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Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer

Romance

Four Weekends and a Funeral

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Ellie Palmer, on your first book!

by Ellie Palmer

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Quick take

Love really can have a funny sense of timing. For example, sometimes it shows up right after your ex’s funeral.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, Light_Read

    Light read

  • Illustrated icon, Female_Friendship

    Female friendships

  • Illustrated icon, Enemies_to_Love

    Enemies to lovers

Synopsis

The right guy at the dead wrong time.

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?

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Four Weekends and a Funeral.

Four Weekends and a Funeral

1

We Start with the Funeral

When I learn I’m still dating Sam Lewis, I’m at his funeral.

Mara and I drift into St. Ignatius Catholic Church twenty minutes early.

“You’re sloshing,” she tells me out of the side of her mouth.

“Puddle in the parking lot.” The wet squish of my foot into damp insole punctuates my words.

I grip her elbow when we reach the threshold, as if I’m guiding her toward the vaguely familiar faces of my ex-boyfriend’s friends and loved ones. Really, she’s the one who’s keeping me upright. Such is her duty as my best friend, though her striking, angular features and statuesque frame make her an only slightly more discreet companion than an emotional-support corgi.

Today, we’re a study in contrasts. Where Mara is tall and steady in her stacked heels, I’m short and unwieldy in my waterlogged, ­machine-washable flats. Her auburn hair is spun up neatly in a French twist while my long brown curls fall messily around my face, because I’m thirty years old and still can’t follow a YouTube hair tutorial.

She shakes herself from my death grip to unbutton her coat, revealing a pristinely black, ­Woolite-commercial-ready sweater topping a pair of effortlessly chic wide-leg trousers. ­I—as a chronically reckless washer of dark ­woolens—had nothing so perfectly Burial Black to don for the funeral of a man who’d gently dumped me in a rowboat. I settled for a faded charcoal dress and a cardigan that exists somewhere between pea green and the color of the dead­ late-autumn grass. I hope it snows soon. I’m already so sick of fall. I’m already so sick of today.

The wooden doors thud behind us, announcing our arrival. I suppose it’s not ordinary to bring a ­ plus-one to these sorts of things, but the funeral of my most recent ex is no ordinary occasion.

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Why I love it

A few months ago, I found myself stuck in a reading slump. I had heard about Ellie’s book from a few other authors in that casual whispered way when a book is that good, so when I was asked if I wanted an early peak, I responded with greedy, eager hands and high hopes that Four Weekends and a Funeral would snap me out of my slump.

If you’ve ever chatted with Ellie or followed her on socials, you know she’s funny. Not only funny but whip-smart, with an ability to craft such strangely insightful sentences that you hang on every single word. I was hooked on this book from the very first chapter. When I finally finished (a mere 48 hours later, goodbye reading slump!), I wished I could forget the book completely and start from the very beginning. I thought about Adam and Alison—the unlikely duo brought together by a funeral—and their perfect mix of grumpy and just the right amount of sunshine for weeks!

I laughed, I cried. I booked a mammogram.

I am so excited to see Book of the Month feature this book. I love it with all my millennial heart and cannot wait for a new crop of readers who will fight me for the title of Ellie Palmer’s biggest fan.

Member ratings (2,086)

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View all
This Time Next Year
All We Were Promised
Shark Heart
Lessons in Chemistry
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
How to End a Love Story
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
The Stone Witch of Florence
A Flicker in the Dark
Honey
A Thousand Times Before
Ariadne
The Wishing Game
The Collected Regrets of Clover
The Days I Loved You Most
The Road of Bones
Thistlefoot
Dinner for Vampires
The Wives
Adelaide
Here After
Spitting Gold
The Ministry of Time
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Middletide
The Teller of Small Fortunes
Northwoods
This Spells Love
A Short Walk Through a Wide World
The Storm We Made
Dirty Diana
Neighbors and Other Stories
The Husbands
More
You, Again
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Maame
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Weyward
The Push
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We Are the Brennans
Black Cake
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Olga Dies Dreaming
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