Ellie Palmer Wants While You Sleep to Meet and Exchange Books

The author Ellie Palmer drew a lot from his experiences while writing his first rom-com, Four Weekends and a Funeral – but Sandra Bullock again Bill Pullman indirectly led to the twist of this novel.

Light spoilers for the four weekends and the upcoming funeral.

“It’s a movie While You Were Sleeping it was a big inspiration for me,” said Palmer alone Us Weekly while developing the novel, released on Tuesday, August 6. The 1995 stars Bullock as Lucy, an anonymous woman who is the fiancee of Peter’s pregnant patient (Peter Gallagher) after accompanying him to the hospital. There, she meets Peter’s brother, Jack (Pullman) and they fall in love.

“One of the best parts of that movie for me is when Peter Gallagher wakes up – it just takes everything in a different direction,” Palmer explained. Us. “Because he is waking up, he can give them permission to be together in the end. You get that it’s OK, and it gives you this warm feeling at the end.”

This was not Palmer’s choice when it came to his book. Four Weekends and a Funeral follows Alison – a 30-year-old woman who recently had a double hysterectomy after being diagnosed with a BRCA-1 gene mutation – as she attends her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral. Alison discovers that Sam’s family never found out about their breakup, leading her parents to believe that they were still in love at the time of her death. Sam’s best friend, Adam, challenges Alison’s plans – especially as he begins to fight for her.

“From the beginning, Sam was dead, and part of the book is dead [Alison and Adam] dealing with their feelings about that,” said Palmer Us. “I wanted it sprinkled all over the place, and when I got to the end, I saw how it all came together.”

Similar to Gallagher’s character in While You Were SleepingSam is a “really nice guy” and was part of Alison and Adam’s love story, Palmer said.

Bringing it all back to the movie, Us cast Bullock and Pullman to play Sam’s parents in Palmer’s novel.

@usweekly

@Ellie Palmer | A Rom-Com Author is teaming up with us to bring his new book, Four Weekends and a Funeral, to fans! 🌟📚 Share your dream characters and join the fun. Who would you choose? #FourWeekendsAndAFuneral #booktoker #bookworm #bookclub #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #romcombooks

♬ original sound – Us Weekly

“That’s perfect,” Palmer said. “I really like that.”

Read on to find out the answers to all of them Us Weekly‘s burning questions about Four Weekends and a Funeral:

Us Weekly: What made you decide to turn your idea into a novel?

Ellie Palmer: I had thought about the premise of the book early on and put that in as the hardest part. Until I was preparing for a preventive mastectomy – I am a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation – I read a lot of romance and loved all the movies and books I read. I was also dealing with some of the emotions that come with having cancer in your family and the survivor’s guilt that comes with being armed with this information. Reducing my risk meant that other people in my family couldn’t, and that’s how you can prove you can get a mastectomy. So, while I was fighting those emotions, I thought [it] It would be good to enter this idea – where the impostor at the funeral is the person who feels like an impostor in his health journey.

With Us Every Week: Has anyone in your family ever read the book and what did they think?

Ellie Palmer: My mother read the book, she had breast cancer when I was 10 years old. He really enjoyed it [the story]. We have often talked about the complexity of having a mastectomy followed by the process of reconstruction and having new body parts. It is a universal miracle in that event.

With Us Every Week: In the book, Allison’s mother also developed breast cancer. How much of their relationship was removed from you and your mother?

Ellie Palmer: I think my mom and I are as close as Allison and her mom are. They also have this relationship where they can joke back and forth and rub each other’s ribs in the car. My mother and I are exactly like that.

With Us Every Week: Why was it important to include the scene the morning after the scene with Adam in Allison’s apartment, where she sees her mastectomy scars?

Ellie Palmer: I really wanted to make sure they had that moment., I had a surgeon tell me, “When you look in the mirror and expect to see something else, and you do that double take, that’s what you’re going to do. knowledge.” I definitely found that in recovery, and I wanted it [Adam] having that moment and not doing that double and just kind of accepting him as he is. It was really healing for me, but it was also this moment that I really wanted other people to see and learn about.

With Us Every Week: Tell us about creating a support system for Allison and friends Mara and Chelsea.

Ellie Palmer: Friends have been very clear to me since the first day I wrote this book. I knew exactly who he needed in his life. During my struggle with my mastectomy or any difficult times in my life in general, before you found a romantic partner, my friends were my life partners.

With Us Every Week: Is there a reality TV spot where Allison and Adam could fit in?

Ellie Palmer: I think Adam would work well on Survivor, but I don’t think he would like it. He would really shine there. … I saw Allison on Love Island because I think she’s just going to hang out, hang out. Lots of friendships on Love Island. Lots of hanging out with girls. I feel like he can succeed in that.

With Us Every Week: Do you think Adam and Allison are the only match?

Ellie Palmer: I think they are the only game. I think they really match each other. They want the same things. They have all the same things you want to have. I think they are currently living together, maybe they are starting to think about whether they want to get married. I was not sure if it was what they wanted but I would like to see the order in which they arrive.