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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Seven Days In June by Tia Williams

78 reviews

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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: Complicated

WOOOOW. The BEAUTY of this novel is all-consuming. Tia Williams navigates through topics both light and dark with such care, grace, and honesty. I really appreciated reading a romance novel with this amount of depth. Representation of an invisible disability like this is so validating. 

Funny, sexy, smart, endearing, and the epitome of Black excellence. I just love second chance romances with HIIIISTORY. Can’t wait to read Williams’ other work! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark 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

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams follows Eva and Shane in a dual timeline where it is telling the story of how they met as addicted teenagers with a lot of trauma and how they are meeting in the present as adults with even more trauma. In the present, Eva and Shane are both successful writers that meet and Eva asks Shane to stop writing about her and he responds with "you first." Which had me absolutely gagged. Eva wants to forget Shane existed as he broke a promise when they were teens but needs his help. Shane on his end has a lot to atone for so he agrees to the favor but wants to also reconnect.

The story is well written but has so much trauma and tension. I highly recommend checking your triggers as it is a lot. I really enjoyed the present timeline. I hated the past timeline. I deducted a star because of how much I hate dual timelines. I also liked switching POVs, while I'm not usually a fan of that, in this one I enjoyed it a lot. I deducted a star because I hoped to see more of a resolution with the ending, I am a person who doesn't like ambiguous endings so while I can guess what happened, after getting an emotional beating with the rest of the story, I was hoping to get rewarded with a nicer ending. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is okay with getting emotionally beaten down in a well written story. I do not recommend this book to anyone who has the triggers that I will mention below which I'm not sure if are all the triggers, just the ones I remember.  
 
Triggers: racism, xenophobia, addiction, alcoholism, sex work, cheating, mental illness, invisible disabilities, abusive parents, child endangerment, child neglect, violence, self harm, suicidal ideations, death, foster abuse, child abandonment, incarceration, bullying

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really would have expected some trigger warnings on this book tbh, I found there was a lot of darker content that read as very real and almost glamorised and I wasn’t prepared for it by the way the book is portrayed as a fun summer fling story. I did like the characters but found at times their lack of communication infuriating. Also it was a bit too of the time in a way that made it feel a bit dated with references to Snapchat and socials etc which took me out of the story a bit.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Okay, this is my sign to just read the books that I can't decide if I want to read or not.

This is how you write second chance romance!! With a good past/present story! And a valid reason for breaking up in the first place! And for why they should be back together! And, of course, undeniable chemistry! 

I love that the story has more to it than the romance and that the characters have depth. They are sooo drawn to each other, but they are their own people. 

So much representation in one book, but always handled with tact.

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Expand filter menu Content Warnings