BOTM Monday: Four Weekends and a Funeral

Author: Ellie Palmer Title: Four Weekends and a Funeral Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Date Published: 08/06/2024

Read Dates: 11/19/2025- 11/20/2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Book of the Month club pick for November was a book that I ARC read in October, so I am reading one of my previous add-ons. This was actually an add-on from my August 2024 box.

Four Weekends and a Funeral is a single POV grumpy/sunshine romance. Alison and her ex-boyfriend ended on good terms and agreed to stay friends, so when he passes away she goes to the funeral to pay her respects. She doesn't realize that Sam never got around to letting his parents know that they had broken up, and they are just so relieved that he had someone he loved at the end, so she agrees with his sister that it's for the best that she play along. Only, playing along for a day spills into being asked to pack up his belongings and apartment with his best friend Adam, and Alison finds herself spending the next four weekend with a grumpy best friend that she is developing complicated feelings for!

I really loved this, and it was an unexpectedly good choice to hold off on it to read in November, since that is when most of the book takes place! It is a closed-door romance that navigates some complicated issues. It addressed grief and family dynamics and also Alison's life post double-mastectomy as a BRCA1 carrier. Even with these heavier topics, it had it's share of light hearted and heartfelt moments, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

A tender, laugh-out-loud debut romance about a woman who ends up in over her head after a little white lie . . .

When thirty-year-old post-double-mastectomy BRCA 1 carrier and reluctant thrill-seeker Alison Mullally arrives at her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral to find that no one knows he dumped her, she agrees to play the grieving girlfriend for the sake of the family and pack 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 she must put her people-pleasing abilities to the test. She will make him like her. And after awkward family affairs and packing up dilemmas, the two form a tenuous friendship . . . if “friendship” means incredible chemistry and tension between them. 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?