Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

244 reviews

lainiewill's review

emotional funny inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Car accident, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Drug use, Death, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Death of parent

lilalhreads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Alcohol, Self harm, Drug use, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

delainey5's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

TY DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE
HE WAS JUST A KID

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Self harm, Violence, Medical content, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Drug abuse

thatsssorachael's review

dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Drug use, Alcohol, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

sarashimizu's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i was quite invested and i liked the layout where it kept going back and forth!!! cant believe the whole book was a week too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug use, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

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. 

 

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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…

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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

cheyarsen's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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

Oh wow, what can I say about this book? Tia Williams chewed me up and spit me out with this one. It was so devastating in all the right ways. Devastating hot. Devastatingly smart. Just…devastating, haha. I was sucked in from the very beginning. I didn’t feel like I was reading a book, I felt like I was living alongside Eva, Shane, Audre, CeCe, TY 😭. 

My only complaint is that the ending felt a tab bit rushed. I wanted more. I needed at least two more chapters for “ Sunday “ but hey, tis is the way of life. 

Everyone needs to read this. Just make sure you have your tissue box handy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Grief, Drug use, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gun violence, Death, and Car accident

mecmccann's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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

4.5

Thank you Tia Williams for writing the first book club book I adored. 

Seven Days in June is a story about Black love. It was poignant, humorous, and hot all at the same time. In this book, we follow Eva, an erotica writer, who is summoned to speak as a panelist at a book event where she unexpectedly runs into her high school fling? boyfriend? situationship? Shane, from fifteen years ago. As she rediscovers what actually happened between them all those years ago, recognizes that they've actually been writing about and to one another for all these years through their books, learns about the man he has become, and about her family's historical curse, she learns about who she is and how everything fits together. 

This book did exactly what it needed to do. Each character was fully fleshed out and individualized. In Eva and Shane's partnership, they became the best versions of themselves for and through each other, without sacrificing their core values. Seven Days in June was indeed a romance, but it was so much bigger than just-another-fluffy-romcom (and I love me a fluffy romcom). In this book we explored the effects of chronic pain, substance abuse, domestic abuse and negligence, trauma, and racism on relationships. 

Rumaan Alam got it right when he said, "The result isn't escapism (though the book is a delight) but a vision of life as it truly is: complications and difficulties punctuated by profound joy." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Domestic abuse, and Rape

kiara_taylor's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

I have never been so upset about a book being over. Absolutely loved everything about this book. So wonderfully written, I from the beginning routed for this couple more than any book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, and Self harm

arike22's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

3.0

Struggled with some of the sections of this book. Specifically the party scene felt very disjointed and difficult to read. It was just one liners that I didn't enjoy. I think it is a great story overall but poorly executed. I think the author was almost trying to put too many components in the story. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Chronic illness, Rape, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Addiction, and Alcohol