Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Seven Days in June

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

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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 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

mecmccann's review against another edition

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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."

Content Warnings

kiara_taylor's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

arike22's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

velorum's review against another edition

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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

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.

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