33.2k reviews for:

The Seven Year Slip

Ashley Poston

4.27 AVERAGE

muqu_j's review against another edition

5.0

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“Every book is a time capsule”

Ah this book, this heartbreakingly beautiful book was so perfect for the me I am right now. I cried, I laughed, I related to so many words in this book that my heart aches that I already finished it.

It was magical.

It may not be magical for you, and the same words may not leap for you, but I spent 2 nights staying up till 3am completely engrossed (which hasn’t happened in a while), and I know I will find myself coming back to this book again and again.

The love story was so refreshing, but it was the character growth and the relationships with the friends and the aunt that really got me. I related to how Iwan feels about food, the romance of food…I related to Clementine’s feelings about her job and life, and above all I wanted to be like Analea, off on my next adventure and forever chasing the moon.

I don’t usually rate a romance book 5 ⭐️ but this one just did something to me as I read it. I wish I could go back in time and read it for the first time again already.

Also, my life also changed cause of some “French fries”


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There isn’t a trigger warning but I wanted to provide one in case this review makes anyone want to read it - this book deals with grief and pain throughout the entirety of the book, specifically related to suicide.

asnsilva's review against another edition

5.0

emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This book had me thinking about all those situations that "had everything to go right... but didn't." The writing and storytelling are so engaging that it's impossible not to see yourself in the characters' emotions.

It's a beautiful reminder that the right person doesn't always show up at the right time - and while that can hurt, it can also be the push we need to grow, change, and make room for new possibilities. A tender nudge that we can keep being ourselves, even as we reinvent along the way.

lisataylor777's review against another edition

5.0

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I loved it. I’m a sucker for time traveling books/movies, especially love stories. The writing was so charming and flowed so well. I didn’t want to put it down

bookwormy_333's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

jessicareads85's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cass_goodie's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Loved it but I am always a sucker for seeing the happy couple get a bit more on page time together!

asialitreads's review against another edition

4.0

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3.75 ⭐️

**** Possible Spoilers****

I enjoyed this book overall, although some elements didn't meet my expectations. Ashley Poston's writing is beautiful and had a strong impact on me. She created an engaging story despite some areas I wasn't fully engaged in.

The romance developed too quickly IMO. There just wasn't enough build-up for Clementine and Iwan to fully connect so early. I questioned why they were falling for each other. It felt rushed with no emotional foundation to root for them. As the story progressed, they both began to grow on me.

The idea that Clementine, given the chance to go back to a period (7 years back) when her beloved aunt is still alive, wouldn’t make every effort to reconnect with her is a tough pill to swallow, especially since the author has shown how much Clementine is grieving. I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t prioritize contacting her aunt, given how real her grief seems. This left me feeling a bit unsatisfied but I'm also not sure how the story would've benefited if she did contact her aunt. If it were me, my focus would be on contacting my loved one after I established the handsome stranger is indeed not a murderer.

Despite a few frustrations, I enjoyed this book, especially the writing and humor. Poston's ability to weave in humor and time travel while exploring deep emotions such as grief elevated the reading experience. I would love to read more from this author.

loz98's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book hit on a lot of reality in trying to find yourself as an adult. Wine being incredibly corny I loved the characters and the plot. It was a refreshing plot for a romance novel and I very much enjoyed the story. 

mariannamignani's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Overall, I did have a decent time with this. It was very readable and the chemistry between the characters was good. However, I had a few issues with it as well. First of all, the romance, even though individual moments were good, felt undercooked. They only spend a few days together in the past, not really enough for him to be obsessed with her for years. Moreover, he's immediately really nice to her, a real manic pixie dream boy, which gives the idea that that's just who he is as a person. It explains why she would like him, but not why he would be so in love with her he'd still be thinking about her 7 years later. She's not unlikeable (her internal voice is a bit grating to me but as a character, she's not as unremarkable or flat as others I've read), but there's no sense of why she'd be the one, right person for him. I got the chemistry, but not the love part. The author should have spent more time on developing it, especially to justify love persisting for the seven year gap in time. At the same time, although I get why the main character would like him a lot, it's not made clear enough why he's THE person for her; why she would fall in love with him after "failing" to fall in love before. Moreover, she says at the end that she chooses the older version of him to the younger one from the past as if that were an important character development, but it does not translate in practice because she does actually spend more time with the past version and I don't get a sense of her knowing and having reasons to like the older version of him more (apart from the fact that he is in the present, obviously, but the author is trying to make that it is about accepting change as well). This theme of her never having fallen in love generally feels like it was thrown in there casually for no other reason than to make their relationship/love special. There's no reason given for that, and she falls in love with him quickly and easily. This could have been fine if better handled. In general, a problem I had with this book was that the author had in mind some interesting themes, which unfortunately she might have lacked the skills to execute well in writing. They felt forced and shoehorned in the narrative and not integrated well into the characters' development, in my opinion. As she mentioned that she has experience with the type of grief described in the story, I am sure that she comes from a good place in including it in the book, and I definitely don't want to minimise her experience, but unfortunately it does come across as a superficial treatment of the matter if you don't know the context. I must, thus, infer that it's the writing and plotting that do it a disservice. It might have helped if she hadn't tried to juggle several different themes at once, and the story might have benefitted from focusing one only one. Importantly as well, the handling of the time travel element didn't feel well developed, ultimately. It was indeed engaging and a nice dramatic device for a love story; however, maybe the author did not know how to resolve it in a way that would justify him not finding her for 7 years? Fair enough, it does sound hard to do. Yet, it comes across a bit messy—I do sort of get what she's saying (they are at different stages etc.), but it feels forced. When they meet in the present he seems upset at first, but to explain why he rejected working with her he says that he thought she didn't want them to? It's unclear what he knows, thinks, or wants (was he waiting for her to meet him in the past to reunite or not?), and his motivations and following reactions come across as contradictory and ultimately unclear. The resolution seems at odds with had happened thus far and what it implied (had something happened in the past for him that explained any of this, did one of them hurt the other?). She might have wanted to stick to something simpler: for example, the main ch racter never returns to the past before meeting him in the present, and he never knows about the time travelling, so he is upset that she effectively ghosted him. Finally, I do admit that I found a lot of the internal monologue and some decisions in the story a bit eyeroll-y. In conclusion, I wished more from it but I had a good time, and individual moments between the couple were effective.

ftmc's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes