Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

106 reviews

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Suicide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Racism, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Abandonment, and Mental illness

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Death

jhabelita's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I liked the first half of it. I really thought this was a sad story, like Eva knew she had a brain tumor because of those frequent migraines, but she kept it only as a secret. Then she will met Shane again, they fell in love, got together but only for a limited time because she's sick yada yada yada. I REALLY THOUGHT THAT WAS THE PLOT! 😅

But it was only a blinded love of two problematic characters amplified by drugs, alcohol and a week-long sex. 🥴 Trauma bonding, whuuttt??

Miley Cyrus once said,

"They say misery loves company"

I didn't give a fck on the epilogue. I honestly skimmed through the 25% of it just to make a point on the plot that I expected.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Drug use

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

fcoleman95's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

kaitrates's review

challenging emotional informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

8 Feb 2024 Update

I decided to remove my rating for this b/c I don't think I can fairly rate it given my complicated feelings. 

 

While my updates for this book were positive, I was left with a sour feeling in my stomach after finishing. I've been trying to figure out why and, thankfully, a conversation with <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/141644247-sarah">Sarah</a> helped clarify things. 🙏🏻 

 

First, the things I enjoyed. The supporting cast (Audre, Cece, Belinda) were amazing and I loved them so so much. I loved how NYC was as much a characters as any of hte people, and Williams' descriptions were SPOT ON and made me giggle so hard. I STG if you never lived there you probably think we make this shit up but its real. 🤣 I liked the individual character arcs for both Eva and Sean, especially seeing Eva step out of shame and into power as it relates to her disability and her desires. 

 

This book also felt to me like a love letter to Blackness, Black culture, and Black artistry. 

 

While I started out enjoying the high stakes, things got REALLY REAL very quickly and I was taken aback. I’ll own that I didn’t look up content warnings (list below) before reading—and they weren’t included in the book itself *sigh*—but honestly I might have chosen not to even read this if I had seen the full list. 

 

One of the big things Sarah helped me put words to is that IDK if I would qualify this as a romance. It has a romance for sure but it felt more literary to me. 

 

Similarly, this book was missing a certain swoon factor for me (oh god did I just type that?! 😅). I didn't find either the love story or the sex scenes compelling. It was all very insta-animal-magnetism and love and sex and that's not something I generally enjoy. 

 

I’ll also note that I couldn’t identify with the migraine rep, despite having both migraines and a chronic pain condition. Williams has written a lot about what it meant to her to write Eva an d I do recommend seeking out those articles for more context (thought, TBH I would’ve liked a bit more of it within the story). 

 

I also was not at all prepared for the heaviness and intensity of this book and it definitely and unfortunately impacted my enjoyment. I think if you go in knowing that and/or you don’t have any major triggers on this list, you’ll find something incredible. 

 

___ 

Initial Review - 4 Feb 2024 

This book was A LOT and while i throughly enjoyed it at times it also was way more intense than i was expecting. I’m gonna sit with it for a little longer…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Gore, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Gun violence and Child death

velorum's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I flew through this: the characters leap right off the page & scream “let me tell you about ME!”

There’s a ton of Internet jargon and pop culture references and slang, there’s generational trauma among a slew of trigger warnings and love and family and culture.  There was so MUCH (please heed the trigger warnings) and yet so much silliness and lightness that framed this story. Maybe that speaks to the author’s point of how life can be jarring and full and sad.

I prefer my epilogues to be ADDITIONAL to the story. Here, the epilogue was doing all the work to wrap up loose ends.

This story between Shane and Eva (Genevieve) is melancholy and a rapid, all-consuming love story. It burns and burns out.  Their second-chance encounter makes you want to know what the hell happed that week in June 15 years ago, and it all unravels as the story moves on. 

I think what made me really upset was Ty’s storyline and around the 78%(??) mark, I just wanted to DNF, and pushed through anyway. His death felt senseless and was a lazy way to develop Shane’s character.  

On second note, the last three chapters (epilogue included) were just a RUSH of plot and character development, and not in a good way…

TBC…  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Sexual content

adrienneleigh's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 This second-chance romance was sexy and fun and had substance. Eva and Shane had great chemistry, and there were some very steamy scenes. Williams has a great sense of humor that comes through in many scenes. Eva’s precocious 12-year-old daughter Audre and Eva’s best friend Cece both sparkled. I loved the fun scenes set in NYC’s Black literary world of author panels, parties, and awards shows. But the book has a darker side as well, and addresses a lot of serious themes, including chronic illness, mental illness, self-harm, drugs, addiction, trauma, generational trauma, and poverty. I didn’t love how the ending was structured, but overall I really enjoyed this book. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

angelinanajel's review

emotional funny hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Chronic illness, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

lil_wavy_'s review

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

It was quick read for those who likes short and simply type books. I would describe this book as a messy one but with a good ending & y'all know I love a good book that has black love in it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

rickireadss's review against another edition

3.0

i went into this one with such high hopes, and i honestly think that was what ruined it for me. i loved the chronic migraines rep. i somewhat tolerated the fact that both mcs were writers - i feel like this is hit or miss with me, but usually a miss. i did not check the CW before reading, and that was definitely my bad, but most of the reviews i had seen on tiktok or insta hadn't mentioned it being a "heavy" book -- this one most defintitely was, and it was much heavier than i could have anticipated. i ended up soft-DNFing this like 50% in and left in untouched for almost a month, but i pushed through hoping it would magically get better (spoiler alert: it did not) this was just not my favorite, and one of my disappointments of the year.

⚠️: self harm, drug abuse, alcoholism, drug use, addiction, chronic illness, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, suicidal attempt, abandonment, gun violence, death, grief, injury/injury detail, child abuse, child death, violence, sexual assault, toxic relationship, blood, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, racism, medical content, car accident, medical trauma, death of parent, domestic abuse, physical abuse, bullying, panic attacks/disorders, murder, forced institutionalization, pedophilia, vomit, ableism, sexism, adult/minor relationship

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Self harm, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Sexual harassment, Blood, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

apocalypticism's review

hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Toxic relationship