Book Review: Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer

January 30, 2026January 19, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Ellie Palmer
Publisher: GP Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: August 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

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?

NEW FAN.

I will officially be reading Ellie Palmer’s next book because this hit all the right notes for me. It was a well balanced romance and I loved the themes and story too.

It’s just a romantic read. I loved listening to the audio and was heavily invested in Alison and Adam’s story. The slow burn was incredible and I loved seeing these quiet moments they got together and the joy they found in each other’s company.

There’s good character growth in Alison’s story too. Her story line packed an emotional punch that had me teary eyed at the grocery store. The journey was beautiful and swoony and impactful on many levels.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: mild
Romance: fade to black
Content Warnings: themes surrounding breast cancer (throughout), loss of a friend, grief depiction

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Our Deadly Designs (The Dark Descent #2) by Kalyn Josephson

January 12, 2026January 5, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 432 pages
Author: Kalyn Josephson
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s
Release Date: November 12th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Shadows Between Us meets The Scorpio Races in the epic conclusion to NYT bestselling Kalyn Josephson’s This Dark Descent, called “a fierce and darkly magical thrill ride” by acclaimed author Ava Reid.

The Illinir may be over, but the race for Enderlain’s future has just begun. The hunt for the old king’s lost heir is on, and the first to find them will win the throne.

Mikira has allied herself with the rebels in pursuit of the lost heir, but the deeper her search takes her, the closer she gets to the royal family’s wicked past.

Ari is struggling to control her own growing power as she grapples with a dark secret that may be her undoing — and the truth behind Damien’s greatest foe.

Damien, the new head of House Adair, joins the race to find the heir and secure the crown. But as his influence at court grows, so does his paranoia and hunger for power.

Reid is trying his best to stay true to the friend who’s always had his loyalty — and the flame who has his heart — while trapped in a web of chaos and lies.

But a darker force is festering in Enderlain’s underbelly, and Mikira, Ari, Damien, and Reid will need to find a way back to each other — and themselves — before the kingdom is torn apart. Hearts will be broken and new bonds will be forged in this explosive finale to This Dark Descent, where spellbinding fantasy meets Jewish mythology in a cut-throat race for the throne — and Enderlain’s survival.

SO BORED.

I don’t even feel like writing this review because I don’t have much to say. I wanted to enjoy this because I really liked book one but goodness, I could not get into it. I would have listened faster than 3x if I could have.

The plot drags and I became increasingly uninterested in the characters, the romance and everything in between.

I will say the audiobook narrators are great. No issues there and if you were going to try it, go that route. I just can’t recommend this overall as something to pick up. There’s a lot better YA fantasy out there.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy
Language: mild
Romance: kissing
Violence: moderate

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner

August 6, 2025July 7, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Jeff Zentner
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: April 30th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Colton Gentry is riding high. His first hit in nearly a decade has caught fire, he’s opening for country megastar Brant Lucas, and he’s married to one of the hottest acts in the country. But he’s hurting. Only a few weeks earlier, his best friend, Duane, was murdered onstage by a mass shooter at a country music festival. One night, with his trauma festering and Jim Beam flowing through his veins, Colton stands before a sold-out arena crowd of country music fans and offers his unfiltered opinion on guns. It goes over poorly.

Immediately, his career and marriage implode. Left with few choices or funds, he retreats to his rural Kentucky hometown. He’s resigned himself to has-been-dom, until a chance encounter at his town’s new farm-to-table restaurant gives him a second shot at a job working in the kitchen with Luann, his first love, who has undergone her own reinvention. Told through perspectives alternating between his senior year of high school, his time coming up with Duane as hungry musicians in Nashville, and the present, COLTON GENTRY’S THIRD ACT is a story of coming home, undoing past heartbreaks, and navigating grief, and is a reminder that there are next acts in life, no matter how unlikely they may seem.

WHAT A STORY.

I fell in love with Colton Gentry. I loved this redemption story of a fan who really has been brought to a deep valley and found a way back out again. I appreciated that it wasn’t linear and that mistakes were still made. Colton always remained a character to root for and someone you wanted to see succeed.

The second chance romance was executed perfectly too. I liked having the flashback chapters that showed just how much Luann and Colton were in love with each other. Full of young mistakes and wanting to repair those bridges and boundaries. I loved how they reconnected and how they had this soulmate kind of vibe about them.

I loved this audiobook and I think that this is such an underrated contemporary romance book!!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: low explicit open door
Violence: low-moderate
Content Warnings: MC struggles with alcoholism, mass shooting discussed, grief and loss depiction, death of a friend and parent

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Refine (House of Oak #4) by Nichole Van

July 9, 2025June 1, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Time Travel Romance
Length: 375 pages
Author: Nichole Van
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Release Date: September 25th, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Each life is tethered to others, tendrils wrapping through time itself . . . drawing people to each other . . .In 1815, Timothy, Viscount Linwood–handsome, arrogant, privileged–never veers from the refined rules of his world. Cheerfulness and other unsavory emotions are for lesser persons. Anything that smacks of trade is to be shunned. Honor and pride above all else. Consequently, when he discovers his estates are bankrupt, he decides to woo and marry an heiress post-haste. After all, love is for lesser-mortals. But Fate intervenes and draws him to a vibrant woman who makes him want things he can never have. Can a pompous lord change enough to find redemption?In 2015, Jasmine Fleury just wants her happily-ever-after. If only she could stop losing people instead–her grandmother, boyfriends . . . and now her entire family. Worse, she finds herself babysitting a haughty nineteenth century lord who can’t even shave himself. What grown man can’t shave himself? She has no interest in playing damsel-in-shining-armor to his knight-in-distress. But Fate has other plans . . . .This fourth installment in the Amazon bestselling House of Oak series can easily be read as a stand-alone book.

HMM.

I enjoyed this book but also felt some struggles with it. The background for the FMC was wild and I don’t think it fit into the story line of how the portal has been working this entire series.

I did like the enemies to lovers banter and both main characters learning how to love each other and see how the differences between them aren’t all bad. There’s a lot of cute moments between Jasmine and Timothy. I loved seeing many of the previous couples too.

It’s a good audiobook and I’ll finish up the series. I am just not a time travel romance gal (generally speaking) so while I liked this, I didn’t love it.

Overall audience notes: