Four Weekends and a Funeral

By: Ellie Palmer

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

"A cozy affirmation for introverts and homebodies about loss, love, and being enough." —Abby Jimenez, author of Yours Truly

She found the right guy at the dead wrong time . . .

When thirty-year-old post-double-mastectomy BRCA1 carrier and reluctant thrill-seeker Alison Mullally arrives at her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral to discover that no one knows he dumped her, she agrees to play the grieving girlfriend over the holidays for the sake of the family. Little did she know this would mean packing up Sam's apartment with his prickly best friend, Adam Berg. After all, it'll only take four weekends . . .

But Adam doesn’t want Alison anywhere near him. Forced to spend long hours with the grump and his monosyllabic demeanor, Alison decides to put her people-pleasing abilities to the test. She will make him like her. And after awkward family affairs, snowy mishaps, and packing up dilemmas, the two form a tenuous friendship . . . if "friendship" means incredible chemistry and sexual tension. Can Alison come clean and finally embrace the life and love she's always wanted? Or will her little white lie get in the way of her new, unexpected romance?©2024 Ellie Palmer (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of The Nerd Daily’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024

One of Beyond The Book Ends’ Most Anticipated Releases this August

One of Fangirlish’s Best Romance Books of August

"The writing is lively, and the wintry Twin Cities/Duluth setting [is] good fun. . . The book really shines in its serious moments, and what could be more serious than being a carrier of the BRCA1 mutation (the author also is a carrier)?. . . Touching. . . Very much worth a read."—Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Debut author Ellie Palmer is poised to become one of the most beloved voices in the romance genre, mark my words. If you enjoy romance novels with a heavy dose of sarcasm, vulnerability, love scenes worthy of several spicy peppers, and lots of tension, you need to add Four Weekends and a Funeral to your TBR list. It’s one of the most unique yet authentic storylines I’ve read this year, and I can’t wait to devour Palmer’s next project!"—Scary Mommy

"Prepare yourself for a whole five-course forced-proximity meal! Alison and Adam may meet through the most contrived of situations, but their connection is all natural. Sure, Adam prefers to speak in single-word sentences, but his obvious care for Alison is warm and undeniably attractive. I mean the man starts storing Thin Mints in his freezer after seeing Alison eat them one time. Who wouldn’t swoon?"—Washington Post

PERFECT EVERYTHING

This story with the performance equals perfection!!!!!!! SO SO SO GOOD TENS ACROSS THE BOARD

Adorable rom com

Very detailed writing that makes you feel in the story and fall in love with the characters. Fun read! Love story gone right

Real characters, great story about self-discovery

I snorted out loud laughing and cried along with Allison on her self-discovery of being enough. Allison and Adam’s love story feels real and the ending is a true home run.

Dreamy

Four Weekends and a Funeral was sooo good. Ellie Palmer did an interview saying she took inspiration from “while you were sleeping” and I couldn’t agree more. I loved the storyline and the characters so much. I’m excited to read more from this author. The narrator was amazing!!

Love in a time of grief.

Grief, love, friendship, and family. I love when a book in this category breaks the mold, has full main characters and supporting characters and flows in a natural human way. Nothing felt forced or questionable. Easy listening but also thoughtful and touched on guilt, therapy, and health.

Exceptional!

Allison Mullally is a 30 year old woman dating her now deceased ex-boyfriend. Okay, okay, what actually happened is, 6 weeks ago her outgrowing, gregarious, and adventurous boyfriend named Sam broke up with her because he felt like she was just pretending to be happy. He tragically passes away in a car accident and Allison is attending his funeral when she learns he never told his parents they broke up. Sam’s sister asks her to go along with the charade as it’s giving her mother comfort thinking Sam had a stable relationship before he passed, something his family desperately wanted for him. Allison agrees because how bad can one afternoon be, everything is fine until she finds herself roped into to cleaning out Sam’s house with this best friend Adam. The real kicker here is that Adam seems to despise her. They never interacted while Sam was alive because of their differing schedules and now the pair are stuck working together every weekend until Sam’s house is market ready. Not only is Allison dealing with this zany situation she also is grappling with the side effects of learning she is a carrier of the BRACA1 mutation.
The Ellie Palmer’s writing absolutely blew me away! The topics of grief and friendship read as real and raw and so refreshing for a romcom! I’ll definitely be reading whatever Palmer puts out next!

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️

Pleasantly surprised

Wow I went into this blind and did not expect to enjoy this so much. Alison’s journey of trying to fit into a mold of what a deserving and happy person looks like really resonated with me and I loved seeing her growth. The book was genuinely funny at times and so emotional at others. This was an amazing debut and I can’t wait to see Ellie Palmer does next.

Love in the Midst of Grief

This book and the VAs performances were great. I love how grief is displayed in so many different ways amongst the characters. I do wish FL’s friends didn’t feel like such flat characters but overall great.

A real downer.

Skip this one. The main characters have no chemistry and the story is depressing. The main character needs therapy and it’s slow.