Reviews

Seven Days In June Large Print Edition by Tia Williams

okevamae's review against another edition

4.0

Eva Mercy is a bestselling Black author who is secretly sick of writing her famous erotica series. She’s also secretly sick – she suffers from debilitating migraines – and she is trying to juggle her chronic pain and her career with being the single mom of a precocious tween daughter. Suddenly, Shane Hall walks back into her life – Shane Hall, the famous literary author, with whom she had one tumultuous and life-changing week back in high school. Who disappeared out of her life without a trace, and whom she hasn’t spoken to since.

This book is funny and fantastically detailed, and full of likeable, flawed, vivid characters. The author has a real talent for developing characters, especially through realistic and enjoyable dialogue. The romance, both in the present and in flashbacks, is sweet, sexy, and heartbreaking all at once. The flashbacks also contain some pretty dark content (TW: drug use, self harm, sexual abuse, child abuse) but this serves to deepen the characters’ backgrounds and illustrate how much they have grown and thrived since their struggles in their early years. I loved the way the book unapologetically portrayed black success and excellence, as well as providing disability rep in the form of Eva, who is a fully formed, well-rounded protagonist. We see her managing her condition, and her struggle is an intrinsic part of her character and her journey, but she is never defined by it, and her story is not reduced to revolving around it.

This was an excellent read, and I’m definitely going to look for more from Tia Williams.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

micaelaxo8's review against another edition

5.0

All I got to say is that this book and their story was beautiful!

ellalovestoread's review against another edition

Bondage Restaurant 

I will not elaborate 

kaboom2016's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-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

4.0

layers within layers!! I loved the modern-day framing and the unapologetic love of romance novels. The flashbacks were lush and heartbreaking and had the darkest content of the entire book,

with SA implied and explicit violence and drug use.

I think the novel was mostly successful balancing the in-book discourse about appropriating pain (specifically Black women's pain) with the characters' painful backstories, but at times the tone shifts were jarring. 

lolo1894's review against another edition

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

4.25

dagreatcatsby's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

michellechien930's review against another edition

3.0

Seven Days in June was a really quick read, I went in thinking that it was supposedly a more nuanced type of novel, but I liked the characters and their respective viewpoints; the fact that they both are writers and write opposite genres (kinda ~Emily Henry~esqe), with secret love letters to each other coded in their own language. I really liked how the book was structured in a span of 7 days, with the present and past swapping back and forth. I originally thought that the 7 days from 15 years ago would mean that they were also limited to 7 days in the present (literally thought the mmc was terminally ill and that's why he chose to see the fmc now), but was surprised to see that there was a lengthy epilogue that noted on a happy ending. Also really appreciated the book's conversations on Black literati, whitewashing of films, etc. Somethings I didn't really like was the "wokeness" of the novel, it felt like the pop culture references were dated (there was a bit where the author referenced Chrissy Teigen as the funniest woman on Twitter, who is really insufferable now vs. when the author wrote the book), the way the child of the story (fmc's daughter) speaks like an adult (she is twelve or thirteen, right!?), the misunderstanding at the end that could really have been solved by a text. Also didn't really like that the book (romance itself) kinda implied romance erotica as fluff and ~non-substantial~ (the fmc reinstates over and over again that she only writes erotica to raise her daughter), romance is a genre that should be taken seriously, not secondary to other "normal" genre books (but can respect that the fmc would want to write what she likes, historical fiction etc.). Still liked the book however, the cover is fire >__<

gretaxo's review against another edition

trying too hard with the slangs, not natural

eve_lyn's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

I loved This book and I’m not really a second chance romance person but I love Them

notbella's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad

4.0