A review by katemc7
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

I don't even know how to describe the way this book made me feel and has thus impacted my whole week- in the BEST way possible. I am really mad at myself for putting off reading this. I started it and honestly got a little disenfranchised with it- I got distracted. I jumped back in this week determined to get hooked and just wow. I felt such an array of emotions reading this book. I felt awe, happiness, giddiness, grief (so much grief) and saddness but then happiness and inspiration. Having been someone who has lost someone close to me to suicide- I could relate to EVERYTHING that Clementine was feeling. I am not really an underliner or highlighter of books, but I couldn't help myself with this one. The way that Ashley was describing grief and the aftershocks was just too on point for me. 

I loved everything about this book. I loved both of the main characters. I loved their journeys and how different but alike they were. I liked how they helped each other more than they could admit (at first). I liked the mystical aspect with the magical apartment. I liked the unpredictability. I liked the side characters, but as I said before I loved how this book made me FEEL. I must have told every person I saw this week how much I liked it. I would highly recommend checking out the TW as it does speak heavily of grief and loss specifically around suicide. 

Clementine is at a low point. Her aunt has just passed away and given her her apartment. The apartment holds soo many memories, and Clementine is having a hard time only focusing on the good ones. She can't help continuing to think about why she has the apartment. The cool thing about this apartment is that at any point, it can travel back in time by 7 years. And what do you know this happens to Clementine. She comes home one day from work, where she is about to land her dream job, to find a man in the kitchen. Not just a man but a handsome man. He is cooking and setup like he owns the place. Come to find out she has gone back in time and this man, Iwan, is her aunt's really good friends son. He is in NY to take a stab at being a chef. She decides to roll with it and has a wonderful night. She finds herself being able to open up to this stranger who knows nothing about what is going on in her life. She finds herself looking forward to tomorrow. They have another great night together and then he is gone. She finds herself sad and wishes they had more time together because she felt something towards him. A connection of sorts. 

Now that she is back in today's time, her company is working towards nailing down the hottest chef in town because he is coming out with a cookbook. Well it turns out this hot chef happens to be HER Iwan. Except he goes by James and when they see each other, she doesn't know how to act. So she acts like he doesn't know her. They reconnect and she finds herself noticing how different this Iwan is from the one she met 7 years ago. He is more bottled up. Less carefree. She finds herself wondering what happened to him. She wants to dig and in the process finds herself brought back to the past and then back to the present a few times. Her and Iwan have a connection- that she wants him to remember. She wants to remember. She is ready to make some big decisions in her life, and she wants him to be there with her. The question is will he want to do this after everything? Will he support her big decisions? 


It was really interesting to see the changes in Iwan and how life had affected him. And when he finally opened up to Lemon as he calls her, it was so beautiful. I thought it was cool that even though there was no time difference for Clementine, she truly had an awakening after meeintg carefree Iwan. He made her want to do more things and be more. I can't say enough about how much I loved this book!! If you haven't read it- pick it up!! I went ahead and preordered her next release and am hoping it is just as good. The bar has been set LOL.