Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Seven Days in June

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

134 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

dwinn5's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful sad 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

Wow. I can’t believe this is only my second book of the year and I already have a 5 star-er.

This book had me in knots- I didn’t want to put it down until it was done, and even then I was in a bit of denial. There were moments of dialogue in this book that felt like pure genius. It had me giggling and kicking my feet one second and clutching my chest the next. Williams covered so many great topics in this book: family connections and history, race in the publishing industry, overcoming trauma, figuring out what we want from life and what we deserve- I could go on and on. The way that she weaved them into the character’s lives felt so seamless. All of the characters were a great addition to the story, but Audre and Shane were something special to me. I’ll be thinking about them for a long time.

And of course, the love story. All reading is subjective, but I feel like books with romance can be especially hard to rate because of how personal they often are. In a good romance book, the actual connection/romantic relationship almost acts as its own character in the story- an “x factor” that you either connect with or you don’t, and this one gutted me.

My only complaint was that at some points in the book, she would alternate between multiple points of view without a formal change, which occasionally took me out of the story/the emotions the character was feeling because it switched the focus.

Fantastic, amazing, heartbreaking. I’ll be coming back to this one for sure.

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

nicole_defran's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

2.0

I’m not sure where to start. I feel a little overwhelmed honestly. I feel like I thought it was a romcom based on the blurb and quotes on the cover but after finishing it there was romance but it definitely isn’t a romcom. I probably should have read the content warnings but I never have before and while romance can include some more serious topics not to this level. I think it will stick with me for sure.

Content Warnings

moriahleigh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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

khall123's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.5

Content Warnings

jikuuu08's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

this book was jaw dropping.
the way the words were constructed into a blade slicing deliciously into my throat, having me in a chokehold.
the way you THOUGHT the back stories lined up, but really the truth comes and you drop to the floor staring at the ceiling, mind blown.
this book was so beautiful to read and it had me grasping for more, WAITING for a moment where i could continue reading, the anticipation to what would happen next.

Content Warnings

nokvi's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Oh I loved this book so fucking much like wow. What a book, what a week. So the books has sections labeled Sunday to Saturday and ofc I had to read thru the dates in time with the week. What a magical experience 10/10.

One issue I had was that the book would use cultural references so awkwardly that I simply got jolted out of the story yk but other than that

Content Warnings

kayladarthur's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

I enjoyed this book! I’ve always wanted to read more romance, esp centering Black women. I feel like there’s good representation for us here! And it’s very cute.

Content Warnings

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