Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

A group of four boys, the Sauce Crew as they were known are now made of one sole member, Carver.

The other three, Eli, Mars and Blake tragically died when colliding with a truck.
Carver blames himself as he was texting them when they crashed.

However, Blake's gran is the only relative not to blame Carver, but to celebrate the life her grandson had with him. Carver's guilt also means he takes over Blake's chores he did at his gran's as she can't get down and weed to garden or now the lawns.
They also celebrate Blake's life by having a Goodbye Day for Blake together.

Carver bottles up a lot of his emotion but does open up to Jesmyn and Blake's gran about how he feels. He does suffer anxiety as the threat of possible jail time rests undecided over his head and see's Dr Mendez about his panic attacks in order to try and handle his emotions better and grieve. He and Jesmyn are talented students, Jesmyn in piano and Carver with his creative writing. They both appreciate and support each other's talents encouraging each other they do have a future to hope for.

This book shows the true horror of losing those closest to you but the flip side as well, showing who stands by you when you need them most. We see Carver go through a true rollercoaster effect of up's and down's throughout the book, love and loss play huge roles in this book. We also see Carver imagine his friends still with him throughout scenes in the book as he can't let them go at first. I really enjoyed it as it wasn't all solely focused on death, there are times of friendship flashbacks and happy moments for Carver with his sister and Jesmyn too.

Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review it for them!