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A review by melanietalksbooks
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
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
3.5
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Mental illness, Murder
Minor: Infidelity