carver's friends alive as he and their loved ones share memories and discover new aspects of the boys. While the Goodbye Days are met with mixed success, it helps Carver navigate his own grieving process and feeds his subconscious desire for punishment. I also appreciated the inclusion of therapy and medication where Carver talked to and open up with his therapist because it is important to show teens that mental health and getting help is not something to be ashamed of. Goodbye Days is a poignant, realistic read that made me choke up a few times with emotions. While I didn't love it as much as The Serpent King, I would really recommend picking it up.

I was super nervous about reading this book for two reasons. One is I’ve seen so many great reviews of this book. Which is awesome! Just a little more pressure as a reviewer. I want to bring something to the table that hasn’t already been said a million times and also it can sometimes feel like pressure to really like a book that everyone else finds so moving.

I was also nervous for a really weird reason. My own manuscript features a guitarist named Eli. Okay, that’s not so weird. He’s also dating an adopted Asian girl. And he gets into a serious car accident. Believe it or not, this has kind of happened before. I read a book about two brothers, one named Eli, who get into a car accident, and just like in Goodbye Days, Eli dies. For some reason, that story hit really deep. I had a really hard time reading it, not because the story was bad, but because it snowballed into something like a crisis of confidence for me. Which was not cool. But anyway. None of that has to do with how I felt reading Goodbye Days other than to give you some background.

Goodbye Days is, more than anything else, an emotional journey. There’s not much in terms of big, intense plot. It’s a lot more subtle, gentle movement through a boy’s incredible grief when he suddenly loses all three of his best friends and faces his fear that their deaths might be his fault.

I think often grief doesn’t get enough appreciation in our instant-gratification culture. Grief is hard. It’s unpleasant, uncomfortable—not only to the person experiencing it, but to the people around them. Goodbye Days paid a worthy homage to the difficult journey of suffering and loss while still showing the value of having loved in the first place and the hope that lights the end of the dark tunnel of grief.

There were a couple of plot elements that I struggled to buy into. At one point, local police open an investigation into the accident, warning Carver that he may face charges for his friends’ deaths. I have no idea whether or not this could actually happen, but I had a really hard time going there in the story. Why wasn’t anyone blaming the kid who responded to a text message while driving? No one ever points a finger at him or talks about how he should have passed the phone to a friend to respond or something. Everyone focuses on Carver’s guilt for sending the text message to begin with.

On the other side, I loved how each of his friends had a really different artistic talent, and that they weren’t all conventional talents. One boy is a comic artist. Another is a YouTube sensation who uses videos to challenge social ideas in a humorous way.

Goodbye Days is a thoughtful, emotional story. If you liked Away We Go by Emil Ostrovski or Me Since You by Laura Weiss, you should add Goodbye Days to your list.

I loved this book so much! Definitely worth the read!

So this was an emotionally hard read for me. Three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake are killed in a car accident due to distracted driving-- texting their fourth best friend, Carver. Of course, Carver is racked with guilt for being the cause of the accident and embarks on his senior year of high school alone. With the possibility of being charged with his friends murders hanging over his head as well as some of the families blaming him for the accident, Blake starts to have panic attacks. At the request of one of the families and suggestion of his therapist, Blake does a "goodbye day" for each of the families where Carver takes the place of deceased member and spends the day with them doing what they would want to do with their family member if they had one last day with them. They share stories and things about the person that no one else knew. This has varying degrees of success with each of the families but it gives insight into grief and the preciousness of life. There were some great quotes in this book but overall I thought the plot and the sequence of events made me stumble when reading this book. I wanted to love this book because I loved the Serpent King but I had a hard time getting into the book and relating to the characters at times. Maybe if the book began before the accident so the reader could get to know the characters before they died and therefore be more emotionally connected and invested in them, it may have read better. And for whatever reason, I could not buy into the possibility of Carver facing murder charges for texting his friend. For this reason, I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.

Well, I had high expectations for Zentner's sophomore effort. I loved The Serpent King so hard. So, maybe that's why Goodbye Days was just meh for me. Yes, I gave it 4 stars, because I'm rating it based on the quality of the writing and how I think it will appeal to teens (I'm on an award committee). The story addresses some very real issues that are relevant to teens, and the story is beautifully written. I just didn't connect with the characters - Georgia seemed to be a caricature of an older sister, and I found Jesmyn to be a bit too MPDG-ish. Speaking of Jesmyn, I think the story could have done without the romance. In fact, I think it's the romance that kept me from believing in the story. Simply put, I was expecting to be effing wowed based on The Serpent King, and I just wasn't. But I would still recommend it to my YA readers. 3 stars for me, an additional star for the teen appeal.