A review by pamshenanigans
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“You burst into my solitude, demanding to be seen. You were overwhelming. Just wild and weird and brilliant, and I never had a choice.”

An evocative romance book about two kindred spirits who bonded over their flaws but lost touch with each other for 15 years. Throughout this 15 years they’ve written about and to each other, both too scared to face the reality: the pull they have towards each other is palpable and inescapable. 

I had high expectations for this book and was absolutely FLOORED by how amazing this was. The writing, the subtle but impactful plot, and the flawed yet darkly hilarious and genuine characters were meshed together to create a perfect balance in this literary romance novel. 

It was so addicting and compelling to read with gritty lines that you’d think about for days on end. The writing was almost lyrical at times that didn’t require to be lyrical but it was still beautiful and made sense to the way the characters behaved. (in short: it wasn’t too cringey sweet just for the sake of keeping up the romance plot) 

At the heart of the novel as well were mothers of different generations and showed how you can be doing your definition of best as a parent which doesn’t necessarily mean that that was what’s best for your child. ”Women are expected to absorb traumas both subtle and loud and move on. Shoulder the weight of the world. But when the world fucks with us, the worst thing we can do is bury it. Embracing it makes us strong enough to fuck the world right back.” 

Eva and Audre’s relationship as mother-daughter was so refreshing to read. “Mother and daughter mirrored each other in the most striking of ways.”

I like how it may seem to work out in the end but it was vaguely concluded in a way that as a reader, it implies the start of something new; that their future bears challenges still along the way, but this time, they’ve fully embraced their flawed selves and just face things head on together. 

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