Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Seven Days in June

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

withreveling's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

emmylunaa's review

Go to review page

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Loved this book! It dives into found family, romance, mother daughter relationships, and invisible disability. Eva is a strong woman raising her daughter, Audre, to be even stronger. Eva is reunited with her first love Shane and they both need to deal with their unresolved past.

Content Warnings

booksinkandpaper2's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I heard about this book on BookTube and then listened to a podcast with the author, who was featured at a Book Festival. I don't read a lot in the Romance Genre and this one is really a stand out. The characters are well developed and real - this is no cozy, campy or predictable romance novel. Nor is it always easy to read as we learn about this history of Shane and Eva. These characters originally met in high school and had a whirlwind seven days of drugs, alcohol and sex. Fast forward, they are both authors and meet at a book festival to realize that their feelings for each other are hard to suppress. Eva writes erotic fantasy and Shane is an award winning author as well. The novel returns us to the past as well as the current day, as their relationship is described in great detail. On the steam meter, it's probably 9. But this book is more than that - it's an honest depiction of black life, poverty, foster care and homelessness, child abuse, motherhood, chronic health challenges and alcoholism/drug addiction (consider these trigger warnings, dear readers, and choose wisely). I was surprised and pleased by the depth of this novel and would read another by this author for sure. While it's a great read for Black History Month, it's not a steamy, fluffy Valentine's Day read. But it is a satisfying and important look at the challenges of relationship, parenting, success and family history.

Content Warnings

ariel_marie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

kaitrates's review

Go to review page

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

staceysouldancer's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

foxmulders's review

Go to review page

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

well written but didnt live up to the hype imo. the first half is really good, but i felt like the last half didnt sell me on the romance. it starts off beautiful and then feels like a rushed modge podge of black twitter references? which is fine but disappointing after how solid the beginning is.

Content Warnings

More...