When a random library read pulls your heartstrings nearly out of your chest, you know you’ve found a good one. Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer is a stunner.
Alison and Sam had recently broken up from their mediocre relationship when he dies in an accident. At his funeral, his sister begs her to pretend they hadn’t broken up so his parents are able to think he was finally settling down – something they’d been harping him about for years. She is a people pleaser, and goes along with it, even volunteering to do the emotional-wrecking task of cleaning out his apartment for them. But his best friend Adam was already planning to do that, and four hands are better than two. When Alison realizes she is having more-than-friends feelings for Adam, it makes everything unimaginably complicated. He doesn’t know they’d already mutually broken up, so she is off limits – indefinitely. Once the apartment is clean, they won’t have to see each other anymore and torture themselves with this undeniable spark of attraction.
What a complex story this is. There are obvious themes of death and grief in this book, and Alison’s own health issues double-down on them. Her mother suffered from breast cancer, and it turns out she has the gene that makes it far more likely for her to develop it as well. So likely, she’s opted for a voluntary preventative double-mastectomy. It’s a unique sort of representation that added a lot to the story in a very meaningful way.
This is a a deeper story than I expected going in. It is still a rom-com, but there is more at stake for these characters than usual. They wrestle with very big feelings and obstacles that effect more than just themselves. It is a true moral dilemma they’re facing, and fortunately the ending somehow is exactly perfect. This book will hit you in the feels, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Details
Title:: Four Weekends and A Funeral
Author:: Ellie Palmer
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 40m
Audiobook Narrator:: Karissa Vacker
Published:: August 6th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
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