Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Seven Days in June

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

198 reviews

kaitrates's review against another edition

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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

nelkenbabe's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

Content Warnings

adrienneleigh's review against another edition

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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

sueee573's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring 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

rickireadss's review against another edition

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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

chidoriqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

lingfish7's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

📖🎧I adored this contemporary romance book so much that I think it might just be my new favorite. I’ve been in a season where I haven’t wanted to read romance books because they all feel like the same formula, just changing the places and names. This did not feel like your generic romance book! It felt altogether original, unique, and diverse. It had both amazing black representation but additionally disability and addiction representation. Seven days in June is an #ownvoices book because the author is black and has chronic migraines. The migraine rep was especially important to me because my husband has had debilitating chronic migraines for the past 3 years. It’s so true that the invisible disability is especially hard for others to grasp, since there are no visible exterior signs of the pain and suffering.

Every single character in this book felt so REAL. Eva is a spicy romance author and single mother whose 12 year old has the maturity of a 40 year old woman. Her unique challenges raising such an independent and smart daughter is explored throughout the book. Shane is a recovering addict whose high school romance with Eva had a dramatic and heartbreakingly abrupt ending. 15 years later, they reconnect at a writer’s panel. They both have become semi-famous authors and the characters they write are based on each other. The complexities underlying both their past history together and their growth journeys over the past 15 years was beautiful and raw.

What I loved about Eva was her anxious-avoidant attachment style in struggling to believe Shane could be both forgiven and a changed man. I loved seeing her own murky past with her mother’s neglect and mental health struggles. Eva is a woman who has “made it.” But she’s still so lonely and not fully healed yet from her immense trauma.
What I loved about Shane is his humility in owning up to his mistakes and his soft and gentle heart. He is a man whose love is steadfast, he’s just too afraid of his own addiction struggles letting other people down.
What I loved about Audre, Eva’s 12 year old daughter, is her boldness and self-awareness. She is intelligent and can see through layers of her mother’s mystery and masks. Audre also plays an integral part in helping both Shane and Eva to take the risk of love.

“Delphine, Clotilde, and Lizette has never been able to depend on their men. Because their men had never allowed them to be who they were - they’d crushed their true spirits, at every turn. But for Eva, Shane had done the opposite.”

“Whatever curse had befallen her foremothers, Eva had broken it. She was in love with a man who embraced everything about her. She just didn’t know if she had enough faith to accept it.”

✨”And maybe that was what real, adult love was. Being fearless enough to hold each other close no matter how catastrophic the world became. Loving each other with enough ferocity to quell the fears of the past.”

💕”It never ends, does it? Loving you never ends.”

Content Warnings

ingrid6's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

I both liked and hated this book.

I stayed up the entire night to finish it because it had me so on edge for some reason. It wasn’t like a “oh my god I love this I’m dying to find out how it ends” and more of an “if I don’t finish I won’t sleep because it’s causing me serious anxiety”.

I loved the plot of two authors writing to each other in their books. The moment the characters address the plot had me kicking my feet lol.

I really liked most of the side characters.

I hated the emotional rollercoaster this book took me on. It felt like even during the highs, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. As a normally cheesy romance reader- this one was tough.

I did not love (even though it didn’t happen many times) the switch between past and present. I’m never a huge fan of this.

I felt like certain character arcs weren’t necessary and just there to hurt.

I felt very seen with the migraines. A stupid stupid nitpicky thing I disliked was the mini speech about invisible disabilities at the book awards. I can’t imagine getting all that out during a migraine attack. “I have migraines they’re debilitating.” could have summed it up.

This book kinda broke my heart but didn’t put me back together at the end.
Read the content warnings before you pick up!!!

Content Warnings

kjperry97's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

marstone's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

Wow.
I don’t read romance books, its not a genre I'm very interested in because I find it predictable, but if I were to read any romance, I am so happy it was this. It was not what I was expecting it to be at all and I almost didn’t commit to continuing it, but I cannot stop thinking about this book now.
This is about 2 writers who shared an intimate romance in high school which was very brief. Now, years later as adults they have been reconnected and the main character wants to know why their relationship ended so soon and is trying to navigate trauma, chronic illness, and adult responsibilities while also grappling with her feelings towards him and the past that is being brought up again. As authors of different genres, they have been writing their characters based off of each other, in a way sending each other messages that they are still a part of each other’s lives.
I’m not a fan of stories that include real life social media references or current slang (since I mostly read fantasy) because I feel like it takes me out of the story, but it’s not too over the top in this book and ultimately added a bit of lightheartedness to it.
This was much darker than I anticipated with the themes it explored and the characters backstory and how broken they were but just trying to keep themselves together now yet there is agony and yearning gnawing at them with the intensity of their intimacy of just seven days and how they are forced to face that again and figure out how they fit into each other’s lives now as adults.
This was absolutely beautiful and heart wrenching to see the trauma and sense of abandonment (a lot of trigger warnings listed) and figuring out why everything happened the way it did. I was so invested in their story and cried 5 times. I love it i love it i love it.

Content Warnings

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